Jessica Gawhi’s Mom Shares Last Text Exchange Before Colorado Shooting

One of the most poignant and tragic stories coming out of the Colorado shooting was Jessica Gawhi‘s. Jessica was an up-and-coming sports broadcaster who made many friends and had a tight-knit family. Her brother Jordan‘s post on his sister’s death is one of the saddest things I read all day. Other media types had weighed in with their remembrances about Jessica’s efforts to find full-time work as a broadcaster or working for a sports team. Reading her Twitter feed, which is lively and funny up to just when the movie starts, is also difficult. Jessica’s story was noteworthy in part because she’d survived the Toronto mall shooting just last month. she blogged about her experience in Toronto:

I can’t get this odd feeling out of my chest. This empty, almost sickening feeling won’t go away. I noticed this feeling when I was in the Eaton Center in Toronto just seconds before someone opened fire in the food court. An odd feeling which led me to go outside and unknowingly out of harm”˜s way. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around how a weird feeling saved me from being in the middle of a deadly shooting.

”˜What started off as a trip to the mall to get sushi and shop, ended up as a day that has forever changed my life. I was on a mission to eat sushi that day, and when I’m on a mission, nothing will deter me. When I arrived at the Eaton Center mall, I walked down to the food court and spotted a sushi restaurant. Instead of walking in, sitting down and enjoying sushi, I changed my mind, which is very unlike me, and decided that a greasy burger and poutine would do the trick. I rushed through my dinner. I found out after seeing a map of the scene, that minutes later a man was standing in the same spot I just ate at and opened fire in the food court full of people. Had I had sushi, I would’ve been in the same place where one of the victims was found.

But it was this text exchange with her mother shared that got me. It reads:

Jessica: Get some sleep mom. I’m really excited for you to come visit. Need my mama.

Me: Need my baby girl! Hang in there Jess…just keep trying and it will all be ok.

(Photo: Karina_Marlene)

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