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'Last place' for a deadly attack

Thousands were at one of state's largest churches

By Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 9, 2007 at 11:45 p.m.
Updated December 10, 2007 at 6:25 p.m.

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Related Shooting Coverage

New Life Church members Jason Privett, 20, and Dan Jordahl, 19, get as close as they can to the church Sunday night and pray for those wounded earlier in the day in Colorado Springs. A gunman fatally shot two people and injured three others at the megachurch.

Photo by Linda McConnell / Specialto The Rocky

New Life Church members Jason Privett, 20, and Dan Jordahl, 19, get as close as they can to the church Sunday night and pray for those wounded earlier in the day in Colorado Springs. A gunman fatally shot two people and injured three others at the megachurch.

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The 11 a.m. service had recently ended and hundreds of parishioners were mingling about New Life Church when the man with the gun appeared.

He was walking through the parking lot, past cars filled with people trying to leave, headed toward the east entrance. He wore a black trench coat and carried a rifle so large that he needed two hands to hold it.

Witnesses said the man threw what appeared to be explosives or smoke bombs.

Then he started firing.

Matthew Murray shot five people before moving inside the church, where he was shot to death by a volunteer security guard, authorities said.

The shooting came about 12 hours after Murray killed two staff members at an Arvada missionary training center.

About 7,000 people were on the grounds of New Life, one of Colorado's largest churches, at the time of the shooting, Senior Pastor Brady Boyd said. Buildings were put on lockdown and panicked parents rushed to reconnect with their children.

Christina Wilke, 34, was in her car when she heard two shots, then two more. With the second set, her car shook.

Wilke got out of her 1997 Honda and saw windows shot out of a van behind her. On the sidewalk, a woman lay on her stomach. Two children leaned over her.

"They were saying, 'Oh my God, Mommy, don't leave me now,' " Wilke said Sunday night.

The gunman was waving a rifle as he walked toward the church, Wilke said. When she looked at her car, she saw two bullet holes above the front driver's side tire.

"I came close to dying," Wilke said. "If he could have gotten me, he would have."

Jenny Cartwright, 35, said her 16-year-old son left the church after he and his friends saw what they thought were smoke bombs.

"What kind of person would come to a church and shoot innocent women and children?" Cartwright asked.

"It's sick."

Victims' names released

In all, three people died, including the gunman, and three others were wounded.

Police today identified the dead as sisters Stephanie Works, 18, and Rachael Works, 16.

David Works, 51, suffered two gunshot wounds in his abdomen and groin area and is listed in fair condition this morning. His exact relationship to the Works girls was not immediately available.

Judy Purcell, 40, was treated and released for a gunshot wound in her right shoulder. Larry Bourbannais, 59, was treated and released for a gunshot wound in his left forearm, police said.

Murray died at the scene after being shot by a church security officer.

Police Lt. Fletcher Howard said officers received a call at 1:10 p.m for a shooting. The first officer arrived three minutes later and found "several" people shot in the parking lot, he said.

Thirty to 40 people were taken to Pikes Peak Community College, where they were kept until they could be interviewed by police.

The Colorado Springs Fire Department's hazardous materials team, the FBI and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents searched the scene because police received reports of explosives, authorities said. The suspicious objects turned out to be smoke bombs, Myers said.

'Sad, tragic day'

"It's a sad day and a tragic day in Colorado Springs," Mayor Lionel Rivera said. "These are not the type of things you expect in our community."

Boyd, who witnessed some of the shooting from his office window, praised the security staff who helped end the incident.

"Many, many lives were saved because of the quick action of some committed volunteers," he said.

Mario Garcia said his 18-year- old daughter, Jocylyn, was in the parking lot when the shooting started. He talked to her by cell phone.

"She said it was surreal. She just couldn't believe it," Garcia said while waiting for his daughter just north of the church. "The last place where you think something like this will happen is a church."

Ethel Griffin had two sons, Michael, 17, and Jordan, 7, attending services along with a 12-year- old nephew, Howard, while she worked in a nearby building.

Griffin said she is so confident in the security of the church that she thought nothing of having her children go to the service without her.

"That's our place, our second home," she said.

Griffin first learned about the shooting when Jordan called. She was frantic.

"I'm trying to run through my mind, 'How, who, why, for what reason,' " Griffin said. "The church has been through a lot over the last year and a half as a church family. That's what we are. From one tragedy to the next, we will continue to be strong."

New Life was founded by the Rev. Ted Haggard, who was fired last year after a former male prostitute alleged he had a cash-for-sex relationship with the minister.

IN HER OWN WORDS: ASHLEY GIBBS

Ashley Gibbs, 19, was leaving New Life Church when the shooting started. She and her boyfriend stayed in their car and prayed after they heard the shots. This is how she described the scene:

"I was just walking out of the church to my car in the parking lot. My boyfriend opened the driver's side for me, I got in, and he was walking around, and while he was getting in we heard five gunshots . . . we thought it was someone getting ice off their car. We never expected someone to do this at a church. It was pretty shocking.

"Then maybe a minute or two later, we heard two or three more shots and we started to get worried . . . and we saw a guy walk along the side of the building, not the shooter, just someone trying to figure out what was going on, and he took off running the other way and we thought, 'Oh my gosh, what's going on?'

"Then I would assume that the shooter tried to scare the guy off because he shot in our direction. We were about 150 feet away from the building and the gunshot hit about 100 feet from my car. We could see it in the snow and at that point we knew it was a gunshot.

"The man was in black trench coat. I could see that he was a white man, but really what I was focusing on for the one second I saw him was the big black gun he had in his hands. It was like a rifle or a shotgun.

"That's when I panicked and we started praying and calling everybody we knew, everyone we had seen at the church, trying to figure out if everyone was OK. We heard back from everyone we knew, and no one we knew had been hurt.

"I'm still a little bit in disbelief. Shocked. Really sad that this would happen at a church."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Comments

  • December 10, 2007

    7:22 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    arlipscomb writes:

    Lets see, turning away someone justifies a mass murder.I think I will side with the Christians on this one. I would guess that they turned him away because he did not need the help. After all he was able to go and get a gun from somewhere and he seems to have had transportation. Sounds like they knew he was something of a nut nut job and just did not want him around the other kids.

  • December 10, 2007

    9:06 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    chucksmix writes:

    Interesting comment about the "fundamentalist Christians". I think you would do well to be more honest with yourself. When you are you will realize that the Christians are responsilbe for most of the homeless shelters, most of the relief organizations, most of the hospitals that have been founded, abolishing slavery, etc., etc., Throughout the world.

    You were not there when that man approached the missionary headquarters. You don't know the circumstances. First off, they're a training ground for young people (late teens, early twenties) they are responsible for their safety first and foremost. Secondly, they're not a homeless shelter and therefore not equipped for that, Thirdly, the fact that this guy turned around and did such an awful thing only proves that they were discerning about his character and did the right thing in not taking him in.

    Grow up!!!

  • December 10, 2007

    11:23 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    snowbelly writes:

    christians are merely people who bleed and die just like anybody else.Many of these so called "freethinkers" have a problem not only with christians,they really have their animosity focused on jesus, he's the one they really hate.i'll still go feed a stranger today.and i'll hope people like froward can receive a heart of flesh instead of stone.