Colorado Shooting Victim: Journalist Was Shooting Survivor

They say we’re all born with a sixth sense; that little funny feeling in your stomach when something is about to go down, or the nagging voice that insists you’ve left something behind when you hit the road for a long trip. While not everyone believes in such things, one journalist said she was a believer after that feeling saved her life. But after narrowly escaping the Toronto mall shootings several weeks ago, she found herself in a Colorado theater last night with the gunman who took her life.

Jessica Ghawi–also known as Jessica Redfield–was a sportscaster from San Antonio who had big dreams for herself. When she found herself at a Toronto mall last month with a nervous stomach, she couldn’t explain it; she only knew she wanted to leave. She stepped outside for fresh air moments before a gunman opened fire in the food court, only a few feet away from where she’d been. She recently wrote about it on her blog.

I found out after seeing a map of the scene, that minutes later a man was standing in the same spot I just ate at and opened fire in the food court full of people. Had I had sushi, I would’ve been in the same place where one of the victims was found.

My receipt shows my purchase was made at 6:20 pm. After that purchase I said I felt funny. It wasn’t the kind of funny you feel after spending money you know you shouldn’t have spent. It was almost a panicky feeling that left my chest feeling like something was missing. A feeling that was overwhelming enough to lead me to head outside in the rain to get fresh air instead of continuing back into the food court to go shopping at SportChek. The gunshots rung out at 6:23. Had I not gone outside, I would’ve been in the midst of gunfire. …

That’s when it really hit me. I felt nauseas. Who would go into a mall full of thousands of innocent people and open fire? Is this really the world we live in?

In a horrific and almost unbelievable twist of fate, Jessica wound up at the Colorado theater last night where 24-year old James Holmes unleashed gunfire into the crowd, killing at least 12 people and injuring 50 more, including children. Sadly, this time she wasn’t as lucky. Her last post on Twitter was about how excited she was to be watching “The Dark Knight Rises”.

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