5 Shot At New Life Church, 2 Dead
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — The 24-year-old who killed four people, at an Arvada mission and New Life Church, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police say he was first shot several times by volunteer security officer, Jeanne Assam. The one-time law enforcement officer has been hailed as a hero for taking down the gunman and possibly saving hundred of lives. However, it was Matthew Murray’s own bullet that killed him.
Monday, forensic evidence in the shootings revealed that Matthew Murray was the gunman in both the New Life Church shootings and the shooting at Youth With A Mission Center in Arvada.
In a news conference Monday afternoon, officers from the Colorado Springs Police Department and the Arvada Police Department reported Murray had been involved in YWAM but had been removed from the program. According to Sgt. Jeff Jensen, Murray “did express his discontent.”
NEWSCHANNEL 13 has since learned Murray had been contacting the mission over the past few weeks and that the messages he was sending got progressively more threatening in nature. The Denver Post is reporting, in at least one of Murray’s writings, he copied the writings of Columbine shooter Eric Harris. The mission in Arvada also had an office at New Life Church.
The first shooting happened at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday morning at the mission in Arvada. Two people, Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24, were killed in the incident. Two others were injured. The second happened just after 1:00 Sunday afternoon when Matthew Murray, armed with an assault rifle and two handguns, fired 27 rounds of ammunition outside and inside of the church. Soon after entering the church, security guard, Jeanne Assam took cover and fired her weapon. New Life Pastor, Brady Boyd, says the church had added security that day due to the shooting in Arvada.
Two victims who lost their lives in Sunday’s shooting were teen-aged sisters, this confirmed by the pastor of New Life Church. In a news conference Monday morning, PastorBoydrevealed the names of all 5 victims shot, including the two sisters and their father. One of the young girls died at the scene, the other at Penrose Hospital just after 10:00 Sunday night. Another victim remains at Penrose Hospital as of early Monday morning. That patient is reportedly in fair condition. Two other victims were taken to the hospital after the shooting but were treated and released. Their identities have been released and can be found in the story titled, “Victims Identified in New Life Shooting” listed to the left.
Upon investigation, police found Murray was carrying upwards of one thousand rounds of ammunition in his backpack. He was shot several times by Assam, but an autopsy has ruled it was a self-inflicted gunshot that fatally wounded him.
