WICHITA, Kan. - Dr. George Tiller's abortion clinic was closed Monday, as the Kansas City-area man arrested for his shooting death awaited formal charges in Wichita.
Scott Roeder, 51, of Merriam, Kan., is expected to be charged with first degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston said that police have not yet presented the case to her office and indicated that charges will not be filed Monday. Foulston noted that the state has 48 hours to decide whether to charge anyone who is in custody.
Authorities say Roeder fired one shot at Tiller in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church, where the doctor was serving as an usher, and threatened two people who tried to stop him.
An officer at Tiller’s clinic said Monday morning that it would remain closed for a week. Telephone messages left by the Associated Press for Tiller attorney Dan Monnat were not immediately returned.
Anti-abortion group Kansas Coalition for Life left a sign at the clinic that said, "We prayed for his conversion to a pro-life viewpoint, not his murder."
Tiller’s Wichita clinic is one of three in the nation where abortions are performed when the fetus is considered viable, and has been the site of repeated protests for about two decades. A protester shot Tiller in both arms in 1993, and his clinic was bombed in 1985.
Wichita Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz said that Tiller apparently did not have a bodyguard with him in church, although the doctor was routinely accompanied by one. An attorney for Tiller, Dan Monnat, said the doctor's wife, Jeanne, was in the choir at the time of the shooting.
Roeder was arrested without incident in Gardner, Kan., about three hours after the shooting.
According to the Associated Press, court records and internet postings show that someone using the name Scott Roeder has a criminal past and has expressed anti-abortion views on certain Web sites.
Officials believe Roeder acted alone but they are investigating any ties he may have to anti-abortion groups
He was being held without bail and was expected in court later this week.
