The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office has just released the names of the victims in the Colorado Movie Shooting, where James Holmes, 24, unleashed a premeditated attack on movie-goers who were watching the midnight premier of The Dark Night Rises. They range in age from six to 51 years old.
They are: Jessica Ghawi, Veronica Moser-Sullivan, John T. Larimer, Alexander J. Boik, Jesse E. Childress, Jonathan T. Blunk, Rebecca Wingo, Alex M. Sullivan, Gordon Cowden, Micayla Medek and Alexander Teves. Matthew McQuinn was “presumtively” identified.
Some notes:
Veronica Moser-Sullivan was just 6 years old and was bragging about learning to swim just days before this happened.
Jessica Ghawi has been well-documented as working to be an aspiring sports journalist.
John T. Larimer was serving our country as a U.S. Navy sailor stationed in Aurora.
Alexander J. Boik has just graduated from Gateway High School in Aurora, and was “secretly” engaged to his girlfriend Lasamoa Cross.
Jesse E. Childress was an Air Force staff sergeant was a reservist on active duty at Buckley Air Base nearby.
Jonathan T. Blunk is a military vet with a complicated story. He was trying to save the life of his girlfriend, 21 year old Jansen Young. But he’s married – to Chantel Blunk who lives in Sparks, Nevada. His wife didn’t know this until the news of the murders.
Rebecca Wingo was a 32 year old single mom who worked at Joe’s Crab Shack, but had landed a job as a customer relations representative at a mobile medical imaging company.
Alex M. Sullivan was celebrating his 27th birthday and was a married bartender in Aurora.
Gordon Cowden was taking his two teenage children to see The Dark Knight Rises. The 51 year old man is called a “texas gentleman” and small business owner. He’s also listed as an FHA appraiser in Castle Rock, Colorado.
Micayla Medek was taking classes at Community College of Aurora and working for Subway Sandwich. She was 23.
Alexander Teves – or Alex Teves – had just earned his degree in counseling psychology from the University of Denver. He graduated from the University of Arizona, and was a SpiderMan fan.
Matthew McQuinn worked at the Target superstore with his girlfriend Samantha Yowler. His last act would be to save her during the Colorado Theater shooting.
After all that blogging, I’m really sad. As I have said, movies only look at one person’s story – the camera is focused on them. So we think we don’t have a story to tell – wrong. Everyone has a story to tell.
James Holmes didn’t think about that. Moreover, he probably would not have cared.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll