(CNN) -- Authorities have charged an Owosso, Michigan, man with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder in the Friday shooting deaths of an anti-abortion activist and another man, a prosecutor's office said.
Authorities say the suspect, Harlan James Drake, was offended by anti-abortion material that the activist had displayed across from the school all week.
Drake, 33, is accused of shooting anti-abortion activist Jim Pouillon, 63, and Michael Fuoss, 61, who were killed in separate locations Friday morning, the prosecutor's office in Shiawassee County said.
Authorities also have charged Drake with a felony firearm count and carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent, the prosecutor's office said.
Drake also is suspected of "attempting to locate a third victim without success," the office said.
He was arraigned Friday and is being held without bail, the office said. It was not immediately known whether he had an attorney.
Pouillon, whose anti-abortion activity was well-known in the area, was protesting across the street from Owosso High School about 7:20 a.m. Friday when he was killed by several shots fired from a passing vehicle, Owosso Police Chief Michael Compeau said. VideoWatch Compeau talk about the incident ยป
Several people witnessed the shooting, and one was able to provide a license number, he said.
About an hour later, Owosso police officers found the suspect, Compeau said.
"At the time of his arrest, the suspect made statements that he was involved in another homicide in Shiawassee County the same day," he said.
Sheriff George Braidwood said a call had come to a 911 dispatch center about 8:17 a.m. saying that an employee at Fuoss Gravel, outside Owosso, had discovered the owner, Michael Fuoss, dead. He had been shot several times, Braidwood said.
Authorities believe that Fuoss and the suspect knew each other, Braidwood said.
According to Sara Edwards of the county prosecutor's office, authorities do not believe that Drake knew Pouillon.
Operation Save America, the anti-abortion group of which Pouillon was a member, said in a written statement that he was "well known for his love of Christ and unborn children."
The Owosso school district went into immediate lockdown after the shooting outside of the high school and remained so until the suspect was in custody, Compeau said
The high school's administration offered parents the option of picking up their children, he said. All after-school activities were canceled, he added.
Owosso, a town of about 15,000 people, is about 25 miles west of Flint, Michigan.
13 Comments
DraxInteresting times.
PaybackSo... 81st and 84th trimester abortions?
moodonia*brief
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NordlichReiterI have been wanting to type the following for a long time. I just hope that I can compose the next few lines properly.
Shooting some one who stands no chance, no proper chance, in being given the option to defend themselves is the most base definition of cowardly. This goes for all things, most especially unmanned drones, and suicide bombings.
The days of a killer seeing what they have wrought are over. They have no understanding of how a persons dies. To actually see the wounding, the subsequent expulsion of vital fluids, the dilation of the victims pupils, and the contortions of pain, should be enough to know that killing any one is a complete waste.
If you cant get along in the collective then keep it to yourself. The sentence before this was typed by an individualist, secular humanist, and a Libertarian.
Violence does not solve any thing. Compromise, Education, and understanding is what the Republic was founded on. So that the "Crazies" could be heard. To the murderer, Fuck you for stifling free speech.
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TheFreak>> ^NordlichReiter:
...To actually see the wounding, the subsequent expulsion of vital fluids, the dilation of the victims pupils, and the contortions of pain, should be enough to know that killing any one is a complete waste.
Which is why I say that the death penalty should not exist without compulsory viewing by all citizens of the public execution of the condemned.
If anyone is going to support the death penalty then it should be with the full understanding of what they are advocating. This is not a statement of condemnation or support for the death penalty, just an inconvenient fact.
JiggaJonson*beg
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Sniper007says...>> ^NordlichReiter:
I have been wanting to type the following for a long time. I just hope that I can compose the next few lines properly.
Shooting some one who stands no chance, no proper chance, in being given the option to defend themselves is the most base definition of cowardly. This goes for all things, most especially unmanned drones, and suicide bombings.
The days of a killer seeing what they have wrought are over. They have no understanding of how a persons dies. To actually see the wounding, the subsequent expulsion of vital fluids, the dilation of the victims pupils, and the contortions of pain, should be enough to know that killing any one is a complete waste.
If you cant get along in the collective then keep it to yourself. The sentence before this was typed by an individualist, secular humanist, and a Libertarian.
Violence does not solve any thing. Compromise, Education, and understanding is what the Republic was founded on. So that the "Crazies" could be heard. To the murderer, Fuck you for stifling free speech.
Well spoken, NordlichReiter.
As to the defensive ability of the victim, Jim Pouillon was elderly, overweight, and connected to an oxygen tank constantly, including at the time of his death. If anyone was helpless against an assailant, it was Jim Pouillon. However, Jim Pouillon would disagree. Jim believed that there was a group who was more defenseless, who was more worthy to be loved and defended: Babies.
The attitude of the friends and of Jim has been consistent towards James Drake. They wish to speak to him, to share with him the same world view and belief system held by Jim. They wish him all the Love and hope for his repentance, for truly, James Drake did no damage to Jim. (Jim was more than his flesh and his blood, and Jim knew this.) James Drake has damaged himself and the world for removing such a man from our presence.
quantumushroom*dead
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