The shooting
At about 1 p.m. MST (20:00 UTC) after the 11 a.m. service had ended at New Life Church, a man entered with a rifle and opened fire in the building's main foyer.[1] One person was killed from the gunshots and four were injured before a church security guard shot and killed the perpertator.[4]
Following the shooting spree, officers combed the church campus looking for suspicious devices. Colorado governor Bill Ritter ordered state authorities to help investigate, and the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also came to the site to assist.[3]
[edit] The church
Main article: New Life Church (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
New Life Church was founded in 1984 and the congregation is estimated at 14,000 as of 2006.[5] Ted Haggard, the founder and former pastor, was accused of homosexual sex and drug abuse by a former prostitute, and stepped down in late 2006.[6]
[edit] Connections
It is not immediately known whether the shootings were related to an earlier Arvada missionary shooting, 70 miles (113 km) away. There, two people died and two were wounded at 12:30 a.m. after a gunman opened fire in a dormitory at a missionary training center on the campus of Faith Bible Chapel.[1]
Police said the description of the gunman in the second shooting was similar to the first: a white male wearing a dark hat and dark jacket [7].
On December 10, the gunman was identified as Matthew Murray age 23.
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