Eight shot in two Colorado church incidents

[Richard]

By Keith Coffman 

At least four people were shot in the parking lot of a large Colorado evangelical church on Sunday in the second shooting in a day linked to a religious community in the state.

Police said a gunman opened fire outside the New Life Church in Colorado Springs after Sunday services and that three to five people had been taken to local hospitals. No fatalities were reported.

Police said they had detained a suspect but gave no details about his condition or a possible motive.

In an earlier incident, 70 miles away, two people were killed and two were wounded shortly after midnight when a gunman entered a training center for young missionaries in the Denver suburb of Arvada, police said.

Police in the two cities said they were coordinating information but did not know whether the attacks were related.

However Paul Filidis, a spokesman for the missionary group in Arvada, said the organization did rent space for an office from the New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

The New Life Church, which has about 14,000 members, was founded by pastor Ted Haggard, who resigned in disgrace in 2006 after admitting to sexually immoral conduct.

Police cordoned off the New Life Church and locked down several local buildings. Colorado Springs Police Lt. Fletcher Howard said police were not sure if a second gunman was at large. One eyewitness told CNN he saw a young man wearing combat boots and with an assault rifle and a handgun.

Rob Brendle, associate pastor at the New Life Church, told Reuters by telephone: "It's been a dramatic day and we are participating with the police investigation right now but we are not at liberty to make a comment right now."

In Arvada, two youth missionary staff members were shot and killed by a young man who came to the door of the Youth With a Mission dormitory asking for a place to stay, the group said in a statement.

When he was told he could not be accommodated there, he pulled out a handgun and opened fire. Two other staffers, who were cleaning up after a Christmas party, were wounded before the gunman ran away.

The Mission is an international and interdenominational organization that trains young people to work as missionaries.

"Please pray for the families who are on their way to Denver for the critically injured young man undergoing surgery today for the staff and students who have been evacuated to another location for the apprehension of the gunman who fled the scene," Mission spokesman Filidis said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Steven Saint in Colorado Springs and Ed Stoddard in Dallas, writing by Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles, editing by Eric Walsh in Washington)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071209/ts_n...vNbU8DW7oF

[Richard]

Police: Same Gunman Attacked Both Churches

Police Say Forensics Link Gunman To Arvada, Colorado Springs

DENVER -- Police said Monday that the gunman who killed two people at a megachurch in Colorado Springs and two people at a missionary training school in Arvada was the same troubled 24-year-old man.

Police said Matthew Murray was "responsible for the crime" and that the handgun found at the church in Colorado Springs was forensically linked to the handgun used in the shooting in Arvada.

"Testing has confirmed the handgun found at the church in Colorado Springs is forensically linked to shell casings found at the crime scene in Arvada," said Arvada Police Chief Don Wick.

Wick said that police were on Murray's trail early -- and happened to be at his home in unincorporated Arapahoe County Sunday afternoon when violence erupted in Colorado Springs, 65 miles away.

"Our family cannot express the magnitude of our grief for the victims and families of this tragedy," said Murray's uncle, Phil Abeyta, reading from a family statement.

"On behalf of our family, and our son, we ask for forgiveness. We cannot understand why this has happened. We ask for prayer for the victims and their families during this time of grief. We are cooperating fully with the police agencies involved in the investigation of the events that led to this tragedy."

Murray, 24, was home-schooled by his family and raised in what a friend said was a deeply religious Christian household. Murray's father is a neurologist and a prominent multiple-sclerosis researcher.

Five people -- including Murray -- were killed, and five others wounded Sunday in the two eruptions of violence 12 hours apart.

The first attack took place at Youth With a Mission, a training center for missionaries in Arvada; the other occurred at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, where Murray was shot by a security guard, though investigators said he may have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. (]http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/14817480/detail.html]Read the security guard's story[/url].)

Murray Was Kicked Out Of Youth With A Mission Program

Murray had been thrown out of the Youth With A Mission school a few years ago and had been sending it hate mail, police said in court papers Monday.

There is a Youth With A Mission office on the New Life Church campus, and many members of New Life have completed the YWAM's school and discipleship programs. The groups have also worked together in local evangelical outreach programs.

