VANCOUVER, B.C. -- A sniper armed with an assault rifle took cover behind garbage cans in a residential neighborhood here yesterday, then opened fire on a doctor who performs abortions as he sat in his kitchen having breakfast.
The shots shattered a sliding glass patio door window, and one bullet struck gynecologist Garson Romalis in the upper leg. The wound caused extensive damage to a thigh bone and an artery, a Vancouver Hospital spokeswoman said.
Dr. Romalis, 58, was in serious condition last night.
His wife and daughter were home when three shots shattered the early morning quiet of their affluent, tree-lined neighborhood in this city's west end.
The assailant got away. Police said that an AK-47 assault rifle was used in the attack but that the weapon had not been recovered.
Police Inspector Dave Boyd said bullet casings were found in the lane behind the house.
"It's fairly obvious that this was planned," Inspector Boyd said.
The shooting provoked shock, outrage and fear among members of the medical profession in British Columbia.
"Gary's very well thought of in the medical community," said Dr. Brad Fritz, a family physician in Vancouver and a past president of the British Columbia Medical Association.
While Dr. Romalis had been the target of some earlier anti-abortion demonstrations, Dr. Fritz said no one expected it could escalate into the kind of violent attacks that have been characteristic of the abortion debate in the United States.
"There's never been much in the way of [anti-abortion] violence here," he said. "I guess you never think it's going to happen until it happens. It's an outrage."
Abortion is legal in Canada, and Dr. Fritz said that in Vancouver, several free-standing clinics specialize in serving women seeking abortions. Other women seek them in hospitals or at general service clinics.
He said it wouldn't be surprising if fewer physicians were willing to provide care at the free-standing clinics.
Dr. Romalis works at the Women's Health Centre and the Elizabeth Bagshaw Clinic in Vancouver. Police immediately tightened security around both.
Abortion protesters have picketed the doctor's house in the past, a family friend said yesterday.
Neighbors said they were awake and getting ready to go to work or take their children to school when they heard gunshots.
"I heard two shots, very close together and very, very loud," said Pauline Gibson, who lives behind the doctor's home. A narrow alley separates the two homes.
Vancouver Police Constable Ann Drennan said investigators believe three shots were fired. The gunman fired from the alley into the doctor's home, a distance of about 45 feet.
Ms. Gibson said she was in her daughter's room, getting the child ready for school, when the shots rang out.
"I looked out and didn't see anything," she said.
Thinking it was nearby construction work or the garbage truck that she had heard, Ms. Gibson did not call police. About 10 minutes later, she heard an ambulance siren, and her son yelled that police with dogs were in their yard.
Another neighbor, Diana Maughan, said she heard gunfire at 7:15 a.m.
"This is a tragedy," she said. "It's not something you like to think can happen in your neighborhood."
She described Dr. Romalis as a "kind and wonderful person."
The shooting came less than a week after a Florida jury recommended the death penalty for Paul Hill, a militant anti-abortionist who shot and killed a doctor and his escort outside an abortion clinic in Pensacola July 29.
Another abortion doctor previously was gunned down in Pensacola.