SHOOTING COVERAGE
The shooting affected the world p7 A guide to who’s part of the story p8 How the rescuers did it p10 A growing, intricate memorial p12 How you and others can help p14 The end of tragedies like this? p16 Who was killed and wounded p20 An outpouring of messages p34 www.aurorasentinel.com
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012 STREET EDITION
THE VICTIMS, THE ACCUSED, OURSELVES O
n the morning of July 20, Aurora and the world was abruptly awakened by news that an astounding number of people had been shot and killed in a movie-theater rampage in the heart of the city. During the past week, the unfolding story of the dozens of people killed or maimed by an attacker have captured the attention of the world. Likewise, stories of the heroes that rescued their friends, their families, themselves and strangers have painted a picture of a remarkable community. As the world focused on Aurora and provided consolation, the city and its residents have learned who we are. Read about how only days after this brutal tragedy, Aurora is emerging as an extraordinary place filled with extraordinary people. Their stories, our stories, are inside and begin on Page 4.
The tragedy in photos p4, online
ONLINE AT AURORASENTINEL.COM
News about the unprecedented tragedy here in Aurora changes almost every hour. For the most comprehensive and current information about the July 20 theater shootings and all of those affected, go to aurorasentinel.com, or scan the QR code to the left for a direct link to those stories.
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
SecondTake
Let Aurora’s tragedy be the impetus to preventing the next one
T
AURORA’S TRAGEDY HUNDREDS OF PHOTOS DOCUMENTING THE MEMORIALS AND VIGILS ARE AVAILABLE AT AURORASENTINEL.COM OR SCAN THIS CODE WITH YOUR SMART PHONE TO VIEW SOME OF OUR GALLERIES. TOP: A mourner weeps at a prayer vigil July 20 near South Sable Boulevard and East Exposition Avenue. LEFT: Two members of the clergy hold hands at a prayer vigil at a memorial site errected at South Sable Boulevard and East Expostion Avenue. BELOW: A mourner calls to the heavens at a prayer vigil Friday evening at the memorial site. (photos by Marla Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
hanks for coming to Aurora, Mr. President. We’re Dave Perry hurting, and we need your Editor help. The entire country does. Despite the cinematic television coverage of the vile July 20 massacre, this is the same Aurora you’ve flown in and out of as president numerous times. I’m saddened by the less-than-authentic picture the national media has painted of Aurora. The nation thinks that our community is a place where we blithely motor around to our kids’ soccer games. Where families nostalgically gather for cheerful dinners each night. Where the living was easy until that fateful Friday shattered our dream. Mr. President, there is no such place in the country any more, and certainly not here. Aurora residents, like all Americans, are hardened to the fact that we live in a place where crazy people go to great lengths to murder as many as they can and terrorize everyone left behind. We’re an errand’s drive from Columbine High School. We, too, had friends and families perish in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. We, like the rest of the country, have watched TV cameras pointed in the faces of moms, dads, girlfriends, pals and children being terrorized by the actions of a madman in places like Virgina Tech and Fort Hood. We grimly understand that it was simply our turn. And just how pathetic is that? As a community, as a country, we’ve come to accept that there will be no gun laws to help stop these kinds of massacres because a small-but-powerful political lobby holds America in its relentless grip. Instead, we all must wait our turn for terror to come home to us. It was our turn, Mr. President, and it hurts beyond words. Now, we need your help. I’m not so naive as to believe that we can change the country’s gun and weapon laws to drastically make us all safer from madmen like Aurora’s gruesome murderer, or even each other. But for the sake of all that’s sane, we have got to do something so that deranged people can’t put together a lethal arsenal of utterly destructive weapons faster and easier than you can get license plates for your car. No one is more appreciative than I am of America’s unparalleled free-press and free-speech laws, but if I go into a crowded theater and yell, “fire,” I go to jail. However, misled gun-rights activists want to make sure I can arm myself like a well-financed soldier anywhere, any time. It’s that kind of insanity that leads to this kind of insanity. All I’m asking for, Mr. President, is that the country at least find a way to limit access to weapons that are created only to kill large numbers of people instantly and efficiently. I’m asking that people who collect enough ammunition to start an army be asked, “why?” If I were to buy thousands of pounds of fertilizer, rest assured I’d be talking to someone from the government. But I can buy thousands, or tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition as easily and privately as I can get roofing nails or baseball cards. Like all Americans, I know that crazy people intent on wreaking mass havoc can find ways to run their cars into crowds or poison bottles of pain reliever. But the argument by gun-rights lobbyists that “guns don’t kill people; people kill people” is just plain bullshit. People who think that compound bows and switchblades are just as dangerous as an automatic weapon haven’t worked in a coroner’s office or seen local hospital emergency rooms set up like a triage unit outside a battlefield. They’re dead wrong. Mr. President, we need you to be the one to bring lawmakers together to see reason. No one else can. I would be crazy to believe that even after a little girl was murdered for going to the movies with her mom, that Congress would put aside partisanship. But I would hope that despite the politics in Washington, you, and this country’s political leaders, could at least create some common-sense weapon regulations that provide peace for 70 Aurora moviegoers and their families. It can’t wait, Mr. President. Unless you and the rest of Washington do something, it will be someone else’s turn to host the world’s newspaper and TV cameras documenting the anguish of another massacre. Please honor the last 70 gun-shot victims by preventing the next ones. Reach Aurora Sentinel Editor Dave Perry at 303-750-7555 or dperry@aurorasentinel.com.
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
Aurora’s identity begins to emerge after shooting
Aurora officials say response and recovery will define city’s image after gunman opens fire in theater, kills 12
BY BRANDON JOHANSSON
W Staff Writer
ith chilling effectiveness, police say James Holmes unleashed horror on an Aurora movie theater. He also helped define a city that has long struggled to define itself. Now, the sprawling suburb that has battled an at-times battered image has a fairly clear identity: It’s that place, the place where moviegoers were picked off with lethal efficiency, the place where a lone gunman toting an arsenal of high-powered weapons wreaked unimaginable havoc. Twelve dead, 58 wounded, numbers forever linked to Colorado’s thirdlargest city. People who live and work in Aurora can expect to hear outsiders for the next several years say something like, “Oh, Aurora, that’s where ...” It’s something local officials say they are ready for, even if they don’t think the definition is fair. And it’s something other communities where similar attacks occurred say is inevitable. “This is an isolated incident,” Mayor Steve Hogan said during a press conference less than 12 hours after the Century Aurora 16 theater massacre. “It’s tragic, it’s horrible, but it is isolated.”
Since their first public comments about the slayings, Hogan and other local leaders have vowed not to let the July 20 shootings define Aurora going forward. “This is a safe city, in a safe state, in the safest country in the world,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said. Local officials have said they hope people think of Aurora as a place where the community pulled together in the face of tragedy, and where heroic acts of firstresponders made sure the death toll wasn’t higher. Still, they fully expect the city’s image to be forever marred by the rampage. “Unfortunately, the reality will be that some people will have those thoughts,” said Aurora City Councilman Bob Roth. In Blacksburg, Va., city officials dealt with the same struggles after a gunman killed 32 at Virginia Tech University in 2007. Mayor Ron Rordam said that after the shootings on the school’s campus, he hoped the massacre wouldn’t define the school and the town. “Yes it happened, but what I wanted to define Blacksburg, and Virginia Tech, was how we as a community came together afterward,” he said. For outsiders, though, the first thing that often pops into their minds when they think Virginia Tech isn’t the way the town rallied around each other, it’s the mayhem the shooter unleashed on the picturesque campus.
Rordam said that’s something that still happens and will likely continue. In fact, the mayor said he was in Maine this month chatting with a lobster fisherman when one of those “that place” conversations occurred. When he told the fisherman where he was from, the man immediately said something about the shootings. “Most of the time, when people say it, it’s more in empathy, saying, ‘I’m sorry,’” he said. And while cities can move past earth-shattering events like the theater shootings or the shootings at Virginia Tech, they shouldn’t expect things to ever return to “normal,” Rordam said. “It’s still there,” he said. “It doesn’t ever go back to the way it was, it’s a new normalcy.” A few miles to the west of Aurora, Littleton city officials dealt with similar struggles after the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. The school isn’t in the city of Littleton proper, but it has a Littleton address and media coverage of the school shootings seemed to always mention Littleton. While the city and the shootings are forever linked, Kelli Narde, Littleton’s director of communications said officials worked hard after the shootings to make sure people also remember the way the community banded together after the shootings. “People wanted to do something, if you gave them something to do they jump on it,” she said.
Left: Brendon Hutchinson, 11, holds a sign July 20, near South Sable Boulevard and East Exposition Avenue. Above: Aurora police Officer Jason Capper gives 3-year-old Akya Bivin some stickers July 21 near the alleged shooter’s apartment at Paris Street and East 17th Avenue. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
A flag atop a car flies high July 20 at Gateway High School. Some students from Gateway were among the list of victims of the shooting. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Janie Lujan, 9, holds tight to her mom Yesenia as the family waits to be allowed back to their home July 21 at Aurora Central High School. The school was opened as a shelter for residents living near the apartment of accused shooter James Holmes in north Aurora. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel) For Aurora though, the theater shooting appears poised to mar a reputation that city leaders for years have tried to improve. Even with crime rates that consistently rank the city among the state’s and nation’s safest, a myth persists among many in the metro area that Aurora is a city packed with violent crime. “I have felt for years that there is somewhat of a media bias against Aurora and this may not help that situation obviously,” said Roth, who has lived in Aurora for 13 years and been on City Council since 2010. But there is a kernel of truth to the myths about Aurora’s pro-
pensity for violence. All three men on Colorado’s death row, for example, are from Aurora and committed their crimes here. And like any major city, Aurora has neighborhoods where drugs and violent crime persist. The theater shootings will join that list of high-profile crimes that have tarnished the city’s image, and they will likely define Aurora in ways that none of the previous headline-grabbing crimes ever did. But, Hogan said, the city will bounce back. “We’ve taken a blow,” he said. “But we will get back on our feet.”
aurorasentinel.com
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
7
ACROSS THE WORLD Aurora’s movie shooting tragedy spilled into the news across the globe RITZEL DEVASTATED ABOUT AURORA SHOOTING — WINDSOR, England | American rower Taylor Ritzel has experienced all sorts of personal anguish on her bumpy road to the London Olympics. Last week, she received the devastating news of the Aurora deadly shooting. It took an agonizing couple of days to find out the list of victims didn’t contain any names she knew. “I grew up in Aurora and am proud to call it home. … HUNDREDS PRAY FOR SHOOTING VICTIM — FLORENCE | When 250 prayer vigil supporters heard that Aurora theater shooting victim Caleb Medley gave the thumbs up symbol Sunday, there was a huge gasp of awe. About 250 people gathered to pray for the Medley family and other victims of the shooting massacre … GUN-CONTROL DEMONSTRATORS GREET OBAMA IN OREGON — PORTLAND, Ore. | Advocates demanding tougher gun-control laws were among several dozen demonstrators who greeted President Barack Obama outside a fundraising stop in Oregon on Tuesday. In the wake of a mass shooting that killed 12 and injured 58 others in Aurora, Colo., last week, demonstrators said Obama needs to stand up to the deep-pocketed National Rifle Association. They want him to push Congress to reinstate an expired ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines that expired in 2004. Penny Okamoto, director of the gun-control group Cease Fire Oregon, noted that some of the victims in Aurora were killed or wounded while trying to protect others. “We need Obama, Romney, to be just as brave and stand up to the NRA,” Okamoto said. “Their kind words, their platitudes — that’s nice, but we need action. We need leadership.” … CHRISTIE REITERATES THAT NJ GUN LAWS ARE ADEQUATE — TRENTON, N.J. | Gov. Chris Christie has reiterated his stance that it would be wrong to discuss tougher gun control laws in the wake of the deadly shootings in Colorado. Speaking Tuesday night on radio station NJ101.5’s “Ask the Governor” show, Christie said politicians should be “keeping a respectful distance” for the time being so the Colorado victims’ families can mourn their deaths. Several politicians — including New Jersey’s two U.S. senators and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg — have renewed their calls for tighter gun control laws following the Colorado shooting …
A FEW DEMOCRATS, REBUFFED, CALL FOR GUN CONTROL — WASHING-
TON | A handful of Democrats are calling for a ban on high-capacity ammunition clips after the movie theater shooting rampage in Colorado, but House and Senate leaders of both parties have no plans to touch the issue this election year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, along with House Speaker John Boehner, have told re-
porters Tuesday that there should be no push for tighter gun control. They say the shooting should not be politicized and there’s little time left in the polarized Congress to tackle the issue. Still, four Democrats — Sens. Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, and Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of New York say the shooting is only the latest evidence that the clips should be banned : DC COMICS
DELAYS BATMAN COMIC AFTER COLO. SHOOTING — PHILADELPHIA
| DC Comics is asking retailers to postpone sales of a Batman comic book out of respect for victims of the shooting at a theater showing “The Dark Knight Rises” in Colorado. In an email sent to shops on Monday, DC Entertainment wrote that it had decided to postpone the release of “Batman, Incorporated” No. 3 “because the comic contains content that may be perceived as insensitive in light of recent events.” The email, a copy of which The Associated Press obtained Tuesday, did not disclose the content. The series is written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Chris Burnham. On Twitter, Burnham wrote that the issue would be delayed for “some grim imagery that would seem wholly inappropriate given the Aurora killings.” … EX-LEGIS-
LATOR APOLOGIZES FOR POST ON SHOOTING — MESA, Ariz. | A for-
mer Arizona legislator known for sponsoring the state’s anti-illegal immigration law is apologizing for comments he made about the Colorado movie theater shooting that some interpreted as an attack on the victims. Former state Sen. Russell Pearce said Friday on Facebook the shooting was heartbreaking and that lives were lost because nobody acted to stop the shooting that left 12 people dead and dozens wounded. Pearce apologized on Monday … SAN
saying the firm has received numerous calls and emails claiming it has “blood on our hands.” In an interview, Weinman said some of the calls and emails have been threatening, hostile and hurtful, sometimes leaving customer service workers in tears … THREE ARRESTED IN SEPARATE ‘DARK KNIGHT’ INCIDENTS — At least three men accused of making threats during or after watching the new Batman movie have been arrested in separate incidents, underscoring moviegoers’ anxieties and heightened security in the wake of a deadly mass shooting at a Colorado theater showing the film. A Maine man was arrested when he told authorities that he was on his way to shoot a former employer a day after watching “The Dark Knight Rises,” Maine state police said Monday. Timothy Courtois of Biddeford, Maine, had been stopped for speeding, and a police search of his car found an AK-47 assault weapon, four handguns, ammunition and news clippings about the mass shooting that left 12 people dead early Friday, authorities said. Former graduate student James Holmes, 24, is accused of opening fire in a theater in Aurora. The shooting also injured 58 people. Courtois said he had attended the Batman movie on Saturday, although police have not confirmed whether he actually saw the film. “I guess we’re taking everything at face value,” State Police Lt. Kevin Donovan said. “It’s very scary.” Police searched Courtois’ home later Sunday and found a machine gun, several other guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Courtois
FRANCISCO MAYOR FIRM ON STOP AND FRISK — SAN FRANCISCO
| San Francisco’s mayor says the Colorado theater shootings have made him more committed to implementing a police stop and frisk policy aimed at getting weapons off the streets. Mayor Ed Lee’s consideration of stop and frisk, where officers stop and search suspicious people for weapons, has triggered an outcry from those who liken it to racial profiling … RETAILER WHO SOLD TO
HOLMES GETTING BACKLASH — ST. LOUIS | A suburban St. Louis-based
online retailer who sold gear to Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes is being inundated with “hostile and threatening” messages, the company’s CEO said Tuesday. TacticalGear.com filled an order received on July 2 from Holmes, who allegedly opened fire inside an Aurora, Colo., theater on Friday, killing 12 people. Holmes paid $306.79 for an urban assault vest, two magazine pouches and a tactical knife. Weinman posted a statement on the company website Monday,
Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 3rd Class Jajuan Mangual adjusts the American flag on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) to half-mast in Norfolk, Va., in remembrance of the victims and families impacted by the July 20 shooting at the a movie theatre in Aurora, Colo. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Spc. 1st Class Joseph R. Vincent) the second row, but deputies who searched the bag, the theater and its surrounding area did not find any weapon. Separately, moviegoers in Sierra Visa, Ariz., panicked when a man who appeared intoxicated was confronted during a showing of the movie. The Cochise County Sheriff’s office said it caused “mass hysteria” and about 50 people fled the theater. Off-duty Border Patrol agents tackled Michael William Borboa, 27, who had a backpack with him, according to The Arizona Daily Star. Authorities said it contained an empty alcohol container and a half-empty moonshine bottle … ‘DARK KNIGHT’ SHOWING HALTED AT NJ THEATER — EDGEWATER, N.J. | An incident involving an emergency exit led officials to cancel the screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” at a New Jersey movie theater. Police received a call from someone at the Edgewater Multiplex on Monday night. Police Sgt. Steven Titus tells The Star-Ledger of Newark the caller said a male stood up about 90 minutes into the movie, opened an emergency exit, spoke to someone outside and returned to his seat … GOV. SANDOVAL OR-
DERS FLAGS LOWERED FOR COLORADO VICTIMS — CARSON CITY,
was charged with speeding and possession of a concealed weapon. In Southern California, a man at a Sunday afternoon showing of the film was arrested after witnesses said he made threats and alluded to the Aurora shooting when the movie didn’t start. Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were called to a cinema complex in Norwalk after moviegoers said 52-yearold Clark Tabor shouted: “I should go off like in Colorado.” They said he then asked: “Does anybody have a gun?” A security guard saw Tabor with a backpack on his knees in
Nev. | Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval is ordering that flags be flown at half-staff at the state Capitol and all state buildings in honor of the victims of the Colorado movie theater shooting, which included a Nevada native. … US SENATE HAS MOMENT
OF SILENCE FOR COLORADO VICTIMS
— WASHINGTON | The Senate observed a moment of silence Monday for those killed in the shooting rampage at a Colorado movie theater. The Friday shooting left 12 people dead and 58 others injured at a packed midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.” … BIDEN
SAYS ‘WE WEEP’ FOR FAMILIES OF COLORADO VICTIMS — MANALA-
PAN, Fla. | Vice President Joe Biden said Monday the country weeps for the victims of the Colorado movie theater shooting, but that the stories of heroism that have emerged
from the rampage “remind us of the goodness” of the American people. In a speech at the annual convention of the National Association of Police Organizations, Biden recounted the actions of multiple individuals who put themselves in harm’s way to help others inside the theater. “There’s a hell of a lot more good out there than the evil you’re sworn to take on,” he said. At another point, Biden said: “We must sing of the courage and the heroism that was on display.” … OKLA.
