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An anti-abortion “counselor” was booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on Monday, nearly two weeks after police labeled him a “person of interest” in a shooting outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Columbia, South Carolina.
According to booking records, Mark J. Baumgartner was charged with assault and battery and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. His arrest stems from a confrontation that appears to culminate with him pulling a handgun from beneath his high-visibility vest and firing a single shot.
Baumgartner, the founder of a sidewalk ministry called Moment of Hope, has spent the past 13 years positioning himself and volunteers outside Planned Parenthood in Columbia in an effort to stop patients before they enter the clinic and, in his group’s words, “compassionately offer clients biblical hope.”
That stated compassion evaporated on Nov. 14, 2025, when video syndicated by local media appears to show Baumgartner pepper-spraying a man outside the Planned Parenthood clinic after the man approached him with his hands in his pockets. A chase then ensues into a parking lot adjacent to the clinic, where a physical struggle begins.
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The same video appears to show two other Moment of Hope volunteers rushing to Baumgartner’s aid. One joins the struggle while another draws a gun. When the pepper-sprayed man breaks free and stands up to swing at Baumgartner, the video shows Baumgartner firing a single shot.
In the immediate aftermath, the Columbia Police Department emphasized both online and in person that the encounter occurred adjacent to the Planned Parenthood facility — even as the clinic itself was the setting that brought both parties into contact.
A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) later confirmed to FITSNews that agents were assisting the capital city’s police force in their investigation.
The shooting, born out of a confrontation at the Planned Parenthood clinic, came at a contentious moment in South Carolina’s abortion debate, just days before a proposed near-total abortion ban failed to advance out of the Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee.
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According to Baumgartner’s LinkedIn profile, he previously worked as a bank examiner for the Federal Reserve before transitioning into sales for several airline companies and eventually becoming an airline pilot himself.
Literature from his Moment of Hope nonprofit describes its mission as gentle outreach, including the use of a brightly painted mobile unit that provides ultrasounds and counseling aimed at steering incoming Planned Parenthood clients away from abortion.
Neither Baumgartner nor Moment of Hope have released a statement regarding the Nov. 14 shooting.
Baumgartner had not yet appeared for a bond hearing.
This story may be updated.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
(Dynal Nolan/FITSNews)
Andrew Fancher is a Lone Star Emmy award-winning journalist from Dallas, Texas. Cut from a bloodline of outlaws and lawmen alike, he was the first of his family to graduate college which was accomplished with honors. Got a story idea or news tip for Andy? Email him directly and connect with him socially across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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6 comments
Pro-life wing nut tries to kill a man…
What took so long to charge him, and the charges seem kind of weak considering HE SHOT A GUY.
From everything i saw in the video, the man who was shot initiated a confrontation and then continued to escalate it with threats and assault until he was peppered sprayed and then shot.
Just my judgment from the video, but it looks like Mr Baumgartner had clear reason to believe his life was being threatened.
See, to me it appears that the man who was shot was only talking prior to any violence. He had his hands firmly planted in his pockets as he was talking. Baumgartner may have felt threatened when he used the pepper spray, but I’m not sure that was reasonable.
As far as the use of deadly force, Baumgartner initiated the violence by pepper spraying the victim. One cannot claim self-defense when they initiate the violence. That’s not how stand you ground or self defense works.
He’ll walk if it even goes to trial.
Powers That Be are politicizing the incident. That seems to be a thing in Columbia and Richland County these days, not much unlike the stuff that goes on in the big blue cities up North and in places like Cali. I am not a pro-lifer, but as others have said; the guy who was shot looked to be the aggressor. The defender and defendant tried using non-lethal means to stop the attack (pepper spray). The attack continued and the defender took it to the next level necessary to stop the attack. The attacker FA and FO. That should have been the end of the story, as it originally looked like it was going to be, save for possible assault charges against the attacker.
WTF good is “stand your ground” if some Solicitor or Judge can arbitrarily decide it does not apply in your case?
In Richland County, the Sheriff and Solicitor are similarly playing politics with Mr Chow, a senior citizen who owned a business. Mr Chow wasn’t running drugs, engaging in gang-banging, or armed robbery. He (apparently mistakenly), thought a juvenile in his store had shoplifted an item. As I understand it, Mr Chow and his son followed the suspected shoplifter out of his store. At some point, Mr Chow’s son saw a hangun the suspected juvenile shoplifter was packing and announced it. Mr Chow, fearing for his son’s and his own safety fired, killing the juvenile.
It is tragic that the young man died at that age, but why did he have a gun at Mr Chow’s store? Leon Lott and Solicitor Gipson are playing politics with this because of strong sentiments within their voting block.
There is no good reason that Mr Chow has been jailed for the past two years as he awaits trial, without bond. He is not a criminal and ran a legitimate business. Despite emotional protests to the contrary, Mr Chow presents no significant danger to the community.
I hope that Mr Chow’s attorneys get him a change of venue as it is apparant that he will never get a fair trial in Richland County due to pre-trial publicity and racially charged emotional community sentiment.
As tragic as the young man’s passing was, how long would it have been until he shot someone with the gun he was carrying? Might the victim of a youthful dispute with a firearm have been an innocent bystander, as so often happens in these cases?
It is sad to see police in our area protecting the criminals and persecuting citizens, just as they do in the big blue cities up North and along the West Coast.
“the guy who was shot looked to be the aggressor.”
I disagree. He had his hands in his pocket and was only using his words. Obviously the video circulating doesn’t show much of what happened before, but I didn’t hear the victim threaten violence or take a violent posture as if he was about to attack.
“WTF good is “stand your ground” if some Solicitor or Judge can arbitrarily decide it does not apply in your case?”
Someone has to decide if it applies or not. Otherwise, every shooting or other act of violence would end in “I was defending myself.” That would be abused.