Two students, Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24, aspiring missionaries with Youth With a Mission, were killed by Matthew Murray a year ago on the group’s Arvada campus.
Peter Warren, director of the mission, said the shootings have had an impact on the school.
“The anniversary will stir some things up,” Warren said.
Most of his group’s students who were there at the time of the shootings have moved on from the campus after completing three- and five-month courses. But most of the mission’s staff remains, and the school is planning a public service and vigil on campus tonight.
“We are doing well, as well as can be expected,” Warren said.
Two students, Charlie Blanch and Dan Griebenow, survived their wounds. Blanch has moved on to college, Warren said, and Griebenow is with a Christian group in Colorado called Snowboarders for Christ.
Griebenow was dating Johnson when the tragedy unfolded.
“Tiffany was his girlfriend,” Warren recalled. “He was about to propose to her.”
Faith Bible Chapel houses the youth mission’s classes and dorms on its Arvada campus.
George Morrison, pastor with Faith Bible Chapel, said the shootings touched his parishioners and other local community members, including Arvada police who responded.
Police will take part in the services tonight, and some officers plan to run, dressed in white and in formation, from police headquarters to the mission campus.
“Sometimes we forget how much they are affected,” Morrison said of emergency responders. “They, too, were affected in personal ways.”
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com
