President Bush on Thursday will meet the security guard who stopped a deadly rampage at New Life Church when she wounded a gunman who had already killed two people.
Jeanne Assam, a member of the Colorado Springs church and a former police officer, was acting as a security guard when Matthew Murray, 24, began shooting at congregants as they left a Sunday service on Dec. 9.
Assam shot Murray, who then shot himself in the head.
“I saw him and I took cover. And I waited for him to get closer. I identified myself, and I engaged him, and I took him down,” Assam, 42, said after the shooting.
Bush, who will be here for a fund-raising event, also will present the President’s Volunteer Service Award to Cherie Yager when he lands at Buckley Air Force Base.
Yager is a volunteer at the Stout Street Eye Clinic, which provides eye care for the homeless.
Yager, an optician, has volunteered at the clinic for seven years. She has worked to get donated frames, eyeglass cases and tools to repair glasses, according to a release from the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, which runs the clinic. She created an ordering system for the patients and trains new volunteers.
The service award has been given to more than 600 people since it was established in March 2002.
