Shooting Outside Indiana Planned Parenthood (UPDATED)
An Indiana Planned Parenthood has become the scene of a violent incident, when an officer shot a truck driver outside the clinic Monday. However, "[o]fficials said they don't believe there is any connection to the Planned Parenthood," according to reports.
UPDATE, Monday, 8:45 p.m.: NBC Chicago has more details on the incident outside the Merillville clinic. A police officer reportedly shot a truck driver outside the facility. “Officials said they don’t believe there is any connection to the Planned Parenthood,” the news organization reports.
Police are reporting that a shooting occurred Monday at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Merillville, Indiana. The incident could be the second targeted attack of a Planned Parenthood in the state in less than six weeks.
According to NBC Chicago, “a woman [at the clinic] who answered the phone confirmed there was a shooting but declined to say if it was inside or outside the facility.” The news affiliate reports that the building was surrounded by police after “an incident involving the driver of a tractor trailer.”
A Bloomington, Indiana, Planned Parenthood was attacked last month by a man wielding an ax. He caused structural damage to the building and vandalized it with red paint. The man, who said he attacked the clinic because of his “religious beliefs,” was arrested and no one was harmed, as the clinic was closed at the time.
Both the Bloomington and Merillville clinics provide abortion care. Planned Parenthood has been at the center of the anti-choice legislative agenda over the last few years. In 2011, then Gov. Mitch Daniels attempted to defund the organization in the state, before being blocked by the courts. This year, the Indiana legislature passed SB 371 specifically to force one clinic in the area to stop offering abortions. That bill was signed into law by Republican Gov. Mike Pence last month.