This Saturday night and Sunday morning in Colorado a gunman opened fire in two Christian Centers. It appears, though it is not confirmed, that both incidents involved the same shooter. Four people died in the attacks including the gunman.
You can find out more about this incident from numerous news sources. I don’t want to recall the events here. What I do want to discuss however is excatly how the gunman was killed.
In the second attack the gunman waited outside the church with a rifle and opened fire on church-goers as they left the service. An AP article found on Yahoo states, “The gunman was killed by a member of the church’s armed security staff before police arrived…” The Church in question is the New Life Church in Colorado Springs. My question is why did the church have or even need an armed security staff. Clearly, I’m glad that they did. Otherwise how many more would have died? I find it striking however that a church today would need armed security guards.
I wonder do churches often employ armed guards? Was this something that the New Life Church routinely did? Or did they make a decision to hire armed guards after hearing about the earlier attack? If so then I applaud them for being so proactive. I would think that it would be hard to find an armed detail on such short notice, so I will assume that this was not the case.
As tragic as the events are, and they are truly tragic. I find it even more tragic that any church would need armed security. We aren’t in Jerusalem. This was Colorado Springs. I see this event as a horrible, but random act of violence. Does the Church see it differently? They must if they hire an armed staff.
**Update***
It turns out that the Armed Guard was a church going volunteer. The church had members that formed a voluntary guard detail. All members were licensed to carry concealed weapons. The “Armed Guard” was Jeanne Assamsays, a former police officer and church member.
Filed under: Heavy Things, christian | Tagged: christian, colorado, shootings, gunman, church, jeanne assamsays
I was curious about the presence of an armed guard at church, also. I’ve been on the board of a couple of churches; while we discuss security, arming our ushers was never something that ever came up.
They may just have read the writing on the wall, a persons security and liberty are best protected by themselves. When you stop and think about how long it takes to get help when you are in a situation, the sensible and responsible thing to do is be prepared.
[...] Colorado Gunman Killed by Church’s Armed Security Guard [...]
Definitely keep us posted on what you learn! Very interesting….