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Gunman kills 2 at Arvada missionary dorm

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 9, 2007 at 9:18 a.m.
Updated December 9, 2007 at 6:23 p.m.

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Richard Malouff holds the hand of his wife, Susan, as a prayer is said for families of the victims of the shootings at Youth With A Mission in Arvada. The couple is shown during the 11 a.m. service.

Richard Malouff holds the hand of his wife, Susan, as a prayer is said for families of the victims of the shootings at Youth With A Mission in Arvada. The couple is shown during the 11 a.m. service.

Charles Blanch, of Minnesota, was shot and injured at the Youth With A Mission campus in Arvada.

Charles Blanch, of Minnesota, was shot and injured at the Youth With A Mission campus in Arvada.

Philip Crouse was shot and kllled early Sunday at the Youth With A Mission campus in Arvada, police said.

Philip Crouse was shot and kllled early Sunday at the Youth With A Mission campus in Arvada, police said.

Photo of Dan Griebenow, left, and Tiffany Johnson at a party. The couple were both shot early today at the Youth With A Mission campus in Arvada. Tiffany died, and Dan is in critical condition, police said.

Photo of Dan Griebenow, left, and Tiffany Johnson at a party. The couple were both shot early today at the Youth With A Mission campus in Arvada. Tiffany died, and Dan is in critical condition, police said.

A police investigator photographs and examines a juniper bush outside one of the entrances to the residence hall for Youth With a Mission in Arvada where an unknown gunman shot four people early today, killing two.

Photo by Darin McGregor © The Rocky

A police investigator photographs and examines a juniper bush outside one of the entrances to the residence hall for Youth With a Mission in Arvada where an unknown gunman shot four people early today, killing two.

Tiffany Johnson, 26, identified as one of two people shot and killed at the Youth With a Mission in Arvada, is pictured on her MySpace page.

Tiffany Johnson, 26, identified as one of two people shot and killed at the Youth With a Mission in Arvada, is pictured on her MySpace page.

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ARVADA — A gunman talked his way into a dormitory for young Christian missionaries early this morning and opened fire, killing two people and wounding two others.

Authorities are investigating whether the shooter is the same man who opened fire later in the day at New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

Arvada Police Chief Don Wick described the killings in the two church locations as a “rapidly developing and unfolding” situation and said the faith-based community should be vigilant until the gunman is caught.

He said authorities in Arvada and Colorado Springs are coordinating efforts to determine if there’s a connection between the two shootings.

Meantime, Gov. Bill Ritter has directed the Department of Public Safety, Colorado State Patrol and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to help local and federal agencies investigating the shootings.

“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,” Ritter said in a statement.

The Arvada shooting happened about 12:30 a.m. at the Youth With a Mission center at 12750 W. 63rd Ave., informally called “Y-WAM,” an international missionary training center for young people. It was just a few hours after the missionaries’ annual Christmas “masquerade” banquet when the gunman appeared at the door and reportedly asked if he could use a restroom.

He was let inside the building to the “common area” and then asked if he could spend the night.

The staff summoned hospitality director Tiffany Johnson, who told him they are not a shelter and there was no place to spend the night.

“Then this is what I’ve got for you,” the gunman reportedly said, and opened fire, according to Y-WAM director Peter Warren.

Warren, who was not there, was told by students what happened.

Johnson, 26, of Minneapolis, was shot and died shortly after. Philip Crouse, 24, of Alaska, also was killed.

Dan Griebenow, 24, of South Dakota, was shot and is in critical condition at a local hospital. Charlie Blanch, 22, was also shot and is in stable condition.

All the victims were staff members.

Several students recognized the gunman as the same young man who had come by to “hang out” at the missionary center earlier in the day Saturday, said Cheryl Morrison, whose husband, George Morrison, is pastor of the Faith Bible Chapel, located about 300 yards away.

The Y-WAM center is one of the “bases” in a global, interdenominational missionary outreach headquartered in Kona, Hawaii. The base is located on three acres of land adjacent to Faith Bible Chapel on Ward Road. The two religious centers aren’t affiliated, but maintain a collegial, even family-style, relationship. Many missionaries attend the bible chapel.

The Morrisons are close friends with Peter and Linda Warren, who run the Y-WAM base, both couples said.

Peter Warren called the Morrisons immediately after hearing of the shootings. The four couples spent the rest of the night either at the hospital or the police station, where the young missionaries huddled in hastily donned clothes and nightwear.

Peter Warren said the students told him the gunman didn’t appear to be on drugs and “looked like a regular kid.” Witnesses told police that the gunman was a white male, about 20 years old, wearing a dark jacket or hoodie and dark beanie. He may have glasses or a beard.

As soon as the gunman fled, students grabbed paper and pens to sketch out his identity, Cheryl Morrison said. She said she heard several of the students believed they could “absolutely” identify him.

During morning services today, with the whereabouts of the shooter unknown, police cars ringed Faith Bible Chapel. An off-duty police officer who was also a church member sat on the stage, scanning the crowd, Morrison said.

Crouse, one of the dead, had been at the Morrisons' home just a week ago to help string Christmas lights, George Morrison said. The young man used the opportunity to get some career advice from the older pastor.

“He was full of life, talking about his future, and going on a mission trip,” Morrison said.

Johnson was known as effervescent and unforgettable.

“She was just a gracious, gracious girl,” Cheryl Morrison said. “A sweetheart of a girl.”

Johnson was in a committed, Christian dating relationship with Griebenow, one of the survivors, Morrison said. The organization frowns on frivolous dating, but when a couple wants to date seriously the organization asks them to declare their intentions openly in order to quell gossip and speculation, which the couple did, Morrison said.

