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Subscribe to RSSJordan Ghawi, whose sister, Jessica, was killed in the shooting at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater recounts how he learned of his sister's death through a phone call from his mother at 2 a.m. and describes her as "tenacious" and "vivacious."
A woman who died in the movie theater shooting in Denver escaped a shooting at a mall in Toronto last month, saying an “odd feeling” compelled her to leave the shopping center.
Jessica Ghawi, 24, had recently moved from San Antonio to Denver, kens5.com reported. An aspiring sportscaster, she had gone to see the movie “Batman: The Dark Knight Rises,” with a friend from Texas who was injured in the shooting, the television station reported.
Ghawi, who wrote under the name Jessica Redfield, said on her blog that she was visiting Toronto in June and stopped by a popular shopping mall to get something to eat when she got an “odd feeling” in her chest.
“This empty, almost sickening feeling won’t go away. I noticed this feeling when I was in the Eaton Center in Toronto just seconds before someone opened fire in the food court,” she wrote in her blog. “An odd feeling which led me to go outside and unknowingly out of harm‘s way. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around how a weird feeling saved me from being in the middle of a deadly shooting.”
“My receipt shows my purchase was made at 6:20 pm. After that purchase I said I felt funny. It wasn’t the kind of funny you feel after spending money you know you shouldn’t have spent. It was almost a panicky feeling that left my chest feeling like something was missing. A feeling that was overwhelming enough to lead me to head outside in the rain to get fresh air instead of continuing back into the food court to go shopping at SportChek. The gunshots rung out at 6:23. Had I not gone outside, I would’ve been in the midst of gunfire.”
Two men were killed in that shooting. Ghawi described seeing emergency responders arrive to the scene.
“I feel like I am overreacting about what I experienced. But I can’t help but be thankful for whatever caused me to make the choices that I made that day. My mind keeps replaying what I saw over in my head. I hope the victims make a full recovery. I wish I could shake this odd feeling from my chest. The feeling that’s reminding me how blessed I am. The same feeling that made me leave the Eaton Center. The feeling that may have potentially saved my life.”
NBC News confirmed Friday from Ghawi's family that she had died of injuries sustained in the overnight rampage. Her brother was flying to Denver Friday morning, her father, Nick Ghawi, told NBC.
Ghawi's brother Jordan described his sister "tenacious, vivacious," to NBC's TODAY show. "You could add almost any moniker to my sister and she would fit it."
"She was sharp, funny, enthusiastic and had the kind of passion for sports and journalism that makes people succeed," sportswriter Jesse Spector wrote on the Sporting News website.
Spector said he exchanged tweets with Ghawi just minutes before the movie started.
Sports radio station 104.3 tweeted "We're sad to report @JessicaRedfield, an intern for The Fan, was 1 of those killed in the theater shooting. Our prayers are w/her family."
On his blog, Jessica's brother Jordan wrote about the moment he heard the news.
"At approximately 0215 CST, I received an hysterical, and almost unintelligible, phone call from my mother stating that my sister, Jessica Ghawi, had been shot while attending the midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” in Denver, CO. I was able to contact the man that was with my sister, mutual friend Brent Lowak, who stated that they were in the theatre when an incendiary device was fired into the crowd and that shots rang out immediately afterwards. Brent further stated that he took two rounds and that my sister took one round followed by an additional round which appeared to strike her in the head. At this time, I do not have confirmation that she is alive or dead."
Around 12:30 p.m., Jordan posted a grim update. "Have received word from the coroner's office that Jessica has indeed died of injuries sustained in the shooting."
He also said he had visited Lowak, the friend Jessica had been with, in the hospital. Lowak was "medically stable," he tweeted.
Jessica Ghawi had exchanged tweets with friends before the midnight showing of the new Batman movie began, teasing one friend for not going to the early screening like she was.
"Of course we're seeing Dark Knight. Redheaded Texan spitfire, people should never argue with me. Maybe I should get in on those NHL talks..." she tweeted from her Twitter handle, @JessicaRedfield.
A friend of Ghawi's, Mike Lavender, told MSNBC-TV that she "moved to Denver to pursue her dream. One of the things that she had been working on with all the fires in Colorado was she had asked everybody to donate sports equipment for people because she knows how sports brings such joy."
After hearing the news Lavender had spoken with Ghawi's mother, who was planning on visiting her daughter in Colorado next week.
"It was surreal," he said. "When somebody you know is involved, when somebody you know is murdered, it hits you in a place that I wish on nobody. It's devastating."
