Mega

(Picture via the LA Times) Authorities said a teenage boy fatally shot two adults and three children at a home in southwest Albuquerque. (Pat Vasquez-Cunningham / Albuquerque Journal / January 20, 2013)

We tend to do things big in America.

Death too.

Bad news out of Albuquerque. A slaughter:

Sheriff's investigators combed through what one called a "horrific" crime scene Sunday after the shooting deaths of five people, three of them children, at a home outside Albuquerque, New Mexico.

A well-known local pastor and four of his relatives were among the victims, according to those who knew him.

Each victim was shot multiple times, said Lt. Sid Covington of the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, and one of the weapons used was what he described as an assault rifle. Sheriff Dan Houston said a 15-year-old boy, who "may be a family member," was charged with two counts of murder and three counts of child abuse resulting in death.

...Griego was also a former pastor at Calvary Church, where the family still attended services, church member Brian Nixon told CNN affiliate KOAT.

Calvary Church, of course, is a megachurch: one the biggest megachurches in the Southwestern United States. My sister and her husband are members. A lot of people in Albuquerque are members!

Identities are available now:

In a statement late Sunday, the sheriff's office identified the victims as Greg Griego, his wife Sara, and the children: Zephania, 9; Jael, 5; and Angelina, 2, the Associated Press reported.

Sheriff's spokesman Aaron Williamson confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that the suspect is 15-year-old Nehemiah Griego, who has been arrested and charged with two counts of murder and three counts of child abuse resulting in death.

..."It's a large crime scene with a lot of physical evidence, and because there's an offender in custody, we're doing our best to be thorough and complete in gathering any potential evidence, and so we're going slowly, methodically, through the entire residence," Covington told CNN.

...One of those killed was Greg Griego, who was identified as Nehemiah's father in a biography that has since been removed from the website of the Albuquerque Calvary Church. A church leader told KOB-TV that Griego, a pastor, had taken a leave of absence from the church last year.

According to the biography, Greg Griego and his wife had 10 children.

Neighbor Peter Gomez told the Albuquerque Journal he often saw the family on walks through the neighborhood, adding that Nehemiah Griego “wore nothing but camouflage stuff."

My other sister is frustrated by the news coverage, so far. She is worried that 'assault rifle' may be misidentified by an ignorant press, and thus get caught up in the frenzy related to assault rifles nationwide right now. She has a point. It's too early to assign responsibility and blame.  We barely know any details.

Greg Griego has been heavily involved in prison ministries, particularly at Albuquerque's large, new Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), located on the remote mesa southwest of Albuquerque ("Breaking Bad" fans have come to know the bright orange jumpsuits emblazoned 'MDC' that have been featured so prominently in Season 5 of the show). A summary:

Jail Ministry – Pastor Greg Griego
o Metropolitan Detention Center
o God Pods – 2 male and 1 female Pod
o Preaching the gospel
o Transforming the culture
o 220 inmates reached on a weekly basis
o 6000 folks commit their lives to Christ annually

Mega-family living in a mega-compound; mega-jail; mega-church; mega-ministry - maybe mega-problems too.  And now, a mega-tragedy.