Thousands of people gathered to mourn a pro-life police officer Friday in Colorado Springs, after he gave his life defending people from a crazed gunman around a Planned Parenthood abortion facility.
The details paint the story of a man who was passionately dedicated to protecting and caring for other people.
“The love of my life gave his life without regret to be sure that others would live,” his wife, Rachel, said at the funeral, according to news reports. He also left behind two young children.
Rachel Swasey said her husband was focused on his Christian faith and his message to the world was “Put your faith in the Lord.” The 44-year-old also served as co-pastor of the family’s church, Hope Chapel, in Colorado Springs.
Larry Darnell, a police officer who worked with Swasey at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, said Swasey was not asked but instead volunteered to go to the abortion clinic when he heard that another officer had been shot, the AP reports.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper also spoke at the funeral, commending Swasey for courageously defending people’s lives.
“… in sacrificing his life for others, he has forever altered the lives of everyone here,” the governor said. “When a fellow officer needed him, when his community needed him, when God called him, he answered.”
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The Gazette reports that the church, which seats 5,000, was full and more people stood in the back; and hundreds more lined the streets outside the building.
Hundreds of students cheered as the hearse drove by the university on the way to the cemetery, according to the report. Though there were reports of students protesting the procession, the local news did not report details.
One small cardboard sign had a simple message: “Thank you,” according to the local news.
Family and friends of Officer Swasey have set up a memorial fund for his family to which people can contribute.
Also killed in the attack were two people who were accompanying friends to the clinic — Ke’Arre Stewart, 29, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and a father of two, and Jennifer Markovsky, 36, a mother of two who grew up in Hawaii in the tight-knit community of Waianae on Oahu.
A funeral for Markovsky is planned Saturday in Colorado Springs. Stewart will be buried in his hometown of Waco, Texas.
Though Swasey is reportedly pro-life and a Christian, many news outlets have failed to report it, as Newsbusters is reporting. The media is doing everything possible to blame pro-life advocates for the shooting last week around the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
Last week, alleged Colorado Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Lewis Dear appeared frazzled in his first court hearing following his arrest. Dear, 57-years-old and residing in Colorado and North Carolina, was arrested at the scene in connection with the violent shooting that claimed the lives of three people, including one police officer and injured 9 others, including multiple officers.
Dear reportedly mentioned “baby body parts” when arrested at the scene of the crime, but he has no connections with the pro-life movement and those who know him best say he was never interested in the issue of abortion.
As LifeNews has reported, the picture neighbors are painting of Robert Lewis Dear, who allegedly shot over a dozen people, is one of a “rambling and incoherent” loner who never talked about abortion.
Dear appears to have no association with the pro-life movement and those who know him say he is an awkward man who never discussed religion or abortion. The profile they paint is far from a caricature of a pro-life activist who has an issue with the Planned Parenthood abortion business and more of a loner or renegade who may have mental health issue and, at a minimum, is a bit “off.”
Planned Parenthood officials have confirmed none of the people killed in the shooting or 9 victims who were injured were Planned Parenthood abortion clinic staff or patients and authorities have released no motive for the shooter as to whether or not he actually targeted Planned Parenthood. And, according to the Associated Press, all of the shooting took place outside of the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, not in it.
