Baltimore police investigating reported vicious assault on pro-life activists outside Planned Parenthood

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The Baltimore Police Department tells Fox News Digital it is investigating a reported assault in which two pro-life activists allegedly were attacked outside a Planned Parenthood clinic by an unknown suspect who apparently opposed their stance on abortion. 

The victims targeted outside the facility on North Howard Street on Friday were identified by LifeSiteNews as Mark Crosby and Dick Schaefer. 

"One of our volunteers, Mark Crosby, was brutally beaten on May 26, 2023, while he was praying in front of the Planned Parenthood in Baltimore City," Jay Walton, the president of the Baltimore County Right to Life chapter, wrote on a GoFundMe page. "Mark is currently in the hospital being treated for the serious injuries he sustained." 

"For years, Mark has prayed in front of the Planned Parenthood in Baltimore City to let the scared, young abortion-minded women know that they are loved, that their baby is loved," Walton added. 

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A Baltimore police officer, in a report, said the unidentified suspect was "observed about to turn away" before rushing at an 80-year-old pro-life activist outside this Planned Parenthood clinic and tackling him "over a large flowerpot." (Google Maps)

Images posted on Walton’s Facebook page purportedly showed Crosby, who was wearing a shirt with the message "Pro Life," with swelling over his eye and blood covering his face following the attack. 

In a redacted police report, a Baltimore police officer said one of the victims, who is 73, told investigators he was standing outside the Planned Parenthood clinic Friday morning "in support of Pro-life ideals when an unidentified [white male] attacked another member of the same beliefs as [him]." 

The individual "stated that he immediately went to assist and was struck by the suspect and fell to the ground where he was struck in the face," the report said. 

Police say the other victim, who is 80 and suffered a laceration on his hand, "advised the suspect had approached volunteer members of the Planned Parenthood and spoke with them before directing his attention to him.  

That victim said "the suspect spoke with him in an aggressive manner, opposing [his] pro-life ideals and without warning tackled him into a large flowerpot," the report continued. 

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The president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Maryland told WBAL that it is "unfortunate that there was an incident that occurred outside our health center." (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

It also noted that several witnesses saw the assault unfold, with one telling investigators that the "conversation between the suspect and [80-year-old victim] was a debate over their ideas about pro-life and pro-choice viewpoints." 

Video footage reviewed by the officer showed the suspect punching the 73-year-old victim in the head as he was lying on the ground before kicking him with "extreme force" in the face, the report added. 

The suspect, according to police, was last seen on security cameras several blocks away and is described as wearing a "gray T-shirt, blue jeans, brown shoes with brown hair and a full beard." 

The 73-year-old victim "was diagnosed with a large hematoma, hyphemia, and head and neck pain but [is] in stable condition," police also said. 

Walton and Planned Parenthood did not immediately respond Wednesday to requests for comment from Fox News Digital. 

A Baltimore Police Department spokesman told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that police are investigating the incident, which is being described by authorities as a "reported assault." (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Police Department)

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In a statement to WBAL, Karen Nelson, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Maryland, said the organization "does not condone any violence, and I think it is unfortunate that there was an incident that occurred outside our health center. 

"It's a darn shame that folks who are trying to receive health care have to put up with remarks and comments when they are just trying to go into a facility and receive health care," she added.