The Aurora Shooting Victims
 

Here are their names and a few words about each:

• Veronica Moser-Sullivan, age 6. Four days before the shooting she was bragging about learning to swim. She was to start first grade in the fall. Her mother, Ashley Moser, was shot in neck and abdomen and is partly paralyzed.

• Alex Teves, 24, had graduated in June with a master's degree in counseling psychology from the University of Denver. He graduated from the University of Arizona in 2010. He was one of five of the slain to save others with his courage. “He pushed [his girlfriend] to the floor to save her and he ended up getting a bullet,” Teves’ aunt, Barbara Slivinske told the Daily News.

• Jon Blunk, 26, a Navy veteran who wanted to become a Navy SEAL, was "a hero, and he’ll never be forgotten,” a tearful Jansen Young said. “Jon took a bullet for me.” Blunk had taken Young to the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises to celebrate her graduation from veterinary school. When the shooting started, he pushed her under the seats and threw himself on top of her. He had two children with his estranged wife.

• Matt McQuinn, 27, lost his life while shielding his girlfriend. Her brother tried to protect her, too. McQuinn dove on top of Samantha Yowler, who was shot in the knee. Her brother escaped without injury. McQuinn was from St. Paris, Ohio, where he met Yowler at the Target store where they both worked. The two had recently transferred together to work in a store in Denver.

• John Larimer, 27, a U.S. Navy Cryptologic Technician 3rd class, had been stationed at the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command station at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora since October. He was raised in Crystal Lake, Illinois. His girlfriend said he saved her life by getting between her and the bullets during the shooting.

• Jesse Childress, 29, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, was stationed at Buckley Air Force Base. He was a Cyber Systems Operation Technician with the 310th Force Squadron. He used his body to shield his friend Munirih Gravelly from the bullets: "I feel really sorry ... that he's gone, that none of us were able to at least hold his hand and look him in the eye while he passed."

• Jessica Ghawi, 24, was a hockey fan who grew up in Texas. She had recently moved from San Antonio to Colorado to follow a career in sports journalism. She had just left a shopping mall food court in Toronto on June 2 when a gunman shot eight, killing one. Writing as Jessica Redfield in a June 5 blog post, she said: "I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders' faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don't know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath. For one man, it was in the middle of a busy food court on a Saturday evening."

• Alex Sullivan, 27, went to the theater with co-workers from a Red Robin restaurant to celebrate his birthday. Sunday would have been the first anniversary of his marriage. He had written a month ago on his Facebook page: ''Just took the wife to DIA going to be gone for 3 and a half weeks going to miss her a lot. I love you cassie." She had just returned home the day before the shooting.

• Micayla Medek, 23, a graduate of William C. Hinkley High School in Aurora, was attending the Community College of Aurora. On her Facebook page, she called herself a Subway sandwich artist. "I'm a simple independent girl who's just trying to get her life together while still having fun." She was saving her money to travel to India, where some of her co-workers were from.

• Alexander "AJ" Boik, 18, planned to attend Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in the fall. He had just graduated this May from Gateway High School, a mile from the theater where he was shot to death. Classmates remembered him as the guy who would show up at any school sporting event, from women's volleyball to men's football, covered in body paint and cheering the players on.

• Rebecca Wingo, 32, an Air Force veteran who was originally from Quinlan, Texas, began working for a mobile medical imaging firm a couple of months ago. She also had a job at a seafood restaurant. She was the mother of two daughters, the youngest of whom just started kindergarten. A fund to help support the girls has raised $9,000 of its $20,000 goal.

• Gordon W. Cowden, 51, a small business owner, was the oldest of the victims killed. He had taken his two teenage children to see the movie. They escaped unharmed. His family declined to be interviewed but said in a statement: "Loving father, outdoorsman and small business owner, Cowden was a true Texas gentleman that loved life and his family. A quick witted world traveler with a keen sense of humor, he will be remembered for his devotion to his children and for always trying his best to do the right thing, no matter the obstacle."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/0...eater-shooting

He's not claiming insanity yet, at this point. I agree, he's not insane. He failed his first PhD degree competency test, boo hoo.

He's probably disappointed when he heard in court his months-long plans were a relative huge failure (gun jammed, apartment bombs didn't go off and kill to distract police from theatre) and the papers refuse to make him famous and mention his name more than they have to.

Reported in papers that he's in solitary as the other inmates have been slavering over how they will kill him. Slowly, I'd hope.

there's eccentric, and then there's schizo.

Especially HERE of all places. Our police shoot and kill people all the time, they are excellent at their jobs. I was very disappointed when the word custody was used.

First of the list I have seen, been traveling for business and didnt get a chance to look everyone up. Happy to say I do not know any of the victims personally though my neighbor is prominent at Buckley (as are many in my neighborhood) so I am sure they are directly impacted.
Damn shame.

apparantly the media got that all wrong.. the thing about the mothers comments. what a surprise that the media twisted words.

