Tammy Bruce: The Woman With a Gun Who Saved Hundreds

The Woman With a Gun Who Saved Hundreds

Hero Jeanne Assam

The woman security officer who took shooter Matthew Murray at the New Life Church has been identified. What a perfect example of how firearms, and God, are an excellent defense in the face of an armed beast.

Heroic church guard: 'It was just me, the gunman and God'

"It was just me, the gunman and God," said the heroic church security guard who stopped a hate-fueled rampage by shooting a gunman dead Sunday.

Jeanne Assam, 42, a member of New Life Church, said she remained calm and focused by putting her faith in God during the intense, ear-splitting gunfight in Colorado Springs.

Armed with a handgun, she calmly confronted Matthew J. Murray, 24, who was armed with an assault rifle, two handguns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition, police said.

"It was scary," the former Twin Cities patrol officer said this afternoon at a Colorado Springs news conference. "I'll never forget the guns were so loud."

"But ... God was with me and I asked him to be with me. And he never left my side," she said.

Brava to Ms. Assam for staying focused and calm, stopping what would have been an even more horrific massacre. May God rest the souls of those murdered by Murray on Sunday.

Other updates include more information about Murray's motive. Rev. Boyd's comments that the attack was "random" appears now to not be the case.

Man Suspected Of Colorado Shootings Was Thrown Out Of Missionary School

December 10, 2007)—The man suspected of the deadly shootings Sunday at a missionary training center in a Denver, Colo. suburb and a megachurch in Colorado Springs was thrown out of the missionary school, court documents show.

The suspected gunman is identified as Matthew Murray, 24, who was shot and killed by a female volunteer security guard at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs after killing two teenage sisters and wounding the girls’ father and two other people.

Documents show Murray sent hate mail to the missionary center after he was kicked out of the school about three years ago.

Posted by Tammy · December 10, 2007 05:16 PM · Permalink
Crime | Death of Right and Wrong | Hero

Comments

Way to go Jeanne! Her actions undoubtedly saved many more lives.See what happens when citizens are armed??

As for the shooter,he will now have to stand before God and answer for his crime. I don't envy him at all.

Posted by: storytold at December 10, 2007 06:10 PM

Thank God that this lady was prepared and clear-headed under fire - a rare attribute. Please pray for her. This is going to start weighing heavily on her in the coming days along with the inevitable media blitz and personal attacks from those who don't approve of what she did.

Posted by: tinkerdad at December 10, 2007 07:02 PM

Jeanne is a heroine who saved lives with her actions. For that reason I believe that the MSM will try to destroy her with accusations of being a trigger happy Bible-thumpin' gun nut. I can hear the snark now - Who Would Jesus Shoot? The fact that she stopped a homicidal maniac who was on a murderous rampage will be conveniently forgotten.

Posted by: Mwalimu Daudi at December 10, 2007 07:09 PM

What a wonderful woman. She was poised under pressure and most definitely saved the lives of many.

I'm very curious as to whether or not Rev. Boyd knew about the hate mail from the shooter and the fact that he was thrown out. I guess a lot of it depends upon how long he's been with the church. It's quite ironic that this happened in the church of which Ted Haggard was the pastor before being forced out.

Posted by: Kelly at December 10, 2007 07:10 PM

excellent job!!!!!!!

Posted by: getosama at December 10, 2007 07:45 PM

TINKERDAD & MD above, my thoughts, too. This will weigh heavily on her and many, unfortunately, will try to destroy her, sadly, probably some in the Christian community. Anti-gun zealots will join in the frey. Our prayers are for her, also, for wisdom to handle the attention, to say the right things and to know when to say nothing. I pray she has the "right stuff" for the aftermath as she did in the pressure of the incident. She is, indeed, a brave lady who seems to be focused and centered rightly; she has her priorities straight. Stay strong, Jeanne. The aftermath may prove to be more dangerous than facing the gunman...