"Through both investigations it has been determined that most likely the suspect in both shootings are one in the same," police said in court papers.

Colorado Springs police said the "common denominator in both locations" was Youth With a Mission.

"It appears that the suspect had been kicked out of the program three years prior and during the past few weeks had sent different forms of hate mail to the program and-or its director," police said. (Read more on that story)

Police gave no immediate details on the hate mail. And the training center said that Murray left in 2002 -- five years ago, not three -- and that no one there can recall any visits or other communication from him since then.

Earlier Monday, a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity said it appeared Murray "hated Christians."

Investigators have not said whether Murray singled out his victims. But the two people killed at the church -- sisters Stephanie and Rachael Works, ages 18 and 16 -- frequented the training center. One of the teens had also just returned from a mission overseas that was sanctioned by the church.

Senior Pastor Brady Boyd of New Life Church said the gunman had no connection to the church. "We don't know this shooter," Boyd said. "He showed up on our property yesterday with a gun with the intention of hurting people, and he did."

Searching Matthew Murray's Home For Clues

Authorities could be seen coming and going from Murray's home Monday morning, and at one point searching the bushes in the front and in the back yard. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Arapahoe County bomb squad were also involved in the search at the home on East Berry Place and Havana Street.

Authorities looked for guns, ammunition and computers and left the home carrying several boxes of evidence.

Neighbors said the family has lived at that home for 10-plus years.

"It's just crazy just hearing about it. I was thinking about how I knew them so long ago," said neighbor Cody Askeland. "They were a really religious family."

Murray's father, Dr. Ronald Murray, is a well-known neurologist with a practice in Lone Tree. His office was closed Monday and a message on his phone line said, "Dr. Murray's office is closed and he will not be available until further notice."

Ronald S. Murray is also chief executive of the Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Center in Englewood.

A Cherry Creek School District spokeswoman said that Murray was home-schooled and she doesn't have any record of him attending a high school in the area or receiving a diploma.

Matthew Murray lived at the home with a brother, Christopher, 21, a student at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla.

Christopher studied for a semester at Colorado Christian University before transferring to Oral Roberts, said Ronald Rex, dean of admissions and marketing at Colorado Christian. He said Matthew Murray had been in contact with school officials this summer about attending the school but decided he wasn't interested because he thought the school was too expensive.

Police said Murray's only previous brush with the law was a traffic ticket earlier this year.

Witnesses Describe Shootings

The violence began about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, when a man pulled a handgun and opened fire at the Youth With A Mission center after he had been denied a request to spend the night there. Witnesses told police that the gunman was a white man in his early 20s, wearing a dark jacket and skull cap and carrying a handgun.

More than 12 hours later, at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, a gunman wearing a trench coat and carrying a high-powered rifle opened fire in the parking lot and then walked into the church as a service was letting out, Colorado Springs Police Chief Richard Myers said.

Jessie Gingrich had left New Life and was in the parking lot getting into her car when she saw the gunman get a rifle from his trunk and open fire on a van full of people.

"A man got out of his car and pulled out a huge rifle and my first thought was, 'That can't be a real gun,' and he started shooting," said Gingrich. "I was absolutely positive that I was going to be next."

She said she then cowered in her car, fumbling with the ignition key.

"I was just expecting for the next gunshot to be coming through my car. Miraculously -- by the grace of God -- it did not," she told ABC's "Good Morning America." "I believe the only reason I got away was because he had to stop and reload his gun."

She said she doesn't believe the gunman recognized his targets.

"I don't know if it was someone he recognized but an entire family had just gotten in their van and he had a very clear view that they had done that. I just think he was going for as many people as he could," she said.

Ashley Gibbs was getting into a car with David Harris when they heard the gunshots -- a sound like someone kicking ice from the side of a car, she said. Harris said he saw the gunman, and it looked like he knew how to handle a weapon.

"I was in the military for about three years, and the way he was holding the rifle looked just like the way we were taught to when I was in the military," he told NBC's "Today" show.

They stayed in the vehicle and prayed for the gunman.

"It was obvious that he was in some sort of pain and going through a lot," Gibbs said. "I just prayed God would bring him peace."