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real life Final Destination...
While this is a serious issue and humor is so inappropriate. The problem with people today is that they dont believe in God, or shall I say, do not fear God. People you must PRAY!!! and obey his word. If you dont believe in God, then please just do the right thing in all situations.
As a Christian, I think the comment about a new Final Destination sequel should apologize and should have his post deleted. This was clearly a tragic coincidence, nothing more. This poor lady was an amazing writer, and I expect is resting with Jesus now. Jesus appreciated good writing. We should all pray for her family, and for all the families of the victims of this mad attacker. His inability to control his mind and behavior does not make him an innocent child. Assuming he is mad, I don't have an overwhelming problem with execution of the dangerous insane. (But the thought almost bothers me, if he is completely mad.) What this incident has really brought home to me is that the US Constitution does not protect people's right to own body armor. A flak jacket is body armor. If he wasn't wearing body armor, then shame on us all for not carrying a firearm to shoot a sad creep like this as soon as people started dying.
My friend if you read your Bible you will know that when people die they don't immediately go to heaven or hell, they are merely sleeping. On the day of rapture (the work is not used, but hinted at in the Bible by Jesus Christ) the dead in Christ will rise up from their graves and go be with Christ in the sky, then the second blowing of Gabriels trumpet, the living in Christ will rise to be with JC in the sky. I know it sounds crazy, but that is where faith comes into play. You either believe it or don't. The Bible clearly says when you die it will be as if you are sleeping, and to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. What is meant by that is like when you sleep sometimes you feel like no time hardly at all has passed since you fell asleep, thus the scripture is explained. You will be with the Lord, if you are a believer, but it will seem as if you just died, even if it were thousands of years ago. I hope that clears it up a little bit. The only ones who are in heaven right now, are the ones who never died and were taken up into heaven. I believe there were two or three of them. Elijah comes to mind, maybe Enoch, I am not sure of the names. The small children/babies, including the aborted pregnancies, they are merely sleeping also. They are not in pain, but are not in heaven yet. They will be though because JC said suffer the little children who come unto me, for such is the kingdom of heaven. I think he was referring to all the billions of babies that died before birth and millions that have been murdered by Dr's via abortion World wide. Also, the ones who died at a young age from War, Famine, and disease. They will all be in Heaven someday.
Of course, the Bible is open to interpretation. You believe what you want, and I will believe how I have been taught, and what I have read. Hopefully, all will come to know the Lord, and be saved from Hell, but sadly we know that won't be the case.
This is a very true unexplained phenomenon. I would sometimes get a dreadful feeling that something bad was going to happen at work. This was when I was a cop. It didn't happen very often, but the couple times I felt it a six month old baby died and a 11 year old female hung herself. I had to see both scenes and I will never be right after seeing something like that. I did some more research on the phenomenon, and it turns out that more people are supposedly somewhat psychic, so to speak, than originally thought. It is true that most times when a plane crashes that there are many cancellations of peoples trip. Often the planes are nowhere near to full capacity, and most are half to two thirds full when they crash.
These days if a person does not show up for their flight, the airline will re-sale the ticket on a space available basis. I know this is a fact because I purchased two tickets, one for myself, and one for my son. Well, it turned out I ended up traveling alone, and I was looking forward to being able to stretch out on the six hour flight. Well, some guy comes strolling down the isle and takes my son's seat. He said I purchased this seat on a space available basis. He said the guy who was sitting here originally didn't show up. I said, yeah I know it was my son's seat, and I purchased the ticket. I was obviously pretty damn mad at first hearing of this. I told the flight attendant, since you resold the seat that I purchased and was going to stretch out on and sleep, then you should give me a refund for that seat. I was very disappointed to say the least, and never got to stretch out and I never got a refund or anything. I wasn't mad at the man, and I was glad he got the seat because he was a military chaplain and hadn't been home in about a year, so it was worth in the end. (By the way, if I see some young military person in uniform, and I have a better seat than them, say first class, I insist they take my seat). That leads me to what i was trying to get at, not everybody has the ability to sense something bad is going to happen, and not everybody who cancels their ticket knows something bad is going to happen. It just happens that there tends to be more cancellations of peoples tickets on doomed flight, but with the airline able to resale seats to make money hand over fist, in my opinion-also illegally in my opinion, you would never know how many cancellations you actually have on the plane you are on. If I get on a plane half full, I will get off and reschedule, that is how much I believe in that documented research. I will also get a feeling that I should reschedule. That has never happened to me yet where I had to get off an airplane for that reason, but I definitely would get off the plane if it were half full.
