murder of David Gunn

{{infobox person

| birth_date = {{birth date|1945|11|16}}

| birth_place = Tennessee, U.S.

| name = David Gunn

| image = DavidGunn(doctor)Image.jpg

| birth_name = David Lomond Gunn

| occupation = Physician

| alma_mater = Vanderbilt University
University of Kentucky

| death_date = {{death date and age|1993|3|10|1945|11|16}}

| death_place = Pensacola, Florida, U.S.

| death_cause = Gunshot wounds

}}

On March 10, 1993, Dr. David Gunn was fatally shot by anti-abortion extremist Michael Frederick Griffin in Pensacola, Florida. It was the first documented killing of an obstetrics and gynaecology doctor where the stated intention of the perpetrator was to prevent a doctor from providing abortion care in an act of anti-abortion violence in the United States.{{Cite book |last=Kushner |first=Harvey |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780761924081/page/154 |title=Encyclopedia of Terrorism |publisher=SAGE Publications |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7619-2408-1 |location=University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780761924081/page/154 154] |quote=In 1993... Griffin became the first activist to murder an abortion provider, ushering in a new level of terrorism in the abortion wars. |author-link=Harvey Kushner |url-access=registration}}

A jury deliberated three hours before finding Griffin guilty on March 4, 1994. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, which he is serving at Blackwater River Correctional Facility in Milton, Florida.[http://www.dc.state.fl.us/ActiveInmates/detail.asp?Bookmark=4&From=list&SessionID=310249 Florida DoC Details] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605063043/http://www.dc.state.fl.us/ActiveInmates/detail.asp?Bookmark=4&From=list&SessionID=740459946# |date=2011-06-05 }}, dc.state.fl.us; accessed November 6, 2014. In November 2017, the Florida Commission on Offender Review set Griffin's tentative release date for March 4, 2043.{{cite web|url=http://www.pnj.com/story/news/2017/10/31/parole-hearing-set-today-convicted-murderer-pensacola-abortion-doctor/819716001/|title=Michael Griffin, murderer of Pensacola abortion doctor David Gunn, is denied parole|publisher=Pensacola News Journal |date=November 1, 2017}}{{Cite web |last=Reedy |first=Joe |title=Man who killed Alabama abortion doctor told no parole until 2043 |url=https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/crime/2017/11/02/man-who-killed-alabama-abortion-doctor-told-no-parole-until-2043/824576001/ |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=The Montgomery Advertiser |language=en-US}}{{update inline|date=February 2025}}

Persons involved

David Gunn (November 16, 1945 – March 10, 1993)Florida, Death Index, 1877-1998 was an American physician. He received his bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University and earned his M.D. at the University of Kentucky. Gunn moved to Brewton, Alabama, after his residency, choosing to provide OB/GYN and abortion services in the rural United States.

{{Infobox criminal

| name = Michael Frederick Griffin

| image_name = Michael Griffin.jpg

| image_caption = Griffin's FDOC photo

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1961|09|11}}

| conviction = First degree murder

| conviction_penalty = Life imprisonment

| birth_place = United States

| conviction_status = Incarcerated in the Blackwater River Correctional Facility

| motive = Anti-abortion extremism

}}

Michael Frederick Griffin was 31 years old at the time of the shooting. The New York Times described Griffin as "a fundamentalist Christian and a loner with a bad temper".{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/14/us/the-clinic-gunman-and-the-victim-abortion-fight-reflected-in-2-lives.html |title=The Clinic Gunman and the Victim: Abortion Fight Reflected in 2 Lives |author=Sara Rimer |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 14, 1993 |access-date=2017-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428002621/http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/14/us/the-clinic-gunman-and-the-victim-abortion-fight-reflected-in-2-lives.html |archive-date=2017-04-28 |url-status=live }}

Shooting

On March 10, 1993, anti-abortion protesters had been demonstrating in front of Gunn's Pensacola Women's Medical Services clinic. Griffin waited outside, then ambushed Gunn by shooting him three times in the back with .38 pistol, shouting "Don't kill any more babies" before opening fire.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/abortviolence/stories/gunn.htm|title=Doctor Killed During Abortion Protest|author=William Booth|newspaper=Washington Post|date=March 11, 1993|accessdate=2007-04-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720141851/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/abortviolence/stories/gunn.htm|archive-date=2017-07-20|url-status=live}} Griffin did not deny his actions after shooting Gunn and told police "We need an ambulance."

Aftermath

Griffin claimed to be acting on behalf of God.{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/05/us/towering-over-the-abortion-foe-s-trial-his-leader.html | work=The New York Times | title=Towering Over the Abortion Foe's Trial: His Leader | first=Larry | last=Rohter | date=March 5, 1994 | accessdate=May 1, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511145500/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/05/us/towering-over-the-abortion-foe-s-trial-his-leader.html | archive-date=2011-05-11 | url-status=live }} During his trial, Griffin's lead defense attorney, Robert Kerrigan, argued that anti-abortion activist John Burt had brainwashed Griffin and drove him to commit murder. At the time, Burt was the Northwest Florida regional director of the national anti-abortion group Rescue America.{{Cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9807E2DC113AF936A35750C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1|title=Towering Over the Abortion Foe's Trial: His Leader|author=Larry Rohter|date=March 5, 1994|work=The New York Times|accessdate=2008-04-21}} Burt was also a former member of the Ku Klux Klan and self-professed "spiritual adviser" to a group of activists who bombed three abortion clinics in 1984. A jury deliberated three hours before finding Griffin guilty on March 4, 1994.

The murder was one of the motivating factors in the passing in 1994 of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act."Griffin trial first test of access laws", Palm Beach Post, October 3, 1994. From March 1993 through May 2009, Gunn was the first of a total of four doctors murdered by anti-abortion extremists. Others killed were doctors Barnett Slepian, John Britton and George Tiller. Gunn's murder also prompted Paul Jennings Hill to issue the Defensive Action Statement,[http://www.armyofgod.com/defense.html First Defensive Action Statement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605153455/http://www.armyofgod.com/defense.html# |date=2009-06-05 }}, armyofgod.com; accessed November 6, 2014. signed by 30 anti-abortion leaders, which stated their belief that the killing of doctors who provide abortions was justified.{{cite web |author=Donald Spitz |url=http://www.armyofgod.com/defense.html |title=Defensive Action Statement |publisher=Pro-Life Virginia |access-date=2012-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605153455/http://www.armyofgod.com/defense.html |archive-date=2009-06-05 |url-status=live }} Hill went on to murder physician John Britton and Britton's bodyguard in 1994.

Cultural references

In 1994, Gunn's murder inspired the first official single "Get Your Gunn" by alternative metal band Marilyn Manson. The lead singer, Marilyn Manson, explained in a 1999 Rolling Stone op-ed piece on the Columbine High School Massacre, that to him, Gunn's murder by "pro-life" activists was the ultimate hypocrisy he had witnessed as a young adult.{{Cite magazine |last=Manson |first=Marilyn |date=June 24, 1999 |title=Columbine: Whose Fault Is It? |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/columbine-whose-fault-is-it-232759/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406025916/https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/columbine-whose-fault-is-it-232759/ |archive-date=April 6, 2023 |access-date=July 11, 2023 |magazine=Rolling Stone}}