Two Dead in Shooting at Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall in Colorado

[Eejay]

24 minutes ago, Parale said:

"final news release regarding this incident":

 

Thanks for posting the facts as far as they are known. 

What a sad tale! Who knows what was tormenting this pair. We know our merciful Father will handle the matter appropriately. How we long for the time when matters like this "will not be called to mind, nor will they come up into the heart"  (Is.65:17) of either observers, victims, or the poor, tormented participants in such events, should Jehovah judge them fit for repair. 

[Thomas Walker]

So. The man made four bombs, and the three he used on the Hall all failed.

 

How about that?

[Tortuga]

Some may blame Jehovah's Witnesses for their deaths because they were "no longer welcomed" at the KH. However the Police report does indicate they were told to talk to the elders, so there was a path for them to follow, they chose not to follow it.

 

I wonder what might have happened if the person they talked to the night before the incident had decided to meet the couple, it's possible that person would be dead now..

[Lewis]

According to this news report, both the husband and wife lost their jobs prior to the KH incident and were looking for revenge at those that wrong them. Really sad.

 

https://www.kaaltv.com/news/us-world-news/man-suspected-in-explosion-before-killing-wife-himself/

https://www.denverpost.com/2022/12/28/jehovah-witness-pipe-bomb-enoch-apodaca-thornton/

[BLEmom]

I wonder if they worked for a brother. 

[Amygdala]

2 hours ago, Lewis said:

According to this news report, both the husband and wife lost their jobs prior to the KH incident and were looking for revenge at those that wrong them. Really sad.

 

https://www.kaaltv.com/news/us-world-news/man-suspected-in-explosion-before-killing-wife-himself/

https://www.denverpost.com/2022/12/28/jehovah-witness-pipe-bomb-enoch-apodaca-thornton/

 

Tragic. All the details are confirmed. Interesting to read in that second link above which connects an article to a one-year old law that was passed in Colorado, called the red flag law. Basically the law was enacted to remove guns and ammunition from certain individuals. Some concerning stats and reasons why

 

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/01/10/red-flag-law-colorado-first-year-2020-stats/

 

Quote

 

The 61-year-old Douglas County man claimed to be ex-special forces, a sniper who’d worked for the CIA.

 

He called police to his home more than once, told them he’d been shot while checking the mail, or that he’d awoken to find silencer-toting hitmen in his bedroom. He bragged about shooting someone and threatened others. He held conversations with no one and routinely wore a tactical vest labeled “deputy sheriff” while stopping citizens to ask if everything was OK.

 

And he owned at least 59 guns and 50,000 rounds of ammunition, Douglas County sheriff’s investigators discovered this June, when they were granted an extreme risk protection order to seize the man’s firearms for his and others’ safety under Colorado’s now 1-year-old red flag law.

 

 

Quote

 

A year later, data shows that most people who were forced to give up their guns for a year were dealing with either mental health problems or substance abuse, according to the Post’s review of the petitions, which showed such issues documented in 36 of the 46 cases with year-long orders.

 

“We think it’s an effective tool,” Denver police Lt. Adam Hernandez said. “We believe that this particular legislation has prevented some from committing suicide and has helped prevent crimes of violence against members of our community.”

 

 

 

Quote

 

Lakewood police in April seized a rifle and a handgun from a 47-year-old veteran who threatened to shoot himself and police officers. In September, a Boulder man about to turn 21 was blocked from buying guns after he posted online that he wanted to buy an AR-15 and kill women at a sorority house. Denver police took two guns from a 37-year-old man who was suicidal.

 

Quote

“There is no doubt in my mind those (orders) we received, those individuals were in incredible distress and tragedy could have occurred either on themselves or a family member,” Spurlock said of three cases in his jurisdiction. “And those people are alive today. Those people are functioning in our society and cooperating with the system. They’re in treatment.”

 

Even law enforcement agencies in counties that passed resolutions opposing the law ended up using it.

 

 

 

 

[Lewis]

1 hour ago, Woanders said:

 

Tragic. All the details are confirmed. Interesting to read in that second link above which connects an article to a one-year old law that was passed in Colorado, called the red flag law. Basically the law was enacted to remove guns and ammunition from certain individuals. Some concerning stats and reasons why

 

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/01/10/red-flag-law-colorado-first-year-2020-stats/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think having a law like that is good, you don’t know how a person will behave or know what they will  do and having guns while your having mental issues is a disaster in the making.

 

Psychological stress can cause an immediate emotional response to your amygdala and therefore can hijack your thinking ability and can lead you to making bad decisions and choices.

 

I actually had training performed by the Canadian Army intelligence years ago that were brought in by my employer to give us more advance training on how to deal with employees with this type of problem, the whole training was solely to recognize and to de escalate and how to deal with employees with mental issues where your running against the clock to neutralize the situation if your unable to get support right away, so sure enough one day on my shift I became aware of an employee who made plans to kill a large number of people on our busiest day of the week (we had upwards of 700 people working at a time) and was able to get him to think about his family and what that would mean for his daughter if he went through with his plan, long story short he became emotional and was able to neutralize his thoughts and give him help that he needed without anybody getting hurt. A week later in another facility owned by the same company, a mass casualty event happened there and people were murdered and injured. It was all over in the news. I ended up leaving that company shortly after.

