Man Who Allegedly Shot 84-Year-Old Pro-Life Activist: ‘It Was an Accident’

The Michigan man who allegedly shot an 84-year-old woman pro-life activist after a heated discussion claims that he shot her by accident.

On Monday, Breitbart News reported that Right to Life Michigan said in a press release that the woman was “shot in the back/shoulder while leaving a residence during a heated conversation, and that the man who shot her was not a part of her conversation.” The shooting allegedly occurred last Tuesday.

“The victim does not know the identity or motive of her shooter. The victim is still recovering from her gunshot wound and wishes to remain anonymous while the criminal investigation proceeds,” the release said.

“The case is being investigated by the Michigan State Police, who will forward the investigation’s results to the Ionia County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. We have no more details to release at this time,” it added.

Michigan State Police told Fox News that the woman had been previously passing out pamphlets before the heated discussion and subsequent gunshot. Police confirmed that she was shot in the shoulder and that she was released from the hospital following treatment. Her case remains open.

“We’re glad the victim is recovering, and our volunteers will continue knocking doors on Proposal 3,” Right to Life of Michigan official Chris Gast told Fox News.

One of our 84-year-old volunteers said she was shot in the back/shoulder on Tuesday while going door-to-door in her town of Lake Odessa to talk about Proposal 3. She doesn't know who shot her, or why. That's all we know right now. https://t.co/PmlzHONDHE

— Right to Life of MI (@Right_to_Life) September 24, 2022

The man, now identified as 74-year-old Richard Harvey, told reporters this week that the gunshot occurred after the woman had been arguing with his wife.

“I came out and she (the volunteer) is screaming and having a great old time, and being told, I’m sure I heard at least a dozen times, ‘You’re trespassing, get off the property,'” he told WoodTV on Tuesday.

His wife, Sharon Harvey, said that she began arguing with the woman over Proposal 3, which aims to “write a broad new right to ‘reproductive freedom’ into the Michigan Constitution, invaliding a 1931 abortion ban and potentially other existing regulations,” according to Bridge Michigan.

“This lady comes up to me, knocks on my door, and says she’s from some coalition to save women and babies,” Sharon Harvey said. “She needed me to vote no on Proposal 3.”

“I told her I can’t do that and she says, ‘Well, you have to.’ I says, ‘No, I don’t. It’s not going to happen,'” Sharon added. “I told her I had a four-and-a-half month tubal pregnancy, and she says, ‘Well, you survived, didn’t you?'”

Sharon said that the argument only escalated from there as the woman allegedly would not take no for an answer.

“She would not take the fact that I was going to vote yes on Proposal 3 as an answer,” she said. “She didn’t care. She didn’t care. I told her, I says, ‘Women are going to die. I nearly died.’ She says, ‘Well you didn’t, did you?'”

“I says, ‘You need to go. Just go.’ She says, ‘Well, I have a right to be here.’ ‘No you don’t; you need to go. You need to go now. Get off my property,'” she added.

As the argument allegedly got “louder,” Sharon’s husband then exited the barn with his .22 caliber rifle and fired a warning shot into the pine tree.

“She (the volunteer) is still ranting and raving and she’s got this clipboard. She’s waving it around. I’m thinking she’s going to smack Sharon with it. So without thinking, I went to club it away with the rifle and my finger was still in the trigger guard. It went off and hit her about in here,” he told reporters.

“I shot somebody. It was an accident,” he concluded.

Michigan State Police will be investigating the incident while Ionia County Prosecutor Kyle Butler decides on whether or not to file charges.

Right to Life Michigan maintains that the pro-life activist woman, who wishes to remain unidentified at this time, acted peacefully and was shot in the back while walking away.

“No one should fear violence while peacefully exercising their constitutionally protected right to free speech. The 84-year old woman is hardly imposing, standing about 5-feet tall. The idea that shooting this woman is at all excusable is a dangerous claim for Americans across the country who engage in peaceful door-to-door canvassing,” the organization said.

the violent incident comes as pro-lifers and crisis pregnancy clinics have been repeatedly threatened with violence and subjected to acts of vandalism in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade this past June. As Breitbart News editor-in-chief Alex Marlow profiled in his series “Summer of Rage,” the Joe Biden administration repeatedly ignored these threats and attacks:

On June 25, 2022 alone, the day after Roe v. Wade was overturned, there were attacks on eight churches, eight pregnancy centers, and a government building.

These attacks have generated minimal acknowledgement, much less a response, from the Biden administration and federal law enforcement, who steadfastly track–and prosecute–incidents targeting abortion providers.

Radical pro-abortion activists like Ruth Sent Us routinely trade in anti-Christian rhetoric. Jane’s Revenge, which has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks nationwide, has repeatedly targeted church-affiliated pregnancy centers and churches. Ruth Sent Us, which made headlines organizing protests at the homes of Supreme Court justices, specifically targeted the “six extremist Catholics” on the Supreme Court (though Justice Gorsuch was raised Catholic, he is thought be a practicing Protestant). The group encouraged followers outside of the Washington, D.C., area to demonstrate “at or in a local Catholic Church.”