James Charles Kopp
| James Charles Kopp | |
|---|---|
James Charles Kopp
|
|
| FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive | |
| Charges | Murder, Violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) act |
| Description | |
| Born |
August 2, 1954 Pasadena, California |
| Status | |
| Added | June 7, 1999 |
| Caught | March 30, 2001 |
| Number | 455 |
| Captured | |
James Charles Kopp (born August 2, 1954) is an American citizen who was convicted in 2003 for the 1998 sniper-style murder of Barnett Slepian, an American physician from Amherst, New York who performed abortions. Prior to his capture, Kopp was on the FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. On June 7, 1999 he had become the 455th fugitive placed on the list by the FBI. He was affiliated with the militant Roman Catholic anti-abortion group known as "The Lambs of Christ".
He has been referred to as a terrorist by the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, and was "well-known in militant anti-abortion circles, where he was nicknamed Atomic Dog".
James Charles Kopp was born in Pasadena, California and raised Lutheran, but later converted to Roman Catholicism. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1976, with a bachelor's degree in Biology, going on to take a master's degree in Embryology from California State University Fullerton. Kopp started providing support to anti-abortion groups after his girlfriend underwent an abortion, and used his technical abilities to create special locks that protesters then used on the doors of abortion clinics.
On October 23, 1998, at approximately 10 p.m., Barnett Slepian was standing in the kitchen of his home in Amherst, New York. Kopp fired a single shot from a rifle from a nearby wooded area, which entered the Slepian home through a rear window. Slepian was a well-known obstetrician/gynecologist who performed abortions at a women's clinic in Buffalo, New York. He also maintained a private medical practice in an office in Amherst, New York. Within hours of the murder, anti-abortion militants posted Slepian's name crossed out on their internet website, which also served as "a virtual hit list of doctors who carry out abortions".
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