CNN: "Female Security Guard Hailed as Hero"... "saved 'hundreds of lives'"

www.cnn.com ^ | December 10, 2007 | CNN

[Luke Skyfreeper]

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- A Colorado Springs megachurch instituted security precautions after a shooting at a Denver area mission center earlier Sunday, saving "hundreds of lives" at the New Life Church, senior Pastor Brady Boyd said Monday.

A New Life parishioner acting as a security guard shot and killed a gunman who entered the church Sunday afternoon after he had gotten no more than 50 feet inside the building, Boyd said.

...

Boyd said the female security guard was a hero in preventing further bloodshed, rushing to confront the gunman just inside the church.

"She probably saved over a hundred lives," Boyd said of the guard, whom he said is not a law enforcement officer and used her personal weapon.

...

"Hundreds of lives were saved yesterday because of the plan that was put in place," said Boyd, who put the number of people on the church campus at the time as 7,000.

[ClearCase_guy]

I really don't understand this trend in this country to hail people as heroes for doing the job they were hired to do.

Audie Murphy was just doing his job too. Doesn't make him less of a hero.

[bella1]

We need to put our listening ears on! She is NOT a paid security officer but a civilian member of the church who volunteered to act as a security officer. She is a hero for having courage, which is becoming rare these days.

[dinoparty]

By your reasoning, the firefighters in the twin towers on 9/11 were not heroes either. Same with soldiers in Iraq. They are all “just doing their jobs.” Yet, they are definitely heroes.

[woofie]

“Hundreds” may be an exaggeration
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

without a “guard” there they were sitting ducks

[ctdonath2]

She wasn’t hired.
She was just a member helping out, watching the doors instead of teaching Sunday School.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I really don't understand this trend in this country to hail people as heroes for doing the job they were hired to do.

Maybe because a lot of people DON'T do the job they were hired to do.

[Publius6961]

I really don't understand this trend in this country to hail people as heroes for doing the job they were hired to do. Yes, this woman did a very good job and did save many lives, but that is why she was hired. I heard the pastor saying that the guard was there because there was alarm about the shooting near Denver.

Hi blondie,

Looks like you missed the part where it's made clear that the shooter was a volunter parishioner, not a hired guard... ?

[bmwcyle]

More guns, less crime.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

What did she shoot him with ?

Her personal weapon, which most was obviously a handgun of some kind. She was dressed in plain clothes, and I can't imagine that they had a church member carrying a rifle or shotgun about the building on a regular Sunday morning. So it was obviously her personal handgun.

[Dante3]

Exactly.

[Callahan]

I’m sure she would say the same.

[purpleraine]

Saving lives is generally accepted as an heroic deed except by the most cynical of people. When a firefighter goes into a burning building and saves a kid, it's heroic, even though it's part of the job. And the military and police etc. Some jobs are dangerous and performing them to the fullest can indeed be heroic.

Another hero is the pastor or whoever decided to have armed security. In this day and age, that can be a controversial decision and subject them to public ridicule in the media.

[donna]

I think people who take jobs that risks their own lives to defend the rest of us are heroes.

Just like when a husband protects his own family - he’s a hero.

[From One - Many]

She is a HERO! WOW! GOOD SHOOTIN' LADY
She saved Many A Life!

[ThePythonicCow]

Well golly gee wilickers.

A tip of the hat to you, M'am.

[And in other news, the cost of heating oil has lurched upwards in Hades.]

[Luke Skyfreeper]

We need to put our listening ears on!

ROTFL.

[DoughtyOne]

Some of these security guards get paid next to nothing. If she’s making a lot more than minimum wages, I’ll be surprised.

So your opinion is that since she’s making $12 bucks an hour or perhaps considerably less, she shouldn’t be praised as a hero for risking her life to save others.

Ooooookaaaaaaayyyyyyyy...

Say, should we quit praising our troops in Iraq too, as heros? Just wondered.

[Travis McGee]

She was not "HIRED" to do any job.

She was just a civilian parishoner like any other, who volunteered for security duty, unpaid, no uniform, using her own personal weapon.

[Coldwater Creek]

I would say so, considering the shooter had body armor and a helmet on.

[MNJohnnie]

Try reading the story before responding in the future. She wasn't hired to do it. She volunteered to do it after an shooting earlier in the day.

A New Life parishioner acting as a security guard s