COMPANY’S GEAR USED BY COLO. MASSACRE POLICE — BROKEN ARROW, Okla. | A piece of equipment
used by Colorado authorities who defused booby traps in the apartment of the alleged movie theater gunman is made by a company in Broken Arrow. Tactical Electronics manufactures a pole with a camera on the end, a device that enabled officers to see a trip wire affixed to the apartment door that led to an explosive device … PHILLY POLICE
COMMISSIONER SEEKS STRONGER GUN LAWS — PHILADELPHIA |
Philadelphia’s police commissioner doesn’t think the shootings that killed 12 people and injured dozens of others at a Colorado movie theater will make a difference in the debate over gun control. Commissioner Charles Ramsey said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that he thinks Friday’s shooting at the theater in Aurora likely won’t have an impact and that “people will continue to get their hands on guns.” He says many federal legislators “lack the courage” to do anything … SENATE DEMOCRATS
FACE OFF AT BRIDGEPORT DEBATE
— BRIDGEPORT, Conn. | The killings of 12 movie-goers in Colorado were among the first issues in a debate on Sunday between the two Connecticut Democrats seeking their party’s nomination for U.S. Senate. The Hearst Connecticut Media Group reported that U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy and former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said they back gun control legislation in response to the Aurora shootings.
8
aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
Investigators and attorneys in the Holmes case Investigator: Craig Appel The lead investigator on Holmes’ case is Aurora police Major Crime/Homicide Unit Detective Craig Appel. Appel has been with Aurora police since July 1994, according to the city’s human resources department. He has investigated several homiAppel cides in recent years, including the March 2010 slaying of Lyndsey Pham, a north Aurora apartment manager who was robbed, stabbed and beaten to death in her office. In that case, police started with few leads but eventually tied the murder to assistant apartment manager Lupe Rubio and her boyfriend. In court, prosecutors credited Appel with catching Rubio in a lie. Investigators say Rubio, who is serving 17 years in prison for that crime, helped her boyfriend, Javier Agurre, plan the robbery. Police have issued an arrest warrant for Aggurre, but say he likely fled to his native Mexico. In 2008, Appel received the Chief’s Unit Citation for an investigation that took down a group of Bloods gang members involved in drug dealing and murder, police said.
Investigator: Gretchen Fronapfel Aurora police Detective Gretchen Fronapfel is also investigating the case. Fronapfel joined Aurora police in 1994 and has spent the past several years investigating major crimes. In 2007, the Colorado Chiefs of PoFronapfel lice named Fronapfel the Colorado Police Officer of the Year for her handling of the Javad Marshall-Fields and Vivian Wolfe slayings. In that case, police say the young couple were gunned down because Marshall-Fields had agreed to testify in the July 4, 2004 slaying of his friend at Lowry Park. The accused gunman, Sir Mario Owens, and the accused mastermind, Robert Ray, were both convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.
Detective: Chuck Mehl
The lead prosecutor:
The defense team:
Detective Chuck Mehl, who has been with Aurora police since December 1991, is also handling the case. Mehl has worked in the Major Crime/Homocide Unit for several years and investigated dozens of homicides. One of those cases, Mehl the 2010 slayings of Terrance George and his girlfriend Tiffany Durst, is scheduled to go to trial next week. In that case, prosecutors were considering seeking the death penalty against the defendant, Terrence McNeal, after witnesses said he killed Durst and George because Durst testified against him. But prosecutors opted not to seek the death penalty, a decision they said they made after consulting with the victims’ families. Combined, Mehl, Fronapfel and Appel have more than 55 years with the department between them.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Pearson is leading a team of five lawyers prosecuting Holmes. She was admitted to practice law in Colorado in 1995, according to state records. Pearson has prosecuted several high-profile and complicated cases in Arapahoe Pearson County in recent years. In 2010 she prosecuted Francis Hernandez, an illegal immigrant accused of causing a fiery crash that left three people dead, including a toddler in an ice cream shop. The case garnered heavy media attention because Hernandez had been arrested several times before the crash but was never deported. Hernandez is serving a sentence of 60 years. Joining Perason on the prosecution team are Senior Deputy District Attorney Jacob Edson Deputy District Attorney Andrew Steers and Deputy District Attorney Rich Orman.
Holmes’ team of lawyers from the Colorado Public Defender’s Office specialize in death penalty cases. Daniel King, his lead defense attorney, has been practicing law in Colorado since 1995, according to court records. The graduate of Boston King College and University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law has worked on several death-penalty cases, including that of Sir Mario Owens. In 2008, an Arapahoe County jury sentenced Owens to death for gunning down a murder witness and his fiancee. In that trial’s closing arguments, King pleaded with the jury for mercy. Joining King on Holmes’ defense is fellow Public Defender Tamara Brady. According to state records, Brady has been practicing law in Colorado since 1991. King and Brady are chief trial deputies for the state public defender’s office.
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
First responders play crucial role in minutes after theater massacre BY ADAM GOLDSTEIN AND BRANDON JOHANSSON Staff Writers
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he calls started at 1 a.m. on July 20, with grim tidings about a mass shooting at an Aurora movie theater. The emergency room at the University of Colorado Hospital was already packed, according to Dr. Comilla Sasson, an attending emergency department physician at the University of Colorado Hospital. Sasson had started her shift at 11 p.m. “We had an emergency department full of people, and we got a phone call that alerted us that there had been a shooting in the area,” said Sasson, who also works as an assistant professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “We went into disaster mode. We had disaster protocols in place for what they call mass casualty events.” That protocol involved a pool of resources that included surgeons, nurses, interns and even custodial staff, Sasson said. The following hours would see the arrival of more than 20 victims of the rampage at the Century Aurora 16 theater, patients that ranged in age from three months to 45 years. For Aurora police, hundreds of officers responded to the scene, many within just 90 seconds of the first call. The theater is just a few blocks away from Aurora police headquarters, and Aurora police Chief Dan Oates said a recent summer initiative aimed at putting more police on the street on summer nights meant that more officers than normal were available. Police radio traffic in the moments after the shootings showed confusion among police and firefighters as they tried to pull victims
What’s very important … is that it wasn’t as though we were inventing new things that day. The general concept of mass casualty care is consistent.” RICHARD ZANE
Chairman, Emergency Medicine at University of Colorado School of Medicine
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from the chaotic scene. “Hundreds of people just running around,” a dispatcher said as screams could be heard in the background. Initial calls sent ambulance crews to the theater and first responders stopped near the front entrance, where wounded victims came pouring out minutes later. The most-seriously injured, however, were still in Theater No. 9 or near the rear exit of the theater. One of those victims was a child,
A squad car races past traffic to assist emergency personnel, July 20 near the alleged shooter’s apartment at Paris Street and East 17th Avenue in Aurora. A gunman wearing a gasmask opened fire in a crowded Aurora movie theater during a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” movie July 20, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel) and officers shouted for help in the theater. “I have a child victim, I need rescue at the back door of theater 9 now,” an officer said. While they struggled to get crews through the crowd, many emergency responders stopped to help the wounded, slowing their ability to get into the theater where some victims lay dying. With no ambulances near the rear entrance and unable to get to many of the victims, officers scrambled to get care to the wounded. “I got a whole bunch of people shot out here and no rescue,” an officer said. The scene commander quickly gave the officer the go-ahead to rush victims to a hospital in his patrol car. It wasn’t just the sheer numbers that emergency crews had to contend with. The response was made more difficult because victims had scattered. Some victims were in front of the main entrance, some south of the building, some outside the rear exit of theater No. 9 and at least one victim was on Sable Boulevard. Officers called for not only every available ambulance and emergency crew in Aurora to respond to the theater, but every ambulance available in the metro area. Meanwhile, officers were also trying to round up witnesses who saw the shootings, stopping cars as they sped from the scene. At the same time they were trying to help the victims and corral witnesses, some officers came upon the armed suspect, James Holmes, near the rear of the theater and arrested him. Hours after the shooting, the Aurora police officers and firefighters shifted some of their focus from the theater to accused shooter James Holmes’ apartment on Paris Street. The apartment was rigged with booby traps, Oates said, and Aurora police called in bomb squads from Adams County and Arapahoe County as well as explosives
experts from the FBI and ATF to assist. In the days after the shootings, police declined to release many further specifics about the response, instead saying the focus should remain on the victims. On July 24, after a judge issued a gag order in the accused shooter’s case, police said they could release no further information. “We are well aware of the media and public interest in this case, but we ask for patience and understanding. Because of these orders, we simply cannot make any further comment. All of us must await the outcome of our judicial process,” Oates said in a statement after the order came down. At University of Colorado Hospital, the influx was part of a bigger plan to address mass casualty care, an approach that stretched across six hospitals in the metro area. According to Richard Zane, the new chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, that approach meant drawing on resources at neighboring facilities including Denver Health, Swedish Medical Center and the Medical Center of Aurora. It meant properly marshaling resources to provide specific care to specific patients. It meant learning from monthly drills designed to recreate the kind of chaos and unpredictability of a mass casualty event. “What’s very important from the perspective of disasters is that it wasn’t as though we were inventing new things that day. The general concept of mass casualty care is consistent,” said Zane, who started his role as the new chairman in April and who came to the University of Colorado School of Medicine after a 14-year stint at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “Every month, the hospital has a drill of some kind on disaster. The drills are quite variable. Sometimes, it’s numbers and numbers of patients presenting at the same ›› See (RESPONDERS), 31
aurorasentinel.com
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
11
Timeline of tragedy May 22, 2012 — Alleged gunman James Holmes purchases a Glock pistol from a nearby retailer. A week later, he buys a shotgun. A week after that, he buys an AR-15. June 10, 2012 — Holmes withdraws from the neuroscience program at the University of Colorado where he has been a student for one year. According to officials, it’s a 5- to 7-year program. July 2, 2012 — Holmes makes an online purchase for clothing, which includes ballistic items.
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July 19, 2012 — Holmes purchases a ticket to see “The Dark Knight Rises� at Century Aurora 16 for the midnight show. Friday, July 20, 2012 12:05 a.m. — The midnight screening of the newest Batman movie starts on screen No. 9 at the theater.
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12:15 a.m. (Estimate) — Loud techno music starts playing at Holmes’ apartment at 1690 Paris St.
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12:35 a.m. (Estimate) — Holmes dons the body armor and arms himself with the AR-15, shotgun and a pistol and opens fire on the theater. 12:39 a.m. — Hundreds of calls come in of shots fired at the movie theater. 12:41 a.m. — Officers on scene. Eventually 200 respond.
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12:43 a.m. (Estimate) — Holmes is taken into custody near the rear of the theater. 2:15 a.m. — The first officers arrive at Holmes’ apartment, where he told them he had several explosives. 3:15 a.m. — Police Chief Dan Oates addresses media for the first time.
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11 a.m. — Oates again addresses the media, this time joined by Gov. John Hickenlooper and several other leaders. He identifies Holmes as the suspect in the shootings. 4 p.m. — In a third media briefing, Oates says Holmes’ apartment building and four others nearby have been evacuated. 5:35 p.m. — Holmes is booked into Arapahoe County Jail on first-degree murder charges.
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
Intersection of tragedy and grief BY ADAM GOLDSTEIN Staff Writer
T
he silence served as a surprising contrast. Cars zoomed by on Sable Boulevard less than 20 feet away. In the Aurora Town Center parking lot across the street, a cramped city of mobile news vans and improvised remote studios had grown up in a matter of days. The eyes of the world had descended on this small strip of land surrounding the Century Aurora 16 theater, and the focus brought along plenty of commotion. But near the traffic light at Sable and East Centrepoint Drive, a persistent sense of silence and reverence reigned. Early in the day July 22, Illinois resident Greg Zanis had set up 12 wooden crosses, simple white memorials that were almost 3 feet tall and each bore the name of a different victim, a separate life claimed in the chaos that erupted in the theater across the street in the early morning hours of July 20. He had done the same for the victims of Columbine. Jamie Becker and Janet Wood could hardly bring themselves to point to the parking lot across the street, a space cordoned off by yellow police tape and patrol cars. The pair spoke from the dusty rise on the east side of Sable Boulevard July 22 on a stretch of undeveloped land that has transformed into hallowed ground.
One of the simple crucifixes bore the name of Becker’s and Wood’s friend: Rebecca Wingo. With a visible amount of effort and pain, they pointed to the empty theater parking lot across the street and singled out a Subaru station wagon. “That’s hers. That’s her car,â€? Becker said, gesturing vaguely. “It’s awful. This was basically, in my opinion, a terrorist act of evil. It’s so much more personal.â€? Wingo, 32, held her most recent post as a customer relations representative at a local mobile medical imaging company. She had also worked at the local Joe’s Crab Shack, and had lined up a post at Schryver Medical. For Becker and Wood, Wingo’s life was much more than the posts that figured on her rĂŠsumĂŠ. The pair came to visit the makeshift memorial on Sable and Centrepoint Drive mere hours after the 12 crosses had gone up, traveling from their home in Loveland to pay tribute to a woman and a mother, someone who’d played a key role in their lives. The pair visited the site before crowds started streaming to the Aurora Municipal Center a short distance away from the mass vigil Sunday night. “We were introduced to her a couple of years ago. She was friends with my brother-in-law, Cody Schaffer ‌ She introduced my brother to Cody. She officiated their wedding in Iowa, where it’s legal,â€? Becker recalled. “That’s when we met her.â€? At 6 a.m. on July 20, Becker and Wood received calls at their home in
Loveland from concerned relatives in New York. They saw the news reports. They took in the shocking details of the mass shooting at a theater in Aurora, and thought at first that all of their loved ones were safe. “I called my brothers to make sure that they were OK, and that’s all we knew,� Becker said. “We didn’t find out until 4 p.m. that Rebecca was missing. We didn’t even know that she was here until 4 p.m. that night.� Six hours later, they found out that she was one of the 12 casualties. “She was full of life,� Wood said. Immediately after, Becker added, “She was full of love. She believed in love.� Visitors passed in silence and left messages scrawled in black magic marker on the 12 makeshift monuments. On the cross bearing Alex Sullivan’s name, someone had written, “You are another angel we will all look up to and pray to.� On the memorial for slain Air Force Sergeant Jesse Childress, someone had scrawled a tribute “to my brother in arms.� Hidden under the stuffed animals and toys that decorated the cross bearing the name of Veronica Moser-Sullivan, a simple memorial read, “rest in peace, baby girl.� In the hours before the massive vigil that drew thousands to the Aurora Municipal Center, a steady stream of visitors trudged up the hill to pay their respects, passing the French television journalist and
Supporters of the Aurora community light a candle at a memorial site across the street from Century Aurora 16 theater July 22, near South Sable Boulevard and East Exposition Avenue. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
For more photos from this event visit aurorasentinel. com or scan the QR code with your smartphone
growing group of photographers that had set up near the sidewalk. Teenagers wearing Gateway High School bracelets and T-shirts stared disbelievingly at the cross dedicated to Alexander “AJ� Boik, a former football player who’d graduated from the school two months ago. They declined to offer names, but the pair offered spoken tributes to the former Gateway student who’d held dreams of becoming a teacher. Kevin Vessels, an Aurora resident who had recently completed a documentary about mental illness,
said he came to the memorial site as a community member first. “I just wanted to give praise to those who lost their lives,� said Vessels, who placed a miniature baby carriage on the cross carrying Moser-Sullivan’s name. “We need to address mental health issues in this country or else this is going to keep happening.� On the wooden cross that bore Wingo’s name, Becker and Wood had written a tribute in black magic marker, a message that echoed a recollection rooted in warmth, affection and light. “You had the most beautiful smile, the kindest soul and the best spirit,� the message read. “You’ll be missed.� Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720449-9707
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
Online, in time Donations flood in online to help victims of shooting; local businesses offer relief to responders
BY ADAM GOLDSTEIN Staff Writer
I
t didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take long for nonprofits and charity organizations across the metro area to come together in their relief efforts for the victims of a shooting rampage at an Aurora movie theater July 20. According to statements from the charity organization GivingFirst.org the total contributions have topped $2 million so far. The charity is a local branch of the Community First Foundation, and the money will go directly to victims and their families. The efforts brought a hopeful response from Gov. John Hickenlooper, who said in a statement, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The needs will be great, and we look forward to seeing the fund grow exponentially. This money will help those impacted by this tragedy begin to recover and rebuild their lives.â&#x20AC;? GivingFirst is a common online
charity base for a long list of local organizations that are all working to raise money for victims of the tragedy. Organizations such as Aurora Mental Health Center, Arapahoe/Douglas Mental Health Network, Mental Health America of Colorado, Bonfils Blood Center Foundation, Metro Crisis Services, Inc., Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, Safe2Tell and Denver Center for Crime Victims have all contributed to the GivingFirst efforts so far. The push has brought million-dollar donations from supporters outside of Colorado as well â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures both helped push the total into the millions through the GivingFirst site. That effort has been matched by local businesses, particularly restaurants. Local eateries delivered five SUV and two carloads of food July 21 to Aurora police officers working at the Century Aurora 16 theaters and the suspectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s apartment in north Aurora. Those donations started when the police department called Hanava Business Improvement District head Gayle Jetchick at 10:30 a.m. on July 21 to tell her that 80 SWAT officers had not eaten for more than a day. Contributing restaurants included local businesses such as Gibbyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, Legendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, the Summit Steakhouse and Elwayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. Local franchisees of chain restaurants such as Jimmy Johns, KFC, Burger King, Qdoba and Snooze also contributed, as well as Jamminâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 101.5 radio.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was amazing how we came together so quickly,â&#x20AC;? Jetchick said. For those looking to contribute to the effort, the charity is accepting donations of all sizes at the organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website, givingfirst.org. In addition, the following list of local charity and humanitarian organizations offers more options for those looking to lend a hand. Many are tied to the GivingFirst online efforts. The Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance coloradocrimevictims.org 303-861-1160 The Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance has teamed with the Aurora Police Department to coordinate donations for victims of the Aurora shootings. Checks can be made out to COVA and mailed to 90 Galapago Street, Denver CO, 80223. Please include â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aurora Tragedyâ&#x20AC;? in the memo line. Online donations can be given through COVAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Giving First profile at: https://www.givingfirst. org/cova. Bonfils Blood Center bonfils.org 303-363-2307 The Bonfils Blood Center received an overwhelming outpouring of support in the hours following the massacre at the Century Aurora 16 theaters. In fact, the Bonfils facilities around the Aurora metro area received so many donations, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still not accepting walk-in donors. The Center has strongly encouraged community members wanting to donate blood to call or register online in order to schedule an
appointment and find a donor center/mobile drive. According to the center, there is a particular need for O-, A- and platelets; donors with those blood types are encouraged to donate. Those wanting to give back but are unable to donate can make a financial contribution to support the centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s everyday operations, including mobile blood drive programs and patient safety efforts. Donors can give online at www. bonfils.org/giving. Denver Open Mind Media quickly organized a T-shirt design and a fundraising campaign to benefit victims. According to a statement, â&#x20AC;&#x153;DenverMind Media has been strongly affected by the violence that occurred in Aurora, Colorado during the early morning premier of the Batman Rises movie on July 20. This shooting in A-Town hit us hard. Some of us live there. Many of our friends and family do too. We had to do something. So we did. We made a shirt. And weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to sell this shirt, and ALL of the proceeds we raise will go to the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance.â&#x20AC;? The T-shirt, which features a black â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; with bat wings over a yellow heart, is on sale at the DenverMind Media Cafe Press website. According to the company, all proceeds from the sale of the T-shirt
will be donated to the Colorado Organization for Victims Assistance Fund. T-shirts are available at cafepress.com/denvermindmediacolorado. The garments range in price from $15 to $25 and are available in a variety of colors and styles. Looking ahead, the Stymie Canine Cancer Foundation will host the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heroes With Usâ&#x20AC;? charity event for victims of the shootings from noon to 6 p.m. on Aug. 19 at the Conservatory, 2665 S. Jebel Way in Aurora. The event will include food, music, swimming and other events. Entry fees are $5 for ages 12 and under and $10 for adults. All of the proceeds will go toward the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance. Information and reservations: stymieccf. org/heros-withinus-event. Car dealer Ed Bozarth and his family kicked off an official fundraiser for the victims of the July 20 shootings with a $50,000 donation, and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s encouraging others to follow suit. Bozarthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s donations will go toward medical bills, rehabilitation and general assistance, and the local business owner insisted that anyone in the community can help. To donate to the Aurora Family Assistance Fund, started by Ed Bozarth, visit edbozarth. com or call 877-819-0266. Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720-449-9707
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aurorasentinel.com
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
The Aurora Theater Tragedyâ&#x20AC;Ś
and GOD Cried too! WHEN nationalism raises an ugly head and lives are counted as so much dust, people are horrified. WHEN world leaders order bombing and killing in response, the tragedy increases. BUT when gunmen open fire in crowded theaters, we are all forced to ask . . . what is this world coming to ?
