The man who shot up a training center for missionaries and a church in suburban Denver, killing four people and wounding a number of others, has been identified:

A law enforcement official says the deadly rampages at a megachurch and a missionary training school were believed to have been carried out by the same person—Matthew Murray, a 24-yeare-old suburban Denver man who "hated Christians."

It is perhaps worth noting that the toll in Sunday's shootings exceeded the combined total in all "hate crimes" against Muslims in the six years since September 11.

Via Power Line News.

UPDATE: Murray was apparently a former Christian who was kicked out of Youth With a Mission, the missionary training program, some years ago. More recently, he reportedly has sent hate mail to the center where the murders took place. Murray had no known connection to the New Life Church, where the second attack took place. Also, the woman who ended the New Life Church attack by shooting Murray was a parishioner armed with her own gun who confronted Murray--heroically, it's fair to say--as he entered the church. She apparently was one of several people who volunteered to provide security after word spread of the first attack.

FURTHER UPDATE: More on the woman who shot Murray, Jeanne Assam, a former Minneapolis policewoman, here.

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Posted by John at 3:51 PM  |    |