The husband and wife who were killed in an apparent murder-suicide at a Jehovah’s Witnesses worship hall in Thornton on Christmas morning never went inside the building, a police spokesman said Monday.
But police believe either the husband or wife broke a window at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses and threw three “pipe bomb in nature” incendiary devices inside the building as the incident unfolded, Officer Joe Walker said.
The devices did not explode and only one person was in the building at the time, he said.
“It seems as though none of them went off,” he said. “I would hate to think what would have happened if they did.”
Investigators believe the husband killed his wife and then himself in a parking lot next to the worship hall around 9 a.m. Sunday. The dead couple, who have not been publicly identified, were former members of the Kingdom Hall’s congregation, which meets at 951 Milky Way.
Walker said investigators are still working to determine whether the husband or wife broke the window and tossed the pipe bomb-style devices inside.
“We’re not clear on which yet,” he said. “It doesn’t seem clear what was going on between the two. So it’s hard to say.”
The first police officers arrived at the scene at 9:04 a.m. — they were called for a report of a structure fire at the worship hall — but arrived to find the victims already shot in the parking lot.
“It seems as though (the shooting) was happening as they were trying to get there or it had already happened,” Walker said.
He did not know who called police for the reported structure fire at the worship hall. Other congregants arrived ahead of the congregation’s scheduled 9:30 a.m. meeting and some witnessed parts of the incident, but Walker was not sure exactly when they arrived or what they saw.
No one else was shot at aside from the husband and wife, Walker said, and no one else was hurt.
Authorities successfully disarmed the pipe bomb-style devices on Sunday.
Walker said Monday he did not know why the couple were former members of the congregation, what weapon the husband used in the shooting, whether the husband had any past criminal history or whether the man had had any prior interactions with Thornton police.
The identities of the victims will be released by the Adams County Coroner’s office, which did not return a request for comment Monday.
The Sherrelwood Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses called the incident an “unprovoked attack” in a statement Sunday. They declined to comment further Monday.
“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of those who have been traumatized by the heinous actions that took the life of an innocent victim and threatened the lives of many others,” the statement said.
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