“Surrender”
A witness to the events at the New Life Church yesterday described the scene as volunteer armed security guard Jeanne Assam stopped the bloodshed by shotting the gunman.
Larry Bourbonnais, a combat-tested Vietnam veteran, said it was the bravest thing he's ever seen.
Bourbonnais, who was among those shot by a gunman Sunday at New Life Church, watched as a security guard, a woman later identified as Jeanne Assam, calmly returned fire and killed the shooter.
"She just started walking toward the gunman firing the whole way," said Bourbonnais, who was shot in the arm. "She was just yelling 'Surrender,' walking and shooting the whole time."
Which is exactly what is taught in carry class - shoot until the threat stops or the gun is empty. There is no doubt whatsoever that Jeanne Assam saved many lives. The shooter, identified as Matthew Murray, a 24-year old from Englewood, Colorado who "hated Christians" had a backpack with 1,000 rounds of ammunition, an "assault rifle" and two hand guns. He has also been identified by forensic evidence as being the same gunman who killed two people early the same day at a missionary training center. Murray had been enrolled at that missionary center briefly at some time in the past.
Police describe a chaotic scene with smoke bombs going off outside the New Life Church moments before Matthew Murray began firing in a rampage that killed two and wounded three others Sunday.
Forensic evidence from the shooting at the church matches evidence found at Arvada's Youth with a Mission, a missionary training facility, scene of an earlier shooting spree that killed two others. Murray had once been enroleld there.
Police say Murray, 24, of Englewood, was the lone gunman in both cases.
At an afternoon press conference, police described the chaos at New Life Church that began at about 1:10 p.m. Sunday.
Smoke bombs went off near two entrances to the mega-church before Murray fired his first shots.
Then Murray, who was armed with clips for 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and two hand guns, began firing an assault rifle in an corner of the parking lot.
Sisters Stephanie, 18, and Rachael Works, 16, and their father, David Works, 51, were struck. Stephanie died at the scene, and her sister died later at Penrose Hospital.
One thing that strikes me as I look at this cluster of stories over at Memeorandum. Not a single lefty blog is commenting on this - at all. There is, I suspect, a reason for that. This tragic incident would have been much, much more tragic but for the presence - and the presence of mind - of one armed civilian. Jeanne Assam saw what had to be done to stop the murderer and took exactly the right action. She saved a lot of people.
Thank God that church had enough sense not to declare the grounds a "gun free zone".
UPDATE: Video of Jeanne Assam at the press conference here. At the end of the presser, the reporters burst into a very hearty round of applause.
By NortonPete, Monday, 10 December , 2007 @ 9:08 pm
The picture of this valiant female tells the whole story in her eyes.
Thank God we have someone like this on our side, and yes thank God the church had the sense not to bar her from the grounds
By Mwalimu Daudi, Monday, 10 December , 2007 @ 9:47 pm
There will probably be some sniping about the incident, but let’s hope that it is nothing more serious than this.
Still…the MSM is heavily invested in the anti-gun meme. Very heavily invested. Almost certainly I am being too pessimistic, but I would not completely rule out some kind of media attack on her. The Narrative must be preserved!
By Mwalimu Daudi, Monday, 10 December , 2007 @ 9:56 pm
A note about my last post - the comment that I was refering to on Malkin’s site was #74. I think that I messed up on the HTML.
By Larry, Monday, 10 December , 2007 @ 10:52 pm
10,000 rounds! What does a patrol in Baghdad start the day with? (Honest question, I have no idea.)
And it strikes me that the hero (no dammit, the heroine) of this sadly true story has a surname that might be Middle Eastern. Wouldn’t that just completely frost the loser.
I wonder how many more of these we will have before people begin to see that “gun free” is not observed by everybody. Churches here, like the Westroads Mall, are “gun free”.
No, I don’t think Westroads is a church, although there are similarities.
I am not an expert in the area, but my understanding is the Nebraska Law makes churches “gun free”, while the Mall was “gun free” by choice. I also understand that the Westroads signs have been taken down. Nearly everything in this ‘graf is from blogs I have read recently, but can not now find to give proper credit.
By Larry, Monday, 10 December , 2007 @ 10:58 pm
10,000 rounds! What does a patrol in Baghdad start the day with? (Honest question, I have no idea.)
And it strikes me that the hero (no dammit, the heroine) of this sadly true story has a surname that might be Middle Eastern. Wouldn’t that just completely frost the loser.
I wonder how many more of these we will have before people begin to see that “gun free” is not observed by everybody. Churches here, like the Westroads Mall, are “gun free”.
No, I don’t think Westroads is a church, although there are similarities.
I am not an expert in the area, but my understanding is the Nebraska Law makes churches “gun free”, while the Mall was “gun free” by choice. I also understand that the Westroads signs have been taken down. Nearly everything in this ‘graf is from blogs I have read recently, but can not now find to give proper credit.
And regarding the armed-guard-in-a-church issue: that bothered me too. But I have now read reports that either say, or lead me to believe that she or others knew there was a connection to the earlier murders from the church and suggest the patrols be established.
It doesn’t appear that armed guards are the norm, although I have to tell you, in this day and age the combination of loose nuts carrying serious weaponry and large amounts of cash at some of the churches, I am no longer sure I think armed guards in a church sounds so bad anymore.
By Other Ed, Tuesday, 11 December , 2007 @ 7:56 am
The reason that there are few lefty blogs commenting on this is because a mentally deranged individual going on a rampage is an aberration. It’s not necessary to politicize everything. I think if you look after the Westroads mall incident, there was little left comment also.
The volunteer security guard Jeanne Assam was an ex-police officer. Middle-Eastern or not, she was a obviously well trained.
By Mockin'bird, Tuesday, 11 December , 2007 @ 2:13 pm
I’m getting my CCW permit Sunday at the gun show.