Colorado Springs Victims Identified

The victims killed in the Colorado Springs shooting were identified Monday as sisters Stephanie Works, 18, and Rachael Works, 16. Their father, David Works, 51, suffered two gunshot wounds -- one to the abdomen and one to the groin -- and was listed in fair condition on Monday. They were shot in the parking lot as they were getting into their van.

"Our concern is for our family that lost two teenage daughters. Our hearts are grieving this morning for them," said New Life's Senior Pastor Brady Boyd. "You can imagine, as parents, losing two children while coming to church, just showing up for a worship service, not bothering anyone."

The teenage girls were home-schooled. The Works family had been with New Life Church for a 1 1/2 years.

"I'm asking Colorado Springs and the country to please pray for that family this morning because they're going through a very difficult time," said Boyd.

Judy Purcell, 40, was shot in the right shoulder and was treated and released. Larry Bourbannais, 59, was shot in the forearm and treated and released.

Boyd said the gunman had a lot of ammunition and estimated that 40 rounds had been fired inside the church, leaving what looked like a "war scene."

Arvada Victims Identified

The two dead victims at the missionary center were identified as Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24.

Johnson, who grew up in Chisholm, Minn., loved working with children and wanted to see the world, said family friend Carla Macynski.

"Tiffany was a well-liked, easygoing 26-year-old. She was friendly, adventurous and a definite leader. She wanted to see the world," Macynski said as she choked back tears. Johnson had traveled to Egypt, Libya and South Africa with the missionary group.

Crouse, of Alaska, had helped build a foster home at a Crow reservation in Montana, said Ronny Morris, who works with a Denver chapter of the mission.

Staffer Dan Griebenow, 24, of South Dakota, was shot in the neck, according to Youth With A Mission. Staffer Charlie Blanch, 22, suffered gunshot wounds to his legs, according to ministry officials. His hometown wasn't immediately known.

Griebenow has been upgraded from critical to serious condition.

The live-in Christian missionary center is on the grounds of the Faith Bible Chapel. Cheril Morrison, wife of chapel pastor George Morrison, said Crouse had just hung up Christmas lights at her home and that Johnson was "an amazingly beautiful person."

Darv Smith, director of a Youth With A Mission center in Boulder, said people ranging from their late teens to their 70s undergo a 12-week course that prepares them to be missionaries. He said the center trains about 300 people a year.

Paul Filidis, a Colorado Springs-based spokesman with Youth With A Mission, said staffers are usually former missionaries themselves and that the "mercy ministries" performed by trainees include orphanage work.

Youth With A Mission was started in 1960 and now has 1,100 locations with 16,000 full-time staff, Smith said. The Arvada center was founded in 1984.

"Violent crimes of any sort are tragic enough, but when innocent people are killed in a religious facility or a place of worship, we must voice a collective sense of outrage and demonstrate a renewed commitment to keeping our communities safe," said Gov. Bill Ritter.

The Colorado shootings came only days after a 19-year-old gunman opened fire at a popular mall in Omaha, Neb., killing eight people and himself.

"The violence over the weekend against young missionaries in Arvada and against worshippers at New Life Church in Colorado Springs would be heart-rending in any season, but it is especially bitter during this time of preparation for Christmas, the birthday of the Prince of Peace," said the Rev. Charles Chaput, Archbishop of Denver. "Along with the whole Catholic community in Colorado, I pray that God will heal the suffering inflicted by these terrible events, and sustain the hope and faith of the people at New Life Church, Youth With A Mission and Faith Bible Chapel. For those struggling personally with this sorrow, may God penetrate and redeem even this tragedy with the peace of Christmas and Christ's promise of eternal life."

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/148...etail.html

Church Shootings The Copycat Effect
No one who is aware of the copycat effect should be surprised by what happened this weekend in the wake of the Westroads Mall massacre, in Omaha, Nebraska, where eight were killed on December 5, 2007. Also: Brokaw Blames Blogs and Shooting Monthly Cycle.

[Richard]

Church Shooter: Prophetic Child

Matthew J. Murray, known online as "nghtmrchld26," wrote his Christian family said he was the End Times' "Prophetic Child." He said they believed that he was the "chosen one."

Reporter Sara Burnett of the Rocky Mountain News, on December 11, 2007, was one of the first media sources to reveal that Murray called himself "nghtmrchld26" ("Nightmare Child 26") online.

