Anti-abortion group founder charged in Planned Parenthood shooting
The founder of an anti-abortion group has been charged in connection with a shooting outside a Planned Parenthood in South Carolina earlier this month.
Mark Baumgartner, 56, was arrested Tuesday in connection with the Nov. 14 incident, in which a man was shot during a confrontation outside Columbia Planned Parenthood, according to local police. Baumgartner allegedly pepper-sprayed and then shot the victim when the argument became physical.
Video of the incident recorded by a bystander shows Baumgartner in a high-visibility vest spraying something in the man’s face and running away. The other man then begins chasing Baumgartner across a parking lot and punching him as they fall to the ground, before a third man intervenes and jumps on the victim’s back.
The second man breaks free and appears to be preparing to throw a punch when a gunshot is heard. Baumgartner can then be seen brandishing a handgun before the video ends.
The unidentified victim was hospitalized in questionable condition, but has since been released, police said.
After reviewing surveillance video and speaking with several witnesses, cops charged Baumgartner with battery of a high and aggravated nature, as well as possession of a weapon during a violent crime. The first charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, while the second carries a mandatory five-year sentence that can be served concurrently or consecutively if convicted.
Baumgartner was booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on Tuesday, but was released later in the day after posting $50,000 cash bail, according to local ABC affiliate WPDE. He was also ordered to stay away from the clinic and not contact the victim.
Baumgartner is the founder and executive director of A Moment of Hope, an anti-abortion group based in Colombia. The organization primarily protests outside the Planned Parenthood clinic and offers “curbside counseling” to people who enter.
“No one should ever face the threat of violence because they seek or provide health care,” Paige Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, said in a statement Tuesday following Baumgartner’s arrest. “Gun violence in all its forms is a public health epidemic that threatens the health and safety of our communities. … Our doors remain open, and they will stay open so that patients can receive the compassionate care they need and deserve.”
The organization said it has increased security at the Columbia clinic.
