Colorado police seek links into Church-Mission shootings as another victim dies
Pastor Dale Morgan
Colorado police seek links into Church-Mission shootings as another
victim dies*
* Story Highlights
* NEW: Police from two cities searching an address overnight in
Englewood
* Second victim in Colorado Springs megachurch shooting has died
* Police chief cites reason to suspect link to earlier attack on
missionary center
* Two were killed and two injured at missionary center in suburban
Denver
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- Police in two Colorado cities were
looking for possible connections between deadly attacks on worshippers
at a Colorado Springs megachurch and on a Christian missionary center in
suburban Denver.
The two shootings have left four victims dead and six wounded,
authorities said. The gunman at the megachurch also died.
Arvada Police Chief Don Wick said there is reason to believe the
shootings are related, although he did not elaborate.
Overnight, Arvada police were also helping to execute a search warrant
obtained by Colorado Springs police at an address in Englewood, another
Denver suburb, according to Arvada Police spokeswoman Susan Medina.
The black-clad gunman who attacked worshippers at New Life Church in
Colorado Springs, initially killing one and wounding four, was killed by
"a courageous security staff member," Colorado Springs Police Chief
Richard Myers said.
One of the wounded died late Sunday, according to a Penrose-St. Francis
Hospital spokeswoman Amy Sufak.
"The suspect was confronted by a security guard," Myers said at a news
conference late Sunday. "She shot the suspect, and the suspect
subsequently died at the scene."
Detectives in the Denver suburb of Arvada were "working closely" with
their counterparts in Colorado Springs to determine whether the attack
on New Life Church was related to the shootings that left two staffers
dead and two wounded at a live-in training center for Christian
missionaries about 12 hours earlier, Wick told reporters.
Asked by reporters if the shootings were related, Wick said: "Yes, there
is a reason to believe that, although this is active and I can't release
that."
"Until we have evidence which conclusively ties these two events
together, Arvada police will continue to follow all leads," Wick also
said. Video Watch police, heartbroken pastor react to attacks »
At his late Sunday news conference, Myers said authorities from the two
communities were cooperating in their investigations.
"We are working directly with the Arvada Police Department to explore if
there is any possible link to the incident that they had early this
morning," Myers said. "At this time, we do not have any information that
would indicate that."
The identity of the man who opened fire at New Life Church had not been
determined Sunday evening, Colorado Springs police spokesman Lt.
Fletcher Howard said.
But witnesses' accounts of a black-clad gunman shared some elements with
the description issued by Arvada police after the slayings in their
town, about 80 miles north of Colorado Springs.
Brady Boyd, the senior pastor at New Life Church, said leaders of the
non-denominational, evangelical congregation of more than 10,000 had
beefed up security after the Arvada attacks.
"Many lives were saved because of the quick action of some committed
volunteers at our church," Boyd said. He said about 7,000 people were at
the church, which had just completed a late-morning service, when the
shooting took place shortly after 1 p.m.
In the earlier shooting, Arvada police said a dark-jacketed man with a
beard, glasses and skullcap entered Youth With a Mission about 12:30
a.m. Sunday (2:30 a.m. ET) and opened fire after a dispute with a staff
member about whether he would be allowed to stay the night there.
"The staff member contacted other staff members to help remove the
suspect from the residence," Wick said. "Upon leaving the facility, the
suspect turned and fired a handgun numerous times, striking four victims."
Youth With a Mission staff members Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip
Crouse, 24, died in surgery after the shooting, the group's co-founder,
Peter Warren, told CNN.
He said they were cleaning up from a Saturday night Christmas banquet
when the attack occurred.
The gunman had asked for housing for the night, Warren said, and opened
fire when the missionaries refused. Another staff member, 24-year-old
Dan Griebenow, was in critical condition with a bullet in his neck, and
a second survivor, Charlie Blanch, was shot in the legs, the group said
on its Web site.
Investigators tried to track the gunman through fresh snow with the help
of dogs, but lost his trail in a heavily walked area, Deputy Chief Gary
Creager told CNN.
"Obviously, two shootings at two faith-based locations is very
concerning to both us and Colorado Springs." Creager said.
Youth With a Mission was founded in 1960, and operates in more than
1,000 locations in 149 countries, according to its Web site. The Arvada
center is home to dozens of people from around the world training as
Christian missionaries.
"These kids were like our kids, you know?" Warren told CNN affiliate
KUSA. "It's just such a tragedy."
Arvada is about 80 miles north of Colorado Springs, where the second
shooting took place shortly after 1 p.m. Sunday. Ashley Gibbs, a New
Life member, said she heard five shots in quick succession as she and
her boyfriend headed for their car after a late-morning service. A short
time later, she heard several more shots -- and saw one hit the snow
about 100 feet away from her car.
"I saw the guy for just a second," she said. "He was wearing a big,
black trenchcoat and carrying a big gun."
Gibbs said she hadn't heard about the shootings in Arvada, and said she
was "completely shocked" by the sound of gunfire.
"I never thought that anything like this would ever happen," she said.
"That's why when I heard the gunshots, I didn't think they were gunshots."
Gibbs description of the man -- in his early to mid-20s, dressed in a
dark coat -- sounded similar to the description of the man behind the
Arvada killings.
But she could not recall any facial hair, as survivors of the attack on
the missionary center described. And she said she did not know what kind
of weapon he carried, but said it was "a big one -- you had to hold it
with two hands."
When it was over, Myers said, the gunman and one church member were dead
on New Life's grounds. The wounded were taken to Penrose-St. Francis
Hospital, where one remained hospitalized in fair condition late Sunday,
according to a hospital representative.
Myers said authorities had wrapped up their investigation of "several
suspicious devices" the man left behind.
"The suspicious devices that were located turn out not to be explosive
in nature, but appear to be smoke-generating devices," he said late Sunday.
The non-denominational New Life Church claims a membership of more than
10,000. It was founded by the Rev. Ted Haggard, an evangelical Christian
leader ousted in 2006 after allegations that he had been a client of a
male prostitute from whom he had purchased drugs.
After his firing, Haggard admitted to undisclosed "sexual immorality"
and called himself "a deceiver and a liar" in a letter to the congregation.