Gunman Kills 2 in Missionary Center

[Wakka]

The Associated PressBy GEORGE MERRITTSunday, December 9, 2007; 3:22 PMARVADA, Colo. -- A gunman opened fire in a training center dormitory for young Christian missionaries early Sunday after being told he couldn't spend the night, killing two of the center's staff members and wounding two others. No arrests had been made by afternoon.The shooting happened at about 12:30 a.m. at the Youth With a Mission center in this Denver suburb, police spokeswoman Susan Medina said. A man and a woman were killed and two men were wounded, Medina said. All four were staff members, said Paul Filidis, a Colorado Springs-based spokesman with Youth With a Mission.The gunman came to the door of the dormitory seeking shelter, asking if he could spend the night, said Peter Warren, director of Youth With a Mission Denver.When told he couldn't stay, the man walked inside, opened fire, then left on foot, Warren said.Warren said he didn't know if any of the students or staff knew the gunman. He said the man had not been at a Christmas party that staff and students held at the dormitory that evening."We don't know why" he came to the dormitory, Warren said.Witnesses told police that the gunman was a 20-year-old white male, wearing a dark jacket and skull cap, who left on foot. He may have glasses or a beard.Police with dogs searched the area through the night, and residents of nearby homes were notified by reverse 911 to be on the lookout. Medina said residents were asked to look out their windows for any tracks left in the snow during the night. About 4 inches of snow had fallen in the area in the past day.Brady White, who attends Faith Bible Chapel, where the center is located, said students he spoke to called the experience "terrifying."ad_icon"They're just wonderful people," White said of the center's students. "Their mission is to know God and to make him known."Police identified the victims as Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 23. Youth With a Mission said Johnson was from Minnesota and Crouse was from Alaska. Their hometowns weren't immediately available.About 45 people were evacuated from the dormitory and moved to an undisclosed location.Cheril Morrison, wife of chapel pastor George Morrison, said Crouse had just hung up Christmas lights at her home and Johnson was "an amazingly beautiful person." One of the injured men was hospitalized in critical condition and the other was in stable condition, police said. Both are in their 20s.Mimi Martin, who lives near the center, said she received the warning call at about 9 a.m. warning neighbors to keep their doors and windows locked."Why would anybody want to hurt those kids?" Martin said. "I just pray for their families."People bundled up against freezing cold attended Sunday services at the sanctuary, about 300 yards from the dormitory on the campus of the Faith Bible Chapel. Police kept tight security on the chapel grounds."We never doubted that we would have a service," said Cheril Morrison. "We felt like our church faithful all needed to be together."Darv Smith, director of a Youth With a Mission center in Boulder, said people ranging from their late teens to their 70s undergo a 12-week course that prepares them to be missionaries. He said the center trains about 300 people a year.Filidis said staffers are usually former missionaries themselves and that the "mercy ministries" performed by trainees include orphanage work. He said he didn't know where the group being trained in Arvada was going to be sent.Youth With a Mission was started in 1960 and now has 1,100 locations with 16,000 full-time staff, Smith said. The Arvada center was founded in 1984.New York Times:By JOHN HOLUSHAPublished: December 9, 2007Two missionaries-in-training were killed early today and two more were wounded when a gunman burst into a residence hall at the Youth With a Mission center in the Denver suburb of Arvada, the police said. Police officials said they did not know whether the shooting was at random of if individuals were targeted. The gunman is still being sought.“He entered the facility, opened fire and four of the youth inside that facility were injured,” said Susan Medina, a spokeswoman for the Arvada Police Department in a broadcast interview.Those killed were identified by Youth With a Mission as Tiffany Johnson, 26, of Minnesota and Philip Crouse, 24, of Alaska, news organizations in the Denver area reported. The more seriously wounded man is Dan Griebenow,24, of South Dakota, who has a bullet in his neck and is listed in critical but stable condition. The fourth victim, Charlie Blanch, 22, had bullet wounds to a leg.Peter Warren, director of Denver operations for the group, was quoted by the Denver television station KUSA as saying a Christmas banquet was just ending as the gunman showed up and asked Ms. Johnson if he could stay for the night. When he was refused, Mr. Warren said, the gunman pulled out an automatic handgun and started shooting.Youth With a Mission is an evangelical Christian group that trains people to be missionaries overseas. “In every case, our passion is to know God and to make Him known,” a section of the group’s Web site declares. The residence hall was on the Faith Bible Chapel campus of the group.The shooting took place shortly after midnight, and “the suspect then fled the scene on foot and we conducted an extensive canine track,” Ms. Medina said. “Unfortunately, he remains at large”The gunman was described as a white man, about 20 years old, who was wearing a white coat. He may have facial hair and may have been wearing a dark beanie-style hat.“The young man — I don’t know who he is and I don’t think they knew him — but he must be going through a lot personally in his own life to do something like this,” Mr. Warren was quoted as saying.The wounded were taken to Denver-area hospitals, and the police evacuated about 45 people were still in the residence hall to an off-campus location. The police said they were hoping that interviews with the displaced people would turn up additional witnesses and a clearer description of the gunman.The police also made telephone calls to neighbors to warn them of the possibility that the gunman might still be in the vicinity and to look for clues, such as tracks in the snow that was falling in the area.“This is a very extensive crime scene,” Ms. Medina said. “We have a number of people to interview.” Crime scene technicians have sealed off the building, she said, while they try to figure out just what happened.

