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December 11, 2007
It Only Takes One Shot and She Made It
Guard's hands "didn't even shake" as she shot gunman
COLORADO SPRINGS
Amid deafening cracks of gunfire, smoke-spewing canisters and the flight of thousands of New Life Church members, Jeanne Assam said she suddenly saw the hallways clear and a gunman come through the door.
"I took cover. I identified myself. I engaged him. I took him down," the 42-year-old former law officer and volunteer church security guard said Monday at a news conference in the Colorado Springs police station.
"I just said, 'Holy Spirit, be with me.' I wasn't even shaking," Assam said. "I give the credit to God. I say this very humbly. God was with me."
Assam, a member of New Life for only a few months, admitted she had been without sleep since Sunday's midday shootings at Colorado's largest church.
The episode left two injured and ended the lives of two teen sisters and the gunman, 24-year-old Matthew Murray.
The church's senior pastor, Brady Boyd, said Assam was a real hero to him and to the whole church. He said she acted as his personal bodyguard.
"We will be holding a funeral for two very precious young women who were shot and killed on our campus," Brady said. "Three people are needlessly dead, but many more lives could have been lost."
Church spokesman Rob Brendle called Assam's clear-eyed, swift action the "good news" of that horrible day.
"It was scary," Assam said at the news conference. "I tell you it was scary. It was loud. I'll never forget. The gunshots were so loud."
Assam said she had drawn her weapon countless times in her prior law enforcement career, but she had never shot anyone until Sunday.
"I was very focused. I knew what I had to do," she said. "It was it just seemed like me, the gunman and God."
Assam, single and without children, has been working three months for an educational ministry called Messengers International, run by John and Lisa Bevere in Colorado Springs.
Assam said she had just ended a three-day fast Sunday. During the fasting she prayed and asked God to help her decide what to do with her future and whether she should work again in law enforcement.
"I was weak," she said. "God made me strong. What was going through my mind is how awesome God is."
She said she loves law enforcement, but she still doesn't have her answer about her future.
"I'm going to continue to pray about it," Assam said.
Sgt. Jess Garcia III, the public-information officer for the Minneapolis Police Department, said Assam left his police department in the late 1990s.
He said during her time there she worked in North Minneapolis, the busiest crime area of the city, as well as in downtown Minneapolis.
"Some of the training she received here apparently helped her," Garcia said. "She did a great job."
He said he knew her during her time in Minneapolis.
"I thought she had a great personality and always got along with everybody," Garcia said.
Wild Thing's comment........
Nice shot! This wonderful volunteer’s good shooting saved the tax payers hundreds of thousands of dollars prosecuting him and having the media make a circus of this for years to come. We would have had to listen to and read about the gunman being a product of abuse and how we should pity him.
Posted by Wild Thing at December 11, 2007 12:55 AM
Comments
"Go ahead punk .... make my day!" One beautiful and life saving 'Lethal Woman'! And the leftwing lunes want to take our second amendment away?
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at December 11, 2007 06:34 AM
Hero and servant...God bless her
Posted by: sierrahome at December 11, 2007 08:17 AM
"You don't hurt'em if you don't hit 'em." She should qualify Expert.
Posted by: Mark at December 11, 2007 08:32 AM
Good thing this church was not a "gun free" zone with unarmed security guards like the mall in Omaha or the campus of Virginia Tech. Jeanne Assam probably saved countless lives.
Posted by: TomR at December 11, 2007 08:33 AM
My kind of woman; God fearing and a good shot.
Posted by: BobF at December 11, 2007 09:28 AM
You got that right chrissie!
All great comments people!
Hat's off to her, great shot! I would have done same.This kind of scum is ticking me off!
Have Gun will shoot!
Posted by: paatrickdaniel at December 11, 2007 09:33 AM
She did what she had to do.
And we should all take notice that
when these things happen again, someone
is going to do exactly what she did.
Time to stop coddling these murdering
wackos and do what needs to be done because
obviously internment in a mental institution
and being on medication doesn't help. Look what
happened in my town--Omaha.
It's NOT the guns, it's the wacko behind the gun.
So let's start putting things in perspective here and stop pushing agendas down our throats.
Posted by: Lynn at December 11, 2007 06:46 PM
Darth, lunes is exactly what they are.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 11, 2007 11:55 PM
Sierrahome, good way to put it, she is that for sure.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 11, 2007 11:56 PM
Mark love the quote.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 11, 2007 11:58 PM
Tom, I agree, I don't think security at Malls has guns, I am not sure though. But they should just in case.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 12, 2007 12:00 AM
Bob, giggle, I really like her attitude too.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 12, 2007 12:05 AM
Patrick it is late right now, but I just heard a tape of this woman talking. She did good with that too, very calm, a sweet voice and strong as well.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 12, 2007 12:11 AM
Lynn...."It's NOT the guns, it's the wacko behind the gun.".....I agree. Thank goodness the media is not jumping on this as far as I can tell, so far so good and no backlash. There shouldn't be, but with the liberals one never knows. I am proud of this woman she should be respected.
Posted by: Wild Thing at December 12, 2007 12:13 AM
Any punk that shoots girls at church deserves a shot. Not dead though. Just give him a good limp, or shoot one eye out. That way he won't give his PIMP a lot of smack when he's turning tricks in Canon City(Colorado State Pen).
Posted by: rill dill preacha at December 13, 2007 07:34 PM