"I was awakened by a call from a reporter by ABC on July 20 about 5:45 in the morning. I did not know anything about a shooting in Aurora at that time. He asked if I was Arlene Holmes and if my son was James Holmes who lives in Aurora, Colorado. I answered yes, you have the right person. I was referring to myself. I asked him to tell me why he was calling and he told me about a shooting in Aurora. He asked for a comment. I told him I could not comment because I did not know if the person he was talking about was my son, and I would need to find out."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...48725804133%7D

one of the victims was a fellow U of A grad :(

so incredibly sad about every single one of them. And then the poor mom who comes to and is partially paralyzed.. and then finds out her 6yo has been murdered. heartbreaking stuff.

http://kdvr.com/2012/07/24/batman-ch...oting-victims/

Christian Bale opted not to make it political or even obvious. Despite the ranting lunatic has is often made out to be, I have always heard from clients that he is a nice guy.

That's nice. There was a Twitter thing with the public asking him to come to Aurora as Batman, to visit the kids in the hospital. Glad he cared enough to come.

Aurora rampage renews gun-control debate..
 

Heard on the eve news that gun sales were way up Monday..


http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/o...ol-ar-2077976/

The founders would think they were in a safer place. They would be appalled at the apathy and gullibility of the citizenship. The author must be living in a fantasy land. There is not one shred of evidence that strict gun control reduces crime, not one. The opposite happens to be true. The crime rate continues to drop after the "assault weapon" ban expired. Crime rates in Texas and Florida dropped after less restrictive laws were put into place. Chicago and N.Y.C. are the prime examples of what strict gun control laws bring. Most countries in the World live with far more violence than the U.S.A.

violent crime is way down, lower than it's been in decades. and yeah, when people hear of things like this, the first thing they think of is defending themselves. after 9/11 gun sales went thru the roof-but there was no corresponding increase in crime.


"The last time the crime rate for serious crime – murder, rape, robbery, assault – fell to these levels, gasoline cost 29 cents a gallon and the average income for a working American was $5,807.




That was 1963.

In the past 20 years, for instance, the murder rate in the United States has dropped by almost half, from 9.8 per 100,000 people in 1991 to 5.0 in 2009. Meanwhile, robberies were down 10 percent in 2010 from the year before and 8 percent in 2009.


The declines are not just a blip, say criminologists. Rather, they are the result of a host of changes that have fundamentally reversed the high-crime trends of the 1980s. And these changes have taken hold to such a degree that the drop in crime continued despite the recent recession.

Because the pattern "transcends cities and US regions, we can safely say crime is down," says James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston. "We are indeed a safer nation than 20 years ago."


and here's this, from an article about gun violence:

http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/28/gu...gun-ownership/


Despite increases in gun sales, gun crimes continued to decrease in the United States for the fourth straight year in 2010, according to the FBI.

The FBI recently released its Crime in The United States statistics for 2010. Overall, murders in the U.S. have decreased steadily since 2006, dropping from 15,087 to 12,996. Firearms murders — which made up 67 percent of all murders in the U.S. in 2010 — have followed this trend, decreasing by 14 percent.

At the same time that firearms murders were dropping, gun sales were surging. In 2009, FBI background checks for guns increased by 30 percent over the previous year, while firearms sales in large retail outlets increased by almost 40 percent. The number of applications for concealed carry permits jumped across the country as well.


and note points in that article such as this:


Broken down by firearms murder rate per 100,000 people, the District of Columbia is number one, with 16 firearms murders per 100,000 people in the District.

D.C. also topped the list of firearm robberies per 100,000 people with 255.98.

Yet D.C. arguably has the tightest gun laws in the country. Although an outright ban on handguns was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2008, legislators ensured the new regulations for obtaining a registered handgun would be anything but easy.


or


The top three states for gun murders in 2010 were, in order, California, Texas and New York. While Texas has lax gun control laws, California and New York are among the strictest gun-control states in the country.

Ocala and Philly must have been excluded from that Data, Zig!

SO guns don't kill people, laws do!!!

I like it.

i guess i need to start putting up a disclaimer, saying i'm not the one who is responsible for the data, just passing it along! :)

ha!!

just found it interesting that people want to tear their shirts, pull out their hair and scream about the number of guns and gun owners whenever a lone nut goes bonkers.
and yet.....more guns than ever, and the rates are declining...how can this be??? you'd think it would be the opposite, judging by the clamoring.

you mean you dont write for the daily caller?? ;)

I didnt live in Ocala 20 years ago, so I dont know how it was then.. But the theft and voilent crime is out of control here.

We are safer than 4% of the country. I guess that means 96% of the country is safer than Ocala. that sucks

Ocala Annual Crime: Violent: 461 Property: 3,171

Per 1,000 people Violent: 8.19 Property: 56.31

Specifically, violent crime and property crim in Ocala is DOUBLE the national average... even worse than the rest of Florida.

My chances of becoming a victim (violent crime) Ocala: 1 in 122 Florida: 1 in 184

My chances of becoming a victim (property crime) Ocala: 1 in 17 Florida: 1 in 28


figures are from NeighborhoodScout.com

I'm scared to look at philly.

Philly is at 9%... meaning 91% of the country is safer.

Violent crime is off the charts.. 12.15 per 1,000 residents. Property crime is not as bad, 37.87 per 1,000 residents.

damn... Philly is 5% safer than Ocala!!

Why do you think Ocala is so bad?

nope, sorry! watch your back down there!