Overnight most but not all of Murray's writings began disappearing from the ex-Pentecostal forums and message boards he used. This relates especially to the investigation on-going since the FBI pulled the messages that Murray incredibly posted between his shootings at Arvada and Colorado Springs.

Some of these postings, however, remain in the emails of others who express shock in response to "nghtmrchld26," who was also known simply as "NMC."

One such message left by Murray, posted between the shootings, reflects those we have read from other rampage shooters: "See you all on the other side, we're leaving this nightmare behind to a better place "

Several members of one ex-Pentecostal forum engaged in their own detective work, and quickly connected the dots that NMC and Matthew Murray were one in the same person.

Here's a list of the overlaps they discussed:

1. Former member of YWAM. Asked not to join them on a mission trip.

2. Former member of Ted Haggard's church (according to NMC in a private chat room conversation).

3. Often talked about suicide.

4. Often called his mom "psycho."

5. Made references to Ricky Rodriguez, a man who grew up in a cult and went on a killing spree to punish those who were responsible for his life in the cult.

6. Came to the forum and said he was going to kill people, and that they better hide from him.

7. Told us he was going to "a better place."

8. Told us he didn't care if he was killed in "the gunfight."

9. Told us Christians were to blame for "this" happening.

10. Told us "It's time for me to head out and teach these xxxxxxx a lesson."

11. Said "See you all on the other side, we're leaving this nightmare behind to a better place."

12. Said, "God I can't wait till I can kill you people, I'll just go to some downtown area in some big city and blow up and shoot everything I can."

Murray would often sign off as "Mister Crowley........," an obvious reference to Aleister Crowley, the British occultist, writer, philosopher, and mystic (who died on December 1, 1947). Murray perhaps identified with Crowley, because Crowley was raised in a strict religious family as was Murrary.

After the death of Crowley's father, Crowley broke from his religious upbringing and his mother's efforts at keeping her son in the Christian faith. When Crowley was a child, his constant rebellious behavior displeased his mother to such an extent she would call him "The Beast" (from the Book of Revelation), a moniker that Crowley would later adopt for himself.

Murray's relationship with his religious mother, in Murray's mental state, appears to have mirrored that of Crowley.

Murray has left many virtual footprints online, although they are rapidly being expunged from forums. He was very open about his hatred for Christians, his liking for Marilyn Manson, and other cultural artifacts familiar within the suicidal-homicidal subculture he decided to haunt. For Murray, this seemed to be his only choice after a life of what he saw as Christian abuse.

In line with my previous blog about the Finnish music (HIM) admired by Omaha shooter Robert A. Hawkins, intriguingly on August 5, 2007, Murray posted lyrics from an album by the funeral doom band from Finland, Shape of Despair.

Murray's wording and posts reflect the same phrasing left by Columbine killer Eric Harris.

The writing, first reported by Denver's 9News, was confirmed as Murray's work by investigating authorities. He posted the message at 11:03 a.m. on a website for people who have left organized religion, almost 11 hours after the Arvada shooting and two hours before the Colorado Springs attack.

"You christians brought this on yourselves," Murray writes in his 452-word harangue. "I'm coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the @#%$ teeth and I WILL shoot to kill.

"Feel no remorse, no sense of shame, I don't care if I live or die in the shoot-out. All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world."

In his notebooks, Harris proclaimed: "I'm coming for EVERYONE soon, and I WILL be armed to the (expletive) teeth, and I will shoot to kill."

The only substantive change Murray made to the Harris writing is replacing the name of Harris' target, classmate and neighbor Brooks Brown, with "Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world."

Murray's childhood seems to have been remembered by him in a fashion that reinforced his suicidal thought patterns. One thread Murray wrote about was of him being the "Prophetic Child."

"Prophetic Child"

Since I was at least age 6 my mother and her church friends have always told me about how my birth was "foretold." They say that while I was still in my mother's womb a "prophet" told my mother that I was to be, quote, "a prophet to the nations" and something along the lines of the next Billy Graham/Peter Wagner.

