One Story

Here is a description of the events yesterday, taken from a high school girl in the youth choir. She posted this on Myspace this morning. Her dad is a pastor in the Children's Ministry. I am still unclear about this "second shooter" who is supposedly in police custody. They haven't reported that yet, but as I have heard it several times, I don't doubt it.

"Here's my side of the story. Since I was by the police headquarters I heard all that they were talking about.

It was about 1:10. My mom and I were down at the Citadel mall. I was hanging out while my mom was working and talking to people. That was when I got a call from my sister. She started off joking that it sounded like someone was shooting, then she pauses and hurredly said that someone WAS shooting and she'd have to call me back later. *click. I wasn't sure if she was joking or not. Then my dad called about 5 min later and told me he was hiding under the desk in his office with Tami and Tim and a locked door. He told me not to call because they didn't want any phones going off. Shocked, I handed the phone to my mom and she heard the same thing. We both raced up to the church and parked in the overflow parking, right by where all the police were headquartering. On our way there we finally heard from my older brother who had been hiding in the parking lot. While we waited and prayed by HQ, bits and pieces of the story came to us.

Apparently one shooter dressed in a black trench coat came toward the church by the tent on the north side. He was shooting at people left and right. He came down the main hallway, through the foyer, past the bookstore and then back out the main entrance where he was shot by a church security guard. I'm not entirely certain where the other shooter was, I've heard reports that he went towards the WPC. The police caught that one guy, but he escaped and ran toward Black Forest where they caught him again and now have him in custody. The other shooter is dead. I know for sure of six people who were shot and three of those six are dead, including the one shooter.

My mom and I continued to wait as the police searched the building top to bottom, making sure of no explosives or other shooters hiding. It is still uncertain whether or not there were more than two shooters.

After the initial gunshots and after the police arrived, they began escorting the entire church to either the tent or the WPC. My dad, Tam and Tim went to the tent, while Matthew went to the WPC. The police got testimonials from anyone who knew anything. At that time we didn't know how many were shot or dead. So many different reports were flown about, but the police suspect that the shootings at NLC were connected to the ones in Arvada early that morning. Combined with the losses at Arvada, the toll is five dead and and least five wounded.

After the testamonials were taken, my mom and I were finally able to meet up with my Dad, Tami, and Tim. Matthew, however, got permission from the AFA to assist the police so he stayed a while longer. I am so incredibly thankful that my family are alright.

Please be praying for the family of the victims. The two church members who are dead were both from the same family and that is a hard loss."