Kansas abortion doctor shot and killed

Sunday May 31, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- The suspected shooter of Dr. George Tiller, a controversial late-term abortion provider, is in custody in Johnson County, Kan., according to the Wichita Eagle newspaper.

The unnamed suspect, identified only as a white male by police Capt. Brent Allred, allegedly shot the doctor while he was in the lobby of the Reformation Lutheran Church at about 10 a.m. this morning. Fox News reported that two or three witnesses were at the scene at the time and tried to pursue the suspect. They provided the license number of his car as he sped away, according to police.

Tiller was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after emergency crews arrived, the Eagle reported.

Tiller's clinic, Women's Health Care Services, in Wichita has been the site of protests for about 20 years, according to Fox News. His clinic was bombed in 1986 and he was shot and wounded in the arm in 1993 by an abortion opponent.

In 1994, Dr. John Britton, an abortion provider in Pensacola, Fl., was shot to death at his clinic along with his bodyguard, retired Air Force Lt. Col James Barrett, according to Foxnews.

Paul Hill, a former Presbyterian minister, was found guilty of the slayings and died by lethal injection in September of 2003. He was the first person executed in the U.S. for anti-abortion violence.

By Sheilah Downey