Friday, July 20, 2012

Hockey Writer Among Aurora Dead

The HQ would like to send out its condolences to the Ghawi family on this ugly day in suburban Denver.

Jessica Ghawi, whose on-air name was Jessica Redfield, is among the dead at the hands of the shooter at the Colorado theater early this morning...

Her Twitter feed actually carried the discussion
of her trying to get a male friend to go with her to the movies last night...

Never thought I'd have to coerce a guy into seeing the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises with me.

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...

With her last being:

MOVIE DOESN'T START FOR 20 MINUTES

Redfield was from San Antonio and was making her way as a hockey writer as Jesse Spector elaborates on here...

Jessica's brother, Jordan, has a blog up and has details on the shooting:


1015 (local): This is what I have been told by Brent, who was with my sister at the time of the shooting. This will be the only statement that I will make on the events surrounding what appears to be her death.

Jessica and Brent were seated in the middle portion of the theatre when a device was thrown into the theatre that produced a “hissing” sound. The theatre than began to fill with smoke which is when patrons began to move from their seats. At that time, shots were fired. Brent and Jessica immediately dropped to a prone position for cover. Jessica advised multiple times for someone to call 911, which Brent immediately attempted to do. Brent then heard Jessica scream and noticed that she was struck by a round in the leg. Brent, began holding pressure on the wound and attempted to calm Jessica. It was at this time that Brent took a round to his lower extremities. While still administering first aid, Brent noticed that Jessica was no longer screaming. He advised that he looked over to Jessica and saw what appeared to be an entry wound to her head. He further stated that Jessica presented with agonal respirations. Brent then took what may have been his only chance to escape the line of fire and exited the structure where he then contacted my mother. The veracity of any other statements not issued by myself or Peter Burns should be questioned.


Scarily enough, Redfield was a witness to the Eaton Centre violence in Toronto and escaped it, but she wrote about it on her blog a month ago...

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. For one man, it was in the middle of a busy food court on a Saturday evening.

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.

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.


If this doesn't classify as outright-senseless, the HQ doesn't know what ever will...

((pictures, thanks Mike Lavender and Jessica Redfield))

Here's Jessica's brother, Jordan, talking about his sister...
((HT: 9News/Denver))

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