On a bitterly cold Black Friday morning 10 years ago, Colorado Springs was thrust into the crosshairs of a uniquely American tragedy.

It wasn’t the first mass shooting the city had experienced (and, sadly, would not be the last). Less than a month before, on Halloween, three lives had been lost during one man’s random rampage of gun violence through a downtown Springs neighborhood. Eight years prior, in 2007, a gunman killed two people at New Life Church in a shooting spree that also claimed two lives at a Christian mission organization in Arvada.

The shooting at the Springs’ only Planned Parenthood clinic on Nov. 27, 2015 – which injured nine people and killed three, including a UCCS police officer – was different: a bloody crusade and, in many ways, a bellwether of horrors to come.

Not only did the confessed killer, Robert Lewis Dear Jr., admit to being inspired by extremist ideology and messaging, the potential hostage situation and standoff that began when he stormed into the west-side clinic with “at least one AK-47” – and ended five hours later with his surrender to police – played out largely in real time, via online posts by witnesses and reporting crews stationed in a parking lot a half mile to the south, with updates often culled from emergency scanner traffic.

The shocking news of Dear’s death on Saturday while in federal custody in Missouri – confirmed Nov. 25 by the Federal Bureau of Prisons –  ended the twists and turns of a case that only recently seemed to be nearing a finale after a decade wending through state and federal courts.

Not all endings bring closure or a sense of justice served.

Survivors and impacted communities have repeatedly asserted that what happened at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood on the day after Thanksgiving in 2015 is best remembered only to honor victims of that awful attack. Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains echoed such sentiments in a prepared statement emailed Tuesday afternoon to The Gazette, without directly addressing reports of Dear’s death.

“As we reflect on the 10 years since the Colorado Springs tragedy, we honor and remember those whose lives were lost, as well as the strength and resilience of our staff — current and former — our patients, volunteers and the Colorado Springs community,” read the statement from the group, which went on to highlight its intention to maintain a focus on “honoring those impacted and supporting our staff and community.” 

“(We) remain steadfast in our commitment to providing accessible, nonjudgmental, high-quality healthcare to all who walk through our doors,” said PPRM, which provides a vast spectrum of women’s healthcare services in addition to abortion. “As we approach this day of remembrance, we are prioritizing our staff’s well-being while continuing to meet the needs of our patients and community.”

According to reporting at the time of and in the wake of the 2015 massacre, in the hours Robert Dear set off on his deadly mission he stopped by a local hardware store to consult the Yellow Pages for the address of his intended target, which in 2010 had relocated from Old Colorado City to a nondescript office building in a then off-the-beaten-path stretch of property atop Fillmore Hill.

Eyewitnesses said the shooting began soon after Dear arrived on site shortly before noon.

Despite being struck in an initial hail of bullets, Ke’Arre Steward, a 29-year-old Iraq War veteran and father of two who was at the clinic accompanying a friend, reportedly stumbled from the parking lot back inside the building to warn others to take cover before succumbing to his wounds, his brother later told NBC News.

Also fatally struck was 35-year-old Jennifer Markovsky, a mother of two who was at the clinic to support a friend.

The third fatality was University of Colorado Colorado Springs police officer Garrett Swasey, a 44-year-old father of two and a six-year veteran of the department who was among the earliest backup to arrive after the emergency call went out just before noon. Reverberations from the tragedy were felt far and wide, including among the groups of protesters who, since 2010, had pleaded their emotional case from a sidewalk spot just south of the clinic, off Centennial Blvd.

Julie Bailey, who stepped up to lead the movement after the death of Father Bill Carmody in 2016 and now serves as director of the Respect Life Apostolate of the Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs, said that though she wasn’t there that day, she remembers the tense moments, fear and updates from colleagues who were.

A traditional gathering of protesters who met regularly to celebrate a sidewalk Mass outside the clinic on Fridays with Father Carmody had only just dispersed – due to snow and worsening weather – when gunfire erupted inside the building, Bailey said. 

“They would usually have stayed there and continued to pray after the Rosary and after the Mass, but they did not because that was how hard it was snowing,” she said. 

Bailey also recalled how Father Carmody told her he’d received a call from the manager of Planned Parenthood, with whom he had developed a relationship despite their ideological differences.

“She was devastated. He was devastated,” Bailey said. ”We’re on technically opposite sides of the coin, right? But it was a devastating event. It’s still a devastating event to know that that kind of violence happened in our town.”

DECADE OF LIMBO

Dear’s criminal case had been stuck in limbo since shortly after his arrest in 2015 due to competency concerns and a delusional disorder diagnosis. At that time, a 4th Judicial District judge said Dear’s understanding of things was “not rational” or “grounded in reality.”

Dear has never denied his actions. From the beginning, he was vocal about his guilt.

“I’m guilty — there’s no trial!” Dear said during one of his initial state hearings in 2015.

After other restoration efforts failed, a September 2022 ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn allowed Dear to be forcibly medicated. The decision was met with an appeal by Dear’s attorneys, but a June 2023 ruling by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Blackburn’s decision.

Another motion filed by Dear’s attorneys in August 2024 to allow defense counsel to argue the case a second time in front of the 10th Circuit was denied. Then, in late February, Blackburn ruled the antipsychotic treatment plan for Dear may be enacted “involuntarily and forcibly, if necessary,” according to court records

Dear returned to the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners (MCFP) located in Springfield, Mo., on April 10 to start medication. However, on Aug. 8, an evaluator found him still to be incompetent, determining that he is likely unrestorable “for the foreseeable future.” 

Despite the finding, the prosecution did not move to dismiss the case.

On the federal level, Dear faced 65 counts of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and three counts of use of a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death, according to a late-2019 indictment. For his state case, he faced 179 charges, three of which were sentence enhancers.

At Dear’s most recent federal hearing, it was revealed that forced medication had been unproductive. However, the prosecution did not move to dismiss the charges, as is often the case for defendants found to be unrestorable.

At the September hearing, a federal judge granted a joint motion requesting that Dear be civilly committed to a mental health facility. Evaluations then began to determine the proper final location for his civil commitment, which was expected to be a Federal Bureau of Prisons site. 

He died while at the MCFP in Springfield. As of Tuesday evening, details about the manner and circumstances of his death had not been released.

Even had he not died, Dear’s case likely would never have been subject to a Colorado loophole that opens a path for individuals criminally charged with violent crimes to be released – if they are deemed “incompetent to proceed” through the legal process, and “un-restorable.”

One recent local case of this happening was the story of Joel Lang, who was charged with killing Kristy Kerst in a parking lot in Monument last November. Lang allegedly hit Kerst with his car after a minor fender bender and dragged her hundreds of feet, killing her and later going on to turn himself in.

Lang was deemed incompetent to proceed and unlikely to be restored due to a childhood traumatic brain injury, prompting the dismissal of his case, leaving behind a grieving family who say they received no justice.

Garrett Swasey’s window said she hopes Colorado lawmakers step up to close that loophole, so future families might be spared such redoubled trauma and pain.

“We are taking time to honor Garrett’s memory, bravery, and sacrifice at this 10-year mark of the end of his watch and to thank those who bravely protect our community,” wrote his widow, who now goes by Rachel Swasey Lynch, in a written statement shared with The Gazette. 

“Our family is thankful for the community who has cared for us and still remembers Garrett’s life and service,” she wrote. But “(it) is evident by other cases that have appeared in the media that the competency laws and process in our state are broken and in dire need of change.”