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Many Of Those Who Died Saved The Lives Of Others

AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - There are so many heroes who took action the night of the theater shootings. They not only include the first responders and police officers who rushed victims to hospitals themselves, but those who died by shielding others from the bullets.

Nobody died alone in Aurora that night. The 12 who lost their lives all went to the movies with a relative, a spouse or a friend.

Matt McQuinn dove in front of his girlfriend and her older brother to shield them from the gunfire. They lived. He didn't.

John Larimer had just joined the Navy. He stood between life and death for his girlfriend as well.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Jesse Childress saved the life of a fellow airman beside him.

And Jonathan Blunk pushed his friend Jansen Young to the floor and lay on top of her.

"Even after I was thrown under the seats, I kept thinking, 'This is it, I'm going to die,' " Young said.

He took the bullet instead of her.

"I don't know how to give my life back to someone who has already given theirs to me? How do you do that?" she said.

Micayla Medek was found on the floor of the theater along with 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan, the youngest of the dead.

At 51, Gordon Cowdon was the oldest -- a single father.

Rebecca Ann Wingo was a single mother. She leaves behind two daughters.

Alex Sullivan leaves behind a new wife. He died a day short of their first anniversary.

Alexander Teves wanted to be a psychiatrist. Alexander Boik wanted to be an art teacher. And Jessica Ghawi wanted to be a journalist. The profession lost a good one, her boyfriend Jay Meloff said.

"She had just an impact in this world, and I want her to still have that impact," Meloff said.

They all had dreams left unfinished -- and now the goodbyes begin.

Don't miss a special hour long report on CBS4 on Friday at 4 p.m. titled "Movie Theater Tragedy: Remember, Honor Support" which will look back at the week following the Aurora shootings.

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