Jeanne Assam

Jeanne Assam is the security guard at the church where Matthew Murray killed two people and injured others. Assam saved many lives when she killed Murray:

Jeanne Assam is hailed for saving countless lives in shooting a gunman outside her church, but the volunteer security guard insisted that her steady hand was a matter of divine guidance.

The 42-year-old former police officer was part of a small team of church members pulling guard duty Sunday at the New Life Church when 24-year-old Matthew Murray opened fire outside the building.

Weak from a three-day religious fast, Assam said Monday that she shut out the frightening gunshots outside and focused on Murray as he walked down a church hallway. When Murray came in with an assault rifle, she shot him several times with her gun.

Jeanne Assam has been talking about what happened and how:

Amid deafening cracks of gunfire, smoke-spewing canisters and the flight of thousands of New Life Church members, Jeanne Assam said God was with her when she shot the gunman and helped her prevent more lives from being lost.

"I saw him, it seemed like the halls cleared out, and I saw him coming through the doors, and I took cover. And I waited for him to get closer. And I came out of cover. And I identified myself. And I engaged him and I took him down," the 42-year-old volunteer church security guard and former law officer said Monday at a news conference in the Colorado Springs police station. "I didn't think it was my sole responsibility. I didn't think about this. It was — it seemed like it was me, the gunman and God.

Assam was in law enforcement, meaning that her earlier training came to her aid:

Jeanne Assam says "It was just me, the gunman, and God." Colorado church security guard stops shooting spree.

She calmly drew her weapon and shot him.
And she credits the Holy Spirit for guiding her.

Jeanne Assam, who is being hailed as a hero, served as a volunteer, armed security guard at New Life Christian Church in Colorado Springs, CO when the shots rang out.

The shooter, Matthew Murray, had as many as a thousand rounds of ammunition for his assault rifle. With at least a thousands of people still in the common areas after the second service and smoke devices ignited, he could have killed many many more than the two who did die.

But Jean Assam stood in his way.

"I identified myself, I engaged him and then I took him down," she said at the press conference. "I didn't run away. I didnt' think for a minute to run away. I knew I was the one given the assignment to stop this thing."

And more:

The gunshots were so loud that Jeanne Assam thought the shooter was already in the building.

A former police officer, Assam, 42, was on security duty Sunday morning at New Life Church here. Hours earlier, a 24-year-old who had been rejected from a missionary school in a Denver suburb had shot and killed two staffers there. Now he was spraying New Life's parking lot with gunfire and pushing through the doors to the sanctuary.

Assam hid and inched toward the gunman, Matthew Murray, as dozens of terrified worshipers fled. She waited until he got close enough, revealed herself, aimed her pistol and fired. Murray dropped to the ground. He was carrying an assault rifle, two pistols and a backpack holding more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

"I just prayed to the Holy Spirit to guide me," Assam said at a packed news conference Monday. "I give the credit to God. This has got to be God, because of the firepower he had versus what I have."

Authorities on Monday said Assam saved untold lives as they described how Murray, the home-schooled son of a prominent neurologist, terrorized two religious facilities during a harrowing 12-hour rampage. Here's her actual press conference.

And if you want to see what Assam looks like?

And a full wire report on the story.