New Life Church shooting

I’m reading up on this shooting at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO. Again, my thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims.

This shooting ended quite differently than the shooting in the mall at Omaha, and for one reason. This time, there was an armed person in place to put an end to the shooter’s rampage. Now, according to various reports, the person who stopped the rampage was a member of New Life’s armed security team, however does not appear to be a paid employee of the church.

Rev. Brady Boyd, senior pastor of New Life Church, said the church had a security plan in place.

“I’m proud of the way our team responded,” he said. “Many, many lives were saved because of the quick action of some committed volunteers at our church.” (emphasis mine)

Colorado state law requires that an armed security guard who is not a member of law enforcement must be in possession of a concealed carry permit. I am currently in the process of determining whether the guard at New Life was an off-duty cop, or a civilian volunteer with a carry permit. Because no media have referred to the guard as an off duty police officer, my hunch is that she is just a regular concerned citizen like us.

I’ll have more on this as I get more information, but as right now the evidence seems to indicate that the rampage at New Life church was stopped by a citizen volunteer with a carry permit.

UPDATE: Directly from the head pastor at New Life Church, the “security guard” who stopped the shooting was an unpaid volunteer, not a police officer, and “used a personal weapon.” The CNN link confirms the information I just received in an email from a source at New Life Church.

So the facts are now that a concerned, armed citizen, acted to in defense of the lives of others and risked her own life by moving rapidly to the shots and engaging the gunman. This woman is truly a hero, and deserves the highest congratulations we can offer.

14 Comments

  1. That outcome would have been horribly different in Nebraska. Here, churches are on the state-mandated “no guns” list. Even if a church WANTED to have some of it’s parishoners bring their CCWs, by law they can’t.

    The state, to no real surprise, has told the church officials what they can and cannot do.

    Another reason for me to watch foosball on Sundays!

  2. My understanding ( from a post on free republic from a church member ) is that she is an off duty officer , but not contracted in any way . She is volunteer security using a commision card as a ccw with the same rights/dutys in our fine state ( Colorado ) as any other ccw holder at church .

  3. The hero is a citizen licensed under the Colorado Concealed Handgun Permit program, carrying her personally owned weapon — NOT an off-duty cop. She rushed down the hall to engage the gunman, who was apparently armed with enough ammunition to kill “at least 100 people.”

    This info straight from her boss, Pastor Brady Boyd.

  4. Well, congrats to her for doing what needed to be done and getting if not a win at least an ata-girl for the good guys. . . goes to show what can happen if the good guys are allowed to be armed too. . .

    why is it so hard to learn this lesson. . . how many more must pay for the rest to learn this?

  5. I am with you John D. It simply takes time for the “sheeple” to be able to distinguish between the logical and that which they hear/see.
    There are people with agendas stampeding the herd.
    Step away from the herd and use common sense.Gun free zones are not adhere to by those bent on killing. Only an armed good guy will save the day, and many lives!

  6. The church that my wife and I attend (in Washington state) has a similar group of armed volunteers to provide security. Most people aren’t aware of their existence (I only know because I’ve gone shooting with some of the guys on the team). Their presence seems a lot more reasonable today.

  7. “…And let him who has no sword sell his garment and buy one.” Luke 22:36

    God was with her.

  8. If you thought you had mail *before*, Ahab, buckel up and hang on! I’m seeing this blog entry of yours linked EVERYwhere, pointing people to comment #4 and I’m sure there will be several inquiries as to its authentication.

  9. Local accounts indicate the volunteer parishioner was from a law enforcement background, but not that she was a current off-duty officer…good on her, and I would count that as a win for the good guys/gals. Same perp is reported to have killed 2, wounded 2 at the missionary dorm in Arvada the previous night.

  10. The hero’s name is Jeanne Assam, and she tells an amazing story:

    Here is the transcript from Pastor Boyd’s press conference:
    http://www.newlifechurch.org/db_images2/12-10-9am.pdf

    And here is an article with quotes from Jeanne:
    http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/10/colorado.shootings/index.html

    “I saw him coming through the doors,” she told reporters on Monday. “I took cover, and I waited for him to get closer, and I came out of cover and identified myself, and engaged him, and took him down. And that’s pretty much it.”

    “I give the credit to God. And I say that very humbly. God was with me and the whole time I was behind cover — this has got to be God, because of the firepower that [the gunman] had vs. what I had — was God. I did not run away and I didn’t think for a minute to run away, I just knew that I was given the assignment to end this before it got too much worse. I just prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide me.”

  11. Why, the media rush to have the defender of life and liberty, be a “law enforcement” officer, or “armed security personnel” and not a concerned “citizen” with the sense of right and wrong in this instance. People don’t seem to realize that the “citizen” is, and will allways be the “first line of defense” in our society. Law Enforcement, by its nature and design are “responders”. This means that they primarily respond to clean up the mess, not prevent this type behavior. Citizens must play a more proactive role.

    If the lady who put her life on the line, otherwise legally possessing a CCW license, did what she had to do to curtail this rampage, she did what every citizen should have done in this instance. This country was made great by this type of backbone and decision-making before we even had “sworn” officers and will continue to take up the slack in light of the politics and lack of a system in place to address those with a death wish like this shooter, and others.

    Any loss is bad, but this one shooter has been removed from the gene pool and that has to be a positive consideration.

    Why should anyone try to “couch” her function, under some false “color of law” for justification. She performed as I would want those responsible for my own family and children to do. Virginia Tech, should have had someone of this woman’s statue on site as well willing and dedicated to duty.

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