A gunman opened fire at a prominent megachurch in Colorado Springs Sunday afternoon, killing one person and wounding four others. The suspect was shot dead by a church security staff member, the city's police chief reported.
The attack took place at New Life Church at about 1 p.m. when worshippers were just ending an 11 a.m. service. Colorado Springs police Lt. Fletcher Howard said the shootings occurred outside in the church parking lot.
The identity of the man had not been determined Sunday evening, Howard said, according to CNN. Police do not know the motive for the attack.
Several witnesses identified the suspect as a man wearing a black trench coat.
"There were so many people walking through the parking lot, going to their car ... and I remember seeing someone that I thought 'well, that's kind of unusual,'" church member Tom Doyle told CNN.
Doyle, who had left the church in his car just before the shootings, said the possible suspect was wearing a black uniform that "looked a little out of place."
The attack on New Life's worshippers came as a shock to the 10,000-member church. The megachurch had been recovering from last year's alleged sex-and-drugs scandal between the church founder and head pastor, the Rev. Ted Haggard, and a male prostitute and was on a "new course" with their new senior pastor, the Rev. Brady Boyd.
"Everybody's just so happy about the direction ... of the church and really excited," Boyd told CNN.
So Sunday's shooting came "clear out of the blue," the church member said.
"The amazing thing is ... look how God was preparing the church for this," Boyd highlighted. "Pastor Jack Hayford (The Church on the Way in Van Nuys) had just spoken from California and he talked about giving your fears over to God and not being afraid and giving them all over to Jesus.
"And then minutes later, this arose."
One of the wounded reportedly died late Sunday, according to Penrose-St. Francis Hospital spokeswoman Amy Sufak.
Twelve hours earlier, a shooting at a missionary training center in Arvada, Colo., left two people dead and two wounded. Arvada is about 80 miles north of Colorado Springs.
"Obviously, two shootings at two faith-based locations is very concerning to both us and Colorado Springs." Deputy Chief Gary Creager told CNN.
Arvada Police Chief Don Wick said there is reason to believe the shootings are related. Details have not yet been released.
"Until we have evidence which conclusively ties these two events together, Arvada police will continue to follow all leads," Wick said.
The earlier incident occurred at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday at the Youth With a Mission (YWAM) center. YWAM director Peter Warren said the suspect asked whether he could spend the night at the center's dormitory, according to The Associated Press. When told he could not stay, the man opened fire and then left on foot, Warren said.
Witnesses described the gunman as a 20-year-old white male, wearing a dark jacket and skull cap.
The victims of the shooting were identified as Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24. Both died in surgery after the shooting. Two other wounded victims surviving the attack are Dan Griebenow, 24, who was in critical condition, and Charlie Branch, 22.
YWAM – which has 1,100 locations – trains people ranging from their late teens to their 70s in a 12-week course that prepares them to be missionaries. The Arvada center trains about 300 people a year.
Comments
God bless everyone! I think we're going to see more of this happening all over the USA and the world in the Christian Churches. This is just the begining.
I think God is trying to show, not the world but, the church that it is time to wake up and be for real, real followers of Jesus Christ. People are getting tired and are going to start doing crazy things to show their unheard anger. Churches and their leaders try to hide everything they do and say it's the devil attacking, when in reality it's their past and present actions catching up with them. Let's be realistic Christians. God is trying to wake up the minds of believers to speak up and question the things they doubt in the church. Pastors and leaders that are paid by the church driving $60 grand car when some, if not most, of their members are starving or drowning in bills. How Christian is that? Let's go back to "What Would Jesus Do!!!" Who wouldn't want to be a pastor now? New cars paid by the church, mansions, tv shows, etc... Just say you're a Christian and talk about self esteem and Pro$perity and you'll be all-set. It's the new high paying job.
I am so completely appalled by the tone of this article, and finally the tone of the comments, I don't know where to start.
Is this or is this not a Christian site. Three of our sisters and one of our brothers in Christ were murdered yesterday for following Christ. Yet this article could have been written for any secular news service and you couldn't have told the difference. Before the mention of the attack on the first victims we have to have a little lesson in the sins of Ted Haggard.....why? The tone is so cold and matter of fact that a non-Christian could come to this site and wonder why one would want to even be one. The Lord said that they would know us by the love we have for one another. Where is the love for these our brethren now gone to be with the Lord, for their families now grieving, and for those wounded and also grieving?
And here's something interesting...the title "Colorado Shootings at Two Christian Sites Concern Residents". As cold as that sounds, the article doesn't even talk about the residents, their concern, or what they might be concerned for. Is anyone editing this site, or proofreading these articles, or even caring what goes on here?
As to the comments, are you kidding, skullcaps usually mean muslims? Liberals? Mega-church security?.................... Prayer, mourning, standing up for our faith, love for those left behind, caring, that is what is needed right now.....Lets start acting like followers of Christ.
Doesn't take long for some people to turn a tragedy like this into campaign against "muslims" and "lefties". Is there no limit to the depth some people will let their hate sink them?
pburwell....
skullcaps are those "bandana type things" that bikers like to wear on their head.
This is a hate crime, will the lefties cry foul?
I've been to the New Life Center in Colorado Springs a couple of times and it is a very nice facility. Right next to the New Life Center is The World Prayer Center which has the flags of just about every nation hanging on poles outside of the building, and from the rafters on the inside of the building. The World Prayer Center also has a huge spinning globe set against the windows with Pike's Peak in the background. Very picturesque and beautiful. Thousands of people from all over the world visit this place yearly. It is also directly across from the USAF Academy.
Coincidental that the shooting happened here? I don't know. But it sure is suspicious, even more so now because they still have not released the identity of the shooter.
The only security guards that I observed there actually appeard to be off-duty police officers. They at least drove up in regular police cars anyway, and were there for the entire service.
It's typical for a lot of churches to have security teams. In Colorado, I believe, it is legal for qualifying citizens to carry concealed weapons. It's possible that ALL of the security team is not necessarily armed.
One more reason why, considering the times we're living in, we need to make sure we're not giving up our right to bear arms.
I wonder that they have armed security staff, I mean, I don´t want to know what happend if they did not have, but...this is strange to me.
Is it typical in US megachurches to have security like this?
It's unfortunate that we have to jump to conclusions and blame it on a certain group of people before we know any real facts. The police have not even had time to sort this out yet. So please let this play out before playing the liberal media hates Christians card.
My prayers go to the families in this terrible tradjety. May God show them strength and peace during this ordeal.
"Witnesses described the gunman as a 20-year-old white male, wearing a dark jacket and skull cap."
"Skull caps" tend to worn by muslims. Are we seeing yet another Islam motivated attack being "altered" by the media to prevent seeing the truth?
I don't know but it IS clear that church is suffering. My hope is that they are suffering for the truth not lies.
May the Glory of Yahweh be manifest.
Our condolences to the families of those murdered. Hold fast to Jesus and entrust yourself wholly to Him.