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| Shooting Victim Jessica Ghawi |
"He was like a jolt of lighting. We will tease when she would come home to visit, that he walked in the door, it's just automatic clutter because the level of energy he brought to a room," Sandy Phillips, the mother of Jessica Ghawi, said tonight on "20 / 20. "
Ghawi has escaped from a separate shootout in a shopping mall Toronto last month.
"He was deeply affected by watching the shooting victims were taken out of [Toronto], and realized that some of them close to his own age and realize that life is fragile and he got enlightenment at the time that it could happen to any one of us at any time rather than fear it, he embraced life even more complete, "Phillips said.
Ghawi, the sportscaster candidate, was killed when 24-year James Holmes burst into a movie house early this morning, police said, and began shooting customers, allegedly killed at least 12 and wounding 70.
Ghawi, who recently moved from San Antonio, Texas, to Denver, had escaped from the June 2 shooting in Toronto food court, which killed one person.
Ghawi attend a screening of the film with his friend, Brent Lowak, and has been tweeting about the minutes before the movie starts.
Lowak he and Jessica sitting in the theater when it filled with smoke from the device being thrown into the crowd, according to information posted by the brother of the shooting Ghawi, Ghawi Jordan, on his blog.
My friends down to the prone position to take refuge from the spray of bullets.
"Brent and Jessica heard screams and noticed that he was hit by a round at the foot of Brent began to hold pressure on the wound and try to calm Jessica .. It was at this time that Brent took turns to lower extremities. While still managing first aid, Brent saw that Jessica no more shouting, "wrote Jordan Ghawi.
Lowak "take what may be the only chance to escape from the line of fire" and exit the theater. Once safe, he contacted the mother Ghawi.
Six weeks ago, when a young sports writer had just missed being caught in the Toronto food court gunfight, he pondered how lucky he is and how fragile life is in a blog post about the attack.
"I know after looking at a map of the scene minutes later a man stood in the same place where I just ate, and fired a shot at the food court full of people .... I've been in the same place where one victim was found," Ghawi write.
After graduating from the University of Texas at San Antonio, Ghawi have been looking for a job in broadcasting. After interning with Mike Taylor, a sports announcer in San Antonio Ticket 760, he got a new job in Denver, especially covering hockey.
Taylor confirmed to ABC News that Ghawi was in Toronto Eaton Centre mall at the time of the shooting June 2.
"He's in Toronto, I thought he was just there for the holidays. He was having lunch at a mall in Toronto and there was shooting in the food court where he is. He just left," said Taylor.
In his blog, described the harrowing experience Ghawi see the victims of gun violence.
Source : http://abcnews.go.com/US/colo-shooting-victim-jessica-ghawi-jolt-lighting-mother/story?id=16819751