They said that the following verses applied to me: Mat. 12.18 and Ezk. 36:26-28

Basically, they believe that I am their "chosen one" for "the end times" and according to the Ezekial passage they believe that I am going to go back to their church/system.

The problem right now is the fact that it appears that they are always going to pursue me throughout life (and they have said so), as I am supposedly the "chosen one." As far as I can tell they did not treat the other youth the same way.

Well, I don't want to be their "chosen one" at all. I just wish I could find some way to wake up from this nightmare. ~ nghtmrchld26, 9/7/07 9:13 pm, on the Ex Pentecostal Forums - Message Board - ezboard.com.



And later...

9/8/07 3:01 pm
You break my back, but you won't break me
All is black, but I still see
Time's going to wash away all pain ~ nghtmrchld26.

 

9/8/07 3:46 pm
I was supposed to keep this "calling" completely secret from outsiders. Like even other christians were not supposed to know if they were not a part of the "church elite" at that church and with my mother. ~ nghtmrchld26.



None of this justifies anything that Murray did, but it may assist in explaining why he didn't care if he was shot dead. What we find is yet another example of a killer full of suicidal rage directed at a group of people who could not have known what was coming their way.

Late update - Tuesday, December 11, 2007: Matthew Murray, 24, was struck multiple times by a security officer at New Life Church on December 9th, but his death was ruled a suicide, the El Paso County Coroner's Office concluded after an autopsy on December 11th.

posted by Loren Coleman

http://copycateffect.blogspot.com/2007/1...child.html

[Richard]

Denver 'Christian Killer' Had Attended OTO Occult

"YOUR Columbine"

Gunman wrote of rejection as reason for revenge

By Jeremy P. Meyer, David Migoya and Christopher N. Osher
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 12/12/2007 10:08:42 AM MST

A former roommate took this photo of Matthew Murray performing in a Dec. 14, 2002, Christmas program. (Courtesy of Richard Werner)Related Articles
Dec 14:
Police now say gunman didn't send hate mail to missionary centerVictims' faith centers on forgivenessA shoulder to lean onSurvivor in good spirits after surgeryDec 13:
New images released of church gunmanMurray family statementDon't blame the music, metal frontman imploresMissionary went from rebellion to redemptionBound by grief and faithGunman legally amassed weaponry in year's timeDec 12:
Sharing tears, support back at YWAMNew Life service urges forgivenessGunman's family releases statementText of statement by parents of gunman Matthew MurrayFamilies of victim, shooting meetArvada shooting victim turned life aroundChurch prays for shooting victimsShooter's lessons strict, rule-driven Injured gunman shot self, autopsy showsHeroics are talk of guard's townDebate renewed on Columbine writingsWeapons at church? For everything there is a timeDec 11:
New Life cancels performances of Christmas showCoroner: Church gunman killed himselfNew Life Church offering comfortChurch stunned by former member's deadly actions"It was me, the gunman and God"Diatribe foretold church shooting horror Web posting replicates Columbine shooter's manifestoChurch guard's courage under fire awes Vietnam vet"Happy girls who loved life"Dec 10:
Family friend calls gunman "loner"Motive: RevengeVictims came from family of faithGunman's family asks for forgivenessGuard's hands "didn't even shake" as she shot gunmanSisters killed, father shot in SpringsSheridan: Pray for end to "culture of death"Vet lauds female guard who felled gunmanChaput: Bitter time for church shooting tragedyChurch shooter wanted to be missionaryPolice: Gunman had been thrown out of missionary schoolColo. church gunman had been kicked outAt a glance: violence at churches7,000 at New Life church when shots fired"No joy" in wake of Arvada tragedyDeadly attacks at mission, church may be linkedDec 9:
Young missionaries caring, forgivingGroup targeted in shooting has far reachGovernor reacts to attacksGunman fires on parishioners2 killed at missionary center; gunman, victim die at churchKiller turned belligerent when turned away2 die in Colo Christian missionary training center shootingAt times he was DyingChild_65, at others nghtmrchld26. But regardless of Matthew Murray's alleged screen name, he was always angry when posting to various anti-religious websites.

The 24-year-old Arapahoe County resident — who carried out attacks Sunday at two religious organizations about 70 miles apart, killing four people and injuring several others — exploded on the Internet between Sunday's shootings.

