Thread: 4 die in Colo. church, mission attacks

4 die in Colo. church, mission attacks
2 minutes ago

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071210/...urch_shootings

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A gunman shot four staff members at a missionary training center near Denver early Sunday, killing two, after being told he couldn't spend the night. About 12 hours later and 65 miles away, a gunman fatally shot a parishioner at a megachurch and wounded four other people before a guard killed him, police said.




http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs....TES01/71209024

A gunman killed two staff members at a missionary training center early Sunday after being told he couldn’t spend the night, and about 12 hours later four people were shot outside a megachurch in Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs police Lt. Fletcher Howard said a suspect had been detained in the shootings outside the New Life Church. Authorities in Arvada, a Denver suburb about 65 miles north, said no one had been captured in the shootings there.

It was not immediately known whether the shootings were related, but Arvada authorities said they were sharing information with Colorado Springs investigators. The mission training program has a small office at the church’s World Prayer Center on the New Life campus.

Howard declined to say whether the Colorado Springs suspect had been shot. Police sealed off the church, but it was not clear whether any parishioners were still inside.

A gunman in a black trench coat and a high-powered rifle entered the church’s main foray about 1 p.m. and began shooting, according to a source who was locked down inside the New Life campus Sunday afternoon. The source spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because police asked that they release all information.

The church’s 11 a.m. service had recently ended and hundreds of people were milling about when the gunman opened fire. Nearby were parents picking up their children from nursery.

The gunman was shot and killed by a female member of the church’s armed security staff, the source said.

It was not immediately known whether the shootings were related, but Arvada authorities said they were sharing information with Colorado Springs investigators. The mission training program has a small office at the church’s World Prayer Center on the New Life campus.

Gov. Bill Ritter ordered state authorities to assist in the investigation.

A gunman in a black trench coat and a high-powered rifle entered the church’s main foyer shortly after 1 p.m. and began shooting, Myers said.

The church’s 11 a.m. service had recently ended, and hundreds of people were milling about when the gunman opened fire. Nearby were parents picking up their children from the nursery.

Police arrived to find the gunman had been killed by a member of the church’s armed security staff, Myers said.

“There was a courageous staff member who probably saved many lives here today,” Myers said.

The FBI and the ATF were assisting in the investigation. Officers were combing the campus looking for suspicious devices.

“We had a plan in place, and it worked well,” said Boyd, who in August took over from disgraced pastor Ted Haggard. “Many, many lives were saved today because of some quick, action by the many volunteers here at the church.”

4 dead in 2 religious center shootings
12/10/2007

COLORADO SPRINGS – Authorities say six people, including the gunman, were shot Sunday in the second shooting of the day at a Colorado religious center. The gunfire erupted inside the 10,000-plus member mega-church, New Life Church, just after 1 p.m., according to authorities.

The gunman opened fire in the foyer of New Life Church, located at 11025 Voyager Parkway in Colorado Springs, as the 11 a.m. service was getting out. Authorities say the shooting occurred outside of the church.

Colorado Springs Police Chief Richard Myers confirmed at a 5:40 p.m. press briefing that a church security guard shot and killed the gunman. Myers says one other person died at the scene. 9Wants to Know confirmed the victim was a teenage girl.

Of the four additional shooting victims, one was treated and released at the scene and three were taken to Penrose Community Hospital in Colorado Springs, Myers said. At a 10 p.m. briefing, Myers said two of the victims were still hospitalized. One was listed in fair condition and one was in critical condition.

SWAT officers searching the New Life campus found several suspicious devices. Myers said they were conducting a second search Sunday evening. Police are not releasing any information about what kind of weapon was used in the attack. 9NEWS has learned the gunman was dressed with a tactical helmet and body armor. [/b]

About 100 people were still inside the church after the shooting.
Immediately following the shooting, businesses in the area, including Lockheed Martin, were put on lockdown.

Witnesses are asked to call Colorado Springs Police at 719-444-7000.

