Abortion doctor killed outside his church in Kansas

Update: 6/01/09

Authorities in Kansas, identified the shooter as Scott Roeder from Kansas City.

Roeder was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, and is currently being held without bond in the Sedgwick County Adult Detention Facility.

Update: 6:25 p.m.

An unidentified 51-year-old man was arrested about 170 miles away the shooting scene three hours after he allegedly killed Dr. Tiller.

Tiller had just finished serving as an usher in his church when he was murdered.

Dr. Tiller’s wife, Jeanne, who was in the choir when her husband was shot, released a statement calling her husband’s death an unspeakable tragedy, saying, “This is particularly heart-wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace.”

She said that her husband’s death is a “loss for the city of Wichita and women across America. George dedicated his life to providing women with high-quality health care despite frequent threats and violence.”

A Wichita, Kansas doctor, whose women’s clinic has been targeted by anti-abortion protestors for years, was shot and killed outside his church this morning.

Dr. George Tiller, 67, one of the few U.S. doctors who still performed late-term abortions, was killed outside Reformation Lutheran Church around 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, officials confirmed.

In March, Dr. Tiller was acquitted of 19 counts of performing procedures unlawfully at his clinic.

In 1993, Shelly Shannon, an ardent foe of abortion, was convicted in the shooting of Dr. Tiller outside his clinic and she is currently serving a 20-year sentence in a federal prison.

If Dr. Tiller was killed because of his work, he would be the fourth U.S. doctor killed by abortion opponents since 1993.

Wichita police are searching for a powder-blue Ford Taurus in connection to the killing.