Bush meets with volunteers while in Colorado

BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE (AP) - President Bush, in Colorado Thursday for a fundraiser, honored a church security guard who helped stem an attack on a Colorado Springs church.

Asked what President Bush told her, Jeanne Assam, a volunteer guard at the New Life Church, said, "He said well done. Good job and he was proud of me for what I did."

Assam, also a member of the church, said he seemed to know the details of the incidents on Dec. 9, when Matthew Murray, 24, shot two people at a mission training school in the west-Denver suburb of Arvada.

A few hours later, Murray drove about 65 miles south to Colorado Springs and shot and killed two people in the parking lot at New Life Church. Assam, a former Minneapolis police officer, shot and wounded him when he entered the church.

Murray then shot himself. A coroner said Murray died of the self-inflicted wounds.

"I told him it was an honor to meet him and I thanked him for doing an excellent job of leading our country," Assam said of the meeting after Bush arrived at Buckley Air Force Base in the east-Denver suburb of Aurora. "And I told him he was a wonderful man, and I meant it very sincerely. It was a thrill. It was a dream to meet him."

New Life Pastor Brady Boyd said Bush had some very kind things to say to Assam.

"He wasn't in a hurry to walk away from us," Boyd said. "I am thankful that he took interest in us and that the White House cared enough about what was going on at our church to reach out to us."

Bush also met with Cherie Yager, who has volunteered for seven years at a program that provides eye care for the homeless. Yager previously worked as an optician in the Denver area for 25 years.

More than 4,000 people received treatment at the eye clinic last year.

Bush also attended a private fundraiser for Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer in the upscale suburb of Cherry Hills Village. He helped raise more than $700,000 for Colorado Republicans and Schaffer.

His plane left Buckley Air Force Base about 6:15 p.m.

Murphy Creek K-8 in Aurora had a delayed dismissal because of the president's visit. Click here to read more.