James Holmes is now known by most of the world now as the shooter and monster of the Midnight Massacre in Aurora Colorado during the DARK KNIGHT RISES. But the victims, as usual, will be forgotten in the dust of the justice system and publications in a 24 hours news cycle. There are full names and reports of their deeds on an LA TIMES dispatch this morning. Clearly, the other 58 who were victims but not deceased deserve space, too. I hope we see more profiles on them soon.
The dead:
Jessica N. Ghawi, 24 Micayla C. Medek, 23
John T. Larimer, 27
Alex M. Sullivan, 27
Alexander J. Boik, 18
Gordon W. Cowden, 51
Alexander C. Teves, 24
Matthew R. McQuinn, 27
Jonathan T. Blunk, 26
Jesse E. Childress, 29
Rebecca Ann Wingo, 32
Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6
Some striking things about the list. Veronica Moser-Sullivan was in the audience with her mom for a ‘girls night out’ .. Her mother is one year older than the shooter, and now remains in critical condition with bullets in her abdomen.
Alex Sullivan died protecting others in the theater—it was his birthday and they were at the film to celebrate.
But maybe most chilling to me is the tale of Jessica Ghawi. She was the same age as James Holmes. And just a month ago in June, she walked out of a Toronto mall before a shooter came in and shot over a dozen people, leaving two dead. Ghawi had a person blog and she wrote these profound words:
“I was shown how fragile life was… I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end.”
Let that sink in.