CNN: "Female Security Guard Hailed as Hero"... "saved 'hundreds of lives'"

www.cnn.com ^ | December 10, 2007 | CNN

[Luke Skyfreeper]

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- A Colorado Springs megachurch instituted security precautions after a shooting at a Denver area mission center earlier Sunday, saving "hundreds of lives" at the New Life Church, senior Pastor Brady Boyd said Monday.

A New Life parishioner acting as a security guard shot and killed a gunman who entered the church Sunday afternoon after he had gotten no more than 50 feet inside the building, Boyd said.

...

Boyd said the female security guard was a hero in preventing further bloodshed, rushing to confront the gunman just inside the church.

"She probably saved over a hundred lives," Boyd said of the guard, whom he said is not a law enforcement officer and used her personal weapon.

...

"Hundreds of lives were saved yesterday because of the plan that was put in place," said Boyd, who put the number of people on the church campus at the time as 7,000.

[archy]

My neighbor in Illinois who was awarded the MOH was the guy in the Forrest Gump movie whose face was edited out for Tom Hanks, when it was presented to him by LBJ, along with this guy, whom I think of every year at Christmastime.

It was no sudden rush to save another or a jump onto a grenade. Skip Johnson got real mad and hunted the bad guys down for the better part of an hour, first running out of .45 pistol magazines, then emptying a grease gun, then finally using the stock of the M3- which is a pretty flimsy piece of quarter-inch steel rod- to beat the last one still shooting at him to death. Then he got more goodies, including another .45 pistol, and began all over again. His story is the example I use when one of the ignorant tells me that handguns are *useless for self-defense.*

Dwight H. Johnson
Rank and Organization: Specialist Fifth Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 1st Battalion, 69th Armor, 4th Infantry Division.

Place and Date: Near Dak To, Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam, 15 January 1968.

Entered Service At: Detriot, Mich.

Born: 7 May 1947, Detroit, Mich.

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp5c. Johnson, a tank driver with Company B, was a member of a reaction force moving to aid other elements of his platoon, which was in heavy contact with a battalion size North Vietnamese force. Sp5c. Johnson's tank, upon reaching the point of contact, threw a track and became immobilized. Realizing that he could do no more as a driver, he climbed out of the vehicle, armed only with a .45 caliber pistol. Despite intense hostile fire, Sp5c. Johnson killed several enemy soldiers before he had expended his ammunition. Returning to his tank through a heavy volume of antitank rocket, small arms and automatic weapons fire, he obtained a submachinegun with which to continue his fight against the advancing enemy. Armed with this weapon, Sp5c. Johnson again braved deadly enemy fire to return to the center of the ambush site where he courageously eliminated more of the determined foe. Engaged in extremely close combat when the last of his ammunition was expended, he killed an enemy soldier with the stock end of his submachinegun. Now weaponless, Sp5c. Johnson ignored the enemy fire around him, climbed into his platoon sergeant's tank, extricated a wounded crewmember and carried him to an armored personnel carrier. He then returned to the same tank and assisted in firing the main gun until it jammed. In a magnificent display of courage, Sp5c. Johnson exited the tank and again armed only with a .45 caliber pistol, engaged several North Vietnamese troops in close proximity to the vehicle. Fighting his way through devastating fire and remounting his own immobilized tank, he remained fully exposed to the enemy as he bravely and skillfully engaged them with the tank's externally-mounted .50 caliber machinegun; where he remained until the situation was brought under control. Sp5c. Johnson's profound concern for his fellow soldiers, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.

Dwight *Skip* Johnson is the guy hanging off the main gun tube.

On April 30, 1971, Dwight Johnson, now married and the father of a little boy, was shot and killed while attempting an armed robbery of a Detroit grocery store. The store owner told the police, "I first hit him with two bullets but he just stood there, with the gun in his hand, and said, 'I'm going to kill you . . .' I kept pulling the trigger until my gun was empty".

In the exchange, Dwight Johnson, an experienced combat soldier, never fired a shot. His mother's words echo down to us, twenty-seven years later, "Sometimes I wonder if Skip tired of this life and needed someone else to pull the trigger"

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

Apologies if anyone else posted this article already.

---

Guard calmly returned fire at church
By Kieran Nicholson
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 12/10/2007 03:46:28 PM MST

Larry Bourbonnais, a combat-tested Vietnam veteran, said it was the bravest thing he's ever seen.

Bourbonnais, who was among those shot by a gunman Sunday at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, watched as a security guard, a woman who has not yet been named, calmly returned fire and killed the shooter.

"She just started walking toward the gunman firing the whole way," said Bourbonnais, who was shot in the arm. "She was just yelling 'Surrender,' walking and shooting the whole time."

Bourbonnais, 59, had just finished up a hamburger in the cafeteria on the sprawling church campus when he heard gunfire, he recalled.

Bourbonnais headed in the direction of the shots as frightened people ran past him looking to escape to safety.

"Where's the shooter? Where's the shooter?" Bourbonnais kept yelling, he recalled.

Near an entryway in the church, Bourbonnais came upon the gunman and an armed male church security guard who was there with his gun drawn but not firing, he said.

Bourbonnais said he pleaded with the armed guard to give him his weapon.

"Give me your handgun. I've been in combat, and I'm going to take this guy out," Bourbonnais recalled telling the guard. "He kept yelling, 'Get behind me! Get behind me!' He wouldn't hand me his weapon, but he wouldn't do anything."