Edited December 29, 2022 by Lewis

[Amygdala]

Gives new meaning to Ecc.8:9. 

[Luisabola]

How sad. They sound that they were obviously going through something mentally, no one in their right mind would do a murder-suicide in the first place. But then attacking the hall? They must have known the time of the meeting, had they been former members, and that no one would be in the hall. Unless they were particularly targeting the brothers that usually opened up. The fact that one of the bombs went off at his workplace earlier that morning (gladly didn’t harm anyone) and then ALL the other ones, three of them, that he chucked in the hall didn’t? Coincidence maybe. Or maybe Jehovah. I wonder how the congregation is faring knowing this happened. I hope they are all getting the support they need. Sad times. 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Luisabola

[Qapla]

14 hours ago, Woanders said:

Gives new meaning to Ecc.8:9. 

 

*** Bible Citations ***
All of this I have seen, and I applied my heart to every work that has been done under the sun, during the time that man has dominated man to his harm
 

 

[Percy]

The news report said that after backing the truck up to the KH and dropping the bomb into the hall, he killed his wife with a shotgun blast. I wonder if she realized that was his intention.

[Brother Arellano]

The NY Post is reporting he was “booted” from the congregation for making bomb threats against the KH several years ago. Also, I’m curious as to why reporting has now started using his wife’s maiden? name. 

[Brother Arellano]

24 minutes ago, Percy said:

I wonder if she realized that was his intention.

Their home was full of bomb making materials and instructions as to the distribution of their property was left behind. Wether she was a wiling participant or not I’m fairly certain she felt she wasn’t going home again. 

[jwhess]

38 minutes ago, Brother Arellano said:

Their home was full of bomb making materials and instructions as to the distribution of their property was left behind. Wether she was a wiling participant or not I’m fairly certain she felt she wasn’t going home again. 

The police report stated that the wife was the one who backed the truck up to the KH window.  Her husband in the back of the truck threw the devices into the hall through the broken window.

 

If you drive the "bomb truck" I guess you are considered a participant.

[Tortuga]

The mental state of someone that could do that just astounds me...

[Brother Arellano]

I was trying not to assume facts not in evidence. She was there, she performed some horrid actions. But, from all accounts he was a pretty ruthless man and from what I’ve read [mostly conjecture] she could have been coerced or likely suffered from battered wife syndrome. My comment you quoted was just my own postulations leaking through. 

[Percy]

1 hour ago, Brother Arellano said:

The NY Post

I am always suspicious of this news source. It does tend to sensationalize stories.

[Lee49]

5 minutes ago, Percy said:

I am always suspicious of this news source. It does tend to sensationalize stories.

Several other news sources had the same reporting from what I read. 

[Lee49]

https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/trending/suspect-jehovahs-witnesses-hall-attack-colorado-bombed-office-before-murder-suicide/T7YKJKCUMVEFXCUEUNWXN53JMM/

[Brother Arellano]

5 minutes ago, Percy said:

I am always suspicious of this news source. It does tend to sensationalize stories.

That’s most of modern media these days. It’s why I don’t claim them as facts. Just what is being reported. We can trust the FDS but there’s no other organization I would take at face value. 

[Lee49]

[Esined]

On 12/27/2022 at 1:38 PM, Lee49 said:

Windows in a KH? I don't think  most halls have them, It's always been a thing people ask " why do Kingdom halls not have windows"?, that's a good reason why!

Ours does…lots of them do. 

[Michał]

Quote

One of the devices appeared to start a fire while two church members were inside the hall, police said. One of them used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. None of the devices detonated but a bomb technician found that one of them nearly did before malfunctioning or being extinguished, police said.

Seems like the brother is a hero. 

[Parale]

Interesting 5,500-word front page article in today's Denver Post (Colorado, US), it's continues inside with two full-pages with pictures, plus another 1/4 page, over the front page, and pages 10 to 12.

 

 

How to Prevent the Next Tragedy

 

The Sunday Denver Post - 12 March 2023

 

A man at Denver International Airport told his father he’d ram his truck through a gate, hijack a plane and shoot up the airport.

 

A husband promised carnage at his former place of worship.

 

A woman in east Denver vowed to open fire in a grocery store to make people listen to her.

 

An author published a book detailing gruesome killings.

 

A young person with bomb-making supplies pledged to be the next mass killer.

 

A Colorado Springs man threatened a mass shooting at a street fair.

 

In the last 15 months, three of those people acted on their threats. And 12 Coloradans died.

 

After those attacks, the three suspects’ prior threats loomed large — missed warning signs of impending tragedy.

 

And before a man attempted to bomb a Jehovah’s Witness hall in Thornton on Christmas Day — and fatally shot his wife and then himself — a family member became so worried about his escalating anti-social behavior she asked the police to intervene.

 

None of it was enough to prevent bloodshed.

 

The failings in those cases have been well-documented. But a review of red flag filings and interviews with law enforcement and mental health professionals by The Denver Post shows people across Colorado regularly make threats of mass violence, and the safety net intended to prevent such attacks is a complex, fragmented system that pits personal freedoms against public safety.

 

https://www.denverpost.com/2023/03/12/colorado-mass-shootings-prevention-threats-warning/

 

https://www.fortmorgantimes.com/2023/03/12/colorado-mass-shootings-prevention-threats-warning/