'We thought we would do something special' One mother brews up a tribute to a theater shooting victim
Wednesday marks 10 years since the Aurora theater shooting that claimed the lives of 12 people.
Victims' families and loved ones have been planning special tributes including a mom who brewed up something special to honor her son's memory.
A new beer, AJ's Haze, was unveiled at Six Capital Brewery in Aurora. It's a brew Theresa Hoover and the bar created together to honor her son.
"We thought that we'd do something special and the bar was right behind it so here we are today and I couldn't be happier," said Hoover.
AJ Boik is Theresa's son who was only 18-years old when he was killed at the movie theater. He was sitting near the front row with his girlfriend when the shooting started.
"AJ said we gotta get out of here," Hoover said. "And that's when he was shot and he fell to the ground."
His girlfriend survived but AJ did not.
"The last ten years have been a lot of growing, changing and adjusting," said Hoover. "It's nice to have this beer to look at, as a here and now. It's another good thing that came out of this horrible tragedy."
Hoover and brewer, Ryan Cosslett, worked about 8 hours to get the recipe for the beer just right before putting it in the tanks. They wanted to make sure it was perfect to honor AJ's memory
"Just to be able to do something for the community, support AJ and his memory and just keep the memory alive," Cosslett said. "It's the least we can do."
"Just to have AJ's name on it, in remembrance of the 10-years is huge and it reminds us that he's with us every day even 10 years later," Hoover said. "We're never going to be 100 percent healed but a lot of progress has been made in 10 years."
Proceeds from the beer will go to the 720 Foundation, a nonprofit that created a memorial for the theater shooting victims. AJ's beer will be served at the memorial event on July 23, 2022.
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