A Lincoln man said three of his family members were shot, two killed, by a gunman at a Colorado megachurch on Sunday.

Mark Schaepe said his nieces, Stephanie and Rachel Works, were killed and his brother-in-law, David Works, was wounded in the shooting at New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

Five people, including a gunman, died in two attacks 12 hours and 65 miles apart — one at the church and the other at the Youth With a Mission missionary center in the Denver suburb of Arvada. Five others were wounded.

The deadly shooting sprees at a megachurch and a missionary training school were believed to have been carried out by the same person — a 24-year-old suburban Denver man who “hated Christians,” a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation, identified the gunman as Matthew Murray, the son of a neurologist who is a prominent researcher on multiple sclerosis.

When Schaepe got home Sunday afternoon after listening to the Husker basketball game at Spike’s Beach Bar & Grille, a message on his answering machine said to call his parents, there was some bad news.

Schaepe’s family learned of Stephanie’s death around 6 p.m. and learned of Rachel’s passing around 1:30 a.m. Monday, he said. Stephanie was 18 and Rachel was 16, Schaepe said. Schaepe’s brother-in-law — the girls’ father, David Works — is expected to recover.

Schaepe’s nieces were involved with the Youth With a Mission missionary center, the scene of the earlier shooting. Stephanie Works and her twin sister, Laurie, graduated high school in 2006.

Their mother, Schaepe’s twin sister, Marie, homeschools her children. Schaepe and his sister graduated from Norris High School in 1979.

Marie Works and her husband, David, also have a younger daughter, Emily, Schaepe said. The Works family lives in Denver.

One can’t make sense of something like this, Schaepe said: “In a 10,000-member church, they shoot three people in my family.“

Also injured at the church were Judy Purcell, 40, who suffered a gunshot wound to her right shoulder, and Larry Bourbannais, 59, who had a gunshot wound in his left forearm, police said. Both were treated and released.

The law enforcement official said Murray was believed to be the gunman in both attacks. Murray did not appear to have a criminal history but “hated Christians,” the official said. The official did not know Murray’s religion, if any.

Authorities searched the Murray home Monday on a quiet street in Englewood. No one was home when a reporter visited the split-level brick home early Monday. Murray’s father, Ronald S. Murray, is a neurologist who is chief executive of the Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Center in Englewood.

Matthew Murray lived there along with a brother, Christopher, 21, a student at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Okla.

A neighbor, Cody Askeland, 19, said the brothers were home-schooled, describing the whole family as “very, very religious.”

Christopher studied for a semester at Colorado Christian University before transferring to Oral Roberts, said Ronald Rex, dean of admissions and marketing at Colorado Christian. He said Matthew Murray had been in contact with school officials this summer about attending the school but decided he wasn’t interested because he thought the school was too expensive.

At a news conference Sunday, Police Chief Don Wick said that there was “reason to believe” the shootings were connected, though he declined to elaborate.

“Violent crimes of any sort are tragic enough, but when innocent people are killed in a religious facility or a place of worship, we must voice a collective sense of outrage and demonstrate a renewed commitment to keeping our communities safe,” Gov. Bill Ritter said.

The violence began about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, when a man opened fire at the Youth With a Mission office after he had been denied a request to spend the night there. Witnesses told police that the gunman was a 20-year-old white male, wearing a dark jacket and skull cap, who had a handgun.

The center had been having a Christmas party when the gunman attacked.

More than 12 hours later, at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, a gunman with a high-powered rifle entered the church’s main foyer and opened fire, Colorado Springs Police Chief Richard Myers said. Stephanie Works was killed, and Rachel Works, who was badly wounded,  died later Sunday at Penrose Community Hospital in Colorado Springs.

The gunman was killed by an armed security volunteer at the church before police arrived, authorities said. The gunman’s name was not released. Officers found several smoke-generating devices on the church campus; their intended purpose wasn’t clear.

Boyd said the security guard rushed the attacker, who didn’t get more than 6 feet inside the building, and “took him down in the hallway.”

“She probably saved 100 lives,” Boyd said of the guard. The gunman, he added, “had a lot of ammunition to do a lot of damage.”

   About 7,000 people were on the church campus at the time of the shooting, Boyd said. Security had been beefed up after the shootings hours earlier in Arvada, he said.

Jessie Gingrich, who had left New Life and was in the parking lot getting into her car, saw the gunman get a rifle from his trunk and open fire on a van with people inside. She cowered in her car, fumbling with the ignition key.

“I was just expecting for the next gunshot to be coming through my car. Miraculously — by the grace of God — it did not,” she told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday.

Ashley Gibbs was getting into a car with David Harris when they heard the gunshots — a sound like someone kicking ice from the side of a car, she said. Harris said he saw the gunman, and it looked like he knew how to handle a weapon.

“I was in the military for about three years, and the way he was holding the rifle looked just like the way we were taught to when I was in the military,” he told NBC’s “Today” show on Monday.

They stayed in the vehicle and prayed for the gunman.

“It was obvious that he was in some sort of pain and going through a lot,” Gibbs told NBC’s “Today” show. “I just prayed God would bring him peace.”

New Life, with about 10,000 members, was founded by the Rev. Ted Haggard, who was dismissed last year after a former male prostitute alleged he had a three-year cash-for-sex relationship with him.

The two dead victims at the missionary center were identified as Tiffany Johnson, 26, and Philip Crouse, 24. Johnson, who grew up in Chisholm, Minn., loved working with children and wanted to see the world, said family friend Carla Macynski.

“Tiffany was a well-liked, easygoing 26-year-old. She was friendly, adventurous and a definite leader. She wanted to see the world,” Macynski said as she choked back tears. Johnson had traveled to Egypt, Libya and South Africa with the missionary group.

Crouse, of Alaska, had helped build a foster home at a Crow reservation in Montana, said Ronny Morris, who works with a Denver chapter of the mission.

Staffer Dan Griebenow, 24, of South Dakota, was shot in the neck, according to Youth With a Mission. Staffer Charlie Blanch, 22, suffered gunshot wounds to his legs, according to ministry officials. His hometown wasn’t immediately known.

The missionary center is on the grounds of the Faith Bible Chapel. Cheril Morrison, wife of chapel pastor George Morrison, said Crouse had just hung up Christmas lights at her home and that Johnson was “an amazingly beautiful person.”

Mimi Martin, who lives near the center, said she received a warning call at about 9 a.m. telling neighbors to keep their doors and windows locked.

“Why would anybody want to hurt those kids?” Martin said.

Darv Smith, director of a Youth With a Mission center in Boulder, said people ranging from their late teens to their 70s undergo a 12-week course that prepares them to be missionaries. He said the center trains about 300 people a year.

Paul Filidis, a Colorado Springs-based spokesman with Youth With a Mission, said staffers are usually former missionaries themselves and that the “mercy ministries” performed by trainees include orphanage work.

Youth With a Mission was started in 1960 and now has 1,100 locations with 16,000 full-time staff, Smith said. The Arvada center was founded in 1984.

Reach Hilary Kindschuh at 473-7120 or hkindschuh@journalstar.com. This story contains information from The Associated Press.