Pro-lifer gunned down while protesting (OneNewsNow.com)

Pro-lifer gunned down while protesting

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 9/11/2009 11:50:00 AM

Updated 9/11/2009 1:30 PM

A long-time pro-life activist in Owosso, Michigan, has been shot to death.

Michigan Sixty-three-year-old James Pouillon had conducted informational pro-life demonstrations throughout the area for years, becoming known by locals as "the abortion sign guy." Owosso Police Chief Michael Compeau says Pouillon was gunned down as he demonstrated across the street from a high school around 7:20 a.m. Friday.

"It appears to be some kind of a semi-automatic gun. It was fired from inside the vehicle," he explains. "We could not tell if it was a long gun or a hand gun because it was fired from inside the vehicle."

Chief Compeau was asked if Pouillon was victimized by a random shooting or if he was specifically targeted. "I would speculate it was an intended," he contends. "He was out protesting right across the street from the high school at 7:20 this morning, and there were multiple people around there and that person was targeted."

Pastor Matt Trewhella of Missionaries to the Preborn, which is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has crossed paths several times with Pouillon during previous pro-life tours. In an interview with LifeSiteNews.com, he describes Pouillon as "a selfless, soft-spoken, kind-hearted man," and that "all who knew him, knew this."

According to Trewhella, Pouillon had been part of the pro-life movement for 15 years. "He saw photographs of murdered pre-born many years ago, and he could no longer sit by and do nothing," the pro-life leader explains. "And so he regularly, routinely went out at schools and other events to make known the injustice that these pre-born children are suffering."

Trewhella shares that sometimes Pouillon struggled to conduct the informational pickets. "He was on an oxygen tank because of physical problems, and yet he would drag his tank with him everywhere -- and often he'd go out by himself onto the streets in order to speak out for the pre-born," he states. "His desire was simply that people would have some compassion for these pre-born children."

A photo at the scene shows Puillon's car, and on the ground his oxygen tank and pro-life sign.

The school went into lockdown after the shooting, but it was reopened after a 33-year-old unidentified suspect was arrested. No other information or motive has been released. Compeau says the suspect told police he was involved in another shooting at a nearby gravel pit business that was reported earlier. A man identified as Mike Fuoss was found dead in his office at the gravel pit.