Teenage Shooting Victim Helped Mom/Kids escape

[GailGoldie]

This just makes me laugh at that "dad" even more... this teenage guy got shot himself trying to help the mom and her kids get out! Good for him - wonder if she'll hook up with HIM now


abcnews.go.com/US/dark-knight-rises-shooting-victim-stopped-young-mom/story?id=16822336

A Colorado teenager who survived the mass shooting at a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora this morning helped keep a young mother, her young child and her 4-month-old infant safe even though he was injured himself.

Jarell Brooks, 19, has been released from Denver General Hospital and is now recovering at home after he suffered a gunshot wound to the leg after James Holmes, once a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Colorado, allegedly set off smoke bombs and opened fire on the unsuspecting audience, killing 12 people and injuring at least 50 in the attack. He was quickly apprehended by authorities.

PHOTOS: Colorado 'Dark Knight Rises' Theater Shooting

Brooks said that when Holmes started shooting everyone scrambled for the exits. While trying to get out of the theater, he saw a woman, later identified as Patricia Legarreta, struggling to get herself and her two children out. He said he crawled on top of Legarreta in an attempt to push her and the kids out the door but then couldn't get out himself.

Brooks told ABC News that even though he's recovering at home, he is still shaken by the attack.

"At the end of the aisle, I ran into a woman. She yelled, 'My kids!' and I saw she had two young kids with her," he told ABC News. "I made sure they got in the aisle and pushed behind her to make sure she got out of there."

That's when Brooks said he felt a shot to his leg. Brooks said he was shot in the thigh, and fell to the ground.

Patricia Legarreta was also hit.

"We fell together," Brooks said. "I picked myself back up and continued to the back exit door, on one leg."

Legarreta was at the movies with her fiance and their two young children that night when she was shot. Her infant son was on the floor but wasn't hit.

"I was thinking, I have to get this family out, without getting hit myself. I managed to do one," Brooks told ABC News.

Legarreta was hit with buckshot and released from the hospital Friday morning. She is now recovering at home, where she spoke with ABC News and confirmed what happened -- that when she stood up to move her daughter, she was shot, and Brooks hit the ground with her.

She said that she remembered yelling, "I got hit," and Brooks screaming in pain.

The young mother said that after the shooting stopped she didn't really know what happened but was relieved to know that there were young men like Brooks in the world.

"It makes me feel glad because I felt helpless," she said. "Everybody at that moment was going through it, and to know that someone had that mindset, it makes me feel happy to know that in times of trial, there are good people out there."

[charminglife]

That kid is really brave, and the dad should feel terrible that complete strangers had to help his family because he ran away.

[ttt]

Maybe she should marry him instead.

[teflep]

Yeah, I can't defend her fiance. Great that there are good people for sure.

[Deleted]

Jul 21, 2012 9:54:09 GMT -5 ttt said:

Maybe she should marry him instead.

Seriously.

I hope someone covers this guys medical costs if he has any.

[ttt]

What I want to know is why in so many of these interviews, this woman fails to even mention him helping her. Seems she is trying to make her loser boyfriend look better by ignoring this guy who was actually heroic.

Also, black teen helps woman and kids while father flees isn't the narrative that the media seems to want here. They seem to be focusing on "he was so worried about his family and now he's proposing because life is short! How romantic!"

[copzgirl1171]

I have not given up on my idea of flying to Aurora and clubbing that "dads" nuts with a ball bat.

That teenager is more man than that dad will ever be. I hope he gets all the kudos he deserves.

[heyjude]

Doh!

[taratru]

What a great story for that kid. That makes me happy.

Fiance is a fucking douchebag.