I have been saying for years that wide spread civil unrest/war is coming to America in the near future. It is because of people pushing whatever agenda they want to push onto the rest of the population, which is usually the majority, and that type of behavior can't go on for a prolonged period of time without hatefulness and bitterness that it produces everyday. The same goes for the Government which is no longer of the people by the people, it is just for a minority of people. That makes a lot of people very angry also. I see big changes and millions of people dying in this country in the very near future. If you are smart, you will get ready and store food, weapons, and learn how to protect yourself and your family. I know everybody here is saying another sicko wacko, but I am saying these things to help you potentially save your life. It doesn't matter to me what your political views are, or whatever sick and twisted agenda you push on a daily basis. The bottom line is, our country is financially and morally headed for collapse. Do you thing that the people who live off the government and don't work (47 million get food stamps and money for living ie housing money)do you really think they are just going to go and sing a koombyya and do a group hug when the money runs out? I hardly think so. There will be no police, there will be no military to patrol the streets. All city services will be in disarray, no fire protection, no schools, and it will be a total chaotic situation were unrest rules the day and night. It will start with hyper inflation, and I believe that will happen as early as next year, and with the drought being the worst since the dust bowl in the thirties, many people won't have ten dollars or more to buy a loaf of bread. It is just going to get really bad, and it has all been prophesied to happen, believe it or not.
You probably think people like me are the reason you can't find aluminum foil on the store shelves. That is my poor attempt at humor. I am really only warning people our of compassion for my fellow man. Just get ready, it is coming, and for God sake don't come to my house for anything, including food, because you have been warned and you can buy your own survival food with a thirty year shelf life. I will not share and will shoot anybody who tries to break into my house. I will do that today if the situation arose. Anyway, take heed of my warnings, and realize it will happen in America, or don't. The choice is up to you. I also pray for all the victim's families in this tragedy, and am really sorry to have to warn people of impending doom in our countries near future. Sadly, it is only times like this that people will slow down, reflect, and think what if....
They Really Needed BATMAN! Wish Batman jumped out of screen save those innocent people! :-( :'(
The apparent problem was, this idiot thought he was the Joker. That is the connection that is being made by various people. Don't know for sure yet, but it seems they are right. I guess all those violent movies will start to have an effect on some peoples psyche after a while.
It's time we initiate a cold war draft; Everyone attaining 18yrs of age, in you go for at least one year. During this year you can serve your country AND we can have time to evaluate your mental health before you earn the right to freely walk the streets with you and I. If you are mentally unstable, you're in the military until you attain some mental stability. No stabality, best make a life for the military; they'll find the appropriate job for you til you're well.
Military Justice has dealt with the likes of this psycho for hundreds of years. Usually, they make citizens out of these lost souls. dm
Sounds good, but what about the former military mass murderers? By the way I am a retiree from the military (MP) and I have to say that the Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy Mcveigh, was in the military, as well as the shooter at Fort Hood, a Muslim extremist/terrorist. They in my opinion, were not mentally unstable, but fighting for their beliefs. Timothy wanted to avenge the Governments murder of innocent women and children in Waco, Texas, which was not an accident. It has been proven that the fire was intentionally set as per views from the airplane shooting that was shooting infrared video at the time. That does not give him the right to murder more though, and that is why he was put to death obviously. It isn't murder when Janet "the murderer" Reno orders it, it is considered an accident. Yeah, they tried to serve warrants and people were killed, ATF and Branch Dividians. However, that is no reason for the Government to go and kill people who are just trying to live as innocent Americans enjoying their rights to bear arms and worship as they see fit. I am talking about the innocent people there, not the ones who got into a firefight with the ATF agents. Like I said, I am a retired cop from the military, and I originally thought the whole operation was justified and a tragic accident, but after the Oklahoma City bombing, and viewing the video shot by an private airplane, I did my own research, and Janet Reno has a lot of blood on her hands. Not just the Waco victims, but the Oklahoma City victims as well. Had she just waited them out a little longer and not had the assault vehicle, which was spraying automatic machine gun fire into the building, place the tear gas canisters into the building, the fire would have never happened. There were people who shot themselves in the head because they didn't want to burn, and were convinced if they fled they would be shot by the ATF. I know that sounds silly as hell, but what did they have to go on? Misinformation given to them by the that idiot running the place and an overzealous ATF assault fueled by an idiot who should never be in charge of anything let alone the chief LE person.(Janet Reno) Although I deplore what Mcveigh did, I can now see and understand why he did it. He was fighting for something he believed in. He was fighting for his country which he saw as being in peril. The country is much worse today than in his time though. I am just boarding myself and family up, and waiting for the apocalypse that is upon us. lol This country/government is beyond saving and it is going to be every man or woman for themselves soon enough. Just get right with your maker.
