Three die, six wounded in attack on church, YWAM

Nine people were shot, with three dead and six of them wounded, this past weekend in Colorado.

Four of the victims, including two of the deceased, were murdered at Youth With a Mission (YWAM) headquarters in Arvada, CO, just outside of Denver. A young man came to the door of the YWAM dorm asking for a place to stay, according to a press release; when he was told he could not be accommodated, he pulled out a handgun and opened fire. Two youth staffers were killed and two were wounded. The gunman then fled on foot in the snow.

Only a few hours later, another gunman of nearly identical description – dressed in black, wearing combat boots and holding an assault rifle and at least one handgun – opened fire in the parking lot of the vast New Life evangelical church in Colorado Springs, CO, after Sunday services, according to a police statement. A New Life security guard shot and killed the gunman before police arrived on the scene.

While authorities have not yet released the identity of the slain gunman, they are currently not commenting on whether the two attacks were linked, either by a common assailant or a conspiracy of two or more assailants.

It’s an unfortunate loss of life, although it is clear that losses could have been greater were it not for the swift response of the New Life security guard who took out the gunman at the Colorado Springs church assault. At the Colorado Spring New Life church assault, the gunman wounded four people before he was taken out by the security guard.

Such apparently random violence is a disturbing societal trend. Makes a person want to sleep with a strong flashlight, powered by NiMH batteries, close at hand, as well as – if not a gun, at least some pepper spray or something similar for self-defense, near enough to be readily accessible in an emergency.