(Denver, Colorado) Five people were killed and four others wounded when gunfire rang out at in two Colorado religious institutions.

The first incident took place at a dormitory at the Youth With a Mission center in the Denver suburb of Arvada. Four people were shot, two fatally.

Police said the gunfire there started when a young man who apparently had attended a Christmas Party at the center was told shortly after midnight he could not spend the night in the dorm. An employee of Youth With a Mission said he did not know if the gunman was known to students.

Several hours later four other people were shot outside the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, about 70 miles away. Two of those shot were parishioners who later died.

The gunman was then shot and killed by a security guard at the church.

Police Sunday night said it still is unclear if the two sets of shootings were committed by the same person.

Youth With a Mission has been involved with the so-called ex-gay movement. It was one of a number of conservative Christian youth groups brought together by Exodus International, said to be the largest "ex-gay" organization in the country, in May to "to spread a counter-cultural message of truth regarding the challenges facing America's youth today."

It was started in 1960 to train missionaries although it appears not to be affiliated with any specific denomination and reportedly now has 1,100 locations with 16,000 full-time staff. The Arvada center was founded in 1984.

New Life Church was founded by Ted Haggard who was removed from the ministry after being exposed by a former male prostitute.

An outspoken critic of homosexuality Haggard was outed last year by former hustler Mike Jones in the days leading up to vote in Colorado to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

The story broke when Jones brought tapes of conversations with Haggard to Denver TV station KUSA.  Jones told the station that he had a long term pay for ex relationship with Haggard and had helped the pastor buy crystal meth.

After first denying the affair and drug purchase Haggard admitted both.

He was subsequently fired by the church and forced to resign as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a position which had given him unbridled access to the White House. (story) 

The New Life church is one of Colorado's largest with about 10,000 members.

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