A man was arrested yesterday at a truck stop in Western Maryland after some of his friends told the police he planned to bomb an abortion clinic. According to the Washington Post, Robert F. Weiler, a convicted felon, confessed to planning the attack and concealing the bomb at a home in Riverdale Heights. Police searching the Riverdale Heights house found a pipe bomb filled with nails, and they found a loaded pistol in the glove compartment of his car, the Post reports. “He admitted that the firearm he possessed was to be utilized to shoot doctors who performed abortions,” said Mike Campbell, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), according to the Baltimore Sun.
Weiler served a 60-day jail sentence in Utah for disobeying an officer’s orders and leading police on a 21-mile chase, and he was charged with a concealed weapon offense in Maryland in 2002, the Post reports. The target of the attack was the Metropolitan Family Planning Institute in College Park, Maryland, according to the Sun. A clinic employee who asked not to be identified said that although the staff is scared of being hurt in an attack, “We believe in freedom of choice. We believe women can make that choice. We are here to help them,” according to the Post.
