Update: As it appears, she is Palestinian and not Lebanese.
Sportswriter Jessica Ghawi just missed being shot at a Toronto mall in June. When a killer opened fire in a Colorado movie theater, she was not so lucky. Jessica was only 24. [Link]
A tragic loss for her family and friends!
Eleven other people died in the Colorado shooting that occurred when 24-year-old James Holmes burst into the movie house and began shooting patrons, allegedly killing at least 12 and injuring 70. The number of casualties makes the incident the largest mass shooting in U.S. history. [Source]
Sincere condolences to all the victims’ families and friends.
Jessica had posted on her [Blog] on the Eaton Center shooting that she had luckily survived a few weeks back. May she R.I.P.
Update: Her brother has a blog and has been blogging about the incident in details [Here]
the creepiest part is reading her tweets.. how she was excited for the movie, and how she convinced her friend to come watch..
damn you social media 🙁
fuck that sucks
in June?? it happened two days ago!
the Toronto mall shooting, which she survived, happened back in June.
my mistake.. there was one back in June as well?? and I thought lebanon isn’t safe!
Tragic indeed. -like Final Destination..
This really sucks. What are the odds??
R.I.P.
<3
Boohoo
R.I.P
منصور: جيسيكا غاوي التي كانت من بين ضØايا اØدى دور السينما ÙÙŠ ولاية كولورادو هي Ùلسطينية الاصل وليست لبنانية خلاÙا لما اذاعته وتذيعه وسائل الاعلام
yeah tru she is palastinian not lebanese
true*
question . . . why does it matter what her ethnic origin is? I see some claiming she’s Lebanese, others claiming she’s Palestinian and another news site, claiming she’s Jordanian. Really . . . why does it matter? She wasn’t targeted and killed because of her race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, politics, or gender. This was just a case of random violence where the murderer didn’t care who he killed. He was out to kill as many people as possible and it didn’t matter who they were. Children AND adults were all among the victims.
Additionally, we know nothing about this woman’s family origins. So, hypothetically, let’s say someone from her family immigrated to the States in the 1800’s from, let’s say, the area that is present day Lebanon. Now, let’s say that immigrant never looked back. None of his descendants learned Arabic and never set foot on Middle Eastern soil. Can we still refer to these individuals as Lebanese even though they have no present day connection to the land? After all these generations, if this person is 1/16th Lebanese, then can we still claim “A Lebanese Blogger is among the shooting victims”? Who’s to say the initial immigrant didn’t adopt a child who became this woman’s ancestor? If that was the case then there is technically NO genetic connection to Lebanon.
Again, I’m just curious to know . . . what difference does it make? Especially in light of the fact that this woman’s death was not in any way shape or form related to her ethnicity, nationality, etc.
A Voice from NY,
You know when I first heard she was Lebanese, I searched a bit but couldn’t find a proof that she is, but I didnt really care, just thought I mention it and present condolences to such unfortunate incident.
But what sickens me that some people were actually relieved she’s not Lebanese. What is wrong with them?
PS: Speaking of which I just updated the post to have correct information nothing more nothing less.
Najib – I didn’t mean to target you with my question, but rather meant it as a general question.
From my personal experience & observation, the only mention this incident initially received in the Arab media was that it appeared on the scroll bar during the news (as I said, this is based off of what I personally saw from my sofa in NY). The story didn’t get a sound-bite until AFTER reports started to surface that an (alleged) Arab was among the victims. In all honesty, it really bothered me that it seemed as if people didn’t care until they realized there could be an Arab among the dead (and it wasn’t the shooter). Yeah, I know that it could somehow make the situation a bit closer to “home” so to speak, but IMO, it shouldn’t matter what Jessica’s ethnic background is or isn’t.
I totally agree that it’s sick how some people are relieved that she’s not Lebanese. Like, really? News flash people . . . we’re all human! We are all someone’s sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers or sisters . . . in times of tragedy, the victims should not be remembered & mourned based on their ethnicity but based on the simple fact that their lives were tragically cut short.
My heart goes out to ALL the victims’ families. Not only to the Ghawis but more so to the family of the YOUNGEST victim . . . Veronica Moser-Sullivan who was only 6 years old.