Hero died in Colo. shooting while protecting girlfriend

A 2004 yearbook photo of Matt McQuinn, 27, who died while protecting his girlfriend in the shooting at the Century 16 theater in Aurora, Colo., Friday, July 20, 2012. / (AP Photo/David Zalubowski; WHIO

(CBS/AP) Matt McQuinn was with his girlfriend, Samantha Yowler, and her brother Nick at the midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" when a gunman burst into the theater, released canisters of pepper spray and opened fire.

CBS Affiliate WHIO reports that, according to Samantha's grandmother, McQuinn and Nick Yowler tried to shield the young woman with their bodies. She suffered a bullet wound to the leg; Nick escaped physically unharmed.

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The Colorado massacre suspect

But McQuinn, 27, died.

He and Yowler had met in Ohio and moved last year to Denver, where they worked at a Target store.

"They're really fun people," said co-worker Melissa Downen.

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Vigils for Aurora shooting victims

[grammadee94]

At least he STAYED and gave HIS life protecting his girlfriend and didn't run out of the theater like the two other COWARDS who DID run for their lives and left their girlfriends to find their own way out. One of the cowards even left his fiance and their 4 month old baby on the floor of the theater and the other coward went back looking for HIS girlfriend after the fact. I hope BOTH of those girlfriends re-think their relationship with these cowardly boyfriends, especially the coward that left his fiance AND their 4 month old baby on the floor of the theater. Thankfully, the girlfriends and the baby were not killed or seriously injured.

[Galactus9]

What a brave and unselfish act. She was a lucky girl.

[rwsmith29456]

If you have to go, protecting someone else is about the best way.

[dustin93sc]

The Police should allow Barack Obama to enter that apartment dressed as Joker and set-off the bogus set of bombs. Barack is amused that the American Electorate will pay the highest prices for gasoline and diesel fuel, during this presidential election.

[ultraskygod]

Yet some inbred F-nut will make this about politics

[formerlyluvnut]

Shuddup Dusty, you and SC are embarassing.

[dustin93sc]

Barack Obama wastes your money with these misconceived wars in the Middle East at the behest of Abu Dhabi. Federal dollars should be spent for homeland security against domestic terror cells. On November 6, the American Electorate must remove Barack for a responsible bureaucracy, in Washington DC.

[hypnotoad72]

Now that you're done ranting, tell us PRECISELY what his competition will do differently and get it notarized so we can hold you responsible instead of the candidate you're championing...

Also, before 2009, we were totally at peace and had no terrorism (foreign or otherwise)?

Ask Timothy McVeigh about that... oh, wait, you lot were bashing Clinton on that as well...

You'll do nothing but gripe and whine and b***h about anything and it seems just for the thrill of it.

[formerlyluvnut]

Shuddup dusty and btw; PRESIDENT Obama WILL be re-elected so deal with it. Whiner.

[mitrrek]

I can't even get my girlfriend to make dinner, no way I'm doing that.

[skeezix06]

I don't blame your girlfriend for not making your dinner.

[formerlyluvnut]

BEST comment of the day!

[hypnotoad72]

I'm sure society will, one day, consciously look at the root causes of problems. Until then, it's cheaper to gloss over those and continually put out sob stories and other reactionary fluff.

In short, if people think my response is heartless, when tragedy gets over-exploited it gets diluted as a result as well. If we as a society truly care, we can start to evolve and not exploit emotions for no pragmatic gain.

Of course, depending on the root cause of this person going nuts (I bet the "official" explanation will be a tumor in the brain or something), we can either fix society by analyzing and repairing the root cause of injustice that can cause people to crack... or we can buy guns and security cameras and become one big pus glob of a police state.

So, what's the future to be, noting this is hardly the first time that some person went nuts and started shooting people?

What will our President and presidential candidates in our esteemed election year say about moving forward as well?

[Jaylah54200]

Agree!

Plus, I don't think that people who seem to prefer that option where "we can buy guns and security cameras and become one big pus glob of a police state" seem to have any notion that those policemen are going to have to get paid. Which comes out of tax dollars. Which means their taxes are going to go up. A LOT.

[ScorpioJax66]

People have been doing things like this for thousands of years. Sometimes it was the people in charge doing it. There is no cure because no matter what you, it will set someone else off for some reason or another.Ban gund they will use knives, ban those and they will make spears out of wood, or bombs using gas and fertilizer, or mix ammonia and bleach to gas people.