so what are we to make of suffering from such violence? what possible meaning can it have? philosophers and certainly wiser people than myself may have the answer but it may be no more complicated than a stranger reaching out to another person or hugging your kids a little tighter. remembering to tell the people closest to you that you love them. as we gather here today, holding close to each other, we remember those who died on july 20th and honor the heroes and we continue to seek ways to help, givingfirst.org is a way contributions can go to help support those survivors. and the families of the victims.
although the perpetrator of this evil act has received a lot of attention over the last couple of days, that attention will fade away. and in the end, after he has felt the full force of our justice system, what will be remembered are the good people who are impacted by this tragedy. we re exploring this tragedy in depth this morning. we ll hear from survivors of the shooting and also going to hear from the mayor of aurora, a clinical psychologist, and former fbi agent and speak exclusively with a man who was a camp counselor with holmes. we begin with an interview with two young women, micayla hicks and lori shaffer, next to where the gunman open fire, a bullet passed through the wall and struck micayla right in the chin. lori was sitting next to micayla. how does your chin feel? it hurts pretty bad in my gums, bottom gums got pushed back by the bullet and one oth was knocked out and luckily caught it in my hand. the tooth next to the bottom front got moved around an
micayla medek. we will remember. veronica moser-sullivan. we will remember. alex sullivan. we will remember. alexander teves. we will remember. and rebecca wingo. we will remember. and the mayor also tonight of aurora speaking about his community, saying he did not want to talk about the suspect in all of this. this was a tribute to the families, to the people who lost their lives, to those who were injured. tonight we honor loved ones no longer with us. tonight we support the survivors. tonight we reach out to each other and love each other and love our neighbors and demonstrate what it means to be a community of good, caring, and loving people. good, caring, and loving people. of course, the mayor saying that this community not defined by the tragedy. they re defined by their collective spirits and how well they help each other. the president of the united states speaking just before this memorial service. from the university of colorado hospital.
as that is, with our doubt and our fears, let us turn to him. let us ask him for the hope that we need to see in the midst of this darkness a new day dawning here in our community of aurora. in the wake of a tragedy like this, the conversation often turns to moving on, to getting back to our daily lives. but the gospel speaks comforting words in this time of sorrow and tells us very clearly, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. and thank you for the banner in the back, angels walk with those who grieve. [ applause ] let us mourn for those who have perished, let us grieve for the loved ones who mourn their lives. in our mourning, our lord who is the great comforter is truly present to us but we do not grief live like those who have hope. we grieve that neither life nor death can separate us from his abundant love. his abundant love is our consolation. [ applause ] and so we return to our lives, let us see in this tragedy a reminder that our lives are fleet
look at the arsenal that holmes he massed. he was a very tense weekend in the middle east with the u.s. stepping up its presence around syria providing more help to the rebels. how far will our government go? we ll have a live report from the middle east. but first, of course, our top story here. the man accused of one of the worst shooting massacres in u.s. history will make his first court appearance in a few hours. police say it could take months before we know why he carried out this senseless act of violence during a midnight movie premier. 24-year-old james holmes accused of killing 12 people, wounding 58 people including mothers, fathers, members of the military, even a 6-year-old girl. eight are still in critical condition this morning. we are learning that budding scientist allegedly was planning this for months. his apartment was rigged with trip wires, gas canisters that a gun range owner was so scared by him that he rejected him a month ago. and it could hav