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Local Gunfire
Posted by Stephen Green  ·   9 December 2007

[Bumped to top]

Very local--one, possibly two, gunmen opened fire at the New Life Church just a couple of miles from here. Police on the scene, and even the local TV news is only repeating what they've heard on the police scanners.

Earlier this morning, another gunman wounded four at a youth missionary training center in the Denver suburb of Arvada. That's just 30 or so minutes north of our home. Spooky.


UPDATE: Two dead, two wounded in that Arvada attack.


UPDATE: Here's the meat from the first full report filed on the Colorado Springs shooting:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- A gunman opened fire in the parking lot of a Colorado Springs church on Sunday, striking four people, the church's pastor said.

The conditions of the people shot outside the New Life Church were not known, El Paso County Sheriff's Lt. Lari Sevene said.

Lance Coles, a pastor at New Life Church, told The Associated Press he received a report that a man was shooting at people in the church parking lot and that the gunman may have entered the church.


UPDATE: KKTV just featured a short on-air report with a witness (or someone who talked to a witness--it was unclear) who claims that "maybe five" people were shot by a man wearing fatigues or maybe camos. Not much in the way of solid info, but I'm still looking.


UPDATE: As of 2:12pm MST, KOAA-TV still doesn't have the story posted in any form. They might want to rethink that "News First" slogan.


UPDATE: Lots of fire trucks and paramedics on the scene at New Life Church, along with an unconfirmed report that the gunman is dead. All this, according to KKTV. Lots of confusion, lots of police with rifles, both in and out of uniform.


UPDATE: One suspect is "contained" at New Life Church, according to the police, and "several victims" have been taken to local hospitals.


UPDATE: Streaming video here. KOAA also has a live feed on their main page.


UPDATE: Police say the gunman has been detained, but they aren't saying if he's dead or alive.


UPDATE: The gunman in the Arvada shooting last night is still at large, and some are speculating there may be some connection between the Youth Mission shooting and the New Life Church attack this afternoon.


UPDATE: KKTV (video here) talked to one victim, who appeared to have a piece of buckshot in his hand. He couldn't figure out how he got hit by a partial shotgun blast from where the gunman was. A second gunman? Friendly fire? A shocky victim? Who knows.

UPDATE: More from KRDO:

NEWSCHANNEL 13 has talked with a spokesperson at Penrose Hospital who confirms three shooting victims have been brought in. She says one is in critical, one is in fair and one is in good condition. Two were transported by ambulance, while the other was brought in by a private vehicle. It is not know if there are any other victims. Sources tell NEWSCHANNEL 13 two young girls are among the victims of this shooting, which happened just after 1:00 p.m. at New Life Church.

Police also confirm a suspect in the shooting at New Life Church is no longer a threat. It has NOT been confirmed what condition that suspect is in. However, a source tells NEWSCHANNEL 13 this suspect has been shot.

UPDATE: Gov. Bill Ritter says, “We have activated the Colorado Information Analysis Center, and I have directed the Department of Public Safety, Colorado State Patrol and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to provide immediate assistance to the local and federal agencies investigating the shootings.”

UPDATE: KRDO-TV says they have a source who claims that there appears to be no connection to the shooting early Sunday morning at a mission in Arvada, just outside Denver.

ONE MORE UPDATE: KKTV reports that the suspect in the New Life Church shooting is dead, shot by a "church security officer." (In other contexts, that last phrase might sound scary.) Reader "TheNewGuy" comments, "If only the mall in Omaha had guards like that."

If only, indeed.


I THOUGHT WE WERE DONE WITH THE UPDATES: According to this CNN story, "Several 'suspicious devices' were found at the church." More road flares, or something more sinister? Dunno.

UPDATE The Denver Post has a full report on what happened in Arvada:

Police and witnesses said two staffers, a man and a woman in their mid-20s, were killed just after 12:30 a.m. when the man approached the door seeking a place to stay. The female staffer, identified by police as Tiffany Johnson, 26, of Minnesota, apparently told the man that the youth facility had no place for him. She was about to tell him that she could seek alternatives when he produced a gun...

The gunshots came through the open doorway, killing Johnson and Philip Crouse, 24, of Alaska. Two other staffers were injured before the man, described as a white male in his 20s, ran.
Church members identified the wounded as Dan Griebenow, who was in critical condition, and Charlie Branch, 22, who was wounded less severely.

UPDATE: There is one dead victim in Colorado Springs, according to the Rocky Mountain News.

Comments

I hope it's the same guy. I hope it's just one guy. I hope they've got him cornered. I hope they kill him.

The folks that he shot in Arvada were at a church just a few blocks away from where I worked until 2006. I have friends that go to that church. I've been to that church.

I won't lie: I don't attend church and, if I did, that's not the kind that I would attend. But they were all nice to me, they all seemed like good people.

Posted by: zombyboy at December 9, 2007 03:39 PM

Your coverage of this has been outstanding.

Posted by: Blogger News Network at December 9, 2007 06:02 PM

They're reporting that a security guard shot and killed the gunman.

If only the mall in Omaha had guards like that...

Posted by: TheNewGuy at December 9, 2007 06:36 PM

While I am glad the church had a armed security guard, I must admit feeling slightly nauseated by the fact that we live in a world where a church would need an armed security guard.

Posted by: rosignol at December 9, 2007 07:20 PM

That's true, but I must admit to a small smile when I heard about the result. A well armed society returns fire on assholes like this guy.

And if he's dead, well that just saves a bunch of time and idiotic media statements about the "alleged gunman."

Posted by: zombyboy at December 9, 2007 07:34 PM

It was a female security guard that killed him.

Posted by: yak at December 9, 2007 10:20 PM

TO: Stephen Green, et al.
RE: If....

....it was a Muslim that perpetrated either of these attacks, I'll wager the first thing we'll hear from that community, courtesy of CAIR, is that THEY are the victims, in some fashion.

Regards,

Chuck(le)

P.S. Additional information, not yet confirmed....

[1] YWAM's primary focus is reportedly on evangelical work with Muslims.

[2] YWAM appears to have had an office on the New Life campus.

Posted by: Chuck Pelto at December 10, 2007 09:58 AM

Chuck, Just shut up already!!!!
It was a rich white boy, maybe disgruntaled by the muslims, perhaps we should talk to his elementary school teachers and find out what was in his head.

Posted by: pete at December 10, 2007 03:44 PM

Turns out the "security guard" wasn't what we would usually call a "security guard" but rather a volunteer parishioner (do non-Catholics call them that?):
http://instapundit.com/archives2/012740.php

Posted by: mrsizer at December 10, 2007 06:10 PM

TO: pete
RE: Come & Make Me!

"Chuck, Just shut up already!!!!" -- pete

RE: Murray

"It was a rich white boy, maybe disgruntaled by the muslims..." -- pete

More likely inspired by the Muslims.

We still don't know much about this perp.

"...perhaps we should talk to his elementary school teachers and find out what was in his head." -- pete

You go talk to his elementary school teachers.

I'm more interested in hearing what the people who've talked to him over the last three years have to say.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Things are never as good nor as bad as initially reported. -- Army Staff Puke axiom]

Posted by: Chuck Pelto at December 11, 2007 10:29 AM

P.S. According to the latest information, as of this posting, the key point was YWAM was at both targeted areas.

Whether or not Islam had anything to do with it remains to be determined. However, I remind you that the initial attack report said he had a beard and a 'beanie'.

I'm curious as to what he was wearing when blonde took him down and what all was in his online diatribes.

Posted by: Chuck Pelto at December 11, 2007 10:31 AM



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