Lethal rage

Another young man's murderous rampage

The Rocky

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Schools. A university. A shopping mall. And now a youth missionary center in Arvada and a church in Colorado Springs. Given the locations of various mass shootings during the past year, you can forgive someone for beginning to feel as if no place is safe these days from marauding killers.

For that matter, there is something especially unnerving about murders when they occur in places that we associate with security, even serenity. Sunday's crimes were still more heart-rending because of the youth of the four victims - who ranged in age from 16 to 26. Our hearts go out to the victims' families and to the members of both New Life Church and Youth With a Mission as they recover emotionally and spiritually from these terrible events.

To say that these tragedies were senseless is to resort to cliche - but also to point out a genuine and important truth. The victims did absolutely nothing to provoke such lethal rage. Whatever grudge gunman Matthew Murray may have held against the missionary center, and perhaps against Christians more broadly, it apparently had no specific link to those who are dead.

Unfortunately, Coloradans are all-too-familiar with the type of young man who nurses a poisonous anger that grows and explodes: Two were responsible for the events of eight years ago at Columbine. Now another has left behind a barren legacy of anguish and sorrow.

But just as the unfolding horror of Columbine inspired the heroism of teachers such as the late Dave Sanders, Sunday's shootings produced a remarkable story of someone who was a match for the moment - and who almost certainly saved many lives as a result.

Security guard and New Life parishioner Jeanne Assam said Monday that although she was frightened, she was not nervous and never wavered in her confrontation with a man whose firepower was far greater than her own. (Police have confirmed that Murray had an assault rifle, two handguns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. )

To add to her exploit, Assam was finishing a three-day fast and so was in a weakened state when she realized that it was up to her to stop the mayhem.

We opened this editorial noting the understandable anxiety that some might feel in the wake of the latest shootings. After all, violence in our society can sometimes seem to be pervasive. Yet while that is true, as Sunday's events prove, it's important that we not exaggerate its frequency. During this decade, the homicide rate in the United States (per 100,000 people) has actually been lower than at any time since the early and mid-1960s - and far lower than the 25 years between 1970 to 1995.

Such dry statistics are no consolation to anyone remotely near to this weekend's tragedies, but they offer perspective the rest of us should bear in mind.

• December 11, 2007

  8:43 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  freethinker07 writes:

  This is all in imitation of movies and TV.

• December 12, 2007

  4:48 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Homesick writes:

  How unfortunate for lcdrjjxant that he turns a hateful one person act, into a global, racist conspiracy (complicated scary). I am so thankful for my Judeo-Christian beliefs (peaceful goon). I am also thankful for my spell checker.