Funerals set for 2 theater victims

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

Loved ones are planning to say goodbye today to two victims of the deadly shooting spree at a Colorado movie theater — an Ohio man who died shielding his girlfriend from gunfire and a young Texas woman killed less than two months after surviving a shooting at a Toronto mall.

Matt McQuinn’s funeral will be held in his western Ohio hometown of Springfield, while Jessica Ghawi’s funeral is in her hometown of San Antonio. Both are open to the public.

The first funeral of a victim of the shooting was that of Gordon Cowden, 51, in Denver on Wednesday. Cowden had taken his teenage children to the movie and was remembered as “a true Texas gentleman.”

Other victims’ funerals were held Thursday and Friday, and more are scheduled for next week.

Both McQuinn, 27, and Ghawi, 24, were at the Aurora, Colo., movie theater with people they loved dearly on July 20 to see the midnight opening of “The Dark Knight Rises.”

James Holmes, a 24-year-old former doctoral student studying neuroscience, is accused of opening fire on the theater, killing 12 people and injuring 58. He is due to be formally charged at a court hearing scheduled Monday in Colorado.

McQuinn is one of three men who were hailed as heroes for protecting their girlfriends from the gunfire.

McQuinn’s girlfriend, Samantha Yowler, was shot in the knee and survived. Yowler’s mother’s home phone in Springfield rang busy Friday, and it still was unclear whether she would be well enough to attend his funeral.

Her 32-year-old brother, Nick Yowler, who also shielded his sister, was not injured.

McQuinn’s family hasn’t spoken much publicly about his killing, and their phone numbers rang unanswered or were disconnected Friday.

Rob Scott, an attorney appointed by the family to act as its spokesman, did not return calls Friday, and staff members at the church where McQuinn’s funeral will take place declined to release any further information, citing the family’s wishes.

“As both families mourn the loss of Matt, they ask for everyone to give them distance and time,” Scott said in a statement earlier this week.

Ghawi was at the theater with her close friend, Brent Lowak, who was expected to make a full recovery from a wound in his backside.

Jordan Ghawi, Ghawi’s brother, blogged about developments in the shooting — including when he received word that his sister was among the dead.

He also wrote on his blog that Lowak took his first steps after the shooting Sunday and that he had more surgeries scheduled during the week.

Lowak’s mother, Sue Greene, told reporters that he desperately wanted to be well enough to go to Ghawi’s memorial service.

Ghawi, an aspiring sports journalist who moved to Colorado about a year ago, survived a June 2 shooting at a Toronto mall that left two dead and several injured and blogged about the experience, writing that it reminded her “how fragile life was.”

“I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath,” Ghawi wrote.