The three pastors at Love Fellowship Church in Denver spent the day trying to help parshioners comprehend that a former member — Matthew Murray — had been behind Sunday’s church slayings.
One of the pastors, Phil Abeyta, also had to minister to his family. He is the uncle of Murray, the man identified by police as the killer.
“Our family cannot express the magnitude of our grief for the victims and we ask for forgiveness,” Abeyta said in a statement.
Pastor Jim Wurst said that the Murray family was an integral part of the church. He said Matthew Murray stopped going a several years ago but continued to attend another church in Littleton. His mother is in charge of Love Fellowship’s women’s ministry.
“We’re all just kind of reeling from this,” Wurst said.
A prayer service for all the families affected is scheduled for Tuesday night, he said.
“We’re just kind of trying to pull our people together,” he said, stressing that all of the church is praying for all of the families involved.
The news hit the close-knit church of about 300 members hard, he said. Many of the members have attended the church for years and have known each for as long as 30 years, when they grew up together in the neighborhod. The members all are worried about the families of the victims, he said.
The sound man at the church, who gave his name as Jesse, said he ran into Matthew Murray a few weeks ago, and nothing seemed wrong. He said Matthew had laughed and talked about popular video games.
“I wish I could tell what happened to him and why he would snap like this,” he said. “I saw him three weeks ago and he seemed fine and he was laughing with me.”
Jesse said the Murrays and his family had been close. He described Matthew as a loner who spent hours on his computer rather than socialize with others.
“He always seemed a little off because he was most likely home or at work,” Jesse said. “I’ve never seen him with any friends.”