I am usually not much of a believer in super-other world connections that people claim.
But, having experienced , first hand, the intuition or premonition of two different Women.
I am a believer ...on some level. Some people just are tuned in a way that most are not.
Is this going to cause me to sell all my possessions, join in a ritual sweat lodge cleansing, embrace the teaching of my local Buddhist Monk or any of the opther way out there thinbgs people do....no. But, I seriously would look at someone experiencing one of these intuitions with honest belief.
Last, I so very hope that this lunatic is tried , convicted and sentenced with as little fanfare , hype and reporting , in as short a time as the Rights he has as a American allow. and....especially.....that the Media refrains from making this a celebrated event with 24 hour reporting on his childhood, his family , upbringing , his psychological profile ....ad nauseum.
All this kind of attention provides is moment of fame desired by many of these unbalanced.
My hope for the Family and Friends remaining .
This kind of destruction is so pointless. Fate can also be so cruel. This type of murderer by definition is insane. Some motives are revenge, desire for fame, hatred of society. What could be rewarding about killing people you don't know. Pure hate in its densest state. Reality was not what he was expecting or he would have attempted escape and allowed booby traps to do their deeds. The Law and punishment seem so inept. Only religion can begin to address loss such as this. Prayer for the souls of the lost, more prayer and first aid for the injured, Punishment and prayer for the guilty. Pray for the evil that owned this man's soul to be banished from our world.
This is just too sad for words. My prayers and heartfelt love goes out to her life, memory and family. She is home with God now. And may he bless her eternal spirit. Which is much more than I can say for the vicious killer and those who enable and pander to his kind of conduct.
A writer for 'The Daily Beast' and Newsweek magazine said that this movie, quote, 'is incredibly violent'. It turned out to be a reality for the poor people that chose to watch it. Violence in any form should be taken seriously. We live in a very violent world and it has been proven on more than one occassion that people who do these horrific things, have in one way or another, been influenced by the violence in movies, music, and video games. How many more children are being conditioned by what their parents allow them to view for entertainment to become the next person to hit the news as someone who is going to do something like this? When is society going to learn? My guess is, with the way this system is going, it's only going to get worse. I'm sure there are many out there that will take offense to this, and that's perfectly their right. However, the conditions in the world today argue that taking in violence begets violence.
I just do not know what to say. My heart goes out to this family. So very sad and tragic.
Looks like a gold digging attempt for publicity, why the sexy pictures? just another Canadian looking for fame in the USA, go home. And the media as an enabler! AS always.
WTF are u talking about!?
Sad but this is a reminder that tomorrow is not promised. There is life after death. Heaven and Hell is real. Your opinions won't matter when you pass from this world. Jesus Died for our sins so we can go to Heaven. Just repent and accept Him as your saviour!
When is the American public going to get angry about the proliferation of assault weapons in this country? This has nothing to do with the right to bear arms. I'm not talking about hunting rifles, or even hand guns. I am talking about assault weapons like the ones this deranged person purchased and took into the movie theater. These guns are designed to kill as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. The powerful gun lobby has politicains too afraid to take this issue on, at the expense of the safety of the public. It will keep happening again, again, and again. This is pathetic!
Sorry Peter, WRONG !!! The bad guy's will allways find a way to create as much devistation as possible ! When a group of terrorists come to your neighborhood with asualt rifles from another country, you might be thinkin, damn, I wish I had one of those right about now ! lets outlaw gunpowder, all kinds of steel, nails or whatever it takes to make a pipe bomb, so that we will be safer ???? Get real !!!