How can we prevent mass killings like in Aurora?
Does God see? Does God care? Who can we blame? Society, the schools, the parents or the media? How could God be all-loving, all-powerful, all-wise and all-just... but permit such evil? The Bible answers are encouraging, comforting and full of promise for ALL mankind. You will find Scriptural answers in the booklet;
"And God Cried."
Columbine victimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father Tom Mauser talks about next steps
Request your FREE copy from: COLORADO BIBLE STUDENTS P.O. Box 17382 Golden, CO 80402
BY PAULINE ARRILLAGA
ColoBible@Christreigns.org
Associated Press
O
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n the morning of the latest mass shooting, in a place that has become synonymous with tragedy, Tom Mauserâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s phone started ringing at 5 a.m. When he turned on the news his first thought was â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oh God,â&#x20AC;? followed by an immediate: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Not again.â&#x20AC;? Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seen this too often since that April morning in 1999, when his own son Daniel was slain along with 12 others at Columbine High School. In the years that have followed, every time the unthinkable happens yet again â&#x20AC;&#x201D; at a Virginia college, a Texas military base, an Arizona strip mall, a Colorado movie theater â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Mauser mourns anew. But he also feels something else, the frustration we all feel when we see the same images weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen before: Hysterical victims fleeing in terror. Anguished mourners crying out for lost loved ones. Stunned citizens praying together at candlelight vigils. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There was a time when I felt a certain guilt,â&#x20AC;? said Mauser, a state transportation program manager who became an outspoken activist against such violence after his 15-year-old son was killed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d ask, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Why canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t I do more about this? Why havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t I dedicated myself more to it?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; But Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be damned if Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to put it all on my shoulders. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This,â&#x20AC;? he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;is all of our problem.â&#x20AC;? But where to begin solving it? In a nation that likes its quickfixes and finger-pointing, do we blame the mental health industry, poor parenting, a 24-7 news cycle that brings instant â&#x20AC;&#x153;fameâ&#x20AC;? to mass murderers and sometimes spawns copycats, a culture that glamorizes â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and has become desensitized to â&#x20AC;&#x201D; violence in its many myriad forms? (Consider the nonstop Internet â&#x20AC;&#x153;zombieâ&#x20AC;? chatter after a Florida man this year had his face nearly chewed off in a bizarre attack.) And placing blame aside, are there steps we can take to prevent yet another rampage? Mauserâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s primary focus has been to advocate for more gun control. The year after Columbine, he helped lead an initiative approved by Colorado voters to require background checks for all firearms buyers at state gun shows. Still, that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t prevent accused Aurora shooter James Holmes from acquiring two pistols, a shotgun, an AR-15 rifle and thousands of bullets. Someone intent
In this April 20, 2009 file photo, Tom Mauser, father of slain Columbine High School student Daniel Mauser, hugs Lori Haas, mother of Emily Haas, who was wounded in the Virginia Tech shooting, at a Columbine Remembrance and Rededication ceremony at the Capitol building in Denver on the 10th anniversary of the school attack. (AP Photo/Chris Schneider) on killing will find a means. And so Mauser and those who have spent years studying mass murder know that any so-called solutions must go far beyond gun control. Generally, they say the solution may have less to do with government intervention than individual action. People need to be more aware of troubled individuals who may act violently; they should talk with them, and if they remain alarmed they must reach out for help. And when they do, there must be someone to listen and act effectively. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The question we have to ask constantly is: What more can we be doing? We may not be able to stop all of them, but I think we could stop more than we do,â&#x20AC;? said Peter Langman, a psychologist who has spent years studying the Columbine massacre and similar incidents at other schools and universities. In many cases, Langman and others have found, the murderers either left clues as to what might be coming or behaved in a manner that left those around them feeling uneasy but, perhaps, unsure of what to do. Langman points out that not long before Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris opened fire at Columbine, Kleboldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s school compositions â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including descriptions of a killing â&#x20AC;&#x201D; so disturbed a teacher that they were brought to the attention of his parents. But Klebold explained them away as mere fiction, and the shootings happened a short time later. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Many school shooters have told people exactly what they were going to do, but nobody believed them,â&#x20AC;? said Langman. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nobody took them seriously.â&#x20AC;? Jared Loughner, accused in the January 2011 shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that killed six people and wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 12 others, had several run-ins with police while studying at Pima Community College in Tucson. Some 51 pages of campus police reports described a series of
classroom outbursts and confrontations that prompted worried instructors to summon campus officers. He was suspended and later withdrew from school. But even now some still ask whether the college could or should have done more by taking any concerns elsewhere â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to mental health professionals, perhaps. Similar questions have been raised in the case of Holmes, who had recently withdrawn from a competitive graduate program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Officials there are looking into whether Holmes used his position in the program to collect hazardous materials, but it remained unclear whether Holmesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; professors and others in his 35-student Ph.D. program noticed anything unusual about his behavior. Langman understands the hesitation private citizens and institutions may have about acting on instincts. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not psychiatrists, after all. What if the person in question has broken no laws? Who am I to say something? His response: â&#x20AC;&#x153;You can alert people. You can try talking to the person if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s someone you know. Engage them in conversation. See if theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in a state of crisis.â&#x20AC;? In a post-Sept. 11 world, if we see someone on a subway or an airplane doing something suspicious, we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hesitate to report it. Why would we waver in these situations? Perhaps the threat seems less immediate. Perhaps the difference is in reporting the suspicious activity of a stranger rather than someone we know and, possibly, love. Terry Garahan, who spent years training law officers in Ithaca, N.Y., to better cope with emotionally disturbed suspects, has another take. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Institutionally, we have become like the people who saw Kitty Genovese stabbed to death,â&#x20AC;? said Garahan, recalling the 1964
â&#x20AC;şâ&#x20AC;ş See (PREVENTION), 17
aurorasentinel.com
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
Batman star Christian Bale visits Aurora shooting victims, memorial BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS atman star Christian Bale visited survivors of the Colorado theater shooting, and thanked medical staff and police officers who responded to the attack that killed 12 people and injured 58 others. Bale visited July 24 with little advance warning and also stopped by a makeshift memorial to victims near the movie theater that was showing “The Dark Knight Rises” when the gunfire erupted. Wisconsin native Carey Rottman, one of those injured in Friday’s shooting, posted two photos of himself with Bale on his Facebook page. Janie Bowman-Hayes, assistant vice president of surgical services at sister hospital Swedish Medical Center, said she and co-workers were attending a luncheon at The Medical Center of Aurora to thank staff who tended to victims. “When we got there, then we found out he was there,” she said. Bale, humble and dressed casually in a black T-shirt and jeans, thanked the staff, shook hands and agreed to have his photo taken with employees, Bowman-Hayes said. “He just said he wanted to come to thank all of us because he has been thinking about this. He
B
›› (PREVENTION), from 16 stabbing of a woman in New York witnessed by some 38 people who never alerted authorities. “We assume that someone else is going to take care of it, someone else is going to make the call. What we can do is to take a risk.” In the late 1990s, after a patient at a mental health clinic Garahan supervised killed a police officer and was then herself killed on scene, Garahan and Ithaca police teamed up to respond to calls from parents, co-workers, strangers or neighbors about individuals who might do harm to themselves or others. “At times, they slammed the door in my face. At other times I was threatened. At times they pointed guns at us. But there has to be somebody who is willing to do this, and law enforcement is only equipped to do part of it,” he said. The program continues today. And, certainly, there are numerous other examples of preventative measures that have been put into place in the wake of mass killings. At the University of Virginia, forensic clinical psychologist Dewey Cornell leads a project that has developed assessment guidelines to help identify threatening individuals that are now used in most public schools in Virginia as well as other communities across the nation, in Canada and in Europe. In the wake of the 2007 rampage at Virginia Tech that left 33 people dead, including the shooter, many colleges and universities established assessment teams. Cornell serves on his at UVA. In an e-mail, he said: “There is a widespread misperception that rampage shootings cannot be pre-
Actor Christian Bale and his wife Sibi Blazic visit a memorial to the victims of the mass shooting, Tuesday, July 24, in Aurora. (AP Photo/ Ted S. Warren) knows the whole world has been thinking about this,” she said. “He took it upon himself to come and thank us.” An online campaign had urged Bale to visit survivors of the shooting. Bale also stopped by a growing memorial near the theater and walked among the 12 crosses erected for each of the slain victims. Many people there didn’t realize who he was or chose to leave him alone. Bale, who stars as Batman in “The Dark Knight Rises,” previously issued a written statement saying: “Words cannot express the horror that I feel. I cannot begin to truly understand the pain
and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them.” President Barack Obama and members of the Denver Broncos also have made hospital visits to some of the survivors. Bowman-Hayes and her staff cared for patients at both Swedish Medical Center and The Medical Center of Aurora after the shootings, whether it was in the operating room or intensive care unit, or by washing medical instruments. She said the staff appreciated Bale’s visit. “He did this out of his heart, and you could really tell. It was so sincere,” she said. “It was just, ‘thank you.’”
vented because they seem so random and unpredictable. However, it is possible to prevent outcomes that are hard to predict.” But how do you cover all your bases? After all, these rampages have happened at fast-food restaurants, rural cafeterias, offices, a health club, a nursing home, an Amish school. “We’re not going to turn our country into one big fortress,” said James Alan Fox, a professor of criminology at Northeastern University and one of the nation’s foremost experts on mass murder. “People hate when I say this but it’s true: This kind of tragedy is one of the unfortunate prices we pay for our freedoms.” If there is one saving grace it is to be found in statistics. Fox has collected data on every mass murder in the United States going back to the mid-1970s and, though we certainly see and hear about these incidents more quickly today, the numbers of such incidents have not increased over time. He counted 19 in 1976 and 18 in 2010, with the range going from a low of seven in 1985 to a high of 30 in 2003. The FBI defines a mass murder as one in which four or more people are killed. In fact, he and others noted, overall homicide rates in the United States have fallen to their lowest levels in decades. And while America still suffers from more violent crimes and murders than most other westernized countries, mass killings occur elsewhere, as well. Norway just marked the somber one-year anniversary of the twin attacks in downtown Oslo and at a youth camp outside the capital that killed 77. Finland saw
two back-to-back mass shootings at schools in 2007 and 2008. Germany, too, has experienced several homicidal attacks at schools, prompting officials there to contact Cornell about his threat assessment techniques. Fox has studied these killings too much to think there are any hard and fast solutions. Beyond gun control, most Americans will look to the mental health industry for accountability. (In the Aurora shootings, no evidence has surfaced to date to determine if Holmes may have suffered from mental illness.) If better mental health treatment is one result of this latest tragedy, said Fox, “lots of Americans will be better off, but the few at the extreme who commit this kind of crime will not avail themselves of that. “When people say there were warning signs, they’re yellow flags,” he added. “Those yellow flags only turn red once the blood has spilled.” In Aurora, as residents gathered July 22 for a prayer vigil to remember the victims of the Jul 20 shootings, Coloradans were grappling with these very questions, and the knowledge that there may be no real answers. “You can always come up with ideas, but people who are bound and determined are going to find a way around your ideas. So it’s almost a lost cause at some point,” said 28-year-old Debra Wahl, who stood gripping a state flag next to her 19-year-old cousin, Leeza Pearson. “You’ve just got to hope nothing happens,” said Pearson, the soaring neon sign of the movie theater hovering in the horizon beyond her gaze.
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
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Scott Pasternack stores a handgun Wednesday morning near Dayton Street and East Colfax Avenue. According to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, background checks for gun purchases have spiked in the days since the shooting at the Century Aurora 16 theater. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
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olorado residents appear to be buying more guns in the wake of a theater shooting that left 12 dead and 58 wounded last week. According to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, background checks for gun purchases have spiked in the days since police say James Holmes opened fire on an Aurora movie theater, killing 12 and wounding 58 more. On July 20, in the hours after the rampage at the Century Aurora 16 theater, CBI conducted 1,216 background checks. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more than the previous two Fridays this month, when CBI did an average of 850 checks. On Saturday and Sunday, the trend continued. CBI said it conducted 1,243 checks Saturday and 428 Sunday. The previous Saturdays this month averaged 889 checks, Sundays averaged 309. While background checks spiked in the days after the shootings, gun sales in Colorado were already up this year compared to 2011. Last year CBI ran an average of 710 background checks on Fridays in July, a figure that even before the shootings had jumped almost 20 percent this month. Saturdays and Sundays were also up this year compared to last year. In 2011, the typical Saturday in July saw 705 checks and Sunday saw 222. This year, those figures were up 25 percent and 40 percent, respectively. Dick Rutan, owner of Gunners Den in suburban Arvada, Colo., said requests for concealed-weapon training certification â&#x20AC;&#x153;are off the hook.â&#x20AC;? His four-hour course in gun safety, required for certification for a concealed-weapons permit in Colorado, has drawn double the interest since Friday. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re saying is: They want to have a chance. They want to have the ability to protect them-
selves and their families if they are in a situation like what happened in the movie theater,â&#x20AC;? Rutan said. Day-to-day gun sales frequently fluctuate, but the numbers look strong outside of Colorado, too. Seattleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s home county, King, saw nearly twice as many requests for concealed pistol licenses than the same time frame a year ago. Florida recorded 2,386 background checks on Friday, up 14 percent from the week before. Oregon checks on Friday and Saturday were up 11 percent over the month prior. Four days of checks in California were up 10 percent month-to-month. Locally, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said that because it takes several days for CCW applicants to fill out their applications and for those to be processed, it was too early to say if there had been a spike in requests. During the past decade, June and July have consistently been the slowest months for gun sales, according to FBI data. At Pasternackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pawn Shop on East Colfax Avenue, owner Scott Pasternack said he hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seen much of an increase in gun sales since the theater shootings. More than 90 percent of the gun sales at Pasetrnackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s involve used guns, Pasternack said, and while new shops might be seeing a spike, the pawn shop isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t here at the shop,â&#x20AC;? he said July 24. But, Pasternack said, customers who previously pawned their guns are heading back to the shop to buy their guns back. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They would rather have them on them,â&#x20AC;? he said. None of the customers have said they came back because of the theater shootings, he said. But his guess is that the returning customers and the shootings are connected. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They never came out and said that, but you can put two and two together,â&#x20AC;? he said. And while some might be concerned about protecting themselves in light of what happened at the theater, Pasternack said he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the main reason customers who pawned their guns want them back. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They are worried more about the regulations that might come in,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At least if they have one now, they have it before any of the crazy regulations come in.â&#x20AC;? The AP contributed to this story.
aurorasentinel.com
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
Annou
19
ncing the
MILE HIGH USED CAR CENTER & Sell-A-Bration Scott Pasternack locks up a rifle July 25 near Dayton Street and East Colfax Avenue. A national debate about whether gun control laws are too lax developed shortly after the Aurora theater shootings on July 20. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Under fire?