There was an additional armed security guard there, another man, who also didn't fire, Bourbonnais said.

Bourbonnais yelled at the gunman to draw his attention, he said.

"First, I called him 'Coward' then I called him 'S---head' " Bourbonnais said. "I probably shouldn't have been saying that in church."

That's when the shooter pointed one of his guns at Bourbonnais and fired, he said.

Bourbonnais ducked behind a hollow, decorative pillar and was hit in the arm by a bullet and fragments of the pillar.

At about that moment, a female guard with a drawn handgun turned a corner and walked toward the gunman and yelled "Surrender!" Bourbonnais said.

The gunman pointed a handgun at the woman and fired three shots, Bourbonnais said. She returned fire and just kept walking toward the gunman pressing off round after round.

The female guard fired off about a dozen shots.

After the gunman went down, Bourbonnais asked the woman, who has only been identified as a volunteer security guard with the church, how she remained so calm and focused.

Bourbonnais said she replied:

"I was asking the Holy Spirit to guide me the entire time."

Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com

[archy]

I still haven’t used up all my Super Vels.

The originator/developer/manufacturer lives about a 20 minute drive from me.

In his sixties now, Lee can repeatredly ventilate 300-yard targets with his 6½-inch barrel Auto Mag.

[Squantos]

Your what iffin per se is correct when trying to save lives in a mass shooting vs just me or mine alone on a street etc .

It is a moot issue IMHO as I don’t go where firearms aren’t allowed and that seems to be the only place murderer’s go......:o)

IMO I would be the first one a responding cop would shoot anyway .......The pic on my home page, coming out of the corn field is a close likeness. The 2nd one from the left...LOL !

To this very day I still wear a T=Shirt under my baggie button up shirt that has the words SHERIFF down each arm, BACK and front w/ badge logo. the baggie Hawaiian style shirt can be pulled over my head quick if I decide to stay and play. Officer survival dictates no LEO logos , gun company logos or anything that will make a bad guy think I may be armed. No more than my Nike Jacket will make one think I run fast.........:o)..... those lessons remain with me too this day as a retired serviceman and former deputy.

[Palladin]

WOW! I got chills when I read that report.

Whattagal this woman is! Cool and calm under fire. I had no idea the perp shot directly at her three times...and missed! The Lord sure put a hedge around this courageous woman.

[Travis McGee]

Pigskin covered Korans.....I see a niche market.

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

Is that an incredible story or what? One armed male guard couldn't bring himself to shoot the mass murderer.

A second armed male guard couldn't bring himself either.

But a female armed security guard who said "I was asking the Holy Spirit to guide me the entire time" was the one who saved all of those lives.

Hooray for pistol packin' dames!

[Travis McGee]

They’ll work!

[Travis McGee]

Next line from the liberal bedwetters:

“Why did she have to shoot him so many times? Couldn’t she have just shot him in the arms and legs and wounded him?”

[Fletcher J]

The perp was homeschooled? If true, that’s quite a shock.

After reading the posts of *some* contributors to this site, I thought only “publick-screweled” kids could end up becoming murderers and the like...

Why, just the other day, some level-headed homeschooling parents were calling it “child abuse” to send a kid to public school.

Nevertheless, I refuse to take the low road, so I’ll just walk away without drawing any correlations, just as I’m sure they would do. /sarcasm

Fletcher J

[BurbankKarl]

its only a matter of time before the MSM digs something up on this brave lady....

then they will ask why she didnt shoot him in the leg, or fire a warning shot or something.

[Squantos]

Yep......what used to be a easy decision is now complex and weighs heavily upon ones mind and belt.

But the KISS principal and training s key........Stay safe !

[Travis McGee]

If you made up a story like that, you’d be called a fabulist.

[Squantos]

Well I am still trying to find facts on the event even now.....was she a paid security guard ? Was she a former LEO ?

I do not NEED to know but I would like too know.

Or was she just a member of the church that the pastor verbally or in writing allowed to carry as mine does here in Texas for the CHL /CCW members of our church.

this being Texas we have Sunday go to meeting guns, BBQ guns, He needed killin guns etc etc ......:o)

Stay safe and I agree on the presstitutional propaganda efforts on the horizon for this brave lady.

[Paved Paradise]

Okay, what can I say? Girls rock! Especially, gun-toting girls.

[Paved Paradise]

A gun would be a little easier to acessorize though.

[archy]

If you made up a story like that, you’d be called a fabulist.

I cannot make up stuff as absolutely amazing as some of the stuff I've seen as a newspaperman circa 1970-2001. And otherwise. Nowhere near.

And I work reasonably hard at not being surprised.

[potlatch]

Ping to #402 devolve

[Armedanddangerous]

What struck me was, she took a center of mass shot, was immediately aware that it didn’t take, and followed up with appropriate extra lead injections.

Sounds to me like a textbook Mozambique drill.

That my friends, is one cool customer under fire.

I’d love to know what handgun she was using and the caliber.

[logic]

I dont think I have the same take on that. His word(which cuts both ways) not any weapons so to speak

While the word of god is often referred to as "the sword" or "the sword of the spirit", The actual quote is: "Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. (Luke 22:36)

Since you can't buy words, this is obviously a directive to be armed and able to defend yourself and your family, as is your responsibility.

Also see posts 144, 152, & 155 among others. The 'turn the other cheek' is in regards to insults, to be Christian and forgive insults, while the 'sell your cloak and buy a sword' is a clear and obvious call to defend yourself and others...