"Me, the Gunman, and God"

The story coming out of New Life Church in Colorado Springs becomes more amazing as the details emerge. Jeanne Assam is a former Minneapolis police officer who has been attending New Life Church for a few months and volunteered to serve on their security team. She was licensed to carry a concealed weapon, and when duty called, this volunteer stepped up:

"There was chaos," Assam said, as parishioners ran away, "I will never forget the gunshots. They were so loud."

"I saw him coming through the doors" and took cover, Assam said. "I came out of cover and identified myself and engaged him and took him down."

"God was with me," Assam said. "I didn't think for a minute to run away."

Assam said she believes God gave her the strength to confront Murray, keeping her calm and focused even though he appeared to be twice her size and was more heavily armed.

Murray was carrying two handguns, an assault rifle and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, said Sgt. Jeff Johnson of the Colorado Springs Police Department.

"It seemed like it was me, the gunman and God," she said.

Assam worked as a police officer in downtown Minneapolis during the 1990s and is licensed to carry a weapon. She attends one of the morning services and then volunteers as a guard during another service.

Boyd said Assam was the one who suggested the church beef up its security Sunday following the Arvada shooting, which it did. The pastor credited the security plan and the extra security for preventing further bloodshed.

Boyd said there are 15 to 20 security people at the church. All are volunteers but the only ones armed are those who are licensed to carry weapons.

The security guards are members of the church who are screened and not "mercenaries that we hire to walk around our campus to provide security," Boyd said.

Gunman, meet God. God, gunman. I'll bet he's wishing he hadn't done that right about now.

Even an atheist would have trouble discounting God's hand in this case. Sadly, four people had to die before this guy was stopped, but given that she had the foresight to warn the church to beef up security, and was in the right place when it counted, you'd have to think she was plugged into the Big Guy when it counted.

The media is now suggesting that the gunman may have killed himself rather than being shot by Assam. The police haven't confirmed it one way or the other. It doesn't really matter how it ended because either way, it ended because she confronted him and didn't back down. If her approach caused him to decide to shoot himself, that's okay too.

For about 10 years I've been part of a large high profile megachurch with a very high profile pastor. We always have security present in the services, and the pastor usually has a security guy within a few feet of him wherever he goes. Most are offduty or retired law enforcement officers, and at least one of them who works with the pastor a lot is a retired Secret Service officer. They work in plain clothes, and yes, they are armed. We've never had this type of incident and hopefully we never will, but in this day and age, you have to be prepared.