Ammunition, weapon type has some lawmakers wondering if gun laws are too lenient
BY SARA CASTELLANOS Staff Writer
A
national debate about whether gun control laws are too lax developed shortly after the Aurora theater shootings on July 20. U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, DGolden, told reporters July 22 that Congress should discuss reinstating the assault weapons ban that was passed during former President Bill Clintonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s administration in 1994 and expired in 2004. The assault weapons ban outlawed AR-15s, one of which was allegedly used by the suspected gunman, according to Perlmutterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spokeswoman, Leslie Oliver. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If there are loopholes for (modified assault weapons), we need to close those,â&#x20AC;? she said in an email. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We hope legislation is brought forward.â&#x20AC;? Perlmutter declined to comment for this story. Oliver said he wanted to focus on mourning the victims of the Aurora tragedy. She said Perlmutter has consistently supported the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban and is also a proponent of background checks and prohibiting people with mental illnesses from accessing firearms. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The amount of ammunition the suspect obtained is alarming,â&#x20AC;? Oliver said. Adam Bozzi, communications director for U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, said Congress isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t likely to pass any new gun laws before the November election, but he said the tragedy warrants a discussion among lawmakers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This tragedy is sure to instigate a full-throated debate of our
gun laws,â&#x20AC;? Bozzi said in an email. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That debate and any subsequent review of our gun laws should be informed by a full accounting of the facts related to the shooting, which are still emerging.â&#x20AC;? U.S. Sen. Mark Udallâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office did not respond to questions regarding gun policy. Gov. John Hickenlooper told reporters July 22 that tougher gun laws probably wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have stopped the alleged shooter, James Holmes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This person, if there were no assault weapons available, if there were no this or no that, this guyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to find something, right? Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to know how to create a bomb. Who knows where his mind would have gone? Clearly a very intelligent individual however twisted,â&#x20AC;? Hickenlooper said during an interview with CNN. He said Holmes was â&#x20AC;&#x153;diabolicalâ&#x20AC;? and likely would have gotten his hands on another type of weapon if assault rifles or other weapons were unavailable. Holmes was allegedly carrying an AR-15 assault rifle, a Remington 12-gauge 870 shotgun, and two .40-caliber Glock handguns. A few high-profile lawmakers have petitioned for stricter gun laws in the aftermath of the Aurora shooting, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He told MSNBC on July 23 that both President Barack Obama and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney should explain how theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll address gun violence in the future. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, a supporter of bans on assault weapons in Illinois, said July 23 that he supports a ban on highcapacity ammunition magazines like the one allegedly used in the Colorado shootings. Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters July 21 that the President is committed to enforcing existing gun laws. Romney said July 23 that additional laws would not have stopped the massacre, according to Reuters. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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aurorasentinel.com
aurorasentinel.com
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
the
Victims
1. Supporters of the Aurora community light a candle at a memorial site across the street from Century Aurora 16 theater July 22, near South Sable Boulevard and East Exposition Avenue. A gunman wearing a gas mask and body armor opened fire in a crowded Aurora movie theater during a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” movie killing at least 12 people and injuring 58 others. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
As of July 25, 12 people were confirmed dead after the shooting
Jon Blunk
The portrait bore a simple and straightforward motto, a set of words with all the eloquence and lilt of a military sendoff. “R.I.P. JON — FAIR WIND AND FOLLOWING SEAS,” read the inscription under the printed portrait of Jonathan Blunk, the 2 6 -ye a r- o l d Navy vet who served three tours in the Persian Gulf and North Arabian Sea between 2004 and 2009. Blunk was one of the 12 who died in at the Century Aurora 16 theater on July 20, and his friends, Keith Hoover and Monica Matryba, came to pay tribute the best way they knew how. They were two of the thousands in the crowd for the vigil at the Aurora Municipal Center on July 22, a pair among the masses who came to express their public grief and sorrow. For Hoover, who came decked in the crisp, white folds of his military uniform, it was a tribute to his fellow serviceman and friend. The vigil was also a chance to show support for the community he’s called home since childhood, the city where he went to elementary school, took high school classes and grew from boy to man. “It shouldn’t take a tragedy for the whole community to come together,” said Hoover, who held his girlfriend Matryba tightly at his side. “I was born and raised here, except for six-and-a-half years in the Navy. I still consider myself to be from Aurora.” Blunk had made roots in Aurora, and had built up high hopes for the future, according to family and friends. He’d formed plans to re-enlist in the Navy, with the ultimate goal of becoming a Navy SEAL. “It was guts or glory for him,” said James Gill, a friend of Blunk who recalled Blunk’s life for the Associated Press. “It always surprised me that he didn’t serve in a situation more on the front line. He
wanted to be a first responder on the front line.” Blunk was also a certified firefighter and emergency medical technician, Gill added. He died in the shooting after throwing himself in front of friend Jansen Young and saving her life, she told the NBC “Today” show. He told her to stay down. “That’s something he would do,” Gill said. “If he was going to choose a way to die, that’s how he wanted to go — defending someone from a (person) like that.” Blunk, a 2004 graduate of Hug High School in Reno, Nev., most recently lived in Aurora and worked for a small flooring company. His estranged wife, Chantel Blunk, lives with their 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son in Reno. As thousands paid tribute to Blunk and the rest of the Century victims, Hoover saw a silver lining through his grief and tears. When asked for a simple reaction to the outpouring of support, his response came in a single word. “Peace,” Hoover said.
AJ Boik
Alexander J. Boik, an 18-year-old known as AJ, had a reputation for making people laugh and tried to bring back the mullet hair cut in his freshman year of high school. “He tried to rock the mullet,” said Tyler Ly n c h , 2 0 , w h o p l aye d baseball with Boik on their high school team. Boik, a catcher who played on the team through his junior year, had recently graduated from Gateway High School. He also played in the school orchestra. He was to start classes at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in the fall. Gateway principal Bill Hedges said Boik planned to become an art teacher. A friend, Jordan Crofter, de-
1
scribed Boik as someone who “didn’t hold anything back. He was just his own person.” “He was a ball of joy. He was never sad or depressed. He wanted everybody to be happy,” Crofter said. The family said in a statement that the 18-year-old was loved by all who knew him and was dating “a beautiful young lady” who was with him at the theater and survived. Crofter said Boik and his girlfriend made a “perfect couple,” and people expected them to get married. “If he were still here, he’d try to make everyone have a positive outlook of the situation and not allow it to affect their outlook of life,” Crofter said.
Jesse Childress
Jesse Childress was an Air Force cyber-systems operator based at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora. Air Force Capt. Andrew Williams described the 29 -ye a r- o l d from Thornton as knowledgeable, experienced and respectful. “We’re going to miss him incredibly,” he said. Tech Sgt. Alejandro Sanchez, a co-worker, told the AP that Childress was his good friend, and they were on a bowling team together. “He would help anyone and always was great for our Air Force unit,” he said.
Gordon Cowden
Gordon Cowden loved life and his family, and he had gone to the midnight movie premiere with his two teenage daughters. At 51, he was the oldest of the victims killed in the shooting. He lived in Aurora, but was described as a “true Texas gentleman” in a family statement. He loved the outdoors and owned his own business. “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,” his family said. Cowden’s daughters escaped the shooting unharmed. “Our hearts go out to everyone
21
2. Supporters of the Aurora community sign one of 12 crosses made for the massacre victims at a memorial site across the street from Century 16 theater. Supporters of the massacre victims continue to flock to the memorial site. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel) 3. One of 12 crosses holds one of many memorable message at a memorial site across the street from Century Aurora 16 theater (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
58 WOUNDED 2 was displayed. “He’s amazing. He was just a big teddy bear. Great hugs,” she said. She said Sullivan was such a big movie fan that he took jobs at theaters just to see movies. Fradkin and her husband spent an “excruciating” day trying to find Sullivan before learning of his death, she said. “We’re shocked. We’re numb. We’re sick,” she said. “Our hearts are broken, and we’re crushed.”
that has been harmed by this senseless tragedy,” his family said.
Jessica Ghawi
Jessica Ghawi recently wrote a blog post after surviving a shooting at a Toronto mall, saying it showed her “how fragile life was.” Friends s a y t h e 24-year-old, w h o m ove d to Colorado f ro m Tex a s about a year ago, didn’t let the June 2 shooting in Toronto change her outlook on life as she pursued a career in sports journalism. “I think she even looked at that like, ‘Hey, even after that, I’m able to pursue my dream,’” said Peter Burns, a radio sports show host with Mile High Sports Radio in Denver, where Ghawi recently interned. That shooting left two dead and several injured. Her blog post last month said: “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.”
John Larimer
John Larimer was a Navy sailor based at Buckley Air Force Base, where he was a cryptologic technician — a job that the Navy says o n i ts we b site should be filled by someone with “exceptionally good character, above-average writing and speaking skills, a good memory, curiosity and resourcefulness.” Those who knew him described him in similar terms. Larimer, 27, who grew up in the Chicago suburb of Crystal Lake,
3 Ill., joined the service just over a year ago, the Navy said. “A valued member of our Navy team, he will be missed by all who knew him. My heart goes out to John’s family, friends and loved ones, as well as to all the victims of this horrible tragedy,” said Cmdr. Jeffrey Jakuboski, his commanding officer, in a written statement.
Matt McQuinn
As the attack in the movie theater unfolded, Matt McQuinn dove in front of his girlfriend and her older brother to shield them from the gunfire. He died protecting them, said Rob Scott, an Ohio attorney retained by the families of McQuinn and his girlfriend, Sam a n t h a Yowler. Scott confirmed M c Q u i n n ’s death to The Associated Press. He was 27. “As both families mourn the loss of Matt, they ask for everyone to give them distance and time,” Scott said in a statement. “Again, the families thank everyone for their love, prayers and ask that we respect their families’ wishes.” Yowler was recovering from surgery after she was shot in the knee at
the theater. Her 32-year-old brother, Nick Yowler, who also shielded his sister, was not injured. McQuinn and Yowler moved to Colorado from Ohio last fall. A Colorado co-worker told the Springfield News-Sun that McQuinn and Samantha Yowler worked with her at Target.
Alex Sullivan
Alex Sullivan’s family called him “their real-life super hero,” and he was at “The Dark Knight Rises” premiere celebrating his 27th birthday and his first wedding anniversary. “Alex was a gentle giant, known and loved by so many. He always had a glowing smile on his face and he made friends with everyone. Alex enjoyed all sorts of movies, was an avid comic book geek and loved the New York Mets,” the family said in a statement. Sullivan had a warm smile and an innocence that endeared him to people, said Shelly Fradkin, whose son Brian was good friends with Sullivan. She sat next to a makeshift memorial Friday near the theater where an oversized birthday card with a photo of a smiling Sullivan
Veronica Moser-Sullivan
The youngest of the victims killed in the attack was Veronica Moser-Sullivan. She had just learned to swim, and at age 6, she was a “great little girl, excited about life,” her great-aunt Annie Dalton said. “She should be at 6 years old.” Her mother, Ashley Moser, remains hospitalized with gunshot wounds to her neck and abdomen. She has been in and out of consciousness and asking for her daughter during moments of lucidity. “Nobody can tell her about it,” Dalton said. “She is in critical condition, but all she’s asking about is her daughter.”
Micayla Medek
Micayla Medek loved a night out with her friends, and she was with a group of about 10 of them at the “Dark Knight Rises” premiere. Medek was “Cayla” to her family and friends. S h e wa s 23 years old and juggling classes at Aurora Community College with a job at a Subway sandwich
shop, said her aunt Jenny Zakovich, 57, of South Milwaukee, Wis. “She didn’t know what she wanted to do,” Zakovich said. “I think her plans were to finish community college and go into a better paying job — probably in the computer field.” An ardent Green Bay Packers fan, Medek, who lived in Westminster, would plan her schedule around watching Packers games with her sister and father. “It was probably just like going to church every Sunday,” Zakovich said. “She was one who wouldn’t hurt anybody. She was a very loving person. This shouldn’t have happened to somebody like her.”
Alexander Teves
Whether he was running through obstacle courses at a Tough Mudder competition or interning at a school for students with special needs, Alexander C. Teves saw life as an adventure. “Alex will be remembered as an intelligent young man with a passion for living life to the fullest,” said Mary Gomez, a counseling psychology professor at the University of Denver and one of Teves’ graduate advisers. Gomez said Teves was a compassionate, positive person. “His top priority was his relationships. His loyalty is admirable and he always put his friends first,” Gomez said. The 24-year-old Phoenix native earned a master’s degree in counseling psychology in June. He was a lovable person who made friends quickly and had a lot of them, said his grandfather, Carlo Iacovelli of Barnegat, N.J. As a boy, Teves moved from New Jersey to Phoenix with his parents. Iacovelli and his wife lived there during winters and spent a lot of time with him. “He was what you might call an ideal grandson,” Iacovelli said. “He
was a fun guy. He loved to eat.” Teves was planning to become a psychiatrist, his grandfather said. “He had a lot to look forward to,” Iacovelli said.
Rebecca Wingo While officiating the wedding ceremony for her two friends in 2010, Rebecca Wingo shed tears of happiness. She had played a role in the two meeting each other, having taken her pal Cody Shafer out on the town the night he would meet his partner, Marq. So when the two men planned their nuptials, they knew Wingo had to be a part of it. “That I’ll have forever,” he said. “Her laughter and then breaking down in the middle of our ceremony and crying.” Shafer and Wingo met in 2009 in an accounting class at a community college. Both single, recently out of the Air Force and new to town, they became fast friends. “I don’t think Rebecca ever met a stranger,” Shafer said. “Her smile would just light up a room.”
4. Candles line a memorial site across the street from Century 16 theater July 21 near South Sable Wingo had started a job several months ago as a customer relations representative at a mobile medical imaging company. Shafer said the 32-year-old was a hard-working single mother, balancing raising her two daughters with school and work. “If she put her mind to something she was going to get it done,” he said. “What an example she set for her little girls.” Staff reporter Adam Goldstein and Associated Press writers Thomas Peipert and Ivan Moreno in Aurora; Dan Elliott and Matt Volz in Denver; Martin Griffith in Reno, Nev.; Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio; Christopher Sherman in McAllen, Texas; and Michelle Price and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report.
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Victims for information on the wounded see p 22
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JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
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Victims
1. Supporters of the Aurora community light a candle at a memorial site across the street from Century Aurora 16 theater July 22, near South Sable Boulevard and East Exposition Avenue. A gunman wearing a gas mask and body armor opened fire in a crowded Aurora movie theater during a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” movie killing at least 12 people and injuring 58 others. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
As of July 25, 12 people were confirmed dead after the shooting
Jon Blunk
The portrait bore a simple and straightforward motto, a set of words with all the eloquence and lilt of a military sendoff. “R.I.P. JON — FAIR WIND AND FOLLOWING SEAS,” read the inscription under the printed portrait of Jonathan Blunk, the 2 6 -ye a r- o l d Navy vet who served three tours in the Persian Gulf and North Arabian Sea between 2004 and 2009. Blunk was one of the 12 who died in at the Century Aurora 16 theater on July 20, and his friends, Keith Hoover and Monica Matryba, came to pay tribute the best way they knew how. They were two of the thousands in the crowd for the vigil at the Aurora Municipal Center on July 22, a pair among the masses who came to express their public grief and sorrow. For Hoover, who came decked in the crisp, white folds of his military uniform, it was a tribute to his fellow serviceman and friend. The vigil was also a chance to show support for the community he’s called home since childhood, the city where he went to elementary school, took high school classes and grew from boy to man. “It shouldn’t take a tragedy for the whole community to come together,” said Hoover, who held his girlfriend Matryba tightly at his side. “I was born and raised here, except for six-and-a-half years in the Navy. I still consider myself to be from Aurora.” Blunk had made roots in Aurora, and had built up high hopes for the future, according to family and friends. He’d formed plans to re-enlist in the Navy, with the ultimate goal of becoming a Navy SEAL. “It was guts or glory for him,” said James Gill, a friend of Blunk who recalled Blunk’s life for the Associated Press. “It always surprised me that he didn’t serve in a situation more on the front line. He
wanted to be a first responder on the front line.” Blunk was also a certified firefighter and emergency medical technician, Gill added. He died in the shooting after throwing himself in front of friend Jansen Young and saving her life, she told the NBC “Today” show. He told her to stay down. “That’s something he would do,” Gill said. “If he was going to choose a way to die, that’s how he wanted to go — defending someone from a (person) like that.” Blunk, a 2004 graduate of Hug High School in Reno, Nev., most recently lived in Aurora and worked for a small flooring company. His estranged wife, Chantel Blunk, lives with their 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son in Reno. As thousands paid tribute to Blunk and the rest of the Century victims, Hoover saw a silver lining through his grief and tears. When asked for a simple reaction to the outpouring of support, his response came in a single word. “Peace,” Hoover said.