"Please pray for our church, pray for the people who were injured," said New Life Church Pastor Brady Boyd. He also praised the rapid response by police.

Boyd says the following number has been set up for church members who need help or have questions: 719-594-6602

New Life Church was founded by Ted Haggard. Haggard was forced out after admitting in November 2006 to sexual immorality and purchasing methamphetamines from a gay escort.

Boyd took over as pastor in August 2007.

Earlier on Sunday, two people were killed and two others were injured in a shooting at Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in Arvada when a lone gunman opened fire and then fled the scene. He has not been apprehended.

Asked whether he believed there was reason to think the shootings are related, Arvada Police Chief Dan Wick responded, "Yes, there is reason to believe that."

Dale Lambert, the assistant director to YWAM says there is no direct link between the YWAM program in Arvada to New Life Church. However, the YWAM in Colorado Springs does work with New Life Church.

Gov. Bill Ritter issued the following statement on the shootings:
"Today, Colorado mourns the tragic loss of those killed and injured in two senseless shootings. Our deepest sympathies go out to the families of those who were taken from us, and we pray for the speedy recovery of those who were wounded. Violent crimes of any sort are tragic enough, but when innocent people are killed in a religious facility or a place of worship, we must voice a collective sense of outrage and demonstrate a renewed commitment to keeping our communities safe. We have activated the Colorado Information Analysis Center, and I have directed the Department of Public Safety, Colorado State Patrol and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to provide immediate assistance to the local and federal agencies investigating the shootings."

U.S. Senator Ken Salazar also issued a statement about the shootings.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families at this tragic time. It is incomprehensible that such atrocities could occur in places of faith and worship. It is my hope that the assailants are caught and swiftly brought to justice," he said.

Police say any new information will be released at 9 a.m. Monday. Police have also scheduled a news conference for 3 p.m. Monday.


http://www.9news.com/news/top-articl...?storyid=82473

Colo. police search home after attacks
By JUDITH KOHLER, Associated Press Writer
9 minutes ago

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Authorities searched a home in suburban Englewood early Monday, seeking any link between two deadly shooting sprees at Christian religious centers that left both communities stunned on a day of worship.

Five people, including a gunman, died in the attacks Sunday at a megachurch in Colorado Springs and at the Youth With a Mission missionary center in the Denver suburb of Arvada. Five others were wounded. "Violent crimes of any sort are tragic enough, but when innocent people are killed in a religious facility or a place of worship, we must voice a collective sense of outrage and demonstrate a renewed commitment to keeping our communities safe," said Gov. Bill Ritter.

Police in Arvada said they believed the shootings — which occurred 12 hours and about 65 miles apart — were probably linked, though they had nothing conclusive to back up the theory. "Given the circumstances, I think it is a good possibility that the two are linked," Arvada Deputy Police Chief Gary Creagor told The Associated Press early Monday. "But we have to prove that they are."

Early Monday, authorities were searching a home in suburban Englewood, about 15 miles south of Denver, that they said could be related to the Colorado Springs shooting. Authorities could be seen coming and going from the home, and at one point searching the bushes in front.

The violence began about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, when a man opened fire at the Youth With a Mission office after he had been denied a request to spend the night there. Witnesses told police that the gunman was a 20-year-old white male, wearing a dark jacket and skull cap, who had a handgun.

More than 12 hours later, at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, a gunman with a high-powered rifle entered the church's main foyer and opened fire, Colorado Springs Police Chief Richard Myers said.

Stephanie Works and Rachel Works, both 18, were killed, police said Monday. David Works, 51, was in fair condition with gunshot wounds to the abdomen and groin area. Police did not describe how the three were related.

Also injured were Judy Purcell, 40, who suffered a gunshot wound to her right shoulder, and Larry Bourbannais, 59, who had a gunshot wound in his left forearm, police said. Both were treated and released.

The gunman was killed by a member of the church's armed security staff before police arrived, Myers said. The gunman's name was not released. Officers found several smoke-generating devices on the church campus; their intended purpose wasn't clear.

