This afternoon, a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs resulted in the deaths of one police officer along with two civilians.  The police officer's name was Garrett Swasey, 44, and he worked for The University of Colorado in Boulder. Robert Lewis Dear, age 59, has been revealed as the gunman, and his motive is still unclear.

The first distress call occurred around 11:30 A.M. and the takeover of the clinic lasted for hours until finally police detained the gunman.  According to CNN, the shooting lasted for at least six hours.

Planned Parenthood has recently been under siege as many protestors argue for the federal defunding of the organization.  Some have taken a different stance and shown their support on social media through the use of the hashtag #IStandWithPlannedParenthood.

Whether or not the backlash surrounding the program has anything to do with the attack is a mystery at this point, though over the next few days as police and family members try to make sense of the deaths, perhaps an answer to the question of 'why?' will come to light.

We will continue to update the story as more information is revealed.

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