Contributed by:
Seth Davis/YourHub.com staff
Article Contributed on: 12/10/2007 12:03:13 PM
As the community journalist covering the Arvada area, I often hope that something big will happen in the city to make national headlines. Well, something big did happen, but it wasn't anything that I would ever wish for.
The
horrific shooting at
Youth With a Mission Center, 12750 W. 63rd Ave., and a
possibly connected shooting in Colorado Springs, have ushered Colorado into the unhealthy glare of a spotlight shared with the
Omaha mall shootings that occurred just days earlier.
Killed in the 12:30 a.m. Dec. 9 Arvada attack were Youth With a Mission staff members
Philip Crouse, 24, and
Tiffany Johnson, 26.
South Dakotan student
Dan Griebenow, 24, was injured by a bullet in the neck and Minnesotan
Charlie Blanch, 22, was shot in the leg, and both are currently hospitalized.
In the Colorado Springs shooting, the two people killed were
Stephanie Works, 18, and
Rachel Works, 16. The injured church-goers were identified as
David Works, 51;
Judy Purcell, 40;
and
Larry Bourbannais, 59
Across the country, church members, friends and families are attempting to sort out the weekend's events and come to terms with the tragedies.
After having recently experienced the loss of a friend myself, I know how difficult that can be. I think one healthy thing to do is use paper and pen or a keyboard to relate what you're feeling.
As the community begins to pull together in an effort to heal, I encourage you tocontribute here your thoughts on the shootings, messages to the families, messages to the church, memories of the shooting victims and more. We'll include as many of them as possible in our print edition.
All you have to do is
register on
YourHub.com and
post your letters, leave a comment below or you can e-mail them to me at
daviss@yourhub.com.
Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts and I look forward to being here when Arvada is again the scene of positive news.
Related links
Charles Chaput, Archbishop of Denver, issued a
letter to console "those struggling with this sorrow."
According to
The Denver Post, this certainly isn't the first incident of
church violence.
The shooting suspect, who died after the Colorado Springs attack,
has been identified as 24-year-old
Matthew Murray.