Colo. shooter previously charged with animal cruelty, eavesdropping

By Rudy Takala, Rudy Takala

Published December 20, 2015

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The man arrested for killing three in Colorado on Friday faced several charges for animal cruelty and "eavesdropping or peeping" in 2002.

The 57-year-old gunman, Robert Lewis Dear, faced the charges in Colleton County, S.C. They included two counts of animal cruelty and one count of eavesdropping, according to court documents. However, all of the charges were dismissed.

Dear allegedly killed three people over the course of a standoff at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs on Friday, including one police officer, before surrendering. Authorities did not immediately release information on what may have prompted the incident.