Dateline December 9th 2007 ..........
A report in USA Today actually gave space to mention
how a legally armed security lady was able to
limit the mayhem at the second shooting site.
Read the report on the USA
Today web site or if that is eventually unavailable
- read the copy below.
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COLORADO SPRINGS — Police 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.
Authorities were looking into whether a gunman
in a black trench coat who was shot dead by a
female security guard at a church here Sunday
was the man who killed two people at a missionary
center earlier in the day.
Stephanie Works, 18, and Rachel Works, 16,
were killed.
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.
Arvada Police Chief Don Wick, asked whether
he believed there was reason to think the shootings
are related, responded, "Yes, there is reason
to believe that."
Authorities early Monday could be seen coming
and going from the Englewood home, about 15 miles
south of Denver. At one point they searched the
bushes in front.
Also monday at a press conference in Colorado
Springs, pastor Brady Boyd of the New Life Church
said the security guard who shot the gunman was
purposely stationed in the lobby of the church
after hearing about the earlier shooting.
When the shots were fired "she rushed
toward the attacker and took him down in the hallway,"
he said.
The attacker never got more than 50 feet inside
the building.
"She probably saved over 100 lives,"
Boyd said.
He described her as a highly trained volunteer
member of the church with a law enforcement background
whose role was to provide security.He said she
was not wearing a uniform and is licensed to carry
a gun.
Boyd said the shooting was random and that
the gunman had no conenction to the church.
He said the church has had a security plan
in place for many years which includes the evacuation
plan it used on Sunday.
People were taken to designated holding areas
with security officers.
Late Sunday, Arvada police helped Colorado
Springs serve a search warrant at a home in Englewood.
"Colorado Springs has identified its suspect,
and we're there to see whether their suspect and
ours are the same," said Arvada Deputy Police
Chief Gary Creagor.
A gunman shot four people — killing two
— just after midnight at the Youth With a
Mission in Arvada, outside Denver, after he was
told he could not stay the night, Wick said.
Twelve hours later and 80 miles away, a man
walked into the New Life Church in Colorado Springs
about 1 p.m. with a rifle and killed one parishioner
and injured four others before he was shot dead
by the church security guard, Colorado Springs
Police Chief Richard Myers said.
There were indications the shooter may have
been preparing for a siege, police said. After
being told of several suspicious packages around
the church police spent the afternoon searching
three large buildings on the New Life campus using
a bomb-sniffing robot.
Myers said they found no explosives but several
"smoke generating devices" scattered
throughout the complex. He said they indicated
that the incident "could've been much worse
than it was."
Ashley Gibbs, 19, and her boyfriend were walking
across a parking lot following the afternoon service
at New Life Church when they heard what they thought
was someone chipping ice off a windshield. She
then saw a puff of snow fly up from the ground
and a man in a black trench coat carrying "a
big gun."
"That's when we panicked and started
praying," Gibbs said.
Myers did not identify the victims in Colorado
Springs. In Arvada, the dead victims were Tiffany
Johnson, 26, of Minnesota, and Philip Crouse,
24, of Alaska. Two people were injured in Arvada,
police said.
The two religious facilities are connected
somewhat in that the missionary center in Arvada
has a small office at the church's World Prayer
Center.
"Our church has gone through difficult
times in the past," Boyd said, referring
to a scandal that caused his predecessor, New
Life founder Ted Haggard, to resign last year.
"The church will survive and do well."
