Breaking News: Four dead in hostage-taking in Aurora, Colorado

From: Reuters

Four people were dead including the gunman following a hostage-taking on Saturday in Aurora, Colorado, the same town where a gunman shot dead 12 people and wounded 58 more at a movie theater last July, KUSA television reported.

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Note: This hostage situation did not take place at a place of worship; however, given recent events I felt that it was still important to report. 

Theater Massacre Shatters Sense of Security

From: USA Today

Shortly before she died in a darkened Colorado movie theater at the hand of a merciless gunman, Jessica Redfield witnessed the aftermath of another mass shooting in Toronto that left two dead.

The odds that a 24-year-old woman's life of promise would be scarred by one tragedy and taken a few days later in another are incalculable. But the haunting question she posted on her blog after the Toronto shooting — "Is this the world we live in?" — is unavoidable.

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Quote from Carl Chinn (from article)

"There has been a slip in moral values that once held certain areas as somewhat sacred," said Carl Chinn, a security expert who since 1999 has documented 562 violent attacks on houses of worship, including one that killed two at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs where Chinn helps with security operations.

Is Additional Security Necessary at Movie Theaters?

From: Fox 21 News

By: Rachel Welte

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Oklahoma City, Columbine, Virginia Tech, Fort Hood, Tucson and now Aurora.

Over the past two decades, Americans unfortunately have become all too familiar with domestic terrorism.

Carl Chinn has witnessed gun violence in his community first-hand, and not just once but twice.

Chinn was a staff member at Focus on the Family in 1996 when a gunman took several hostages.

"As a result of being a spokesperson at the following trials for the ministry, I became very involved," Chinn said. "I began to do research on the topic."

Then, a decade later, on December 9, 2007 Chinn was at New Life Church when Matthew Murray went on a shooting rampage in the parking lot killing two sisters.

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Local Security Expert Shares Thoughts on Theater Shootings

From: Fox 21 News

Note: Carl Chinn (the local security expert) is a regular contributor to Security at Church with his weekly "Think About It Series"

WALDO CANYON FIRE: Churches Support Fire Victims

From: Gazette

{Charred mountains provided the backdrop for the Sunday service at Wilson United Methodist Church, where about 150 people gathered outside feeling blessed their building was spared.

The crowd seated on the still-green church lawn had a view blackened grass where Waldo Canyon Fire stopped just across the street. Several nearby churches were equally blessed.}

Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/fire-141384-churches-blessed.html#ixzz208iEvvpS

1 Killed in Weekend Church Shooting

Pastor's mother killed after gunman opens fire in church

From: Fox News

{A pastor's mother was shot and killed when a gunman opened fire in a Colorado church Sunday, FOX 31 reports.

Yolanda Marant, a representative for The Destiny Center, confirmed to FOX 31 that 65-year-old Josephine Eccles, the mother of the church's pastor Delono Straham, was shot and killed when a unknown gunman entered the church and began shooting.}

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