"Christian America this is YOUR Columbine," said the poster who appears to be Murray on the newsgroup alt.suicide.holiday almost four hours before the shooting at the New Life Church campus in Colorado Springs.

Police say Murray walked onto the campus hurling smoke bombs and armed with handguns, rifles and 1,000 rounds of ammunition. He fatally shot sisters Stephanie Works, 18, and Rachael Works, 16, before getting into a gunbattle with a security guard and finally killing himself, officials say.
Hours before, Murray opened fire in a dormitory for missionaries in Arvada, killing Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24.

Between shootings, Murray apparently logged onto a computer and posted writings from Columbine shooter Eric Harris under his own name, lyrics from satanic rock songs and rants about being rejected, abused and suffocated by Christianity.

Authorities have confirmed some website postings; police are still examining other postings, including ones by DyingChild_65 on alt.suicide.holiday. Officials from the organizations named in those postings confirmed some of the details Murray wrote.

A post from DyingChild_65, made at 9:33 a.m. Sunday, said he had been a member of the Denver chapter of Youth With a Mission, a member of the occult group Ad Astra Oasis in Denver and a staff member of the missionary group King's Kids Denver.

Each of those groups on Tuesday confirmed Murray's involvement.

Murray participated in several camps with King's Kids Denver, which does Christian outreach. The family that runs King's Kids Denver introduced Murray to Youth With a Mission in Denver, said Paul Filidis, a spokesman for Youth With a Mission in Colorado Springs.
"They said he was a special case," Filidis said Tuesday, agreeing to speak after talking with King's Kids Denver director Ronny Morris.

After Youth With a Mission officials refused to send Murray on a mission, the Morris family offered to talk to YWAM officials but Murray asked them not to, said Filidis.

Morris' daughter Veronica said, "We loved Matthew, and we cared for him the best we could."

Angered by rejections

DyingChild_65 did not feel loved. He wrote that he was angered by being rejected by various groups over the years.

"I hate you people for leaving me out of so many fun things," one post said. "Never inviting me to all your fun parties, never inviting me to hang out."

The killings in Arvada followed a night of Christmas revelry by the young people training to be missionaries, said Peter Warren, YWAM director. Murray arrived after the Christmas party, asking to stay at the dorm. He talked with staffers for 30 minutes before firing.

Later, on the alt.suicide.holiday website, DyingChild_65 wrote that he had looked everywhere for spiritual truth.

"All I found in christianity was hate, abuse (sexual, physical, psychological, and emotional), hypocrisy, and lies," writes the poster

DyingChild_65 ends his rant by saying: "Like Cho, Eric Harris, Ricky Rodriguez and others, I'm going out to make a stand for the weak and the defenseless this is for all those young people still caught in the Nightmare of Christianity for all those people who've been abused and mistreated and taken advantage of by this evil sick religion Christian America this is YOUR Columbine."

Rodriguez, as a child member in a cult, was forced to perform sex acts. He later left the cult, killed a former nanny and then killed himself. In April, Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and himself in the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history.

At least one visitor to the website was alarmed and contacted the FBI promptly, before the second attack, 9News reported the site's administrator as saying.

The FBI confirmed to 9News that the bureau got the warning about 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Murray's final posting on the website was at 11:03 a.m.

The FBI told 9News that after it got the warning, it contacted Arvada police. Agents were examining Murray's posts when the shootings at New Life Church occurred.

Carl Raschke, a professor of religious studies at the University of Denver, said he believes Murray was "under huge psychological turmoil."

"It seemed like he was involved in his own spiritual battle against the empire of Christianity," adding that one of the screen names, nghtmrchld26, is taken from a video game in which characters battle evil demons.

"I would call him a defector from the spiritual warfare that he was brought up in," Raschke said.

Asked to leave group

Steve Mariner, the president of Denver's occult group Ad Astra Oasis, says Murray attended group meetings for about a year before being asked to leave in September.

Ad Astra Oasis is an officially chartered body of the Ordo Templi Orientis, a ceremonial magic order based on the teachings of English poet and mystic Aleister Crowley.

"He was a mostly quiet, geeky young man," Mariner said of Murray. "He was a skinny little kid. He was your typical I-like-college-over-cars type. He was a voracious reader, as far as I could tell. I never heard him raise his voice."

