SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - A Sioux Falls native is being hailed as a hero for shooting a gunman who opened fire at a Colorado Springs church on Sunday.
Authorities said Jeanne Assam, 42, shot the gunman after he killed two people.
The Sioux Falls native volunteers as a security guard at the New Life Church.
Assam said she saw the gunman coming and took cover until he got close - when she identified herself and shot him.
"God was with me," Assam said. "He never left my side."
ADVERTISEMENT
Investigators said the gunman may have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, although police and church leaders credited Assam's bravery with preventing more killings.
Assam is a former police officer who worked in Minneapolis during the 1990s. She grew up in Sioux Falls, went to Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., and graduated with a criminal justice degree, her twin sister, Jennifer, of Sioux Falls, told the Rocky Mountain News.
Assam works full time for Messenger International, a local Christian ministry.
The gunman, Matthew Murray, also wounded three people at the church. It is believed that Murray had earlier killed two people at a missionary training center in Arvada, Colo., on Sunday.
A former Rapid City man, Dan Griebenow, was wounded in the Arvada shooting. Griebenow, 24, was shot in the neck. His condition was upgraded from critical to serious Monday night.
SD native called hero after shooting church gunman 20071211
