Home > Terrorism Reference > James Kopp Biography

August 2, 1954

Pasadena, California

Antiabortion protester

"I am innocent. I want my innocence recognized as soon as possible."

In the autumn of 1998, Dr. Barnett Slepian had just returned from a prayer service for his dead father and was standing in the kitchen of his home in Amherst, New York, a suburb of Buffalo. A bullet smashed through the window and hit him in the back, killing him.

Within three days, police were looking for a well-known antiabortion protester named James Kopp, who had the nickname "Atomic Dog" among other antiabortion activists. Police said that Kopp's car, a 1987 black Chevrolet Cavalier, had been seen in Dr. Slepian's neighborhood; it was found in a parking lot at the Newark, New Jersey, airport a few days later. Later, investigators found a rifle buried near the murder scene as well as hairs that matched Kopp's.

Despite these police...