Gunman killed by his own bullet

Four of five bullets fired from the gun of a security guard at New Life Church hit Matthew Murray during his deadly shooting spree at the megachurch on Sunday afternoon, according to autopsy results made public Tuesday.

But a bullet Murray fired into his own head is what killed him, the El Paso County Coroner’s Office said Tuesday.

Guard Jeanne Assam, 42, fired at Murray inside New Life Church, hitting him twice in his legs and once in his wrist, authorities said. Police spokesman Lt. Skip Arms said Murray also received a superficial wound in the chest, likely from one of Assam’s bullets that deflected off his highpowered assault rifle.

After those wounds took him down, Murray shot himself with one of the two handguns he was carrying, Arms said.

That ended a 12-hour rampage during which the 24-year-old from Englewood killed four people, wounded five and ranted on the Web about Christians and his plans to kill many of them.

Authorities said Murray opened fire about 12:30 a.m. Sunday at Youth With a Mission in Arvada, about 70 miles northwest of Colorado Springs, killing Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24, and wounding two others.

About 12 hours later, Murray arrived at New Life, where he fatally shot two teenage sisters and wounded their father as they left church services. Stephanie Works, 18, died at the scene; 16-year-old Rachael Works later died at Penrose-St. Francis Hospital. Autopsies showed both died from single gunshot wounds to the torso, Arms said.

The girls’ father, 51-yearold David Works, remained at Penrose on Tuesday in fair condition.

The Rev. Michael Ware, a pastor of Denver-based Victory Church, said he was with the girls’ mother, Marie Works, and her other daughters, Laurie and Grace, at the hospital after the shootings.

He said he watched the four sisters grow up to be confident and happy kids who were steeled in their Christian beliefs. He said the family had attended Victory Church for several years before switching to New Life and was deeply involved in both churches.

Two other New Life parishioners, Judy Purcell and Larry Bourbannais, were wounded during the shooting at New Life. They each were treated Sunday and released.

Bourbannais, 59, said when Sunday’s gunfire started he tried to distract the shooter by calling him names as he hid behind a pillar that Murray was firing upon. Bourbannais, who has been attending New Life for a little more than a year, said he received “just fragments” in his left arm.

“He was the Grim Reaper, all in black, and he showed no emotion,” he said of Murray.

Parishioners and authorities searched for reasons why Murray went on his rampage. The writing, it turns out, was on the cyberwall.

Using Web discussion forums for people who have left Pentecostal and fundamentalist religious organizations, Murray wrote of killing Christians and of his rejection from YWAM. His posts, under the names “Chrstnghtmr” and “nghtmrchld26,” expressed his hatred for his mother, Loretta, and the social skills he was supposedly deprived of by 12 years of homeschooling.

Richard Werner, who was Murray’s roommate at YWAM in Arvada in 2002 for missionary training, recalled Murray as an odd 19-year-old who was painfully shy and displayed extreme “mood swings.” Werner said Murray, who growled and spoke to himself in the middle of the night in strange voices, had trouble socially with other young people.

Murray was let go from the two-month training program because of “issues with his health,” according to YWAM.

According to a police affidavit, Murray was on his home computer for three to five hours every day for the past two years.

“If you’re an extrovert, and popular, then yes, there is plenty of love waiting for you in christianity,” Murray wrote May 8. “If you ask questions and want to understand things and/or desire a real and deep spirituality, or if you’re just not popular . . . well . . . you are considered as one of the horrible people and are either going to be abused or kicked out by ‘holy spirit love filled’ christians.”

In the weeks leading to the shootings, Murray sent hate mail to YWAM in Arvada and to its director, according to the affidavit. Authorities have declined to say what the letters said, but Colorado Springs police Sgt. Jeff Jensen said the letters, like the Web posts, expressed his disdain for Christianity and YWAM.

“The terminology that was used was different (in the hate mail),” he said. “We’re not sure if YWAM reported it to police up there.”

Jensen said Colorado Springs police learned of the Web posts Monday. The Arvada Police Department was primarily investigating the hate letters and Web posts, with the assistance of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI, he said.

Peter Klismet, a former profiler for the FBI and a criminal justice professor at Pikes Peak Community College, said Murray fits the profile of a rampage killer.

Without knowing anything about Murray, Klismet said of the type of person who would commit Murray’s crimes: “They are loners. They are oddballs. They’re people that feel they are kind of picked on by others.”

In his Web posts, Murray praised the Nebraska mall shooter and seemed to idolize Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the Columbine High School killers.

Klismet said the style of attack on New Life Church is an exact match to that of a rampage killer.

Police said Murray, in addition to having an assault rifle and two handguns during the shooting, had smoke grenades and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition. He used smoke bombs on the east and west side of the church to create a diversion.

“These people tend to be loners for a reason — no one wants to be around them because they are simply ‘odd’ and ‘weird,’” Klismet said. “Does this happen overnight? Not really.

“We want them to be crazy. But they’re not crazy. We want to believe they just snapped, but they didn’t.”

Staff writers Scott Rappold, Tom Roeder, Perry Swanson and Jennifer Wilson contributed to

this report. The Rocky Mountain News also contributed to this report.