Algonquin woman says theater victim from Crystal Lake saved her life
An Algonquin woman who was in the Colorado movie theater when a gunman opened fire killing 12 people says John Larimer of Crystal Lake saved her life by taking a bullet for her that night.
Julia Vojtsek was with Larimer, a U.S. Navy cryptologic technician, and a group of sailors at the midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” when a masked man began shooting into the crowded theater.
She told WBBM Newsradio that Larimer “held my head, and protected my whole body with his, and saved me.”
“I'm hanging in there the best I can,” she said. “I'm just very, very sad. It's unreal that this happened,” she told the station.
A family friend who had spoken the Vojtsek's family said Larimer jumped on top of Vojtsek during the attack, and shielded her from the bullets.
“My boyfriend saved my life,” Vojtsek told WBBM.
Vojtsek was in the Denver area visiting her father, who was working at a church, according to Ron Tabel, a friend of the Vojtsek family.
“She was out there for a couple weeks visiting her dad,” Tabel said. “She's really struggling right now from what (her uncle) told me.”
Tabel said he met with Larimer's father Sunday after hearing of his son's heroic action, but had never met him before their meeting.
“For it to be my friend's daughter that he saved, I said I'm going to go up to the door,” Tabel said. “He took a bullet for a friend, that really just hit me.”