CTV Toronto
Published Friday, Jul. 20, 2012 10:47AM EDT
Last Updated Friday, Jul. 20, 2012 11:03AM EDT
A woman killed when a gunman opened fire in a Colorado movie theatre had survived Toronto’s recent Eaton Centre shooting and wrote in a blog that she was “blessed” to have survived the first incident.
Jessica Ghawi was among 12 people shot dead early Friday morning when gunfire erupted at a midnight screening of Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colo.
Jordan Gwahi confirmed to San Antonio TV station Kens5 that his sister was killed in the attack. Gwahi has recently moved from Texas to Colorado to pursue a career in sports broadcasting.
Ghawi wrote and tweeted about hockey under the name Jessica Redfield.
In her last blog post, dated June 5, 2012, Redfield wrote in great detail about her experience shopping at the Eaton Centre moments before gunfire rung out, killing two people and injuring several others.
“Who would go into a mall full of thousands of innocent people and open fire? Is this really the world we live in?” she wrote.
According to the post, Redfield was at the mall to get sushi and go shopping during a vacation to Toronto. She stepped outside just moments before gunfire erupted.
“I was on a mission to eat sushi that day, and when I’m on a mission, nothing will deter me. When I arrived at the Eaton Center mall, I walked down to the food court and spotted a sushi restaurant,” Redfield wrote.
“Instead of walking in, sitting down and enjoying sushi, I changed my mind, which is very unlike me, and decided that a greasy burger and poutine would do the trick.
“I rushed through my dinner. 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.”
Redfield wrote that she had a funny feeling after eating and decided to head outside for some fresh air instead of shopping at the nearby SportChek.
“The gunshots rung out at 6:23. Had I not gone outside, I would’ve been in the midst of gunfire,” she wrote.
Redfield stayed near the mall and watched as paramedics rushed a young, shirtless boy into an ambulance. She said the moment eventually overtook her, and she was left feeling nauseous.
“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,” her post concluded.
“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.”
Tributes to the young sportscaster came across Twitter on Friday.
The You Can Play Project, a program founded by the son of Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke, said she was working there as an intern.
“We will miss her intelligence, kindness and work ethic greatly,” they wrote on Twitter.
Moments before Friday morning’s shooting in Colorado, Redfield exchanged tweets with Sporting News NHL writer Jesse Spector, teasing him for missing the early showing of the highly-anticipated Batman movie.
“Words are useless. Guns more so. If you ever had any interaction with @JessicaRedfield, you know the world is much worse off without her,” Spector tweeted on Friday.
