Matthew J. Murray

Matthew John Murray (December 5, 1983 – December 9, 2007) was an American gunman who on December 9, 2007 killed four people in the Youth With A Mission and New Life Church shootings before taking his own life. Murray was one of two sons of a prominent Colorado neurologistcite web|url=http://www.denverpost.com/ci_7682958|title=Colo. church shooting victims identified|date=2007-12-10|accessdate=2007-12-10|publisher=Denver Post] and was homeschooled by his mother Loretta in a suburb of Denver, in what friends and neighbors described as a deeply religious Christian home.cite news
title = Demons haunted Colorado gunman’s world
author = December 11, 2007
publisher = Associated Press
date = December 12, 2007
url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22221432/
accessdate = 2008-01-22 ] cite news
title = Report: Gunman Was Angry At Christians
author = Eric Gorski, Colleen Slevin, Jacques Billeaud, George Merritt and Lara Jakes Jordan
publisher = KCNC-TV
url = http://cbs4denver.com/local/Matthew.Murray.assam.2.608232.html
accessdate = 2008-01-22 ] Because of his background and his killing of fellow Christians, American Christians have sought answers [http://www.9news.com/news/top-article.aspx?storyid=82535] to what FoxNews.com columnist Lauren Green has called "senseless murder".cite news
last = Green
first = Lauren
title = Matthew Murray's Attack: Against Christians or Christianity?
url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316601,00.html
accessdate = 2008-02-25
work = FoxNews.com]

Murray's death

Jeanne Assam, a New Life Church volunteer security guard, shot Murray several times with her personally-owned concealed weapon. After Murray was wounded, he killed himself with a shotgun. [cite news
author = Associated Press
title = Police: Church Gunman Killed Himself
url = http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8TFEJO00&show_article=1
publisher = Breitbart.com
date= 2007-12-11
accessdate = 2007-12-11 ] According to the Colorado Springs Police Department, Murray was carrying two handguns, an assault rifle and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition. [http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/14817480/detail.html Security Guard: 'God Guided Me And Protected Me' - Denver News Story - KMGH Denver ] ] Pastor Brady Boyd estimated that about 7,000 people were on the church campus at the time of the shooting.

Motives

Police initially claimed when supporting a search warrant that Murray had recently sent hate mail to the Youth With A Mission training center--but later retracted the statement, stating that Murray sent e-mails to an affiliated group in which he criticized Christians but did not threaten violence. [http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/14858399/detail.html Police Say Gunman Didn't Send Hate Mail To YWAM - Denver News Story - KMGH Denver ] ] [http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/dec/10/cops-search-arapahoe-home/ A gunman's bloody trail: from hate mail to mass murder : Local News : The Rocky Mountain News ] ] http://denver.rockymountainnews.com/documents/2007/2007-12/20071210/121007searchwarrant.PDF] He had been dismissed from the school's program three years earlier. Murray self-identified with Seung-Hui Cho, Eric Harris, and former Children of God member Ricky Rodriguez.cite web
title = "YOUR Columbine": Gunman wrote of rejection as reason for revenge
author = Jeremy P. Meyer, David Migoya and Christopher N. Osher
publisher = The Denver Post
date = December 12, 2007
url = http://www.denverpost.com/rapids/ci_7696043
accessdate = 2008-01-03
quote = 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. ]

Before the shooting Murray left several violent and threatening messages on several religious websites, espousing his hatred for Christianity and his intentions on killing as many Christians as possible.

One message read: "I'm coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the ...teeth and I WILL shoot to kill... God, I can't wait till I can kill you people. 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." [http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=82548 9NEWS.com | Colorado's Online News Leader | Gunman's Web writings warn of shootings ] ] [ [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316387,00.html FOXNews.com - Colorado Church Gunman Sought Revenge After He Was Kicked Out of Missionary Training - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News ] ]

This posting demonstrates that Murray was influenced by Columbine perpetrator Eric Harris, who left the following message on his website prior to his own killing spree: "I'm coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the fucking teeth and I WILL shoot to kill... God, I can't wait til I can kill you people. 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 a few people. Like Brooks Brown." [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,35870-3,00.html]

Investigators obtained copies of Murray's writings and studied other Web sites. Their probe revealed that his writings, which spanned several months, became increasingly violent. Some web users tried to counsel Murray and one psychologist even offered her services after reading his poem called "Crying all alone in pain in the nightmare of Christianity". Murray refused her offer.

Other religious affiliations

The Associated Press has reported that "Interviews and Murray's Internet postings depict him as a disturbed young man who was bitter about being an outcast, turned against charismatic Christianity and dabbled in other beliefs."cite news
title = Letter to God found in CO gunman's car
author =
publisher = Associated Press
date = March 13, 2008
accessdate = 2008-03-13
url = http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080313/ap_on_re_us/church_shootings_letter ] Murray was also a member of Ad Astra Oasis of Ordo Templi Orientis before being asked to leave that organization. [ [http://www.denverpost.com/ci_7696043 The Denver Post - "YOUR Columbine" ] ]

Letter to God

KMGH-TV reported that a letter to God was found in Murray's car asking Jesus for answers to plaintive questions such as "What have I done so wrong? What is wrong with me anyways? Am I really such a bad person?" and "why didn't you ever answer my cries?". The letter was photographed and published on KMGH's website. In the photograph, four words were obscured by black marks. These may be obscenities; both the Associated Press and KMGH reported that the letter was "laced with expletives", but otherwise did not indicate the nature of those four words.cite news
first = Tom
last = Burke
coauthors = Kovaleski, Tony
title = Church Gunman's Letter Shows Him Angry, Confused About God
url = http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15576902/detail.html
format = HTML, JPEG
work = The Denver Channel.com
publisher = KMGH-TV
location = Denver, Colorado
date = 2008-03-12
accessdate = 2008-03-14 ]

ee also

*Gun violence in the United States
*Religious disaffiliation

References