Accused Planned Parenthood shooter indicted by federal grand jury

The man accused of shooting and killing three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in 2015 was indicted by a federal grand jury Monday on 68 counts.

Robert Dear could face the death penalty if convicted, according to the U.S. attorney for the district of Colorado. 

Dear faces 65 counts of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 law that makes it a federal crime to use physical force to prevent someone from receiving reproductive health services. He also faces three counts of use of a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death where the killing is a murder, according to the indictment.

The charges stem from Dear’s attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs in 2015, in which he declared “war” on the organization for offering abortion services, according to prosecutors.

Dear fired about 198 bullets during the attack, prosecutors said, resulting in three deaths and eight injuries. 

Dear had already been charged with first-degree murder in state court, but he has repeatedly been found not competent to stand trial. 

He has remained at a mental hospital in Pueblo, Colo., since 2016.

Federal prosecutors have not yet decided whether they will seek the death penalty in the case.