One Minnesotan killed, one wounded at youth ministry

When she told people that she wanted to work as a Christian missionary, Tiffany Johnson didn't always receive the warmest reception. And the financial strains created by her vocational choice sometimes were difficult. But the young woman from Chisholm, Minn., persevered in her enthusiastic, can-do way, a longtime friend said Sunday.

Johnson, 26, who handed out hot chocolate to the homeless and sought ways to use her love of snowboarding to spread her Christian faith, was one of two staffers shot to death early Sunday at the Youth With a Mission ministry in suburban Denver.

Another Minnesotan, Charles Blanch, 22, of Burnsville, was among two staff workers wounded.

Johnson's vocational path "was tough, and some people were judgmental," said Elizabeth LaLonde, who grew up with Johnson and now lives in Georgia. "But she just felt that it was something she was supposed to do. Tiffany just had that personality where she could've done anything she wanted, and it's just horrible that somebody took that from her."

Johnson was one of the few staff members in the ministry's Arvada, Colo., dormitory about 12:30 a.m. Sunday when a man came to the door and asked if he could stay overnight. Johnson, who arranged student housing, had been watching a movie with her boyfriend, Dan Griebenow, 24, of South Dakota, another staff member.

She told the man no, said Linda Warren, who founded the suburban Denver campus with her husband, Peter. For security reasons, only registered students are allowed to sleep in the dorm, Linda said.

The man pulled out a gun and fired, killing Johnson and Philip Crouse, 24, of Alaska. Griebenow was critically wounded, and Blanch, who worked on the schools' computers, was shot twice in the leg.

Johnson lived and worked at the Youth With a Mission school where she was a student from January to December 2006. The international organization, founded in 1960, teaches young people to serve as missionaries.

Jessica Warren, 21, a close friend of Johnson and daughter of Linda and Peter Warren, said Johnson had come to Denver because she wanted to combine her love of snowboarding with her love for God. "She would have happily died for his sake, because her whole life revolved around God," Jessica Warren said.

Johnson enrolled in a 12-week course designed for skateboarders, snowboarders and others seeking to use sports and popular culture to reach people. In early 2007, she took a full-time job in Youth With a Mission's hospitality department, coordinating and welcoming speakers to the Denver campus.

"She was good at that type of thing," Jessica Warren said. "She was really involved in child care of ... staff members, spending time with old ladies' groups at area churches, and was always getting to know people."

On Sunday, dozens of people stopped by her parents' home in Chisholm, Minn., where news of the shooting quickly spread. Johnson was born in Hibbing, Minn., and raised in Chisholm, said family friend Carla Macynski.

"Tiffany was a well-liked, easygoing 26-year-old," Macynski said, reading from a news release issued by the Johnson family, which declined to talk to the news media. "She was friendly, adventurous and a definite leader."

She graduated from Hibbing High School in 1999 and earned her associate's degree in business from Anoka-Ramsey Community College.

Her high school American history teacher, Jean Collins, and counselor, Judy Johnson (no relation), said Johnson was a well-liked student who "loved to laugh."

"We're just in shock here," Collins said. "She's just a lovely, lovely young woman."

After high school, Johnson lived in the Twin Cities for a few years, having fun, babysitting and sniffing out the best bargains, LaLonde said.

"She was just the life of the party," LaLonde said. "She was outgoing and loud and always smiling."

Her faith eventually took her to Egypt, Libya and South Africa as a missionary student. "She believed strongly in reaching out to people through worship and fellowship," said her family's news release.

Johnson is survived by her parents, an older sister and a younger brother.

"It's been a long 10 hours," Macynski said Sunday afternoon. "And their hearts go out to the victims and their families. They appreciate all the love they're receiving from family and friends."

Wounded, but worried

Blanch's parents, Gary and Nina Blanch, of Burnsville, flew to Colorado early Sunday after receiving word of the shootings, according to the Rev. Jerry Strandquist, lead pastor at the family's church, Cedar Valley in Bloomington.

Blanch, a Burnsville High School graduate who went by the nickname Chuck, had worked at Cedar Valley as a janitor and had gone on a church mission to Colorado before joining the Youth With a Mission staff, Strandquist said. He charmed people at his church with his "interesting sense of humor," the pastor said.

Strandquist, who spoke with Blanch's parents on the telephone several times Sunday, said the young man was in stable condition at Exempla Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge, Colo., with gunshots to the calf and thigh, but was expected to walk again.

Strandquist said that shortly after the shootings, Blanch had assured his parents that he would be OK. Unaware that Johnson had died, he said he was "concerned about his friend Tiffany" and asked them to pray for her.

Staff writer Courtney Blanchard contributed to this report. cxiong@startribune.com • 612-673-4391 tharlow@startribune.com • 612-673-7768