An Ohio Man Sacrificed His Life For His Girlfriend!

Matt McQuinn was a victim of the tragic Aurora shooting. He sacrificed his life to protect his girlfriend Samantha Yowler. The young couple were watching the Batman movie when the gunman James Holmes attacked the moviegoers. 

The Aurora tragedy has been in the news and stories of heroism keep our spirits up. The shooter, James Holmes is a 24 year old former medical student who opened fire on moviegoers at the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises, the last installment of the Batman franchise.

James Holmes appears in court in a state of daze and confusion. The judge in this case ordered Holmes held in custody under protective watch and solitary confinement. The charges are state and federal. The federal charges are for the shooting of three military officers. The nine that were killed were either protecting their girlfriends or the random person that Holmes shot as they fled the movie theater.

We at Journal de la Reyna send our condolences to those lost in this horrible tragedy. Due to all the media coverage, it's unlikely Holmes will get a fair trial. The media is fully covering this tragedy and I am guessing most of the world is focused on this tragedy.

President Barack Obama went out to Colorado to comfort the families of the victims lost this weekend. The political warfare continues when conservatives online agitate the debate over how Americans are to mourn the lost of people. The political debate over guns will be front and center again. The National Rifle Association and gun shops are going to milk this for a profit. The NRA will send newsletters to emails saying that this tragedy is not the fault of the firearms, but a deranged individual. [Liberal] leaders like President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi are going to find ways to take away [our] guns. With the debate over firearms comes the debate over the way the president handles tragedies. Anything the president does will rile up conservatives. No matter what he does, they'll complain.

The irrational comments from those in the right wing are outrageous and callous at best. It's like the type of stuff that creates people like this James Holmes. Whether he done it or not, conservatives will continue their reactionary outrage over things that don't affect their lives.

Today we will talk about an Ohio man who sacrificed his own life to protect his girlfriend and her brother.

Matt McQuinn was a resident of Springfield, Ohio a city 20 miles east of Dayton. He and his girlfriend Samantha Yowler and brother Nick were attending the premiere of the blockbuster movie The Dark Knight Rises, unaware of the young man who came into the theater. The young man who was apparently wearing a tear gas mask and armed with multiple firearms including an AR 47 with heavy magazine shooting at the crowd.

Matt McQuinn was killed protecting his girlfriend.

As he was shooting into the moviegoers, Samantha was struck two times. Matt reacted like most people and took cover trying to protect her. He was shot three times. He was one of the many victims still in the movie theater after the injured and surviving escaped Holmes.

Matt was a 27 year old man who grew up in Dayton, Ohio lived in Springfield. He then moved out to the Denver area with his girlfriend Samantha. They were employed at Target Supercenter in Denver. According to family members, the two were in love and were planning on getting married in the future.


As reported by The Denver Post and Dayton Daily News, Matt McQuinn died protecting his girlfriend.

As a gunman calmly walked up the aisle of an Aurora movie theater Friday firing at moviegoers, the 27 year old Ohio native dived on top of Samantha Yowler. Her brother Nick, 32, also tried to shield her, said Robert L. Scott, attorney for the McQuinn and Yowler families.

Samantha Yowler, 27, was shot in the knee. Her brother escaped without injury. But McQuinn, from St. Paris, Ohio, was not as fortunate.

McQuinn's mother, Jeri Jackson, flew to Colorado on Friday as family members in Springfield tried to get information about what happened to McQuinn, according to the Dayton Daily News.

McQuinn's stepmother, Stacie McQuinn, said the hospital would not tell Yowler, who underwent surgery Friday, about her boyfriend's condition because the two were not related.
                                    

Matt McQuinn graduated from Vandalia-Butler High School in 2004. He met Yowler while the two were working at a Target store in Springfield, the Dayton Daily News reported. In November, the couple transferred to a Target store in Denver, joining Yowler's brother, who had lived in Colorado for the past few years.

Courtesy of NBC 2 Dayton.

1 from area killed in movie gunfire: wdtn.com