AURORA, Colo. — A certified firefighter-EMT died while shielding his girlfriend in the Colo. theater shooting Friday.
Jansen Young praised Jonathan Blunk as a hero on NBC’s Dateline for saving her life from the shooter during the rampage that left 12 dead and 58 injured.
Young told NBC’s “Dateline” Sunday how her boyfriend immediately recognized the danger of the situation and pushed her to the floor.
“I thought a kid had come in and thrown a firework,” she said.
She said Blunk then whispered in her ear that someone had a gun and was shooting people.
Blunk was shot during the rampage and later died at the hospital.
“I turned to John, and I was, like, shaking him and trying to get him up,” Young said. “He wouldn’t get up. I kind of pushed his arm up, his shoulder up. I’m like, ‘John, come on.’ And he wasn’t moving.”
Blunk was also a military veteran who served on the U.S.S. Nimitz.
He had high hopes for the future, with plans to re-enlist in the Navy and the goal of becoming a Navy SEAL, according to The Associated Press.
Young said Blunk would have taken a bullet for anyone in the theater Friday.
“You know, the nearest person sitting next to him, he would have been like, ‘This person needs my help now,’” she said. “That just who he was and everybody knew it.”