AJ Boik
Alexander J. Boik, an 18-year-old known as AJ, had a reputation for making people laugh and tried to bring back the mullet hair cut in his freshman year of high school. “He tried to rock the mullet,” said Tyler Ly n c h , 2 0 , w h o p l aye d baseball with Boik on their high school team. Boik, a catcher who played on the team through his junior year, had recently graduated from Gateway High School. He also played in the school orchestra. He was to start classes at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in the fall. Gateway principal Bill Hedges said Boik planned to become an art teacher. A friend, Jordan Crofter, de-
1
scribed Boik as someone who “didn’t hold anything back. He was just his own person.” “He was a ball of joy. He was never sad or depressed. He wanted everybody to be happy,” Crofter said. The family said in a statement that the 18-year-old was loved by all who knew him and was dating “a beautiful young lady” who was with him at the theater and survived. Crofter said Boik and his girlfriend made a “perfect couple,” and people expected them to get married. “If he were still here, he’d try to make everyone have a positive outlook of the situation and not allow it to affect their outlook of life,” Crofter said.
Jesse Childress
Jesse Childress was an Air Force cyber-systems operator based at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora. Air Force Capt. Andrew Williams described the 29 -ye a r- o l d from Thornton as knowledgeable, experienced and respectful. “We’re going to miss him incredibly,” he said. Tech Sgt. Alejandro Sanchez, a co-worker, told the AP that Childress was his good friend, and they were on a bowling team together. “He would help anyone and always was great for our Air Force unit,” he said.
Gordon Cowden
Gordon Cowden loved life and his family, and he had gone to the midnight movie premiere with his two teenage daughters. At 51, he was the oldest of the victims killed in the shooting. He lived in Aurora, but was described as a “true Texas gentleman” in a family statement. He loved the outdoors and owned his own business. “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,” his family said. Cowden’s daughters escaped the shooting unharmed. “Our hearts go out to everyone
21
2. Supporters of the Aurora community sign one of 12 crosses made for the massacre victims at a memorial site across the street from Century 16 theater. Supporters of the massacre victims continue to flock to the memorial site. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel) 3. One of 12 crosses holds one of many memorable message at a memorial site across the street from Century Aurora 16 theater (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
58 WOUNDED 2 was displayed. “He’s amazing. He was just a big teddy bear. Great hugs,” she said. She said Sullivan was such a big movie fan that he took jobs at theaters just to see movies. Fradkin and her husband spent an “excruciating” day trying to find Sullivan before learning of his death, she said. “We’re shocked. We’re numb. We’re sick,” she said. “Our hearts are broken, and we’re crushed.”
that has been harmed by this senseless tragedy,” his family said.
Jessica Ghawi
Jessica Ghawi recently wrote a blog post after surviving a shooting at a Toronto mall, saying it showed her “how fragile life was.” Friends s a y t h e 24-year-old, w h o m ove d to Colorado f ro m Tex a s about a year ago, didn’t let the June 2 shooting in Toronto change her outlook on life as she pursued a career in sports journalism. “I think she even looked at that like, ‘Hey, even after that, I’m able to pursue my dream,’” said Peter Burns, a radio sports show host with Mile High Sports Radio in Denver, where Ghawi recently interned. That shooting left two dead and several injured. Her blog post last month said: “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.”
John Larimer
John Larimer was a Navy sailor based at Buckley Air Force Base, where he was a cryptologic technician — a job that the Navy says o n i ts we b site should be filled by someone with “exceptionally good character, above-average writing and speaking skills, a good memory, curiosity and resourcefulness.” Those who knew him described him in similar terms. Larimer, 27, who grew up in the Chicago suburb of Crystal Lake,
3 Ill., joined the service just over a year ago, the Navy said. “A valued member of our Navy team, he will be missed by all who knew him. My heart goes out to John’s family, friends and loved ones, as well as to all the victims of this horrible tragedy,” said Cmdr. Jeffrey Jakuboski, his commanding officer, in a written statement.
Matt McQuinn
As the attack in the movie theater unfolded, Matt McQuinn dove in front of his girlfriend and her older brother to shield them from the gunfire. He died protecting them, said Rob Scott, an Ohio attorney retained by the families of McQuinn and his girlfriend, Sam a n t h a Yowler. Scott confirmed M c Q u i n n ’s death to The Associated Press. He was 27. “As both families mourn the loss of Matt, they ask for everyone to give them distance and time,” Scott said in a statement. “Again, the families thank everyone for their love, prayers and ask that we respect their families’ wishes.” Yowler was recovering from surgery after she was shot in the knee at
the theater. Her 32-year-old brother, Nick Yowler, who also shielded his sister, was not injured. McQuinn and Yowler moved to Colorado from Ohio last fall. A Colorado co-worker told the Springfield News-Sun that McQuinn and Samantha Yowler worked with her at Target.
Alex Sullivan
Alex Sullivan’s family called him “their real-life super hero,” and he was at “The Dark Knight Rises” premiere celebrating his 27th birthday and his first wedding anniversary. “Alex was a gentle giant, known and loved by so many. He always had a glowing smile on his face and he made friends with everyone. Alex enjoyed all sorts of movies, was an avid comic book geek and loved the New York Mets,” the family said in a statement. Sullivan had a warm smile and an innocence that endeared him to people, said Shelly Fradkin, whose son Brian was good friends with Sullivan. She sat next to a makeshift memorial Friday near the theater where an oversized birthday card with a photo of a smiling Sullivan
Veronica Moser-Sullivan
The youngest of the victims killed in the attack was Veronica Moser-Sullivan. She had just learned to swim, and at age 6, she was a “great little girl, excited about life,” her great-aunt Annie Dalton said. “She should be at 6 years old.” Her mother, Ashley Moser, remains hospitalized with gunshot wounds to her neck and abdomen. She has been in and out of consciousness and asking for her daughter during moments of lucidity. “Nobody can tell her about it,” Dalton said. “She is in critical condition, but all she’s asking about is her daughter.”
Micayla Medek
Micayla Medek loved a night out with her friends, and she was with a group of about 10 of them at the “Dark Knight Rises” premiere. Medek was “Cayla” to her family and friends. S h e wa s 23 years old and juggling classes at Aurora Community College with a job at a Subway sandwich
shop, said her aunt Jenny Zakovich, 57, of South Milwaukee, Wis. “She didn’t know what she wanted to do,” Zakovich said. “I think her plans were to finish community college and go into a better paying job — probably in the computer field.” An ardent Green Bay Packers fan, Medek, who lived in Westminster, would plan her schedule around watching Packers games with her sister and father. “It was probably just like going to church every Sunday,” Zakovich said. “She was one who wouldn’t hurt anybody. She was a very loving person. This shouldn’t have happened to somebody like her.”
Alexander Teves
Whether he was running through obstacle courses at a Tough Mudder competition or interning at a school for students with special needs, Alexander C. Teves saw life as an adventure. “Alex will be remembered as an intelligent young man with a passion for living life to the fullest,” said Mary Gomez, a counseling psychology professor at the University of Denver and one of Teves’ graduate advisers. Gomez said Teves was a compassionate, positive person. “His top priority was his relationships. His loyalty is admirable and he always put his friends first,” Gomez said. The 24-year-old Phoenix native earned a master’s degree in counseling psychology in June. He was a lovable person who made friends quickly and had a lot of them, said his grandfather, Carlo Iacovelli of Barnegat, N.J. As a boy, Teves moved from New Jersey to Phoenix with his parents. Iacovelli and his wife lived there during winters and spent a lot of time with him. “He was what you might call an ideal grandson,” Iacovelli said. “He
was a fun guy. He loved to eat.” Teves was planning to become a psychiatrist, his grandfather said. “He had a lot to look forward to,” Iacovelli said.
Rebecca Wingo While officiating the wedding ceremony for her two friends in 2010, Rebecca Wingo shed tears of happiness. She had played a role in the two meeting each other, having taken her pal Cody Shafer out on the town the night he would meet his partner, Marq. So when the two men planned their nuptials, they knew Wingo had to be a part of it. “That I’ll have forever,” he said. “Her laughter and then breaking down in the middle of our ceremony and crying.” Shafer and Wingo met in 2009 in an accounting class at a community college. Both single, recently out of the Air Force and new to town, they became fast friends. “I don’t think Rebecca ever met a stranger,” Shafer said. “Her smile would just light up a room.”
4. Candles line a memorial site across the street from Century 16 theater July 21 near South Sable Wingo had started a job several months ago as a customer relations representative at a mobile medical imaging company. Shafer said the 32-year-old was a hard-working single mother, balancing raising her two daughters with school and work. “If she put her mind to something she was going to get it done,” he said. “What an example she set for her little girls.” Staff reporter Adam Goldstein and Associated Press writers Thomas Peipert and Ivan Moreno in Aurora; Dan Elliott and Matt Volz in Denver; Martin Griffith in Reno, Nev.; Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio; Christopher Sherman in McAllen, Texas; and Michelle Price and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report.
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Victims for information on the wounded see p 22
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
the
Victims As of July 25, 58 were confirmed wounded.
Below are names confirmed by the Aurora Sentinel
F
ifty-eight people were wounded in the July 20 Aurora theater shootings. Many of their names have not yet been released. Below are the names and biographies of the victims who have been confirmed by the Aurora Sentinel.
Business College, moved to Denver in February. During the attack, Fry was hit in the face and legs with dozens of pieces of shrapnel, and she’s currently undergoing physical therapy.
Zack Golditch, 17
Anderson is a native of Colorado and was shot four times with shotgun pellets, one of which went through her brain. Anderson graduated from the University of the Pacific in May and has plans to attend the University of Maryland School of Music. She graduated from the University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music in May.
Golditch, a junior at Gateway High School, is an active athlete who participated in track and field and played linebacker for the Gateway football team. According to a Facebook friend survey, Golditch’s favorite class in high school is weightlifting and his favorite foods are Cheerios, Coke, chocolate and strawberry milkshakes. Golditch suffered from a neck wound.
Stephen Barton, 22
Gage Hankins, 18
Petra Anderson, 22
Barton was shot in the neck. He is originally from Southbury, Conn., and was six weeks into a cross-country bicycle trip before the shooting occurred. Barton graduated recently from Syracuse University, where he was a triple major in international relations, economics and Russian language. He studied in Spain and helped build Habitat for Humanity houses in New Orleans.
Christina Blache, 27
Blache, who served in the U.S. Air Force, suffered a single bullet wound that went through her right thigh and lodged in her left kneecap. She was celebrating the 27th birthday of Alex Sullivan, an employee of the local Red Robin restaurant who was one of the 12 killed during the shooting.
Jarell Brooks, 19
Brooks attended Overland High School and is from Commerce City, where his father is the pastor at the New Life Worship Center. He suffered a gunshot wound to the leg, but crawled on top of another wounded victim, Patricia Legarreta, who was trying to keep herself and her two children safe.
Louis Duran, 18
Duran, an Eaglecrest High School graduate who plans to attend Western State College of Colorado, is currently recovering from three shotgun pellets in his head (none of which penetrated his skull), ten pellets in his shoulder, a few in his forearm and one in his hand. Duran attended the film after a shift at a local restaurant. He enjoys playing basketball.
Jacci Fry, 23
Fry, a native of Stanhope, N.J., who attended Lenape Valley Regional High School and Dover
Hankins, an 18-year-old Ohio resident, was shot in the arm and expected to fully recover. Hankins was in an adjacent auditorium during the shooting in theater No. 9. He was hit by flying shrapnel and suffered a two-inch wound. Hankins, who was visiting Aurora with his family, graduated from Riverdale High School in Ohio and was on the track team. He plans to study at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio.
Patricia Legarreta, 24
Legarreta, who sustained leg wounds in the attack, went to the theater with her fiancée, her 4-year-old daughter and 4-month old baby. The young couple recently relocated to Denver after her fiancée graduated from the University of New Mexico pharmacy school and took a job at a local Walmart pharmacy. Legarreta was treated for shrapnel wounds at University of Colorado Hospital from her ankle to the upper thigh.
Brent Lowek, 27
Lowek, a native of Bulverde, Texas, suffered gunshot wounds during the attaack. Lowek was at the movie with his friend Jessica Ghawi, who sustained a mortal wound. According to his Facebook page, Lowek was a limo driver at First Class Limo and Sedan Service, and he studied fire science and aeronautical engineering in Texas.
Ryan Lumba, 17
Lumba, a recent graduate of Eaglecrest High School, suffered bullet wounds to the stomach that required two surgeries. Following his graduation from Eaglecrest, Lumba had made plans to attend Western State College of Colorado.
Caleb Medley
Medley, an aspiring stand-up comic, suffered gunshot wounds to the face and remains in critical condition at University of Colorado Hospital. Medley’s wife, Katie, was with him in the theater but was uninjured. She gave birth to Medley’s son this week at UCH. Medley and his wife recently moved to the Denver metro area from Florence. Friends have set up a fundraising site for Medley’s bills at calebmedley.com/help.
Ashley Moser, 25
Moser, an Aurora resident, suffered gunshot wounds to the throat and abdomen. Moser is the mother of Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6, who died after sustaining several gunshot wounds. According to reports, Ashley Moser regained consciousness late on Saturday evening. Moser and her family moved to Aurora less than eight weeks ago. She was enrolled in a training program to become a licensed practical nurse.
Bonnie Kate Pourciau, 18
Pourciau, a resident of Baton Rouge, La., suffered a gunshot wound to the knee. Pourciau was vacationing in Colorado with a church group that was driving to Baton Rouge from Seattle when they decided to stop in Aurora to see the midnight showing.
Chris Rapoza, 28
Rapoza, who suffered a gunshot wound in the back, is the bass player in the Brooklyn-based band called “The Toothaches,” described as an American dancepunk band. A recent graduate of Syracuse University, Rapoza posted graphic images of his gunshot wounds online.
Carey Rottman, 27
Rottman sustained gunshot wounds to the left thigh. A native of Mequon, Wisconsin, Rottman works at Coors distributing company and studied at Winona State University in Minnesota. Rottman is a former college football player.
Anggiat Situmeang, 44
A native of Jakarta, Indonesia, Situmeang underwent minor eye surgery following the attack. His wife Rita Paulina and their son were also injured. The couple immigrated from Jakarta ten years ago and were working at the Life Care Center Nursing Home.
Lucas Smith, 26
Smith, an Aurora resident, was shot in the knee and hip. None of the bullets hit any major arteries or nerves, and he was released from the hospital twelve hours after the shooting. Lucas and his wife, Heather Smith, had recently
moved to Aurora from Tennessee and had visited the Century Aurora 16 Theater six times before the night of the shooting.
Marcus Weaver, 41
Weaver sustained two gunshot wounds to the shoulder. An Aurora resident and a manager at a home improvement store, Weaver attended the film with Rebecca Wingo, who died from her injuries.
Samantha Yowler
Yowler sustained gunshot wounds in the leg. Her boyriend, deceased victim Matt McQuinn, dove in front of Yowler and her older brother to shield them from the gunfire. Yowler moved to Colorado from Ohio last fall. She was a resident of St. Paris, Ohio. Yowler is a 2004 graduate of Graham High School, where she was in the National Honor Society. She attended Ohio State University until 2007.
Allie Young, 19
Young sustained gunshot injuries to the neck and liver. She underwent surgery at the University of Colorado Hospital, where doctors discovered about 32 bullet fragments embedded throughout her back. Allie went to see the midnight showing of the latest Batman movie with her best friend, Stephanie Davies. The friends planned to embark on a road trip to Kansas State University the next day. Young’s father encouraged President Obama to visit her during his stay at University of Colorado Hospital. She and her best friend spoke with the President who they described as “charming” and “very genuine.”
Josh Nowlan, 31
Nowlan suffered gunshot wounds in his left calf and right arm during the attack. Nowlan threw himself on top of his friends, Brandon and Denise Axelrod, after the shooting started. In an interview with CNN, he expressed his gratitude to be alive, but he also thinks about the others who “weren’t as lucky.” Nowlan is a twice-deployed navy veteran and has two sons, a 9-year old and a 7-year old.
Pierce O’Farrill, 28
Suffered multiple gunshot wounds. He is a vehicle donation coordinator at Denver Rescue Mission, and he studied broadcasting at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. He is also a DJ and producer for Studio 1430 KEZW on Monday through Friday nights. He graduated from Conifer High School and was previously a Sales and Leasing Consultant at Infiniti of Denver.
Prodeo Et Patria, 14
Patria, the 14-year-old son of Anggiat Situmeang and Rita Paulina, suffered gunshot wound to the lower back and has been released, according to multiple sources.
Rita Paulina, 44
Paulina suffered gunshot wounds to the hand and leg. The wife of Anggiat Situmeang, Paulina remained in stable condition at Denver Health Medical Center after surgeries.
