Report: Cops were at New Life the morning of shootings

Colorado Springs police and New Life Church officials were on alert for trouble the morning of Dec. 9 because of an earlier shooting at a church-related ministry in Arvada.

Police were on hand during services that morning but had left the church just minutes before shots rang out as worshippers headed to their cars.

Police on Wednesday released the final report on the shootings, a 460-page document that details the investigation into the rampage that left the gunman and two teenage girls dead and three others injured. Lt. Skip Arms said, barring any new information, the case is closed.

Rachel Works, 16, and her sister, Stephanie, 18, were shot to death by Matthew Murray, who killed himself after being shot by a church security guard. The report says there's no evidence that Murray shot toward the security guard.

Hours before Murray stormed into the church parking lot, guns blazing, police and church officials were on the lookout for trouble. The night before, Murray killed two people at Youth With a Mission in Arvada, and because of the connection of the mission to New Life, the church told police of their "heightened concern," according to the report.

One of three officers working extra duty at the church that morning wrote that they were "walking around making ourselves visible" from about 9:50 a.m. until the second service ended.

Church ushers and security guards held a meeting an hour before the 11 a.m. service, at which they were told of the shooting in Denver and to be on the lookout for a 20-year-old white man with a beard and a "beanie hat."

After the service, police at the church directed traffic out, stacked their traffic cones and left. They were just a few blocks away when the shooting began and made quick U-turns, according to the report.

Murray was already dead when detectives arrived, and investigators immediately suspected a link with the Arvada shooting because of the affiliation between New Life and Youth With A Mission.

But most church members seemed to have had no idea of a threat. According to the report, several people who heard the shots thought it was a car backfiring. Some who saw Murray walking through the parking lot said they thought he had a paintball gun.

He was emotionless and deliberate as he shot his way across the parking lot and into the church.

Judy Purcell and her family were driving out of the parking lot when Murray stepped in front of their car. She first thought her daughters in the car knew him, because one remarked the gun he held looked like a paintball gun.

But then Murray raised the gun at them and, from 2 to 4 feet away, began firing. The windshield shattered, Purcell was hit - though she didn't know it at first - and her husband, Matt Purcell, put the car into gear and sped off.

The report states he put the car into gear so hard he broke the gear shift lever.

Renae Maurine Girton also thought he had a paintball gun. She saw Murray calmly walking and shooting toward the church, which she described as "carefree shooting." As he got closer, he began to fire more deliberately.
She drove away and called 911, the first person to call 911 that day, according to the report.

So many people eventually called 911 that many could not get through.

Police say Murray intended to continue his rampage inside the church. He went in through the northeast entrance, firing and mumbling under his breath.

Diane Cole, a janitor, was cleaning a bathroom when she heard popping noises. She came out and, without realizing who was standing in front of her, asked a young man dressed in black if he saw what caused a glass panel to shatter.

Murray cocked his head in disbelief before raising the barrel of his rifle and firing. Witnesses saw her jump to the side and take off running down the hall, yelling, "Everyone get back!"

Church members huddled in bathrooms, hid out in locked offices and hunted for exits to the parking lot before Murray's rampage ended when he was wounded by church security guard Jeanne Assam, then killed himself.

Lance Benzel contributed to this report.