Police with several dogs searched the area, and residents of nearby homes were notified by reverse 911 to be on the lookout. Police spokeswoman Susan Medina said residents were asked to look out their windows to see if the snow had been disturbed during the night. About 4 inches of snow had fallen in the area in the past day.

Mimi Martin, who lives near the center, said she received the warning call at about 9 a.m. warning neighbors to keep their doors and windows locked.

“Why would anybody want to hurt those kids?” Martin said. “I just pray for their families.”

People bundled up against freezing cold attended services this morning at the Faith Bible sanctuary, about 300 yards from the dormitory.

George Morrison began the service by calling for forgiveness.

“We never doubted that we would have a service,” said Cheryl Morrison. “We felt like our church faithful all needed to be together.”

Brady White, who attends Faith Bible Chapel, said he had spoken to some friends who are students at the center. His friends were unhurt but they called the experience “terrifying.”

“They’re just wonderful people,” he said of the center’s students. “Their mission is to know God and to make him known.”

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 discipleship course that prepares them to be missionaries overseas.

He said the center trains about 300 people a year, many of them from countries overseas.

A Y-WAM spokeswoman said staffers are usually former missionaries themselves and that the “mercy ministries” performed by trainees include orphanage work. He said he didn’t know where the group being trained in Arvada was going to be sent.

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.

The Rocky's Julie Poppen and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Comments

  • December 9, 2007

    10:24 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    skeptical writes:

    Our prayers are with the families of all those affected by this tradgedy. With prayer for healing for the two young men in the hospital. May the Lord be with them and show mercy and grace in healing and comfort.

  • December 9, 2007

    noon

    Suggest removal

    Sixtysixdeuce writes:

    I don't know what it is, but this holiday season seems to be bringing the violent creeps out of the woodwork. Let us pray for the victims and their families. Let us also learn from these atrocities that we cannot count on anyone else to provide safety for us in any environment. We can rest assured that it is no coincidence that these evil people keep striking in places where the odds of resistance are extremely low. Has definitely reinforced to me the value in carrying and knowing how to effectively employ defensive arms. These people are going to succeed in perpetrating such horrific crimes until we start fighting back. Being peaceful or even pacifistic is not going to prevent one from becoming a victim of such violence. These people are predators, and being defensless or unwilling to defend ourselves makes us prey.

  • December 9, 2007

    12:43 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    davehughes writes:

    Its time to stop just sending police to find murderers like this, arrest them, then go through a trial at public (my) expense, and then provide them free meals and lodging the rest of their lives.

    Its time to tell the police to just find him, and those like him who kill, and just shoot him dead on the spot.

    1860's Coloradoans just hung killers and horsethieves first, and asked questions afterward. There sure were a lot fewer murder's then. And very few innocent men were killed by the sheriff's and posses. Probably as few as those who are wrongly executed today.

    We've become a nation of wimps.

  • December 9, 2007

    2:34 p.m.

    GeneralDissaray writes:

    (This comment was removed by the site staff.)

  • December 9, 2007

    2:36 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    lawguy writes:

    A lunatic with a knife does a lot less damage than a lunatic with a gun... when is colorado going to realize this?

    davehughes: there's a place where people are in complete agreement with you, it's called Somalia. Plus, I hear it's nice there this time of year and taxes are very low.

  • December 9, 2007

    6:34 p.m.

    tacobellmanager writes:

    (This comment was removed by the site staff.)

  • December 9, 2007

    6:40 p.m.

    MereMortal writes:

    (This comment was removed by the site staff.)

  • December 9, 2007

    6:47 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    tacobellmanager writes:

    i'm thinking that if a guy goes into a god-fearing GOP voting church and shoots up a bunch of people and his himself not cut down in a hail of return fire, it's less a case of murder, and more one of criminal negligence.

    i mean sack up people, these are some muscular rights you been granted under the big 2 A

  • December 9, 2007

    6:47 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    LS writes:

    So lawguy, when the next lunatic (who WILL have a gun with him regardless of what you would like in your idealistic society) is robbing your house, raping your daughter and holding that gun to your head, do you really think your knife will make any difference?

    I prefer more persuasive protection... you know... the ability to protect myself and my family with something a bit more more convincing than a knife... so that the criminals will instead prey upon easier Kum Bah Yah targets like yourself.

  • December 9, 2007

    7:21 p.m.

    tacobellmanager writes:

    (This comment was removed by the site staff.)

  • December 9, 2007

    7:38 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    irisheyes writes:

    My heart is broken by this as I am sure many other hearts are. I pray for the families of the two dead YWAMers, for the women and men they worked alongside of every day, and for the two guys who are in the hospital. May the Lord grant His peace and grace and healing to all.

    That said, it makes absolutely no sense to make ignorant, mean-spirited comments about "church hanky-panky gone south", etc. People with YWAM are some of the most committed, serious, Christ-followers I've ever met, and while nobody's perfect, this appears to be a random crime motivated by who-knows-what. Any connection between this and the New Life Church incident will be a surprise, indeed.

  • December 9, 2007

    10:49 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    ONEman writes:

    The real issue is that all gun owners need to start locking up our guns so your kids can't use em on the public at large. Almost every time it's some unstable kid who stole his dads or grandpas or uncles gun.You do have right to bear arms but also the responsibility to be responsible. These people were doing God's work and he will receive them into his kingdom as I'm sure they had a relationship with him. I pray for those still alive, both physically and mentally. Fear death not for that is our weakness and embrace the love and forgiveness of an Omnipotent and all knowing God whom judges all mankind according to his heart. Your time could come anytime anywhere. R U ready? Do you know John 3:16?