A Gateway High School cap dons a cross for Alexander Boik at a memorial site across the street from Century Aurora 16 theater July 22, near South Sable Boulevard and East Exposition Avenue. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
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This handout photo taken July 22, 2012, provided by the White House, shows President Barack Obama hugging Stephanie Davies, who helped keep her friend, Allie Young, left, alive after she was shot during the movie theater shootings, in Aurora. (AP Photo/Pete Souza, White House)
Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s visit draws details of victims, survivors BY BRANDON JOHANSSON Staff Writer
P
resident Barack Obama touched down in Aurora and met with shooting victims and their families for almost three hours before addressing the press from the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. His visit came as Aurora reeled from one of the worst mass shootings in the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history. In his conversations with the families, Obama said they spoke mostly about memories of the people killed. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I also had the chance to give folks some hugs, to shed some tears but also to share some laughs as they remembered the wonderful lives that these men and women represented,â&#x20AC;? he said. During his address, Obama dramatically told the story of Allie Young, 19, who was shot in the neck, and her friend Stephanie Davies, whose quick thinking likely saved Youngâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life. The president said after Young was shot, Davies pulled her out of harmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s way and held her fingers to her friendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neck to stop the bleeding. Holding his fingers to his neck the way Davies did for Young, Obama said Young told Davies to flee, but she refused, staying with her friend until the shooting stopped. Then, with the help of a few others, she carried Young two parking lots away to an ambulance. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Because of Stephanieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s timely actions, I just had a conversation with Allie downstairs and she is gonna be fine,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how many people at any age would have the presence of mind that Stephanie did or the courage that Allie showed.â&#x20AC;? Obama, flanked by Colorado Sen. Mark Udall, Gov. John Hickenlooper, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates, Congressman Ed Perlmutter and Colorado Sen. Michael
Bennet, spoke for about 10 minutes near the hospital pharmacy where he thanked state and local officials who responded to the tragedy â&#x20AC;&#x153;magnificently.â&#x20AC;? Obama said Hickenlooper was an extraordinary example of strength in the face of the shootings and the recent wildfires that battered much of the state. He also commended Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan and Oates. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Chief Oates has been dealing with as difficult a set of circumstances as any law enforcement official deals with and he and his officers have done everything right, by the book, with great courage and great determination,â&#x20AC;? Obama said. Obama also quoted a scripture from the book of Revelation that said, in part, God â&#x20AC;&#x153;will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more.â&#x20AC;? He said he visited the families of victims â&#x20AC;&#x153;not so much as president as I do as a father and as a husband.â&#x20AC;? The attacks resonate, Obama said, because people can easily imagine themselves in the familiesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; shoes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We can all understand what it would be like to have someone that we love taken from us in this fashion,â&#x20AC;? he said. In his conversations with the families at the hospital, Obama said they spoke mostly about memories of the people killed. The hospital is about five miles from the Century Aurora 16 theater where police say 24-year-old James Holmes shot 70 people, killing 12, during a midnight showing of â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Dark Knight Rises.â&#x20AC;? The hospital is on the same campus as the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where Holmes, who was arrested minutes after the shooting, studied neuroscience until he left the school this year. The campus sits just a block away from Holmesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; booby-trapped apartment on Paris Street. Hospital spokeswoman Erika Matich said Sunday that 12 people
were treated and released, one died and 10 remain hospitalized. Matich said seven of those patients are in critical condition and three are in good condition. Finding words in a situation like this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t easy, Obama later told the press. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I confessed to them that words are always inadequate in these situations, but that my main task was to serve as a representative for the entire country and to let them know we are thinking about them at this moment and will continue to think about them each and every day,â&#x20AC;? he said. He also said the attention the accused shooter is getting will soon fade.
We can all understand what it would be like to have someone that we love taken from us in this fashion.â&#x20AC;? PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA â&#x20AC;&#x153;And in the end after he has felt the full force of our justice system, what will be remembered are the good people who were impacted by this tragedy,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It reminds you that even in the darkest of days, life continues and people are strong and people bounce back and people are resilient.â&#x20AC;? The president encouraged people to reflect on the actions of Young and Davies. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To the community of Aurora, the entire country is thinking of you,â&#x20AC;? he said. He also said he hopes people reflect on violent acts like those in Aurora. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hopefully we all reflect on how we can do something about some of the senseless violence that ends up marring this wonderful country,â&#x20AC;? he said.
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
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7/23/12 10:42 AM
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
Thousands gather to mourn victims BY SARA CASTELLANOS Staff Writer
M
any locals will always remember where they were at the time of the movie theater massacre on July 20, but Lindsey Revier will always remember where she was not. Revier was supposed to be at the midnight showing of â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Dark Knight Rises,â&#x20AC;? in theater nine, where a friend of hers was killed. Instead, she was summoned away by another friend in Broomfield who was going through a personal crisis. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Come to find out, it was a blessing in disguise,â&#x20AC;? said Revier. She was one of about 10,000 people who attended an Aurora prayer vigil on July 22 at the Aurora Municipal Center for the victims of the Century 16 Aurora theater shootings that left 12 people dead and 58 wounded. The event was therapeutic for her. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so fulfilling to see so many other people who are not only here to rejoice but theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re here because their hearts are aching, too,â&#x20AC;? she said. Religious leaders and lawmakers came to the vigil to speak to a crowd that included victims and victimsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; families. The speakers refused to say the alleged shooterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
name as they talked about the importance of healing and honoring the memories of those killed in the massacre. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not this senseless act of violence that makes us a community,â&#x20AC;? Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan told the crowd. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the lives and acts of our heroes, and numerous acts of kindness and care for our neighbors that defines who we are.â&#x20AC;? Hogan said hearts might be broken, but the community itself is not. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We will take this experience and use it to strengthen our commitment to each other,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We will reclaim our city in the name of goodness, kindness and compassion.â&#x20AC;? Gov. John Hickenlooper spoke about survivors that he met, who in some cases endangered their lives to save others. Hickenlooper then paid tribute to those who sacrificed their lives to save others during the shooting. He said July 20 should be a day to remember the victims, not the act of violence. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To the victimsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; families, we are more sorry than words can express,â&#x20AC;? Hickenlooper said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We, like you, struggle to find meaning in an act that defies any type of understanding.â&#x20AC;? Aurora Congressmen Mike Coffman and Ed Perlmutter, several area mayors, and U.S. Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet
Friends and family members of the massacre victims mourn at a prayer vigil July 22 at the Aurora Municipal Center. The Aurora community came together for a prayer vigil to honor the victims of the massacre. (Marla R. Keown/ Aurora Sentinel) For more photos from this event visit aurorasentinel. com or scan the QR code with your smartphone
also attended the event. People came to the vigil in legions. Many of them wore bright shirts and ribbons, and carried brightly-colored balloons. They filled every crevice of the Great Lawn in front of the city building, spilling over to nearby parking lots and sidewalks. Many people said they came to stand with their neighbors even
though they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know anyone involved in the shootings. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I came here to feel the unity of the people here at this vigil, and support for the victims and their families,â&#x20AC;? said Aurora resident Dave Mathews. Quiera Smith, who lives in Englewood, said she came to pay tribute to the victimsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lives, rather than their deaths. She said she was still shaken by the massacre. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s horrible that we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel safe even going to the movies and we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take our children to the movies to enjoy the cinema because now we have to worry about something like this happening,â&#x20AC;? she said.
Her 12-year-old daughter, Christiana, said she was sad. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to feel like youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to have to walk into sort of a war zone just to go to the movie theater,â&#x20AC;? she said. But Smith said itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important that people start the healing process. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want this to stop anybodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives because I think every time something like this happens people put their lives on hold,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think we should do that anymore because we never know when it could be our last day.â&#x20AC;? Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.
In memory of... Jonathan T. Blunk Alexander J. Boik Jesse E. Childress
the 12 deceased victims of the tragic Century 16 Aurora movie theater shooting, LuBoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will hold a special commemorative memorial event on August 6, 7 & 8 from 5 PM - 9 PM each day for 12 combined hours. During this memorial event, LuBoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will donate 50% of all profits to COVA (Colorado Organization for Victims Assistance).
Gordon W. Cowden Jessica N. Ghawi John T. Larimer Micayla C. Medek
LuBoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prays, grieves and feels for all the victims who lost their lives, those who are physically and emotionally hurt, and all their families and friends, which include some of our own.
Matthew McQuinn Veronica Moser-Sullivan Alex M. Sullivan Alexander C. Teves Rebecca Ann Wingo
LuBoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will also be accepting donations for COVA during the event. .&& '!(. / $& &! )(&$(!
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aurorasentinel.com
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
29
From the Davidson Motors Family to all the families touched by this tragedy, our deepest heartfelt sympathies. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
In this July 23, 2012 file photo, James Holmes, accused of killing 12 people in a July 20 shooting rampage in an Aurora movie theater, appears in Arapahoe County District Court with defense attorney Tamara Brady in Centennial. (AP Photo/ RJ Sangosti, Pool)
First appearance sparks more questions BY BRANDON JOHANSSON Staff Writer
A
urora theater shooting suspect James Holmes raised even more questions when he appeared in court July 23, looking wide-eyed and dazed, his hair dyed bright orange in an uncombed tangle atop his head. Holmes, 24, appeared before Chief Judge William Sylvester for only about 15 minutes and said nothing, appearing to some observers to be drugged and unsure of what was going on. When he walked into the room, Holmesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; mismatch of colors were striking â&#x20AC;&#x201D; bright orange hair, a maroon Arapahoe County Jail top, scarlet pants that only reached the top of his ankles and orange, jailissued sandals. Several onlookers had been anxious to see whether Holmesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hair was in fact dyed. Last week, New York Police Chief Raymond Kelly told a reporter that Aurora police informed him the shooter dyed his hair and called himself the Joker after the shooting during a midnight screening of the newest Batman movie. Aurora police have not confirmed the report. At the July 20 hearing, Holmes sat about 30 feet away from the defense table in the jury box rather than sit with his six-person defense team. To his left was Public Defender Tamara Brady, and one of eight armed sheriff deputies in the courtroom stood within an armâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reach. The hearing was brief and largely full of housekeeping matters for the defense and prosecution. Judge Sylvester advised Holmes of his constitutional rights and scheduled a hearing for July 30 at which Holmes will be formally advised of the charges against him. Public Defender Daniel King, Holmesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lead defense attorney, asked that an investigator for the defense have access to not only the theater, but also Holmesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; apartment on Paris Street, where police say Holmes set several booby traps before the shootings. Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Pearson, the lead prosecutor on the case, said the defense
can have access to the apartment once police deem it to be safe. Several of the victimsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; relatives were in the courtroom for the July 20 hearing, surrounded by dozens of victim advocates from around the metro area. One middle-aged man seated at the front of the gallery stared at Holmes the entire hearing, never looking away once Holmes entered the room. A young woman in dark sunglasses shook her head and wiped away tears before the hearing started, at one point saying quietly, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe this.â&#x20AC;? The same woman broke down sobbing as she walked through metal detectors at the courthouse entrance. After the hearing, District Attorney Carol Chambers said the decision about whether Holmes will face the death penalty if convicted wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be made until after prosecutors have discussed the decision with the victims and their families. Prosecutors said they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know if he was being medicated. His demeanor, however, angered victimsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; relatives. Tom Teves, whose son, Alex, was killed in the attack, watched Holmes intently throughout the roughly 12-minute hearing, sizing up the 24-year-old former doctoral student. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I saw the coward in court today and Alex could have wiped the floor with him without breaking a sweat,â&#x20AC;? Teves said. His son, a physical therapist, dove to protect his girlfriend during â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Dark Knight Risesâ&#x20AC;? shooting. The court appearance gave millions the chance to scrutinize Holmesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; every movement, every flutter of his heavy eyelids, and form their opinions. Some of the victimsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; families, who had traveled to Colorado to attend the hearing, planned to return home to plan funerals. Chambers said her office would keep them informed through various methods, including the news media, while following the judgeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s order. â&#x20AC;&#x153;At this point everyone is interested in a fair trial with a just outcome for everybody involved,â&#x20AC;? she said. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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aurorasentinel.com
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
BY SARA CASTELLANOS Staff Writer
A
urora’s light-rail project is officially on track to be built by late 2015. Regional Transportation District board members unanimously voted July 24 to award the design-build contract for the rest of the Interstate 225 FasTracks project to Kiewit Infrastructure Co. The transportation project will connect Aurora to all parts of the city including Downtown Denver and Denver International Airport, Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan said. “It really creates the new main street for Aurora,” Hogan said. The announcement gave city officials reason to rejoice after a grim past few days in Aurora, he said, referring to a stunning mass shooting at Aurora’s Century Aurora 16 theater on July 20. He and others said good news is welcome. “It is fantastic. Obviously it comes at a difficult time, but this is the kind of thing that is really a gamechanger for Aurora,” Hogan said. Kiewit estimates that the design-build proposal for the entire I-225 light-rail line will cost about $350 million. The project will connect the existing Nine Mile station to the Peoria/Smith station in Denver, and the entire line will be 10.5 miles long. Dozens of people showed up to RTD’s headquarters over the past month to speak in support of the I-225 FasTracks project at two public hearings. Wendy Mitchell, president of the Aurora Economic Development Council, said that was meaningful. “I just feel so grateful, and it’s so nice to have so many of our neighbors support us and be here for us,” Mitchell said. General Manager Phil Washington will now work with Kiewit to finalize the contract, and the city and
›› (RESPONDERS), from 10
time. Sometimes drills are all of the sudden you’ve lost all of your computers. “Emergency preparedness, mass casualty care, disaster, it’s all part of the common vernacular,” Zane added. But that didn’t mean that the crews were fully prepared for the sheer volume and severity of the injuries. “I’ve not ever had to deal with this number of penetrating, severely injured patients at the same time, nor have most doctors,” Zane said. “I think the response of the University of Colorado Hospital was nothing short of heroic,” Zane said. First responders decided between six hospitals in the metro area for patients depending on injury, age and other factors. Of all the hospitals and medical centers, UCH took in the most. Of the 23 patients that arrived at the emergency department in ambulances, police cruisers and even private vehicles, 13 have been treated and released. One of the patients was dead on arrival, officials said. At the Medical Center of Aurora, which is designated as a level two trauma center, a trauma surgeon was already on call before the first patients arrived. As the scope of the emergency became clear with the first incoming victims, the Center drew on staff from the rest of the hospital and sister facilities like Swedish Medical Center in Englewood. Additional neurosurgeons and orthopedic specialists were part of the
Travelers board a light rail Tuesday morning, July 10, at the I-25 and Broadway Station. RTD board members awarded the construction project to KiewitTurner Infrastructure Co. on July 24. (Marla R. Keown/ Aurora Sentinel) land owners will work to construct the transit-oriented development projects planned for each of the eight stations on the line, said Tom Tobiassen, RTD board member whose district covers Aurora. “This is going to drive so much construction and economic development over the next 20 years in Aurora,” he said. Washington said last month there is money in RTD’s coffers to pay for the Kiewit project. Since RTD received a $280 million federal loan in December for the Eagle P3 project, which will help build out the East Corridor and Gold Line, enough cash could be available for the entire Aurora rail line, Washington said. Also, RTD can now afford to pay for Aurora’s lightrail project because this year’s revenue projections from the sales tax increase that voters approved in 2004 will be higher than original projections for this year, he said. Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.
response team. Dr. James Denton, the medical director at MCA, had been part of the response team at Columbine High School in 1999. He helped orchestrate the flow of patients. The Medical Center treated a total of 18 patients. “This was our first experience of this kind at the Medical Center of Aurora,” said Tracy Lauzon, director of EMS and trauma services. “I think this really reinforced the fact that all the training that we’ve done in the past has paid off. The patients got the care that they needed quickly and efficiently.” For Sasson and the rest of the UCH responders, the sudden influx put their emergency training to an unprecedented test. “I’ve worked in a level-one trauma center in Atlanta, I’ve worked in Michigan, I’ve worked in Chicago. This is by far the largest number of patients I’ve seen come in at one time,” Sasson said. “We train as emergency department physicians for the worst of the worst … I think all of us hope that it never actually happens to us.” Next door, physicians at the Children’s Hospital Colorado were under similar pressure. The hospital treated five patients ranging in age from 18 to 31. The youngest person reported killed in the attack was Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6. According to Dr. Guy Upshaw, an emergency room physician at Children’s, many of the injuries were from a shotgun attack. “Most of the injuries we saw appeared to be from buckshot, and
one patient had what looked like a high-velocity wound to the tibia of the lower leg,” Upshaw said. “It (was) controlled chaos. We train for such situations and events frequently. In this case, it was even more controlled than usual because patients were fairly even in space when they came in, 10 to 15 minutes apart.” Upshaw added that the first patient arrived in a private automobile. “That was the first inkling that we got that there had been a shooting,” Upshaw said. “They said that someone came in with some sort of device that produced smoke. He said he thought it was some kind of stunt as part of the movie. Then when they started hearing shots, they realized it was not a joke.” At both hospitals, the physicians’ quick work and rapid response time earned praise from all corners, including President Barack Obama. Obama paid tribute to doctors, nurses and first responders during a visit to the UCH on July 22. “I also had a chance, fortunately, to visit some folks who are going to be OK, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the staff at this hospital. And I just want to thank everybody who’s worked tirelessly here to deal with this tragedy,” Obama said. Aurora Sentinel reporter Brandon Johansson contributed to this report. Reach Adam Goldstein at 720-4499707 or agoldstein@aurorasentinel. com.
