In Delaware, man arrested for threatening pro-life demonstrators with gun

CNA Staff, Aug 25, 2020 / 14:59 pm

A man who allegedly pulled a gun and threatened pro-life demonstrators outside a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Dover, Delaware was arrested by police Aug. 21.

Jerome Aniska, a 31-year-old Wilmington man, engaged with the protesters on a public sidewalk Friday morning outside the Dover clinic. An argument took place.

"During this argument, Aniska pulled out a black handgun and made a threatening statement to the group," the Dover Police Department said.

Police received calls about the incident before 10 a.m. Witnesses said the man went to his vehicle's trunk before the police officers arrived. Investigating police found an empty holster in Aniska's car and a black 9 mm handgun in his car's trunk, the Delaware News Journal reports.

Aniska has been arrested on $26,000 bond, charged with aggressive menacing, terroristic threatening, and possession of a firearm during a felony.

It is not the first incident this year at a Delaware Planned Parenthood.

In January, an 18-year-old was arrested on federal charges after throwing an incendiary device at a Planned Parenthood facility in Newark, Delaware near the University of Delaware campus. The device exploded but the fire died after about a minute. He allegedly spray painted a Latin phrase meaning "God wills it." He spray-painted the words "Deus Vult," a Chi Rho, and a Marian symbol on the outside of the Planned Parenthood. The facility does not perform abortions, but refers for them.

Video surveillance captured the attack in the city, about 45 miles south of Dover. A man was arrested in the incident.