When Guns Stop Gun Tragedies
The mall thing in Omaha could've been very different -- had there been somebody armed in the vicinity. Just days later, here's how it played out in a church in Colorado Springs. Electa Draper writes for The Denver Post:
Amid deafening cracks of gunfire, smoke-spewing canisters and the flight of thousands of New Life Church members, Jeanne Assam said she suddenly saw the hallways clear and a gunman come through the door."I took cover. I identified myself. I engaged him. I took him down," the 42-year-old former law officer and volunteer church security guard said Monday at a news conference in the Colorado Springs police station.
"I just said, 'Holy Spirit, be with me.' I wasn't even shaking," Assam said. "I give the credit to God. I say this very humbly. God was with me."
Assam, a member of New Life for only a few months, admitted she had been without sleep since Sunday's midday shootings at Colorado's largest church.
The episode left two injured and ended the lives of two teen sisters and the gunman, 24-year-old Matthew Murray.
Police declined to confirm Monday whether Assam's weapon, which she reportedly emptied in the exchange, inflicted Murray's fatal wound or whether it was self-inflicted.
Police also wouldn't describe how close Assam had been to Murray or exactly where they were in New Life's long hallway.
The church's senior pastor, Brady Boyd, said Assam was a real hero to him and to the whole church. He said she acted as his personal bodyguard.
"We will be holding a funeral for two very precious young women who were shot and killed on our campus," Brady said. "Three people are needlessly dead, but many more lives could have been lost."
Church spokesman Rob Brendle called Assam's clear-eyed, swift action the "good news" of that horrible day.
"It was scary," Assam said at the news conference. "I tell you it was scary. It was loud. I'll never forget. The gunshots were so loud."
Assam said she had drawn her weapon countless times in her prior law enforcement career, but she had never shot anyone until Sunday.
Lady's kinda hot, too.
via Drudge
I'm not terribly fond of Ted Haggard, but the fact that he managed to run a church in which people apparently believe that God is with them when they shoot a bad guy, as opposed to God calling on them to just pray and do nothing offensively, is a point in his favor. A small point, but a point nonetheless. I give many more points to Jeanne Assam, though. Whether her shot hit him or he killed himself (the article mentions that this point is unclear) it appears definitive that her actions stopped this guy's attack. She's a hero.
marion at December 11, 2007 8:14 AM
So you like the lady with the God-given firepower -- Our Lady of the Bazooka? I think I sense a little religious conversion in the offing, Amy. Our Father, which art armed to the teeth, hallowed be thy Kalashnikov collection...
modestproposal at December 11, 2007 8:26 AM
"I give the credit to God. I say this very humbly. God was with me."
Man with gun kills people, thanks to his imaginary friend.
Woman with gun kills man with gun, gives thanks to her imaginary friend.
It's a proxy shootout between imaginary friends.
I'm getting sick of grown adults with imaginary friends.
RedPretzel in LA at December 11, 2007 10:06 AM
> Lady's kinda hot, too.
Ain't she though? Let's talk more about this! She's a scorching 42-year-old. I bet that back in the Duran Duran days, she'd have broken your heart with just a glance.
And of course, nothing makes a woman more sexually alluring than competence with deadly force.
That last part was a joke.
What we got here is a sort of loosely settled matter from Hitchen's book, wherein he discusses how we're supposed to feel when admirable people say that "God gave me the courage/wisdom to do X." Atheists aren't inclined to sustain that credit. Martin Luther King would have recognized the wretchedness of midcentury black American life even if he'd not been a Baptist. But Ms. Assam --a bold new contender for becoming the next Mrs. M. Crid of Los Angeles, California-- is unequivocal.
Crid at December 11, 2007 10:16 AM
Part 2, with an exciting narrative climax and a thrilling conclusion! (Sorry, bumped the Post button accidentally before finishing)
I'm thinking the best lesson to take from this is that the impulse toward religious belief is broad in the population, and often not too hurtful. Being a religious person (and a literally hungry one for that matter) didn't interfere with this woman's ability to respond perfectly to these events.