Jessie Gingrich, who had left New Life and was in the parking lot getting into her car, saw the gunman get a rifle from his trunk and open fire on a van with people inside. She cowered in her car, fumbling with the ignition key. "I was just expecting for the next gunshot to be coming through my car. Miraculously — by the grace of God — it did not," she told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday.

About 7,000 people were on the church campus at the time of the shooting, said Senior Pastor Brady Boyd. Security had been beefed up after the shootings hours earlier in Arvada, he said.

Ashley Gibbs was getting into a car with David Harris when they heard the gunshots — a sound like someone kicking ice from the side of a car, she said. Harris said he saw the gunman, and it looked like he knew how to handle a weapon. "I was in the military for about three years, and the way he was holding the rifle looked just like the way we were taught to when I was in the military," he told NBC's "Today" show on Monday.

They stayed in the vehicle and prayed for the gunman. "It was obvious that he was in some sort of pain and going through a lot," Gibbs told "Today." "I just prayed God would bring him peace."

New Life, with about 10,000 members, was founded by the Rev. Ted Haggard, who was dismissed last year after a former male prostitute alleged he had a three-year cash-for-sex relationship with him. Haggard, then the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, admitted committing undisclosed "sexual immorality."

The two dead victims at the missionary center were identified as Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24.

Johnson, who grew up in Chisholm, Minn., loved working with children and wanted to see the world, said family friend Carla Macynski. "Tiffany was a well-liked, easygoing 26-year-old. She was friendly, adventurous and a definite leader. She wanted to see the world," Macynski said as she choked back tears. Johnson had traveled to Egypt, Libya and South Africa with the missionary group.

Crouse, of Alaska, had helped build a foster home at a Crow reservation in Montana, said Ronny Morris, who works with a Denver chapter of the mission.

Staffer Dan Griebenow, 24, of South Dakota, was shot in the neck, according to Youth With a Mission. Staffer Charlie Blanch, 22, suffered gunshot wounds to his legs, according to ministry officials. His hometown wasn't immediately known.

Youth With a Mission was started in 1960 and now has 1,100 locations with 16,000 full-time staff, Smith said. The Arvada center was founded in 1984.

Darv Smith, director of a Youth With a Mission center in Boulder, said people ranging from their late teens to their 70s undergo a 12-week course that prepares them to be missionaries. He said the center trains about 300 people a year.

Paul Filidis, a Colorado Springs-based spokesman with Youth With a Mission, said staffers are usually former missionaries themselves and that the "mercy ministries" performed by trainees include orphanage work.

The Colorado shootings came only days after a 19-year-old gunman opened fire at a popular mall in Omaha, Neb., killing eight people and himself.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071210/...TD.BJAMPGs0NUE

Tragic, just Tragic.
I'm not against guns, I'm just against the bullets.

OT? - Does your church have

armed security staff

?

Originally Posted by dv8grl

Tragic, just Tragic.
I'm not against guns, I'm just against the bullets.

OT? - Does your church have armed security staff ?

I am sure that the people who walked out of that church were grateful to have that armed security guard in the face of someone walking in with a high-powered rifle, tactical helmet and body armor.

The added security was brought in after the first shooting, so it doesn't mean that they have full time security staff. HOWEVER - I have been to quite a few churches that DO have security staff to escort the elderly to their cars after late services, and often they are armed because as off-duty police and deputies they are required to carry a firearm as part of their uniform.

The shooter was also reported to be seen dropping devices outside the church before the shooitng started - poss. IED or smoke devices that would have hampered SWAT or people trying to slip out of the building.

Prepared for a bit of mayhem, the shooter. I don't think he was there to listen to Christmas Carols, do you ?

I guess we'll never find out. Maybe he was an EX-member upset about the scandal that Pastor Ted Haggard brought to the church? Maybe he was pist at the hypocracy?

