Jeanne Assam, a church member who volunteers as a security guard, shot and killed Murray, who was found with a rifle and two handguns, police said. The pastor called her “a real hero.”
“When the shots were fired, she rushed toward the scene and encountered the attacker there in a hallway. He never got more than 50 feet inside our building,” he said. “There could have been a great loss of life yesterday, and she probably saved over 100 lives.”
Boyd said the gunman had a lot of ammunition and estimated that 40 rounds had been fired inside the church, leaving what looked like a “war scene.”
Jessie Gingrich, who had left New Life and was in the parking lot getting into her car, saw the gunman get a rifle from his trunk and open fire on a van with people inside. Gingrich said she cowered in her vehicle, fumbling with the key.
“I was just expecting for the next gunshot to be coming through my car. Miraculously — by the grace of God — it did not,” she told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
About 7,000 people were in and around the church the time of the shooting, Boyd said. Security had been beefed up after the shootings hours earlier in Arvada, he said. The church had a total of 15 to 20 volunteer security officers inside at the time of the attack, he said.
Some members of the congregation reacted with compassion and forgiveness, in keeping with their faith.
Ashley Gibbs was getting into a car with David Harris when they heard the gunshots. They stayed in the vehicle.
“It was obvious that he was in some sort of pain and going through a lot,” Gibbs told the TODAY show. “I just prayed God would bring him peace.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22174890/page/2/