"I took cover. I identified myself. I engaged him. I took him down." That's as morally lawful a use of deadly violence as you're going to get. She wasn't using her weapon to make a religious point. And people who are trying to be badass don't formally, procedurally identify themselves to the people they're about to clobber.
A certain percentage of the population is going to be religious whether we like it or not. We don't get to choose that, any more than we get to freely choose whether or not someone is gay... Or whether or not someone has the constabulary impulse: "Assam said she had drawn her weapon countless times in her prior law enforcement career[.]" I can't imagine being a cop any more than being gay, or believing in God.
But it takes all kinds.
Crid at December 11, 2007 10:30 AM
I HAVE BEEN A MEMBER OF NEW LIFE CHURCH FOR OVER TEN YEARS. This last year has been quite the adventure... and I'll admit the church has its fair share of oddities. Nonetheless, I've remained a member, and will remain a member, because of the general, exceptional quality of the church: phenomenal people and great leadership. We got through Ted (good grief!) and we'll get through this. Stronger and better.
While the loss of each life in this ordeal is sad. My heart goes out to the Murray family, who will have a difficult time finding answers to the question, "Why?" My heart goes out to the Works family and families of the other victims. To experience such as loss, especially at this time of year...
I am grateful it was "one of ours" that ended the shootout - decisively. There will be no extended, media-hyped, drama-infused trial. The action and drama is over. The grieving can start and finish without wounds being reopened. New Life has been receiving threats of death and violence ever since I joined the church. Thank God for Ms. Assam, her training, her aim, and her humility. Thank the Founding Fathers for our right to keep and bear arms. If more responsible people carried, we'd see this thing happen less and less. Thanks, Amy... A New Life Church Member.
newlifechurchmember at December 11, 2007 10:54 AM
"Our Lady of The Bazooka" notwithstanding, there are saints considered relevent to hunting, shooting, etc. See www.frfrogspad.com/saints.htm .
Radwaste at December 11, 2007 3:10 PM
Good for her but gimme a break on the God stuff. Why didn't God strike him dead before he shot the two teenagers dead then? This is no different than the assholes who survive a plane crash that killed the pilot and 10 others then thank God they're alive. What? Did they deserve it more? And was God trying to make a point about the right to bear arms? Did he check with the two dead teens first to see if they'd mind being martyrs to that cause though you'd think God could find a better way to make the point?
Donna at December 12, 2007 7:35 AM
Thanks, Radwaste, for the weblink. Think the shooter lady's patron saint would have to be St Gabriel Possenti. Here's his story, from the site:
His unofficial adoption as the patron saint of handgunners and marksmen is based upon documented events in which Friar Possenti interceded when a couple of goblins were in the process of robbing some folks on a back road (or by some accounts terrorizing the residents of the town of Isola).
Friar Possenti approached the brigands and ordered them to leave. When they refused he drew a pair of pistols (some accounts say "revolvers" but given the 1859 date of the event, it was more likely they were flintlock or percussion single shot pistols) from beneath his tunic. They laughed at him, saying something to the effect of "...those are useless-- what would a priest know of hitting anything with a pistol..." and they advanced to attack him and the others.
Friar Possenti took aim at a lizard across the road, and cut it in half with a well placed shot. Friar Possenti pointed out that he still had another shot in his other pistol, and asked which of the goblins wished to receive it first--whereupon, the they decided that they had more important business elsewhere and departed with a stream of cursing.
Note, though, that Friar Possenti didn't actually shoot any fellow human beings.
Oh, and, wait a second, wasn't he Catholic? And don't evangelical Protestants hate Catholics?
Personally, I'm a fan of this line from Benny Hinn, the Florida televangelist and certified nutcase:
“Sometimes I wish God would give me a Holy Ghost machine gun. I’d blow your head off!”
modestproposal at December 12, 2007 11:36 AM
Hey, MP, good to see you around. I'm down at the cafe, on double deadlines for the holidays. And I loved that Benny Hinn quote.
Amy Alkon at December 12, 2007 11:38 AM
The best analogy I know for what Jeanne Assam did was the bible story of David and Goliath.
So, Donna, why didn't God just strike Goliath dead? Because he was using the situation for bigger purposes than people recognized at the time.
Rick in BC at December 14, 2007 7:47 PM
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