Autopsy: Gunman Matthew Murray killed himself

By Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 8, 2008 at 6:52 p.m.
Updated January 8, 2008 at 6:52 p.m.

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Matthew Murray's life ended in a Colorado Springs church when he stuck one of his guns in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

The 24-year-old, who had killed four people and wounded five others during attacks at two religious centers, also had two drugs in his system — amphetamine and benzodiazepine — according to an autopsy report on Murray released Tuesday by the El Paso County Coroner's Office.

Amphetamine is commonly known as "speed," but it can also be prescribed to treat several disorders, including narcolepsy and chronic fatigue syndrome. Benzodiazepine is found in anti-anxiety drugs.

Murray had opened fire early the morning of Dec. 9 at Youth With A Mission, a Christian missionary training center in Arvada. He left two people dead and two wounded there.

A little more than 12 hours later, at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Murray opened fire again.

He killed two sisters, wounded their father and injured two others before a confrontation with a church security guard, Jeanne Assam.

Assam, a former police officer, opened fire on Murray.

But the autopsy by Dr. Robert Bux found that she did not kill him — she hit him twice in the left thigh, inflicting superficial wounds.

Murray stuck a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, ending his life a moment later.

When he died, he was wearing black combat boots, SWAT type black cargo pants, a black long-sleeve shirt with "Crapple of Faith" written on it, and a black ammunition vest over a gray jacket. He wore a black glove on his right hand.

Murray also wore an orange cord necklace with a pair of earplugs and a black cord necklace that featured two pentagrams and a medallion showing the Eye of Ra, an ancient Egyptian symbol.

In the right front pocket of his pants he carried a red paperback book called "The Book of the Law" by Aleister Crowley, a British occultist that Murray referred to in some of his web writings.

In the right front pocket of his jacket he carried $239.50 in cash and change.

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