As one who has spent much of their time in Colorado, I wanted to comment on the horrific shooting that took place last Thursday night in Aurora, Colorado. Not only is this a terrible thing to happen in Colorado, but it also highlights some of the issues concerning background checks for guns and mental health awareness in our community, country, and world. As horrible as last week’s events are, it is clear that James Holmes, who will likely end up being tried for the deaths of 12 people, had major problems.
In addition to the problems that lead up to the events last week, one story in particular caught my eye. 25-year-old Jamie Rohrs, boyfriend to Patricia Legarreta, was in the theater with said girlfriend, their infant son, Ethan, and Laegaretta’s other young daughter. As soon as the gunman shows up, what does Rohrs do? He runs! With baby Ethan! Then, over the next confused moments, Rohrs misplaces his baby son and runs right out of the theater, leaving Patricia and the kids behind. The Denver Post describe’s Rohrs’s confusion:
Rohrs still isn’t sure how he lost Ethan. One moment he was in his arms; the next, he was gone. Rohrs hurtled over some seats, found his way to the stairway, and ran.
Let’s review. Jamie picked up Ethan, panicked, put him back down on the ground, and ran out. Then he proceeded to make his way to the parking lot, and drove away.
Of course there is no way for someone who was not in the theater to possibly understand the horror of what was going on. We will never be able to predict how we would have reacted in such a situation. However, this poor woman, struggling with her decision to either run out of the theater or stay and possibly become a victim alongside her two young children, was abandoned by her boyfriend. Patricia made the split-second decision to run out with her children, and was injured by schrapnel in the process. She was later reunited with the uninjured Rohrs outside of the the theater.
Then Rohrs, realizing somewhere in his head that he cannot live without Patricia and their children, (unless someone starts shooting at them, then he is running up out of that bitch), proposed to his girlfriend in the hospital. She said yes.
Maybe everything is fine and dandy with their relationship, but it really makes for an awkward retelling of how you got engaged. “Oh, you know, after Jamie left me behind in the bullet-riddled theater with our helpless children, he decided we should get married!”
It also doesn’t help Jamie look any more manly when Patricia comes across as completely cool-headed in this interview with Piers Morgan, while Jamie cries on national television. Good luck to them both.
There is credit due to 19-year-old Jarrell Brooks, who helped Patricia run to safety from the movie theater. Brooks is recovering from a gunshot wound at home.
Fixed Air 
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