Four wounded at Colorado missionary center

[Shammu]

If not for the gun carried by that female security guard there would have been many more killed or injured. Thank God she had the sense to carry one.

Another example that makes me even more convinced that honest law abiding citizens should be able to carry a gun.

AMEN and AMEN!!

[Soldier4Christ]

Hero guard: 'It was me, the gunman, and God'
Woman who ended carnage: 'I knew what I had to do'

The female security guard who shot and stopped a gunman at a Colorado Springs church yesterday is crediting God for helping her to resolve the threat by killing the assailant.

Jeanne Assam, was hailed by Pastor Brady Boyd with saving many lives in her quick response to gunshots fired at the New Life Church.

"I give the credit to God and I mean that I say that very humbly, God was with me the whole time I was behind cover," she told reporters. "It seemed like it was me, the gunman, and God."

Assam indicated she felt weak as she approached the gunman since she had been fasting.

"My hands weren't even shaking. I knew what I had to do," she said.

"This has got to be God, because of the firepower that [the gunman] had vs. what I had – was God. I did not run away and I didn't think for a minute to run away, I just knew that I was given the assignment to end this before it got too much worse. I just prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide me."

She said she's drawn her weapon countless times in her previous work in law enforcement. But she said she's never had to fire before.

Two teen girls were killed by the attacker in the church parking lot, and two other people injured in the attack by a gunman identified as Matthew Murray, 24, of Englewood.

Authorities in court papers alleged he had been dismissed from a program at the Christian Youth With A Mission missionary training program in Arvada, Colo., several years ago.

Police confirmed the attack started at the Arvada training center very early Sunday, where a man apparently seeking a place to stay appeared. He pulled a gun and started firing shortly later. Authorities said Tiffany Johnson, 26, of Minnesota, and Philip Crouse, 24, of Alaska, were killed, and two others injured.

(Story continues below)

He fled, only to appear 12 hours later at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. There the attack started in the parking lot, where Stephanie Works, 18, and Rachel Works, 16, were shot and killed, police said. Their father, David Works, 51, was reported hospitalized with gunshot wounds in his abdomen and groin, while Judy Purcell, 40, was wounded in her shoulder, and Larry Bourbannais, 59, was wounded in his arm. They both were treated and released.

Boyd said Assam probably saved 100 lives, and police confirmed the attacker's backpack contained clips that could have held more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition for the assault weapon he carried.

Charl Van Wyk, who is credited with saving parishioners' lives when he fired back at terrorists in the St. James Massacre, says Assam should be honored.

"The woman who saved lives should get a medal," Van Wyk told WND.

"Having gone through such a catastrophic experience, my heart goes out to the family, friends and colleagues of those who were murdered and injured at the two church attacks," said Van Wyk.

"Christians need to be prepared to protect themselves against such attacks; policemen cannot be everywhere all the time and can generally only clean up the mess after such a tragic event," he continued. "Christians must not think that justice must be ignored because of their faith. The Bible is quite clear that God has instituted civil government as the Minister of Justice and the Church as the Minister of His Grace. These authorities, instituted by God, have different functions but both operate under His perfect commands found in the Bible."

He told how on June 23, 1978, terrorists murdered nine British missionaries and four young children, including a three-week-old baby at a mission in Zimbabwe.

"It is worth noting that the only British missionary at the Elim Mission Station who had a firearm – he owned a .38 revolver – was the only survivor! Being cowards, the terrorists left him alone, preferring defenseless victims. The first the armed man knew about the attack, was when he woke up the next morning to find the base deserted. He later discovered the bodies of his fellow missionaries on the sports field," Peter Hammond writes in the introduction to "Shooting Back – The Right and Duty of Self-Defense," which is Van Wyk's own story.

That tells how he was sitting in the St James Church in Cape Town, South Africa, during a worship service, when parishioners were attacked by terrorists.

"They opened fire with automatic assault rifles and threw hand grenades between the congregation members. Eleven people were murdered and over 50 injured. I returned fire with a .38 special revolver and the attackers immediately fled the scene," he said.

Assam, without any sleep and clearly visibly shaken 24 hours after the confrontation, told reporters she wanted to extend sympathies to the families of the victim, as well as the gunman. "I mean that very sincerely," she said.

"I heard shots fired. It was chaos. There were a lot of people in the church," she described.

"The halls cleared out and I saw him coming through the doors. I took cover, waited for him to get closer, came out of cover and identified myself, engaged him, took him down," she said.

Church officials said they have a contingent of volunteer security officers because of the high profile of the church.

"Obviously if we had not had an armed person on our campus, 50 or 100 people could have lost their lives," the pastor said.

In a commentary for WND, Van Wyk expressed condolences for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting but noted that state lawmakers there had, in effect, created a gun-free zone by banning weapons on school campuses.

"There is a striking paradox associated with mass murders. They are far more likely to occur in areas that have been designated as gun-free zones," he wrote. "Worldwide, office buildings, hospitals, convenience stores, TV studios, chain restaurants and day-care centers have all been targets of homicidal maniacs. Mass murders have taken place in such places after they have been declared gun-free zones.

"In 1999, John Lott and William Landes published a U.S. study of multiple shooting incidents. They showed that mass shootings occur less often in areas where responsible citizens may carry weapons," he continued. "Do mass shootings ever occur in police stations, shooting ranges or at gun shows? Mass murderers select soft targets for their acts of violence. Expecting a suicidal individual to honor a law prohibiting firearms is sheer utopian fantasy."

[Shammu]

Colo. gunman's posting hinted of attacks

By JUDITH KOHLER, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 21 minutes ago

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."

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 Denver Post reported.

The online posts spanned several weeks, the station said, 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.

On Monday, 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 Arvada 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.

"The program directors felt that issues with his health made it inappropriate for him to" finish, it said.

The program had an office at the site of the second shooting, the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, where Murray was shot by volunteer security guard Jeanne Assam. Investigators said Murray may have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, though police and church leaders credited Assam's bravery with averting a greater tragedy.

Assam, 42, 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.

Assam is a former police officer who worked in Minneapolis during the 1990s, Minneapolis police Sgt. Jesse Garcia said. Garcia said Monday night that he didn't know the exact dates of her employment with the force and couldn't comment on why she left.

Also Monday, officials finished searching the home where Murray lived along with a brother, Christopher, 21. Murray's father, Ronald S. Murray, is chief executive of the Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Center in Englewood.

In a search warrant affidavit, investigators said Matthew Murray attended a home-based computer school and worked at his computer for three to five hours a day for the past two years.

A neighbor, Cody Askeland, 19, said the brothers were home-schooled, describing the whole family as "very, very religious."

Christopher Murray studied for a semester at Colorado Christian University before transferring to Oral Roberts, said Ronald Rex, dean of admissions and marketing at Colorado Christian. He said Matthew Murray had been in contact with school officials this summer about attending the school but decided he wasn't interested because he thought the school was too expensive.

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.

Colo. gunman's posting hinted of attacks