 

[Letsgofishing]

I'm Jealous, 2 people are going to be with Jesus before me.Whats tragic is the shooter, not the people who died.They were found.The shooter is lost.Lets pray for him.and turn the other cheek.Ryan Fitz

 

[Wakka]

I don't know L.G.F., I think that they died before doing what they wanted. Glorifying God by helping people find Christ. I've talked to YWAM people, and I'm thinking of going to YWAM in my future. Also, bullets are painful.

 

[Letsgofishing]

I wouldn't mind taking a bullet for christ.it would hurt like crazy though I'm sure.well God be with everybody who was part of that incident.

 

[HammerStone]

I'm afraid we'll be seeing more of this.

 

[Wakka]

I want to join YWAM some day. They have awesome universities located in other countries!

 

[BernieEOD]

The gunman is now dead. A Church member acting as a security guard shot him as he was trying to do another spree. I Guess your outrage now will be directed at the Pastor for failing to turn the other cheek?

 

[Wakka]

It's called defense. And God permits murder if it's totally necessary and life threatening. In this case, yes.

 

[Christina]

right you are wakka we are not to committ murder (plan to kill) protecting yourself is absoultly permitted in fact it turns out the only sinner was the shooter as the fatal shot was his own (suicide)

 

[Jordan]

(Wakka;26453)
It's called defense. And God permits murder if it's totally necessary and life threatening. In this case, yes.
Exodus 20:13 - Thou shalt not kill.Matthew 19:18 - He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,God hates murder. Killing a person in Self-Defense is not murder.Murder and Self-Defense are two different things.But you are completely right Wakka.JagLovest thou in Christ Yahshua, Lord and Saviour of the world.

 

[For Life]

I Guess your outrage now will be directed at the Pastor for failing to turn the other cheek?
Nobody was being slapped. This is gunfire we're talking about here. Usually church folk are of the conservative type - read armed. Don't the freaks usually go after gun free zones like schools? I've been thinking about carrying to church just because of something like this.

 

[Wakka]

(thesuperjag;26457)
Exodus 20:13 - Thou shalt not kill.Matthew 19:18 - He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,God hates murder. Killing a person in Self-Defense is not murder.Murder and Self-Defense are two different thigs.But you are completely right Wakka.JagLovest thou in Christ Yahshua, Lord and Saviour of the world.
I couldn't think of the right word to use at that time. Kill wasn't in my dictionary lol.

 

[BernieEOD]

I am glad we are in agreement on this. Now that it has been revealed that he was only wounded by the security guard and ended up killing himself, He is the one who made his own choices right to the bitter end. He could have surrendered or allowed the Paramedics to save his life and give him a chance to repent. He chose to be defiant to the very end......Tragic.

 

[Letsgofishing]

really tragicI think killing someone for self defense is not sinful. I definitley don't think its a good thing. God probably finds it as sad and as painful as a murder but I don't think it could be counted as a sin.I personally could never kill anyone. I'm the type of person of person who If I was stuck in a room with a person with a knife in his hand trying to kill me and I had a gun I would drop the gun and let him kill me.I could never stand the guilt of killing somebody else and personally I wouldn't want to tell God why I killed the guy on judgement day.For me even if someone is trying to kill me I could never risk killing him.a human lifes to precious and I care for human beings way too much to just waste them.your brother in christRyan Fitz

 

[BernieEOD]

Pacifists have a place too. One never knows how they will actually react until they are actually in such a situation. We were called up after 9-11 for harbor security. One of our jobs was to patrol the harbor with M-16's. Would I have shot an enemy frogman? I would like to believe I would but we never were tested.