World News
Moments of grace found in aftermath of shooting at Colorado theater
Published: July 30, 2012
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In the speech he gave at the University of Colorado Hospital July 22, President Barack Obama quoted a Scripture passage that calls attention to how people find comfort amid suffering. "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away," he said, quoting from Revelations. The president did not focus on the gunman who killed 12 people and wounded 58 during a midnight showing of the latest Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises" July 20. Instead, he emphasized the goodness demonstrated in the tragedy's aftermath. He said he assured the shooting victims that he had just visited at the hospital that "although the perpetrator of this evil act has received a lot of attention over the last couple of days that attention will fade away. What will be remembered are the good people who were impacted by this tragedy," he added. According to news reports, three men killed in the shooting died while shielding their girlfriends from bullets. Another died shielding a friend and one young woman stayed with her friend instead of fleeing while keeping her finger on the bullet wound in her friend's neck to stop the bleeding. When the shooting stopped, she helped carry her friend across two parking lots to an ambulance. The president recounted the story of Stephanie Davies, who saved her friend, Allie Young, from bleeding to death. "I don't know how many people at any age would have the presence of mind that Stephanie did, or the courage that Allie showed," he said, noting that they "represent what's best in us, and they assure us that out of this darkness a brighter day is going to come."
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