Posted by: Floyd R. Turbo at December 10, 2007 09:04 PM

Her news conference video [upper right hand corner of the TVs website;link may not last long] is quite compelling and will go a long way toward shutting up the critics. This woman is not-to-be-messed-with. [She's also single and won't give her age and said on camera that she wants to be married.]

To reiterate: Assam is NOT a rent-a-cop, but a parishioner who is an armed CIVILIAN serving her church. I'll wager the mainstream media doesn't emphasize that point. It doesn't fit their meme.

Posted by: Ruth Anne at December 10, 2007 11:46 PM

This woman deserves a medal! She saved a lot of people's lives. Armed citizens help stop crazed killers!

Posted by: Skeptic at December 11, 2007 03:20 AM

Another chick with a gun doing Gods work.

Posted by: djd11 at December 11, 2007 03:29 AM

I don't think the MSM will try to destroy her. They will just ignore her and the story so as to try and diminish her living testimony.

What an inspiration she is! Upon hearing her story and seeing her demeanor on tv, this verse came to my mind because she was obviously prepared in all ways.

Psalm 144:1-2 "Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight." "My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust."

Posted by: Tink at December 11, 2007 07:43 AM

message to all terrorists:

We have more ladies like Jeanne and they're ALL tougher than you are!

Posted by: ConnecticutBruce at December 11, 2007 08:53 AM

In the House of God, she shot the bastard to Hell.

It doesn't get much better than that.

I need to get to the range...

Posted by: ashleymatt at December 11, 2007 10:35 AM

Jeanne should be an inspiration to all Americans who are sick and tired of this kind of crap going on in this country...NIP IT IN THE BUD...take them out, done and over with...

But...let's see what the MSM can dig up on her in the next few days...Obviously she's not a democrat...if she was, she would have tried to reason with him and see if he wanted counseling...

Posted by: Marie at December 11, 2007 10:54 AM

"God created man but Mr. Colt made them equal." I always loved that saying.

Posted by: Ripper at December 11, 2007 11:49 AM

Jeanne's last name (Assam) sounds like a middle eastern surname. Is it possible this brave lady is an Arab American who happens to be Christian? That would make this story even better. She could become a powerful symbol of America's inclusiveness.

Posted by: ConnecticutBruce at December 11, 2007 12:10 PM

Just heard at the close of Rush's program: Rush read an MSM story that said Jeanne was fired 10 years ago from, if remember correctly, the Minneapolis Police due to an internal affairs investigation. Something about an incident involving a city bus driver and she is supposed to have sworn at him and she supposedly lied in the investigation. Ten years ago. Obviously, she's a better and different person, today. The MSM assault has started...stand strong, Jeanne!

Posted by: Floyd R. Turbo at December 11, 2007 12:20 PM

Violence is never the answer people, don't you all know that?! The intelligent, liberal-minded, fair and just resolution method is to talk to him, ask him what he's so upset about and of course tell him the whole mess isn't his fault but America's, particularly President Bush's, cringe and avert eyes each time he shoots someone but continue the dialog because we don't want to isolate or offend him. Offer him a million dollars to stop, be sure to take the money from hard working taxpayers and give it to him with a fanfare of media adulation, but when the thug resumes his shooting spree, blame it on America. Insist that it's not known for certain whether he has any more ammo and even if he does, whether he'll use it - and besides, he's probably got a pretty good reason to be doing what he's doing, who are we to judge? Our rules and customs are no better than his, probably even less so. More than anything, believe him but not the innocents who are his victims or his colleagues who say he's evil. We must see things his way, admit we deserve his condemnation, and make him a friend. This is the best way to deal with thugs of every stripe. Eventually he'll tire of it - isn't this plainly obvious? What's wrong with you people?

Posted by: helpunderdog at December 11, 2007 03:27 PM

Ms. Bruce being a "Chick with a gun", you should do an article/commentary on this lady. I understand she hit him multiple times at 25+ yards. That is good shooting under stressful conditions. A lot of trained people miss at this distance, it is not easy to have the presence of mind and composure in conditions like this to look at the front site and squeeze the trigger correctly.

Posted by: z4hos at December 14, 2007 02:13 PM

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