Joe Nguyen is a digital strategist for The Denver Post. Previously he was the online prep sports editor. Prior to that, he covered Adams County and Aurora in the YourHub section. He has previously covered Colorado’s Asian-American communities as editor for Asian Avenue magazine and AsiaXpress.com.
Sandy Phillips and her husband, Lonnie, sit for a portrait at her friend’s home in Lone Tree, Colo., Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, behind a photo of her daughter, Jessica Ghawi, who was killed in the 2012 mass shooting at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater. Suffering through their own personal loss after the mass shooting, the couple set out to help other parents like them, traveling to shooting sites around the country. The trip continued for a decade.
And here is life after: The dream home is lost to bankruptcy. The dream job is abandoned. She and her dream husband barely want to leave the house, much less fake their way through socializing. Even her best friend of decades has tired of her gloom. There will be no vacation. There will be no Christmas. All of that ended with a middle-of-the-night call on July 20, 2012, that caused her to slide down the wall, screaming the same two words over and over.
“We looked like that five months ago,” she said to her husband Lonnie, who had been in Jessi’s life since she was a little girl and saw her as a daughter of his own. Phillips held Wheeler and offered a bevy of advice. She told him to forgive himself even as his mind would trick him into thinking he could have prevented his son’s death. She told him to think of himself first and take the time to grieve before jumping into advocacy. She told him he might lose friends and be the target of conspiracy theories. She told him he’d be happy again.
Sandy Phillips is reflected in her RV window as she looks at the states she and her husband, Lonnie, traveled to while visiting mass shootings across the country, as the RV sits in a storage lot in Longmont, Colo., Monday, Sept. 4, 2023. Phillips didn’t consider it radical to believe weapons of war had no place on American streets. Her parents gave her a gun for her 10th birthday and she enjoyed bird hunting as a girl. She was a Texan, long aligned with Republican politics.
Kimberly loved her American Sign Language class and dreamed of being an interpreter. The last time she saw her mother, they signed “I love you” to one another. Along the way, there were diversions. For months, Phillips sat in a Colorado courthouse while her daughter’s killer stood trial. She found herself in court again when she sued the seller of the guns used in the theater attack, but a law shielding gun sellers ensured it failed.But the journey continued. They made an RV their home and took to the road even more.
Marc Orfanos received a call from Phillips within a day of his son Telemachus’ killing. The 27-year-old was one of 13 who were fatally shot at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, and he felt his cynicism and disgust grow with each shooting that followed. His son was a Navy veteran who was just beginning to recover from the trauma of surviving the shooting a year earlier that killed 60 people at a Las Vegas concert.
Sandy Phillips, left, and her husband, Lonnie, sit on a rock dedicated to Sandy’s daughter, Jessica Ghawi, one of 12 people killed in the 2012 mass shooting at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater, as they visit a memorial to the victims Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, in Aurora. Suffering through their own personal loss, the couple set out to help other parents like them, traveling to shooting sites around the country. The trip continued for a decade.
But each tragedy also took its toll. She lost count of the places she’d been. Her phone filled with numbers for people she met, but she could no longer keep all their stories straight. And for Orfanos, the gruesomeness of his son’s death at the bar still permeates his thoughts. Life feels like a performance, an effort to fill time with distractions so as not to focus on the void that defines it.
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The easiest homemade bread for an irresistible sandwichJoe Nguyen is a digital strategist for The Denver Post. Previously he was the online prep sports editor. Prior to that, he covered Adams County and Aurora in the YourHub section. He has previously covered Colorado’s Asian-American communities as editor for Asian Avenue magazine and AsiaXpress.com.
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Apple unveils new laptops, iMac and trio of more powerful chipsJoe Nguyen is a digital strategist for The Denver Post. Previously he was the online prep sports editor. Prior to that, he covered Adams County and Aurora in the YourHub section. He has previously covered Colorado’s Asian-American communities as editor for Asian Avenue magazine and AsiaXpress.com.
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Five Weeknight Dishes: Quick fall pastasJoe Nguyen is a digital strategist for The Denver Post. Previously he was the online prep sports editor. Prior to that, he covered Adams County and Aurora in the YourHub section. He has previously covered Colorado’s Asian-American communities as editor for Asian Avenue magazine and AsiaXpress.com.
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Football pairings and local scores for the Southland, Aurora, Elgin, Naperville and Lake CountyResults and highlights of high schools and local colleges from the Southland and Aurora, Elgin, Naperville and Lake County coverage areas.
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Aurora man found guilty of sexually assaulting intoxicated woman after giving her tequila shots at partyAn Aurora man has been found guilty of sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman at a party in 2020.
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Witness scheduling issues delay trial of Aurora officer charged in death of Elijah McClainScheduling issues with witnesses meant another delay in the trial of Aurora police officer Nathan Woodyard. He's one of 5 first-responders indicted in McClains death
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