Maybe he was pist at the hypocracy?

oh .. the irony ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071211/...Qs1gfVvt.s0NUE

Colo. gunman's posting hinted of attacks

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Authorities believe the man who killed four people at a church and missionary training center posted an anti-Christian diatribe online that closely repeated a rant by one of the Columbine killers, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Matthew Murray, who was kicked out of a missionary training center where the first shooting occurred, is believed to have posted the message on a Web site for people who have left evangelical religious groups. His most recent post was Sunday morning in the hours between his attacks in Arvada and Colorado Springs, according to KUSA-TV in Denver, which first reported on the writings.

"You Christians brought this on yourselves," Murray wrote, according to the station, which did not identify the site. "All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you ... as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world.".......................

"You Christians brought this on yourselves," Murray wrote, according to the station, which did not identify the site. "All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you ... as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world.".......................

With this a justification - someone can go armed with intent to kill to a gas station because of the price of oil ? Start blowing people away in the Winn Dixie becasue the groceries cost "too much" or maybe because the bananas are green ?



Police: Church gunman killed himself
By JUDITH KOHLER, Associated Press Writer
32 minutes ago

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The man who killed four people at a church and missionary training center shot himself in the head and died after being hit by shots from a church security officer, police said Tuesday.

Matthew Murray, 24, was struck multiple times by a security officer at New Life Church Sunday, but his death was ruled a suicide, the El Paso County Coroner's Office concluded after an autopsy.

Murray shot himself in the head, said police Sgt. Skip Arms.

Volunteer security guard Jeanne Assam shot Murray after he entered the church. Though investigators had earlier suggested he killed himself, they credited Assam's bravery with averting a greater tragedy.

Assam, a 42-year-old former Minneapolis police officer, said her faith allowed her to remain steady under pressure. "It seemed like it was me, the gunman and God," she said, her hands trembling as she recounted the shooting during a news conference Monday.

The first attack Sunday took place at Youth With a Mission, a training center for missionaries in the Denver suburb of Arvada; the other occurred about 12 hours later at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

Officials said revenge was one apparent motive for the attacks. Police said Murray had sent hate mail to the Youth With a Mission center in the last few weeks after being removed from the program years ago.

In a statement, the training center said health problems kept Murray from finishing the program, but elaborated little. Murray did not complete the lecture phase or a field assignment as part of a 12-week program, Youth With a Mission said.

Authorities also believe Murray authored an anti-Christian diatribe online that closely repeated a rant by one of the Columbine killers, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

The most recent post to the site, a forum for people who have left evangelical religious groups, was Sunday morning in the hours between his attacks in Arvada and Colorado Springs, according to KUSA-TV in Denver, which first reported on the writings. "You Christians brought this on yourselves," Murray wrote, according to the station, which did not identify the site. "All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you ... as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world."

The language in the post is almost identical to the text of a manifesto written by Eric Harris, one of the teens who carried out the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School.

The online posts, under the pen name "nghtmrchld26," spanned several weeks, and in an earlier one, Murray appeared to reject offers of psychological help. "I've already been working with counselors. I have a point to make with all this talk about psychologists and counselors `helping people with their pain,'" he wrote, according to KUSA.

The station said Murray's posts were removed from the site after Sunday's killings, and that authorities were aware of them and investigating. Police in Colorado Springs and Arvada would not comment on the writings.

In a search warrant affidavit, investigators said Murray attended a home-based computer school and worked at his computer for three to five hours a day for the past two years. Police said Murray's only previous brush with the law was a traffic ticket earlier this year.

His relatives said they were grief-stricken and baffled. "We cannot understand why this has happened. We ask for prayer for the victims and their families during this time of grief," said Phil Abeyta, Murray's uncle, who read a statement from the family Monday.

Also Tuesday, Minneapolis police Sgt. Jesse Garcia said Assam was fired from the Minneapolis force in 1997 for lying during an internal investigation. Sgt. John Delmonico, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, said police were investigating a complaint that Assam swore at a bus driver while she was handling an incident on a city bus.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071211/...Qs1gfVvt.s0NUE