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Blogger, sportswriter among Batman shooting victims
Jessica Ghawi, an aspiring sportswriter who had been in a Toronto mall just ahead of a shooting spree, was reportedly among the victims of Friday's rampage at a US movie theater.
Jessica Ghawi, an aspiring sportswriter who had been in a Toronto mall just ahead of a shooting spree, was reportedly among the victims of Friday's rampage at a US movie theater.
KENS-TV reported her death, quoting family members in Texas.
Ghawi, whose killing prompted an outpouring of grief and sympathy from friends and colleagues, was tweeting just moments before she was shot.
"MOVIE DOESN'T START FOR 20 MINUTES," she wrote just ahead of the shooting early Friday at a packed premiere of the latest Batman movie in the Denver area that killed at least 12 people and left around 40 others wounded.
KENS-TV said Ghawi recently moved to Denver from San Antonio to pursue her career.
"You can find me in the TV studio, NHL arena/locker room, on a plane, or writing. Southern. Sarcastic. Sass.Class.Crass. Grammar snob," said her Twitter profile said, using her professional name, Jessica Redfield.
"My friend Jessica Ghawi was killed in the #Aurora Shooting-she was an aspiring sportscaster-she will be missed," wrote TV journalist Natalie Tejeda.
Ghawi, who wrote a hockey blog under the name Jessica Redfield and called herself "Pucktress," had commented about last month's Toronto shooting in a June 5 blog post.
This empty, almost sickening feeling won't go away," she wrote.
"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," she added.
"I say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing. So often I have found myself taking it for granted. Every hug from a family member. Every laugh we share with friends. Even the times of solitude are all blessings. Every second of every day is a gift."
Mourning Ghawi, Jesse Spector tweeted: "Words are useless. Guns more so. If you ever had any interaction with @JessicaRedfield, you know the world is much worse off without her."
Hours earlier, Spector had a Twitter conversation with Spector. She wrote, "@jessespector you aren't seeing it tonight?!" When he replied "Nope" she tweeted back, "psh. Loser!"
The victim's brother, Jordan Ghawi, wrote a blog post describing his learning 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," he said.
"I was able to contact the man that was with my sister, mutual friend Brent Lowak, who stated that they were in the theater when an incendiary device was fired into the crowd and that shots rang out immediately afterwards," he added.
"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."
