Two shootings at a Christian missionary center and a church in Colorado Sunday are suspected to have been carried out by a gunman with a hatred for Christians, a TV report said Monday.

 

Four people were killed and five were injured in the incidents.

 

Citing sources familiar with the events, a CNN report said that the 24-year-old gunman, Matthew Murray, used to work at the Youth With a Mission training center but left several years ago after a quarrel. Since then, he has sent antagonistic and threatening correspondence to the center.

 

Early Sunday, Murray killed two staff members and injured two others when he attacked a training center in the Denver suburb of Arvada. He then drove to the New Life church in Colorado Springs, 105 km away, where the center has a satellite office, the sources told CNN.

 

Murray was shot dead by a female security guard at the church after killing two teenage sisters and injuring three others in the afternoon, the report said.

 

An unidentified law enforcement official told local media that Murray, a son of a prominent neurologist, was believed to be the gunman in both attacks.

 

Murray had no criminal history but "hated Christians," he added.

 

However, police only confirmed that Murray was responsible for the shooting incident at the church, saying they were still investigating whether he was also behind the shooting at the training center.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2007)