WICHITA - George Tiller, the Wichita doctor who became a national lightning rod in the debate over abortion, was shot to death this morning as he walked into church services.
Tiller, 67, was shot just after 10 a.m. at Reformation Lutheran Church at 7601 E. 13th, where he was a member of the congregation. Witnesses and a police source confirmed Tiller was the victim.
No information has been released about whether a suspect is in custody.
Homicide detectives and Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston have arrived at the church.
Members of the congregation who were inside the sanctuary at the time of the shooting were being kept inside the church by police, and those arriving were being ushered into the parking lot. Witnesses are being transported downtown for interviews and other members of the congregation are slowly being released from inside the sanctuary.
Tiller has long been a focal point of protest by abortion opponents because his clinic, Women's Health Care Services at 5701 E. Kellogg, is one of the few in the country where late-term abortions are performed.
Protesters blockaded Tiller's clinic during Operation Rescue's "Summer of Mercy" protests during the summer of 1991, and Tiller was shot by Rachelle Shannon at his clinic in 1993.
Now for some odd reason when a situation like this happens and its obvious that a right wing extremist was involved the mainstream media decides to leave that little bit of information out. They never seem to want to make the connection between extreme elements on the right wing of the country and domestic terrorism no matter how obvious it is. You saw it with the right wing cop killer in Pittsburgh and you saw it with the right wing cop killer in Florida. While the local coverage had tons of information about the perpetrators right wing extremist pasts the national mainstream media tended to avoid that subject all together.
And in the meantime people continue to lose their lives to these assholes.
Andrew Sullivan has a great write up that includes a Bill O'Reilly segment that mentions Tiller by name. This was horrible news to wake up to.
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