You are not going to take away my right to bear arms. I am a law abiding citizen who has never hurt another person in my life. I don't care who gets shot by whatever weapon they use, it is pointless. It will always happen regardless. However, you taking away my right to bear a particular firearm, assault rifle in this case, makes me and my family vulnerable to being attacked by the criminal element. If I was attacked by somebody with an AK47, do you think I am going to shoot back with single shot rifle or shotgun? It is sad every time this happens, but my ancestors fought (8 brothers in the American Revolution) so we can bear arms. They didn't say you have any right to take away a certain type of rifle just because a very small fragment freaks of nature decide to use it to kill innocent people. I also don't see how legally my state can make me have to get a peice of paper saying I am ok to carry a concealed weapon. I can't afford to get the stupid permit, and they are totally unconstitutional, as many States are slowly realizing. I am not saying sale a weapon to anybody, but you have no right to say or restrict what weapons we can buy. The vast majority of people owning assault rifles are law abiding citizens, and would not hurt anybody under most circumstances. The criminal element will always have these types of weapons, as will the cops. The private citizens have the right also to protect themselves from these types. You can't rely on the cops to be there all the time. I am a retired cop myself and know what I talking about. The shooting last night went on for 15 minutes. See my point? The Virginia Tech massacre went on for hours. Ok? So just because some idiot, like this morning, gets his hands on an assault rifle, you have no right to take a law abiding citizens rifle away, or keep him from buying a new one by taxing it into oblivion. Including the ammo used in it.
d_m77,
None of this reminds me of the Final Destination movies. The super-material forces in those films were all evil. What happened to Jessica reminds me of the movie Donny Darko...
Maybe the Lord gave her as much as He could in this world. And what a world do we choose...
I send my prayers to all the families of victims invoved in the shooting. I hope they can cope with all their stress without any further intrusions. To the gun toting conservatives who are all "Herp... Derp... if someone had a gun less lives would have been lost" Think of this, what if the theatre was an area with Conceal and Carry Restrictions? Has it been said if it was or not, and even if it was, you would be shooting into a crowd of chaotic, panicked bystanders who would get caught in the crossfire, sure you might hit the crazed lunatic shooting up the theatre, but you WILL hit civilians if not careful. How much is one life worth, killing the assaulter but taking out 4 or so other lives? even one life lost is to many. I don't understand it... but it seems that everyones emotions are fragile and will be sent to the extremes on a hair trigger. As a Democrat, I AM NOT promoting gun control, but telling the insane conservative extremists who think they are invincible with their puny little conceal and carry to think about what they are saying before they go off ranting "Well i coulda gotten him if I was there" It almost seems as if all of America is going down the tubes, there are a few good people, but there are a growing number of sociopaths who will snap at the slightest digression. IN SHORT: Think about what you are saying before you go yammering on about a crisis like this.
To the Survivors and the Families of the Victims. I want you to know there are many out there who are praying for you, who are feeling the same sorrow as you... and we all hope that it all works out and and things look up...
This is a very sad day and I am praying for the families of the victims and the shooter ! But I do have to say that I am not suprised at some of the responses to the suggestion that we all should be prepared. The notion that there is no way to be prepared for something like this is absolutely wrong ! There are defensive shooting classes taught by men and women in the military and law enforcement in most cities. These classes go a long way in teaching folks just like these victims to read situations better which in turn, helps us to be confidant and calm when under fire, wich in turn, makes us survivors not victims !!! Get educated and get involved and be more prepared and safer. The bad guys usually go after the the people who seem to be in lala land, not the people who seem aware and confidant ! Just sayin !
Keep playing all these stupid movies like Batman and all these violent video games and this sort of stupidity will continue. Kids today are not like we were in the 50's and 60's they can't separate or distinguish between fantasy and reality.
Nonsense.. The problem is lack of controls on who can arm themselves. Nuts and criminals should not be able to get an arsenal of weapons. That is what is allowing this to happen, nothing else.
This story is proof no one is safe, and its happening way too often. Its time for change. This kind of thing must be prevented.
Condolences to the family and friends of this poor woman, gone too soon.
So sad what this world has become that you can't even go out anymore without fear of some looney lurking. My thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims and to the family of the shooter as I am sure they must be horrified at what he has done.
The ONLY way that this coincidence could be any stranger than it already is,
is if these people were all watching FINAL DESTINATION!!!
armed citizens stop and deter crime all the time people... its just not sexy for the news to report it so it doesnt make the news.
personally i would prefer the chance to protect myself and loved ones then waiting to be the next one shot.
How awful! To escape something like that once, and then this. You never think something like that could ever happen to you let alone twice. My heart aches for her and her family and for everyone that was injured or killed by the hands of this sick-o.
Holy hotwings Batman...
Thank you for remembering one of the victims. I for one would like to challenge the news media to find similar stories regarding all of the victims. I am tired of seeing the deranged person who committed this crime posted on every news site. Please stop posting this guy's picture. Let's remember the victims, not the criminal.