The gunman accused of killing three people during a gun attack at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado is due to make a court appearance Monday.

Robert Lewis Dear, 57, is expected to be advised of the charges against him. He will likely face multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.

He has been held in custody without bond since his arrest.

The attack last Friday triggered an hours-long gunbattle and standoff with police in Colorado Springs leaving one police officer and two other victims dead. Nine people were also wounded.

Police have not disclosed a motive for the attack. Dear was described by acquaintances as a loner who had past run-ins with law enforcement in Colorado and earlier in North Carolina.[xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]

Police sources were later quoted as saying Dear uttered the words “no more baby parts” — an apparent reference to abortions performed at some clinics — as he was led away from Friday’s crime scene.

Controversy has swirled for years around Planned Parenthood clinics across much of the country, with critics pointing to branches that perform abortions. Supporters argue that the bulk of the organization’s work centers on providing family planning services, screenings for sexually transmitted diseases and general health consultations.

In August, about 300 Colorado Springs residents opposed to abortion protested at the Centennial Boulevard clinic as part of a nationwide demonstration over a video that purportedly showed organization employees discussing the sale of fetal tissue. The video has since been discredited.

Some abortion opponents have resorted to violence against U.S. clinics and medical practitioners that provide abortion services; several have been hit by arsonists and bombers. At least two doctors have been murdered by anti-abortion activists, the most recent in 2009, when a doctor in Kansas was slain because he performed abortions.

Source: VOA News [xyz-ihs snippet=”Adversal-468×60″]

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  colorado, court, killing, murder, planned parenthood, robert lewis dear