Another Senseless Act of Violence

Last week I didn't do any blogging because my sister Sharon and her family were in town visiting. We had lots of fun spending time together and I will make a post about her visit soon, but I wanted to make a special post this morning about the terrible tragedy that happened in Aurora, Colorado last week.

24-year-old gunman, James Holmes, opened fire during the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises early last Friday morning. He killed 12 people and injured 58 others. This shooting wasn't something that'll Holmes did on a whim. I don't know what his motivation was, but this was obviously something he'd been planning for a while. He even went so far as to booby-trap his apartment. I, like the rest of the world, am wondering why someone would go to such extreme measures to do something so heinous.

One of the victims was Jessica Ghawl, a 24-year-old aspiring sportswriter. Eerily, Jessica was involved in another shooting just a few weeks ago on June 2 when a gunman opened fire at a mall food court in Toronto, Canada. Understandably, she was extremely shaken after the incident and wrote about it on her blog, A Run On of Thoughts. Here's her picture and an excerpt from the post she made about the terrifying ordeal:

"I  was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders’ faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath. 

"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. After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given."

It's chilling to think about the words that Jessica wrote just weeks ago and how much they would apply to what would transpire in her life on July 20. (Talk about foreshadowing.) In Jessica's post she said, "Gun crimes are fairly common where I grew up in Texas, but I never imagined I'd experience a violent crime firsthand." 

Victim Alex Sullivan went to the movie  to celebrate his 27th birthday which was on Friday.  Just before going into the theater he sent out this Tweet:  "Oh man, one hour till the movie and it's going to be the best BIRTHDAY ever!" That was the last his family and friends heard from him. Heartbreaking photos showed Alex's father, Tom, in the nearby Gateway High School parking lot waving a picture of his son yelling, "Find my son!" Late Friday night Alex's received confirmation that their son was one of the victims. How devastating.

A vigil was held last night and thousands of people showed up to mourn and show their support.

24-year-old gunman James Holmes had his first court appearance a few hours ago, and I watched the live "breaking news" coverage on TV. It was eerie getting my first look at him, especially seeing his dyed red hair. He almost appeared to be drugged or something, because he looked like he was about to nod off while the judge was talking to him. It will definitely be interesting to see what happens to him as time goes on, and to see if he'll ever give any explanation as to why he did this.