Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Bullet Fired at Women's Clinic

By Rozanna M. Martinez
Journal Staff Writer
       Rio Rancho's Planned Parenthood was the target of vandalism again this weekend after someone fired a gun at the clinic's window.
    A similar incident happened at the clinic in May.
    Sandoval County Regional dispatch was alerted to an audible alarm at the clinic on Ridgecrest Drive about 11:45 p.m. Saturday, according to a dispatch log. The clinic's alarm company advised dispatch that the alarm was triggered by the clinic's front glass window being broken.
    When police arrived, they found the clinic secure, but discovered a bullet hole in the front window about 6 feet off the ground, Rio Rancho police Lt. Noel Adams said. The bullet broke into fragments, so police were unable to recover the full projectile.
    Rio Rancho officers have been notified of the incident and will be doing extra patrols in the area around the clinic, according to Adams.
    In May, the clinic was also shot at with a bullet or other high-velocity projectile, creating a small hole in one of the windows. The incident occurred after the clinic closed for the day.
    Police found what appeared to be bullet fragments inside the building as well as outside near the window that had the hole.
    Messages such as "Pro-Choice = Murder" and "Baby Killers" also had been spray-painted onto the windows. A vandal was captured on surveillance video spray-painting messages on the windows. No one has been arrested.
    A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood told the Journal in May that the Rio Rancho clinic is a contraceptive clinic and that no abortions are performed there.
    Those responsible for the acts on Saturday and in May face criminal damage to property and vandalism charges, according to police. They could face jail time if convicted.
    In addition to local laws against vandalism and shooting at reproductive health service clinics, there are federal charges that violators face.
    Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to call police at 891-7226.