Link sought in two Colo. church shootings

DENVER, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- News reports Monday identified the gunman in one of two church-related shootings in the Denver area as a 24-year-old man who apparently had no criminal history.

KUSA-TV, Denver, and other news outlets identified the gunman as Matthew Murray of an unincorporated area of Arapahoe County. The Denver Post said Murray was the son of a neurologist.

Murray was shot to death Sunday by a female security guard at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs after he killed two parishoners and injured a third, police said.

Brady Boyd, pastor of the New Life church, said at a news conference the gunman in the "senseless random attack" had no connection with the church.

Investigators were trying to determine whether that shooting was related to an earlier incident in Arvada -- 70 miles away -- where a gunman shot four people, killing two of them after being denied a place to sleep at the Youth With a Mission center, police said.

The two shootings were about 12 hours apart, the Rocky Mountain News reported.

Arvada Police Chief Don Wick said there was "reason to believe" the two attacks were connected, but did not elaborate.

CNN said witnesses reported similarities in descriptions of a black-clad gunman in both shootings.