Mariner said the group of about 15 people realized over time that Murray was not fitting in.

"It seemed like he needed some time to back off and evaluate himself," he said. "We could summarize it as saying the personalities were not a good mix."

Mariner said he was shocked when he learned Murray was the shooter.

"You are sitting there having a conversation with someone ," Mariner said. "We all have our little personality quirks, but you don't appraise them of being someone who would go off and do something this atrocious."

That Murray shot several people horrified Richard Werner, a missionary who bunked with him in Arvada in 2002, but it didn't surprise him.

"It was something you can't ever imagine, but it was so obvious after it happened," said Werner, 34, who now lives in Brazil. "It's just because of the way he used to behave."

Uncomfortable memories

Werner shared a dormitory with 18 other people, and Murray slept on a bottom bunk next to his. Now a cook who ministers in his free time, Werner said his time with Murray left him with some uncomfortable memories.

One experience jarred Werner enough to note it in his diary.

"It was Oct. 23 of 2002," Werner said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Brazil. "He was tossing and turning in the middle of the night, talking to himself. I asked him if everything was OK, and he said, 'I'm just talking to my voices.' "

The response jarred Werner.

"I said, 'Dude, you've got to be kidding,' " Werner recalled. "And he said, 'Don't worry, Richard. You're a nice guy and you have nothing to worry about. The voices like you.' "

Another memorable incident occurred at a missionary Christmas party where attendees grouped together and some sang songs in the talent-show atmosphere, Werner said.

"He just went up there to sing, and one of the songs was 'I'm One Step Closer to the Edge,' which really upset people," Werner said.

The Linkin Park song culminates with the anguished phrase "I'm about to break!"

When directors at the school decided in December 2002 that Murray shouldn't join others on a mission trip to Bosnia, Werner said it was because "people weren't comfortable with his behavior."

"He wasn't kicked out," he said. "The directors had a conversation with his parents, and it was decided it would be better if he leave."

On another website, a poster named nghtmrchld26, believed by police to be Murray, said he rebelled against an upbringing that forbade him from buying rock music, video games and popular DVDs.

He writes that he felt oppressed by the restrictions. The hypocrisy of religious leaders, he wrote, prompted him to rebel, although he feared "returning back to what is at least 'familiar,' into a system I at least know how to behave in.' "

In another posting, Murray wrote of a crushing depression that would not respond to intensive therapy or medication.

"This is the Nightmare that just goes on and on," he wrote.

Some postings harbor bitterness toward Youth With a Mission. He said the staff there decided to tell him one week before an outreach mission that they did not want him to go.

"The fact is, in YWAM, and christianity, it's all about the Beautiful People," he wrote.

Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367 or [email protected]  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sprinkled with tears"
Among the online writings purported to be from Matthew J. Murray:

Murray wrote of finding solace in cutting himself, describing it as "a beautiful work of art shaded in crimson sprinkled with tears as you descend into the darkness of loneliness (sic) and despair drowning and sinking with no one around, even when you're doing it with your friends."

He wrote that he found a "secret drug addiction," which "can completely alter blood pressure, heart rate, brainwave patterns and other bodily functions," revealing at the end of a page-long post that the "addiction" was rock music, and the person who had helped make it a powerful force in his life was Marilyn Manson.

"If you're an extrovert, and popular, then yes, there is plenty of love waiting for you in christianity. ... 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. it's all about the Beautiful People "

"I hate you people for leaving me out of so many fun things. Never inviting me to all your fun parties, never inviting me to hang out. And no, don't say, 'Well, that's your fault' because it isn't. You people had my phone number, and I asked and all, but no no no no no. Don't let the weird kid come along."

"All I found in christianity was hate, abuse (sexual, physical, psychological, and emotional), hypocrisy, and lies," writes the poster, who adds that he is one of the "nobodies" "who just wants to be loved and accepted somewhere. I just want to be one of the somebodies."

"This is the Nightmare that just goes on and on "

http://origin.denverpost.com/news/ci_7696043

Killer's Rant
Read the full, unedited version of Matthew Murray's final web posting, filled with profanity and hatred of Christians.