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What possessed this man?

An anti-Christian hate crime, authorities say.

The Denver Post reports.

Good Lord.

The victims include 16-year-old twin sisters. The killer hated them? And the other individuals he gunned down?

What possessed him?

More reporting: The gunman was shot and killed by a female security guard who was fired at but continued advancing and firing, a witness says. Two male security guards, both armed, did not fire at the intruder.

Armed security guards at a church? What's the world coming to? It would seem insane ... if this had not happened. One of those guards, not yet identified, likely saved many lives. She said she was praying as she was firing, a witness reported.

Of lesser magnitude but still disturbing, was the intent of the Greensboro College nativity scene vandalism also hateful? Was the culprit sending a message?

"This was the destruction of a set of values," President Craven Williams said.

Comments (7)

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What possessed him?* Doug

" The Devil" if you are a believer in spiritual warfare. Or if you are just another normal citizen, one would assume it was another homeschool product gone terribly wrong in this age of decline in cultural politics.

Sue said:

"This was the destruction of a set of values," President Craven Williams said.
--
I don't agree with the good Prof & Pres. This is likely going to be some kids, or drunken being disrespectful and rowdy. In the olden days, they'd have been pilloried in the town square. Today? Community service and restitution.

But a hate crime? Although I surely HOPE not, I also don't think it has to be, just because the victims were Christian ornamental in structure. I realize you're not equating nativity-scene-destruction with the murders in CO, but there's obviously a lot yet to be uncovered there. I think there's going to be a lot less to uncover here. We'll wind up saying, "Stupid kids," or something similar.

I think this city is trying hard to recover from a crime-laden weekend that shall live in infamy and we have to be especially carefully to gauge our reactions to each crime and not let the sum grow exponentially larger than the parts.

Sue said:

Update from Glenn Reynolds:
The "security guard" who stopped the shooter was actually a volunteer parishioner who used her own gun, not a rent-a-cop. Much more from David Hardy, who notes that press coverage tends to obscure this point.

--
Doug asks, "Armed security guards at a church? What's the world coming to?"

It's nothing new, Doug, not even in Greensboro.

Doug asks, "Armed security guards at a church? What's the world coming to?"

I happen to know of at least one Baptist Church in East Greensboro that has hired security guards armed with Glock 9mm pistols to protect their elderly members from gang violence.

Nothing new here.

"What possessed him?"

It's called a society that fails to address real issues and it's just a matter of time before it happens in Greensboro.

Doug said:

More details:

"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," Matthew Murray writes between shooting sprees.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_7686929

"What possessed him?"

It's called a society that fails to address real issues and it's just a matter of time before it happens in Greensboro.* Billy the Blogging Poet

I had no idea that Greensboro was a hot bed of Devil worshipers.....

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