THE Commuter Puzzle by Jacqueline E. Mathews ACROSS 1 Baby’s eating accessories 5 Destroy 10 Narrow cut 14 Mine entrance 15 Wrestler Hulk 16 Neat as a pin 17 Malicious look 18 Bird of prey 19 Biblical garden 20 Supervisor 22 Sugary milk component 24 Nothing 25 Praise 26 Straighten 29 Affirmative 30 Reluctant 34 Plunge into a pool headfirst 35 Very long time 36 Head __; boss 37 Geisha’s sash 38 Goof up 40 Actor Holbrook 41 Athletic shoe brand 43 Hearing organ 44 __ off; repel 45 Firstborn of two 46 Peculiar 47 Classroom furniture 48 Obese 50 __ constrictor; crushing snake 51 Entice by flattery 54 Move to a new region or nation 58 Tiny amount 59 3-toned chord 61 Worry 62 Provide money for, as a project 63 Fisher or Albert 64 Arm bone 65 Historical times 66 Hotel offerings 67 Large quantity DOWN 1 Soothing ointment 2 New concept 3 Tres __; very well, in France 4 Weird
7.26.12
5 TV’s “__ of Fortune” 6 Laugh loudly 7 __ foo yong; Chinese dish 8 Hard growth on the foot 9 Work bread dough 10 Ten-gallon hat 11 Venetian resort 12 “Beware the __ of March” 13 Actress Daly 21 Colorless liquor 23 Blue or brown 25 John F. __ 26 Venerate 27 Written slander 28 Covered with a climbing plant 29 Second person 31 Cramps 32 Express gratitude to 33 __ up; delays 35 Antlered animal 36 That girl 38 Uninterested 39 Papa 42 Decapitates
44 46 47 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 60
Scared Go to extremes Boxer or collie Change slightly __ one’s time; waits patiently Married woman Sixty minutes Sicilian volcano Injure Folksinger __ Guthrie Camp shelter Greek letters Wedding words
ANSWERS
RTD board formally approves Aurora light rail
31
July 26, 2012 Notice of Availability Environmental Assessment and Draft Finding of No Significant Impact for the Proposed Construction and Operation of a Tactical Unmanned Aerial System Facility at the Colorado Army National Guard Enclave, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado. Description. Interested parties are hereby notified that the Colorado Army National Guard (COARNG) has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) and a draft Finding of No Significant Impact (FNSI) regarding the proposed action described below. Statutory Authority. This notice being issued to all interested parties in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, the Council on Environmental Quality regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (40 CFR 1500-1508) and the Environmental Analysis of Army Actions (32 CFR 651). Proposed Action. The National Guard Bureau, Washington, D.C., and the COARNG are proposing to construct and operate a new Tactical Unmanned Aerial System (TUAS) facility to serve peacetime missions (administration, training, and maintenance) of the TUAS unit of the 86th Military Intelligence Company. The proposed TUAS facility would be located within the COARNG Enclave at Buckley AFB. The proposed 10,349-square-foot facility would accommodate 27 soldiers and 1 civilian contractor based in the Aurora, Colorado area. The facility would provide space for administration, operations, maintenance, and equipment storage. Approximately 6,500 square yards of supporting facilities would be constructed for organizational and non-organizational parking, sidewalks, curbs, and security fencing. Public Review. An analysis of the environmental impacts of this proposal is presented in an EA, which is available for public review and comment. Copies may be accessed electronically at http://co.ng.mil/public/ Environmental%20Assessments/Forms/AllItems.aspx. Copies may also be reviewed at the Aurora Public Library Central Branch, 14949 E. Alameda Parkway, Aurora, Colorado. Library hours are 9:00 am to 9:00 pm Monday through Thursday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on Friday and Saturday, and 12:30 pm to 6:00 pm on Sunday. This EA will be available from July 26 through August 25, 2012. Written and substantive public comment concerning this proposal is invited, and will be received until August 25, 2012. Comments or questions should be addressed to Colorado National Guard Public Affairs Office, 6848 S. Revere Parkway, Centennial, CO 80112, (720) 250-1053, or via email at ngcopubliccomment@ng.army.mil referencing TUAS Facility EA in the subject line.
32
aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
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ity officials decided July 23 that they’ll work to make the Aurora City Council agenda ready for public viewing the Thursday before a council meeting in an effort to be more transparent. Currently, the full agenda is available for public viewing online the Saturday or Sunday before a council meeting. At the request of Aurora City Councilman Bob LeGare, council members at their regularly scheduled study session meeting talked about giving people more time to comment on agenda items ahead of a formal council vote. LeGare originally brought the issue forward because he said there aren’t enough opportunities for residents to comment on city contracts like economic incentive deals before they come to the floor for a full vote. “Incentive deals go to the executive session and then they go into the (formal) agenda with nothing in between for the public,” LeGare said. But the discussion turned toward transparency in general, and some council members said the public already has plenty of opportunity to weigh in on city proposals. “I get a little frustrated when people say they don’t have input,” said Councilman Bob Roth. Currently, the public can speak at ward meetings, City Council meetings, and attend policy committee meetings where new city proposals are first discussed, he said. Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan
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said the city should strive to be transparent, but there are times when contract negotiations could be compromised if information gets out to the public before negotiations are finalized. “There are some things that come along that are either too complicated or too important (to share),” Hogan said. Council members agreed to try and release the City Council agenda earlier in the week, on a Thursday, in order to give residents more time to comment. But there’s no guarantee that the city documents associated with each agenda item, commonly referred to as the “backup” will be ready by Thursday, Hogan said. Also at the July 23 meeting, council members decided to postpone a vote to divert money from local nonprofit agencies to fund public safety equipment. The proposal is to divert about $350,000 that would have otherwise gone to six local nonprofit agencies. Those agencies are: Arapahoe House, Comitis Crisis Center, SungateKids, Gateway Battered Women’s Services, Aurora Mental Health, and the Metro Community Provider Network. Executives from SunGate Kids and Gateway Battered Women’s Services said earlier this month they might have to cut some services if they didn’t receive that money. They drafted a letter on July 18 asking council members to allow them more time to weigh in on the proposal. Council members agreed July 23 that they should postpone voting on the proposal until they have more input from the agencies.
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eddy bears, candles, flowers and photographs lined the sculpture outside Aurora’s City Hall while council members inside gathered at their first regularly scheduled council meeting following the July 20 shootings. During their formal meeting, televised by Aurora’s Channel 8, council members thanked the city’s first responders for their service in the aftermath of the shooting, and made it a point that everyone should start healing. “The fact that tonight we’re doing the city’s business is an indicator that the guy did not win,” Mayor Steve Hogan said, refusing to name the accused gunman. The tragedy shouldn’t deter people from “enjoying their lives,” said Councilman Bob Broom. Councilman Bob LeGare said he used to take his daughters to the Century Aurora 16 theater at least twice a month while they were growing up. “I’d like to ask citizens across Colorado and the nation to not let the American past time of going to the movies with your kids, don’t let that become a victim of what has happened this past week,” LeGare
said. Councilman Bob Roth said the tragedy should not, and will not, define Aurora. “We will not allow one individual to dictate who we are as a people, and we will not allow one incident to dictate who we are as a community,” he said. City lawmakers also thanked the hundreds of people from places ranging from England to the Philippines for sending condolences. Hogan said he’s received correspondence from people on every continent. In a letter to Roth, a man named Reagan Reynolds from Raleigh, N.C., said that shortly after the shootings, he went to his local theater to watch “The Dark Knight Rises.” During the movie, he said he could only think of the victims of the massacre. He ended his letter with a message for the city’s residents. “Aurora, this is a moment for heroes, and we are all looking at you — a beautiful city, brilliant people, a community that will rise from this abyss.” Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.
aurorasentinel.com
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
YOUR VIEWS
33
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OPINION Editorials
Lawmakers must find the courage to enact reasonable lethal weapon limits
A
OTHER VOICES
Staying put in Aurora is the smart move this time
I
’ll stay. As a 13-year-old boy, living in Aurora’s Village East neighborhood, I remember my father growing more concerned as violence nearly knocked on his doorstep. A shooting at the nearby Chuck E. Cheese restaurant less than a mile away from my childhood home had my dad nervous. My brother and I rode our bikes past there all the time. The suspect came from the same high school my brother attended. Five people were killed in that restaurant. I went to countless birthday parties there. “It’s time to get out of here,” Dad said. “I don’t want you kids to see that.” We left 1930 S. Moline Way on Friday, March 13, 1994. House packed, cars loaded, dogs, too. We could leave the event, I thought, but I couldn’t leave my home. As a teenager, I moved from state to state, with Aurora never really far from my mind. I told people I was from Aurora — “Basically Denver,” if they didn’t understand — then asked if they recalled as vividly as I could the shootings that shaped my childhood as much as anything else. “They had it on the ‘Today’ show and everything,” I frequently told strangers. “Do you remember that?” A handful of “yeah-I-think-I-do” responses came from that question over the years, but not many. I’m guessing most of those people know where Aurora is now. Probably for the all the wrong reasons after this week. On July 20, 2012, I rushed to
work early in the morning after a colleague called. “Wait, what?” I said. “What happened? Which theater?” Now, as a 30-year-old man living on the doorstep of the city I grew up in, I remember my father wanting to protect his children from violence like what happened at Century Aurora 16 last week. There’s nowhere to run. And I’m staying this time.
THE VICTIMS ARE WHAT SHAPED OUR CITY AFTER THE SHOOTING IN 1993. WE’RE STARTING TO SEE NOW HOW MUCH WE CAN LEARN FROM THE VICTIMS OF THE SHOOTING THIS TIME AROUND TOO. Like so many in Aurora who can connect their lives to the tragedies that have occurred here, I can trace my maturation as a man through both. And I want to watch the maturation of our city unfold in the same way. Despite unspeakable tragedy, our city — our homes — will grow. I didn’t get to hear stories after the Chuck E. Cheese murders. I imagine that stories of bravery, hardship and unspeakable loss coming from that event snaked through this city like Tollgate Creek. I hear stories now: The boyfriend who threw himself in front of bullets to save his loved ones, the high school stu-
dent with more promise than I ever had whose gone now, and a hard-working single mother whose smile “would just light up a room,” and she’s gone. There’s the stories of the Buckley victims, part of the Air Force community that my mom worked for when she was alive. There are the stories of the mothers, fathers, brothers, daughters — even the journalist, starting as a sports reporter just as I did a decade ago. The victims and the survivors will help define Aurora going forward. Their courage and bravery are the stories that 13-year-olds in this city need to read. I only hope we can all identify with the victims the way I can. They’re all a part of us now and we’re a part of them. That’s partially why the brutality and senselessness hit home for all of us. We’ve been to movie theaters. I’ve seen movies at the Century Aurora 16 theather. My father didn’t understand that the violence wasn’t what he moved away from. He moved away from the recovery and healing that we should have stayed to watch. The victims are what shaped our city after the shooting in 1993. We’re starting to see now how much we can learn from the victims of this shooting. I’m staying this time. I want to grow up again with this city. Aaron Cole is managing editor of The Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303750-7555 or at acole@aurorasentinel. com
merica is halfway to hell. Recent data shows that about half of all American households now have some kind of gun there with them. Just hours after the world was inundated with news of Aurora’s July 20 movie massacre, a surge of Americans decided this is a better time than ever to join the arms race here in the United States. It’s a foolproof recipe for disaster. Now, more than ever, it’s time for our local and national elected leaders to show the same bravery that Aurora residents did in protecting themselves and others from the crazed gunman that ended the lives of 12 innocent people at the Century Aurora 16 theater, and terrorized hundreds more. We know that there are horrible things that people do to each other in countries where guns are tightly controlled. But we are not fooled by the arguments of rabid gun-rights activists that the U.S. Constitution prohibits some restrictions to guns created for the easy and rapid annihilation of human beings, or that Americans would not be safer if some restrictions were enacted. Restricting some weapons will increase public safety. That’s reality. But reality and gun control don’t mix in this country. That’s because of the National Rifle Association and similar, rabid, gun-rights groups. Rather than offer reason, these groups thrive on power drawn from a domineering marketing campaign based on fear, lies and propaganda. Because even the country’s more reasonable lawmakers cower in fear of the wrath of the NRA, nothing ever gets done to provide for substantive gun control. That’s the case right now. While a group of brave Democrats, including Colorado congressmen Ed Perlmutter and Diana DeGette are talking about restrictions only of weapons of mass human destruction, politicians like President Barack Obama and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper drag out old, tired arguments about using “existing” gun laws to make America safer. Clearly, that didn’t work for Aurora. First, wiser Americans must understand what the Second Amendment is. The authors of the Constitution never intended to ensure that Americans could carry rapid-fire machine guns anywhere they damned well pleased. At the birth of the country, when state militias were essentially the only law enforcement and rousable army available, it was clear that keeping them armed was important to local and national security. Depriving men of weapons could mean that an unarmed militia — needing to fight off a group of bandits or European invaders — presented a grave danger for all Americans. That’s what just about every historical account illustrates. The amendment was horrifically short sighted. No one mulling over that right would recognize guns in the United States today. Unlike gun rights, which were not clearly defined, rights pertaining to free speech, a speedy trial, a free press and most others rights might have been stretched or re-shaped, but they remain identifiable. Second, no one in their right mind believes the government can or should grab all the guns. What reasonable Americans are saying is that it’s too easy for deranged people to obtain and carry insanely lethal weapons, and that the government can and should do something about it. We’re asking that new, enforceable limits be created to make all of us safer. It won’t be a simple solution, and finding it will require unseen courage from lawmakers. But this, now more than ever, is the time to push past bullies and work toward pulling the country back from the edge of hell.
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
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When horror hits home BY ADAM GOLDSTEIN Staff Writer
July 20 knew this neighborhood long before I wrote my first story for the Aurora Sentinel more than four years ago. The Sentinel headquarters on East Alameda Avenue sits in the middle of too many childhood memories to count. As a kid, my first bike rides without training wheels took me north down Sable Boulevard from my home on Elkhart Street, just behind Gateway High School. The trips past the erstwhile Aurora Mall included stretches past the parking lot that now holds the Century Aurora 16 theater. Long after I swapped in my two-wheeler for my first car, I’d travel those same routes. Even as a brash teenager intent on exploring the mean streets of downtown Denver, I’d stop with friends for a flick at the Century before we started our late night tours of all-night coffee shops and concert halls. After time spent living abroad as a dissatisfied twenty-something – a year in Oregon, a year-and-a-half in France – that connection was still as strong as ever, a link that made the prospect of working for the Sentinel as a cub reporter all the more exciting. As more details emerge about the massacre that unfolded within sight of our front door, in the midst of all of those highly personal memories, those ties seem all the more poignant and powerful. Today, I didn’t need news coverage and cover stories to put this tragedy in context. I didn’t need to see the footage shot from the vantage of the helicopters that have been circulating around our building all day. The backdrop for the chaos was my childhood. The context for coldblooded murder was my personal roots. I was sitting in that theater less than three weeks ago, watching the new Spider-Man movie with my father. The medical campus where I spent the better part of this morning interviewing emergency room doctors was the same site where my grandfather, a former prisoner of war, recovered in 1945, in the months following his liberation from a German camp. James Holmes’ booby-trapped apartment on 17th Avenue and Paris Street is mere blocks away from the home where my grandparents made their first home as a new married couple, the Original Aurora neighborhood where my father attended his first elementary school classes. There’s a certain degree of numbness that goes along with my job. Even as an arts and education writer, I’ve become accustomed to the 24-hour cycle of violence we find on the AP wire. As often as not, I gloss over headlines pulled from across the world that tout body counts and detail the damage wrought by suicide bombers. From the comfy vantage of the newsroom, those details feel filtered and distance deadens their sting. But today, I don’t have that privilege. The President is talking about my hometown on the news. They’re carting out body bags from the movie theater across the street. Those victims perished in the place where I had a first date with my ex-girlfriend, the place where I whiled away lazy summer afternoons with friends not so long ago. They died needlessly and senselessly, a few blocks down from my father’s house, the place I called home off-and-on from ages 1 to 29. Today, the gap between my everyday life and the innocence of those childhood memories feels greater. My comfort zone has vanished, and emptiness has come in its stead.
I
Reach reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@aurorasentinel.com or 720-449-9707
RE: Gun control in light of the July 20 Aurora movie massacre EDITOR: People across the globe sympathize but they are mostly appalled by the failure of U.S. authorities to implement gun controls to prevent such predictable slaughters. Karenatwork1 via aurorasentinel.com
cause,” sure, you may get another one, but let that one be “despite our strict gun laws, despite the tracking of these weapons.” At least try and make a difference this time. Too many tears, too many families wrecked forever. Too many dead. Deepest Sympathy to the entire community. Joko via aurorasentinel.com
EDITOR: I just don’t understand those who claim this was a crime without reason. This shooter along with every other nearly identical American shooter acted in the same deliberate fashion planned to exploit the American love of guns and media to commit an atrocity to garner maximum and enduring press coverage. Is there no call to change this culture? Thomasbritol via aurorsentinel.com
EDITOR: Columbine shooting victim Tom Mauser is right, getting tougher laws on semi-automatic, assault weapons and checks on gun purchases is going to have to be a ‘grassroots’ campaign where gun enthusiasts’ dollars don’t mean anything. I wish him more publicity and sincerest sympathies for families and friends of those killed. Delores via aurorasentinel.com
EDITOR: From Melbourne Australia, I can tell you this hurts the world – as does the fact that this year Australia lost 35 people to death by guns, and America has lost tens of thousands. No, banning anything bigger than a hand gun won’t stop an idiot getting a gun, but it will stop mad people from just being able to walk into a shop. It might stop people being able to get thousands of rounds of ammunition – who needs thousands of rounds? Only a really bad shot or a mass murderer. Let this be your last massacre that happened “be-
EDITOR: Editor Dave Perry is much more pleasant and diplomatic than is my request. I must insist that all politicians either tighten gun controls now, or get out of office. Collectively, voters need to stand together to change things. No excuses. This public health risk must be dealt with swiftly as would any other. Sallyg via aurorasentinel.com EDITOR: Editor Dave Perry and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are on the right track
Send letters to: Email: letters@aurorasentinel.com Post: Editor c/o Aurora Sentinel, 14305 E. Alameda Ave., 2nd Floor, Aurora, CO 80012 Fax: 720-449-9033
for calling for some kind of common-sense gun control from the presidential candidates. As a Canadian, I can say many of us scratch our heads and think Americans are gun-crazy; this latest massacre in Colorado is yet another reminder of why. Your Second Amendment was written in the days of muskets. Just because your founding fathers wrote something first, and way back when, doesn’t mean they are right for today and forever. What happened to today’s people thinking for themselves? As a concerned neighbour I would suggest you think for yourselves; don’t be toadies to yesteryear’s politicians. When scientists realize a new discovery or law of physics, they rightly sweep away the beliefs of yesterday’s scientists. It’s called progress, and we think of it as the smart and civilized thing to do. Mark Fornataro, Victoria, BC Canada via letters@aurorasentinel.com EDITOR: Someone take Dave Perry’s keyboard away – please. Imahead via aurorasentinel.com EDITOR: Which part of the second amendment does Editor Dave Perry not understand? The Supreme Court has already ruled on the subject. Are you ready to undermine the Constitution of the United States? Dictators start by taking away the rights of citizens
›› See (LETTERS), 35
Letters Guidelines: The Aurora Sentinel encourages letters to the editor. Letters will be edited for length, grammar and accuracy. All letters must include the author’s name, address and a day or night phone number. The author’s name is rarely withheld and only for compelling reasons. Unsigned letters are not printed.
