Ghawi, who had narrowly missed being in another mass shooting a month earlier in Canada.
Ghawi, 26, was an aspiring sports broadcaster. She had just moved to Denver from her home in San Antonio, Texas, and was excited about watching the midnight premiere of the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Her brother, Jordan Ghawi, said his sister and a friend had been sitting in the middle of the theater when the shooting erupted.
In his blog, Jordan wrote: “Brent and Jessica immediately dropped to a prone position for cover. Jessica advised multiple times for someone to call 911, which Brent immediately attempted to do. Brent then heard Jessica scream and noticed that she was struck by a round in the leg. Brent, began holding pressure on the wound and attempted to calm Jessica. It was at this time that Brent took a round to his lower extremities. While still administering first aid, Brent noticed that Jessica was no longer screaming. He advised that he looked over to Jessica and saw what appeared to be an entry wound to her head.”
Ghawi had been at the scene of another recent mass shooting at a Toronto shopping mall, Eaton Centre. She left the mall less than five minutes before a gunman opened fire in the food court and killed two people. She wrote at the time, “I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the victims of a senseless crime…. I saw lives change. 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.”
Condolences were being shared on a Ghawi family Facebook page, which describes the family’s ties to the Middle East.
Some prominent Arab Americans mourned the tragedy but also criticized the almost exclusive focus of lawmakers on Arab and Muslim radicalization in recent years, while neglecting the issue of domestic non-Islamist extremists.
“Last year over 14,000 Americans were murdered in the US, zero by Islamic terrorists,” said Dean Obeidallah, a comedian and activist. “Politicians should focus more on who is truly killing our fellow Americans and less on demonizing Muslims for political gain.”