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Colorado Shooting Hero Saves a Fleeing Family

Jarell Brooks, 19, sprung into action, saving a young woman and her two children during the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting.

Amid the chaos that broke out when alleged gunman James Holmes opened fire in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater last week, a local teen sprung into action, saving a young woman and her 4-month-old baby, despite sustaining his own injuries. ABC News reports:

“Jarell Brooks, 19, has been released from Denver General Hospital and is now recovering at home after he suffered a gunshot wound to the leg after James Holmes, once a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Colorado, allegedly set off smoke bombs and opened fire on the unsuspecting audience, killing 12 people and injuring at least 50 in the attack. He was quickly apprehended by authorities.

Brooks said that when Holmes started shooting everyone scrambled for the exits. While trying to get out of the theater, he saw a woman, later identified as Patricia Legarreta, struggling to get herself and her two children out. He said he crawled on top of Legarreta in an attempt to push her and the kids out the door but then couldn't get out himself.

“At the end of the aisle, I ran into a woman. She yelled, 'My kids!' and I saw she had two young kids with her,” he told ABC News. “I made sure they got in the aisle and pushed behind her to make sure she got out of there.””

Read the full story here.

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(Photo: Courtesy Deidra Brooks)

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