aurorasentinel.com
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
›› (LETTERS), from 34 to bear arms. By removing the right for US citizens to bear arms we will be doing the work of a future dictator even before he comes to power. Richard via aurorasentinel.com EDITOR: All other developed countries have gun controls of one kind or another, and it is reflected in their vastly lower gun death rates. The US is a worldwide scandal with its gun death rates, extremely high rates of imprisonment and for allowing 16,000 Americans to die yearly for want of medical care in an egregiously wasteful medical system that otherwise provides excellent care for the well-insured. franklingalvin via aurorasentinel.com EDITOR: Here we go, let’s control the guns. The usual response. Let’s, while we are at it, take the cars from the people because thousands of people are killed each year by drunk drivers. Let’s take away all the sharp, pointy things which may kill or wound someone. I hate to say it, but in this decaying world, let’s instead have a few more people carrying guns. These gun laws only disarm the good guys, not the bad ones. I’d rather be armed. You would, too, when the bad people come looking for you. Rich via aurorasentinel.com EDITOR: Dave Perry is a fool and willing to let everyone know by putting it in print. No-Gun Zones are a killer’s dream. This is typical of liberals; they keep trying to pick up a turd by the clean end. There is no way to stop these deviants from doing these things. There are massacres worldwide. The only way to confront deadly force is with other deadly force. Let law-abiding people be armed. Yahoo via aurorasentinel.com
RE: James Eagan Holmes EDITOR: My best friend from high school killed herself a few months ago. We hadn’t talked in about five months, and the last
time we did, I thought something was wrong, but because of my own busy life, I took her assurances that everything was fine and didn’t follow up. I should have. As it turns out, she was hearing voices. She was schizophrenic. She told a woman she worked with that the voices were telling her to hurt people – so, she killed herself. Honestly, I wish fate had been as kind to Holmes. He, his family and the poor victims would all have been better off if he’d just harmed himself instead of others. That being said – I’ll never forgive myself for not being there for my friend. Maybe I could have saved her. You have to wonder about the people in Holmes’ life and what they could’ve/should’ve done – and the anguish they must be feeling now. RIP to the victims. What happened was so unfair. Random Recipes via aurorasentinel.com EDITOR: Please remove and never publish again any picture of the Aurora shooting suspect with any smirk or smile. It is a slap in the face of all those killed, injured, and the families. Also, please remove his name from any print and future publications. He should only be referred to as “Subject A.” I don’t care about him one bit. I care about the victims and their families. Please show them respect, and while doing so, please encourage all news sources worldwide to do the same. Maybe then, people will stop killing others just to get their name in the news. California citizen via aurorasentinel.com EDITOR: The laws in this country should be changed. When an individual proudly waits to be arrested, his guilt is obvious. His punishment should fit the crime. A shotgun blast in the face seems fitting. He thought nothing of doing that to a stranger who just happened to go to the movie. He is evil, not crazy. What type of defense is there for evil? Forgiveness, empathy, compassion, and plain goodness overcome evil, but punishment is still required. Elaine Pringle via aurorasentinel.com
35
EDITOR: No. I repeat, no severely mentally ill person could build such a sophisticated frigging control panel for dozens of explosive devices. The methodical planning involved in this massacre proves his mental capacity and comprehensive skills were not only above normal but extraordinary. His behavior in court seems to be a mixture of theater and sleep deprivation. Will Shackleford via aurorasentinel.com EDITOR: As a law enforcement professional, I want to share my appreciation for the officers who responded to this incident. I have heard the 16-minute tape of the officers running to the shooting scene. Those men and women are heroes, and you need to thank them. They put their lives on the line to extend help to those involved in this terrible tragedy. Motomonkey318 via aurorasentinel.com EDITOR: Mental illness needs to be treated more seriously and carefully. I live in Albuquerque now, but I lived in Aurora, went to Hinkley High School, went to the mall and theater with my family and best friends. I just want more people to see the signs of mental illness and reach out either for someone else or for themselves. It may help, we can all at least try some hope. Caden Briggs via aurorasentinel.com EDITOR: Most mentally-ill people do not want help as they think they are fine. I am a nurse and have seen parents with very mentally-ill family members, and they cannot commit them unless they harm themselves or someone else. Why must we wait until they hurt someone instead of making them get treatment the same way we require kids to be vaccinated for the good of the general public? Severe mental-health issues should not be optionally treated because the ill person is in no way capable of making good decisions when they are whacked out. We need to change our mental-health laws, pure and simple. Kspag via aurorasentinel.com
OPINION Other Voices
Reporter’s takeaway Scenes from Aurora’s massacre that can’t be forgotten BY SARA CASTELLANOS Staff Writer
S
ix days after the July 20 theater massacre, these are some of the scenes and accounts that will stay with me long after the world grows tired of this story: The car that careened into the parking lot of Gateway High School seven hours after the shootings, transporting a frantic man the world would later come to know as Tom Sullivan. His words escaped his mouth faster than the cameramen could snap his picture. “It was his birthday. It was his birthday,” he shouted. In his hands was a piece of printer paper that had been folded in quarters and then unfolded. A young man’s smiling face splayed across the page in black and white. He flashed it to reporters, pleading with them to call if they had any information. In the eyes of a father who refused to think the worst, Alex Sullivan was just a man who had gone to a midnight movie, and then went missing. The old man who breathed with the help of an oxygen tank and parked his minivan near Gateway High School. He wept at the steering wheel, his head in his hands. “Please tell me something good,” he cried to a man he knew, who walked over to comfort him. The girl who still had traces of blood on her arm from her unsuccessful efforts to help a man shot in the back. She felt guilty that she hadn’t tried harder to save him, but when the gunman started heading toward her, she panicked, along with the people around her. She dove into the crowd as the bullets struck the bodies next to her, as the Batman movie played on the screen at the front of the theater. The barista, the jovial one who makes me chai tea lattes at the Starbucks behind my office, whose face I spotted in the crowd at the prayer vigil that night. We made eye contact, I went over to greet him, we hugged — a tight, unexpected embrace. “I was there,” he said, his expression betraying his sadness. The Spider-Man credits were rolling in theater 15 when he and hundreds of other unsuspecting theater-goers were evacuated from the building. He and a friend heard someone say something about shots being fired. They started to run. The barista’s friend, who saw a girl collapse outside the theater. Instead of fleeing to safety, he ran toward her. “My right side, my right side, I can’t breathe, my lungs are filling up with blood,” she told the barista’s friend. He asked her if she could walk. She said yes. He helped her up. She couldn’t walk. He carried her to a nearby parking lot. Her arm was broken, she was making horrible sounds and spitting blood. He looked around, scanning the wreckage of a massacre, searching for someone who could help her. He caught sight of a policeman carrying a little girl, limp and lifeless in his arms. The balloons, pink and purple, that floated into the summer sky during Sunday evening’s vigil, high above 10,000 people who stood with one another to mourn. Orange cones and crime scene tape surround the Century 16 movie theater across from the newspaper office. A few hundred feet away from the theater at the edge of an empty field is the memorial I visited five days after the shooting. Without a notebook or a recorder, I stood among the mourners as one of them. Complete strangers wrote heartfelt notes to the victims on huge pieces of cardboard. Twelve crosses are staked in the ground, surrounded by countless flowers, stuffed animals, balloons and candles. A skateboard, a book, a baseball cap, a portrait of a father, all of them are objects that mean something to someone, somewhere. Engraved onto a slab of wood are the words: “This is not what our soldiers die for.” With my back to the Century 16 marquee visible in the distance, I snapped a picture. It’s a souvenir of an inhumane act, and proof that humanity prevails.
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
SPORTS
AURORA TO LONDON For more news on current Regis Jesuit student Missy Franklin, Regis Jesuit grad Roger Espinoza of the Honduran men’s soccer team, and other Aurora connections during the Olympics, visit the Aurora to London page at aurorasentinel.com
FRANKLIN READIES FOR OLYMPIC DIP
Regis Jesuit student Missy Franklin set for 7-event program at London Games FRANKLIN, SCHMITZ KEEP AURORA IN THOUGHTS
BY COURTNEY OAKES
S
Staff Writer
M
issy Franklin is ready to answer London’s call. The 17-year-old Colorado Stars swimming phenom and senior-to-be at Aurora’s Regis Jesuit High School is set to take England by storm when the Olympics open July 27. Widely expected to be the breakout star for the U.S. team, Franklin will at minimum do something no American woman has ever done: swim in seven events at an Olympics. In classic Franklin fashion, she’s keeping it in perspective. “It’s definitely hard coming to my first Olympics and swim that many events, but Michael (Phelps) is swimming seven, too, so he’ll be able to help me out,” Franklin said on an interview on NBC’s “Today Show” July 25. “We’ve had constant team meetings where the veterans tell us what to expect. The best piece of advice I’ve gotten is to take in every moment and enjoy it.” To get to the good stuff, Franklin’s gotten through the hard part in recent weeks, competing in the U.S. Team Trials in Omaha, Neb., then taking part in the USA training camps at the University of Tennessee and in Vichy, France along with coach Todd Schmitz. She’s been through workouts with prominent local trainer Loren Landow and survived the rookie skits that Olympic swimming rookies have to put on for the vets. She’s been handling it all without a direct connection with her biggest support system — mother DA and father Richard —who have been taking care of business at home in the meantime. DA Franklin has been taking care of things like finding care for their 110-pound Alaskan Malamute, Ruger, and other things before she and her husband depart for London. They arrive July 26. DA Franklin has had to track her daughter’s experience from home via Skype and has been trying to help her maintain her normal level of calm. “The hype has been unbelievable and she is so young,” DA Franklin said. “We weren’t event sure how Trials were going to go and everybody was asking how many medals she was going to get.
U.S. Olympic swim team member Missy Franklin smiles during a post-practice interview at the University of Tennessee’s Allan Jones Aquatic Center on July 12 in Knoxville, Tenn. Franklin, a student at Aurora’s Regis Jesuit High School, is set to compete in seven events at the Olympics in London. (Knoxville News Sentinel, AP/Michael Patrick) We were just hoping she’d make the team. Missy doesn’t read anything or watch anything on TV, but she’s also not ignorant of the hype and what is going on. “She’s trying not to focus on it too much and concentrating on getting ready to do her best.” Franklin will have plenty of time in the water at the Olympics, with potentially at least one race on eight straight days. She’ll miss the Opening Ceremonies on July 27 as her first race is in the women’s 4x100 freestyle relay the next morning. Assuming she advances in each of her races, Franklin’s schedule is jam-packed: 100 meter backstroke heat and semifinal (July 29), 200 freestyle heat and semifinal and 100 backstroke final (July 30), 200 freestyle final (July 31), 100 freestyle heat and
semifinal, 4x200 freestyle relay heat (Aug. 1), 200 backstroke heat and semifinal, 100 freestyle final (Aug. 2), 4x100 medley relay heat, 200 backstroke final (Aug. 3) and 4x100 medley relay final (Aug. 4). The Associated Press projects Franklin to win both the 100 and 200 meter backstroke events and she has the potential to medal in every one of her events. In the 200, her time of 2 minutes, 6.12 seconds is the best in the world in 2012, but she’s gone more than a second faster. When all is finished, Franklin wants to hang around London for the Closing Ceremony, but she’ll need her parents to do that. DA Franklin said that minors aren’t allowed to leave the Olympic Village without being signed out by
hortly before the joy of competing in the Olympics, Missy Franklin was thinking about the pain back home. Franklin and coach Todd Schmitz were in Vichy, France, with Team USA on July 20 preparing for the upcoming Games in London when word broke of the mass shooting at the Century Aurora 16 theater. The 17-year-old swimming phenom who attends Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora trains at various pools around the city. Tweeting to more than 25,000 followers, Franklin responded: “Praying for everyone hurt and affected by the theater shooting in Aurora. I’m in total disbelief and shock. Things happen so quickly.” Added Schmitz, who has held various head coaching stints in Aurora at Grandview and Regis Jesuit, coaches the Colorado Stars club team Franklin is part of and is an assistant on the Team USA staff: “My thoughts are with everyone back in my home of Aurora, Colorado.” F ra n k l i n a p p e a re d o n NBC’s “Today Show” from London on July 25 and told Matt Lauer she would do what she could to represent the state in the Olympics. “I am thinking about them constantly, but I know unfortunately the best thing I can do is put my focus here and hopefully do the best I can to shine some light on Colorado and make them proud,” she said.
Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at sports@aurorasentinel.com parents, so Missy won’t be able to leave until Aug. 5. “It’s so funny, it’s the dichotomy we find ourselves in all the time; Missy is now an Olympian, but she still has the restrictions of a minor,” DA Franklin said. The family returns to Colorado on Aug. 13 and then life returns somewhat to normal, as Franklin registers for her senior year at Regis Jesuit the next day.
Dr. Patti Gonzalez of Aurora is part of a contingent of doctors, chiropractors and other health workers headed to London to work with U.S. athletes at the upcoming Olympics. (Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)
Aurora chiropractor set to help out at Olympics BY COURTNEY OAKES Staff Writer
D
r. Patti Gonzalez won’t be competing for a gold medal at the upcoming Olympics in London, but she will try to help contribute to Team USA’s success in a different way. Gonzalez, who works at Shumake Family Chiropractic in Aurora, is part of a group of 172 doctors, chiropractors, other health workers and family members who are part of the Maximized Living Sports Council. The group has been working with athletes in several sports prior to the start of the Games on July 27. Gonzalez and her colleagues head to London on Aug. 2 to help out with the second half of the Games, focusing on members of USA’s judo, weightlifting, wrestling and sitting volleyball (paralympic). “A lot of us are there for backup and support in any way that we can be,” Gonzalez said. “We can’t be out there on the floor with them when they are competing, but we can be in the warm up areas and working with them before and after their events.” Those in the Maximize Living program work with the athletes on the proper nutrition, strength and endurance workouts and maintenance of the nervous system. Gonzalez — who has also worked with the Colorado Rapids professional soccer team — has focused on athletes judo and wrestling, who she has helped with quick, safe weight loss without losing strength. On Aug. 4, Gonzalez and her colleagues also get to visit the Team USA house in the Olympic Village, which is very rarely open to non-athletes. They could be part of a gold medal ceremony celebration.
Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at sports@aurorasentinel. com
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Hondurasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Roger Espinoza, left, takes the ball away from Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Toisaint Ricketts during a CONCACAF World Cup qualifying soccer game on June 12 in Toronto. Espinoza, a 2005 Regis Jesuit High School graduate, will play with Honduras in the Olympics in London starting July 26. (Chris Young/AP) his parents brought him and his five siblings to the United States. The family landed in Colorado and put down roots. Espinoza played soccer from the time he arrived, and his talent began to really shine when he attended Denver South High School, where he led the state in scoring in 2003. He transferred to Regis Jesuit for his senior year before moving on to stellar college stops at Yavapai (N.M.) J.C. and Ohio State. Espinoza was drafted by Sporting KC in 2008 and has made a name for himself in 100 matches in MLS â&#x20AC;&#x201D; gaining a nomination for the All-Star Game this season â&#x20AC;&#x201D; while advancing in the Honduran national pool. He was named to the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contingent that played in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where the team went 0-2-1 and failed to advance. Honduras doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the best track record when it comes to Olympic play, going winless in
its only two previous appearances in 1982 and 2010. But given the young talent on the team, Espinoza is optimistic, even though Honduras is in rugged Group D with gold medal favorite Spain plus Morocco and Japan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is one of the most talented teams Honduras has ever had at the Olympic level,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very happy to be part of this and be able to contribute. Hopefully I can bring experience and help them succeed over there.â&#x20AC;? The biggest rub for Espinoza is that his Sporting KC team was jockeying for first place in the MLSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Eastern Conference when he left July 15 to join the Honduran team for a team camp in France and warm-up friendly with Egypt. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have other goals in life and one of them is to win the MLS Cup,â&#x20AC;? Espinoza said. Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at sports@aurorasentinel.com
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oger Espinoza is still young, but heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be an elder statesman on the Honduran Olympic menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s soccer team. The chase for soccer gold at the Olympics includes teams made up of players under 23 years of age, but there are a few exceptions. Espinoza, 25, and two others were added to the Honduran mix. The call-up was yet another feather in the cap of Espinoza, a 2005 graduate of Auroraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Regis Jesuit High School and current member of Major League Soccerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sporting KC. Espinoza already had more than 25 international caps for his native Honduras, including a trip in the 2010 World Cup, but now he gets a chance to compete in the Olympics beginning July 26 in England. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Olympics are generally for younger players, so it definitely wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t something I was expecting,â&#x20AC;? Espinoza said of his call-up from national team coach Luis Suarez, who added him along with two others players in June. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very special experience where the whole country is behind you. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something everybody watches and has pride in,â&#x20AC;? he added. Espinoza is relishing another chance to represent Honduras, where he was born in the coastal town of Puerto Cortes and spent the first 12 years of his life before
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aurorasentinel.com
JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
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aurorasentinel.com JULY 26 - AUGUST 1, 2012
Aurora Public Schools Join
Us
For
the
Fifth
Annual
APS
Back
to
School
Kick-Off Aurora Public Schools cordially invites you and your family to attend the fifth annual Back to School Kick-Off. The event will feature free food and school supplies. Free backpacks will be available to APS students on a first come, first serve basis. Low-cost student immunizations will also be on hand. When:
Saturday, Aug. 4 8-11 a.m.
Where: Aurora Central High School 11700 E. 11th Ave. Aurora, CO 80011
Celebrate
the
2012-13
School
Year
The start of the new school year is around the corner. Be sure to check with your school regarding bell schedules and supply lists. For students in grades 6-12, the first day of classes will be Aug. 7. Most elementary and P-8 school students will begin classes Aug. 9. Kindergarten students will start school Aug. 14 and preschoolers begin Aug. 21. To view the 2012-13 calendars, aurorak12.org/schools/calendars. We look forward to seeing you soon!
303-344-8060
•
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facebook.com/aurorak12
•
twitter.com/aurorak12
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