Colo. Planned Parenthood Shooting Suspect Receives Murder Charge in Court

The 57-year-old suspected of opening fire on a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado last week was told by a judge on Monday that he will be facing a murder charge.

Robert L. Dear, Jr. of Hartsel, Colorado stood before Judge Gilvert Anthony Martinez on Monday via closed circuit television from the El Paso County criminal justice center to hear the charges.

Dear is being charged with the murder of three victims, including a police officer, who were present when Dear entered the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic last Friday and began opening fire in what turned out to be a five-hour standoff.

"The initial charge is murder in the first degree," the judge reportedly announced on Monday, adding "The penalty is a minimum of life in prison and a maximum of death."

Dear reportedly wore a vest meant to prevent suicide as he appeared before Judge Martinez on the closed circuit television.

Following Dear's arrest on Friday, those who survived the Planned Parenthood shooting have described the scene that claimed three lives.

61-year-old Ozy Licano told CBS News that Dear had allegedly aimed his rifle at him but then missed.

"When I stared at him, I saw this stone-cold emptiness, and I look right at him, and then, you know, he shot," Licano told the media outlet.

Neighbors of Dear have also spoken to media outlets, describing the six-foot-four-inch tall man as reserved, but not appearing to be dangerous.

"He was really strange and out there, but I never thought he would do any harm," John Hood, a former neighbor of Dear's from South Carolina, told NBC News.