ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Police training material, including a DVD on “special ops police tactics,” were among items seized from the home of a 24-year-old man who police said killed four people at two religious institutions.
A document that lists items taken from Matthew Murray’s home in the hours after the Dec. 9 shooting rampage was obtained by KUSA-TV Wednesday.
Arvada police spokeswoman Susan Medina refused to elaborate about seized items listed on the document, which she said stemmed from a search warrant requested by Colorado Springs police. Creighton Brandt, a Colorado Springs police spokesman, did not return a message left after business hours.
Left unanswered in the list of nearly 70 items taken from Murray’s Englewood home: What did he do in the 12 hours between the shootings at the Youth With a Mission missionary center in the Denver suburb of Arvada and New Life Church in Colorado Springs, about 65 miles south?
“What happened between the Arvada and Colorado Springs shootings hasn’t been released,” Medina said. “That’s still part of the investigation.”
Police seized 1,300 cartridges of ammunition, a knife, along with a “Homicide Investigation” textbook. Medina refused to comment on whether the evidence meant Murray may have been planning a much bigger attack.
Killed in Arvada were missionaries Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24. Funerals were Wednesday for sisters Stephanie Works, 18, and Rachel Works, 16, who were killed outside of New Life Church in Colorado Springs.
Murray shot himself in the head after being wounded by a former female police officer who was a volunteer security guard at New Life Church.
Authorities found evidence linking Murray to both institutions, including Youth With a Mission pamphlets, a paper slip with the missionary training center’s address, a picture of Ted Haggard, the founder and former leader of New Life Church, along with a piece of paper that had a scribbled phone number for a church leader at the Colorado Springs church.
Investigators found bomb making materials, a journal containing some of Murray’s writings, a copy of the Book of Mormon and a Bible. In the home police also found a bottle of the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam, which is also known as Xanax near a computer in the dining room.
