Visitation Friday for Crystal Lake man killed in theater shooting

Funeral arraignments have been set for 27-year-old John Larimer, the Crystal Lake man who died of a gunshot wound last week while shielding his girlfriend from a gunman inside a Denver-area movie theater.

A public visitation will be held on Friday from 3-9 p.m. at Davenport Family Funeral Home, 419 E. Terra Cotta Ave. Larimer’s family has planned a private funeral and burial for family and close friends.

Larimer, who was serving as a U.S. Navy intelligence officer at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colo., is survived by his parents Scott Murray and Kathleen Mary Larimer and his four siblings: Nora Wilwert, Anne Price, Beth Croft and Noel Larimer.

John Thomas Larimer was one of 12 people gunned down while in the audience at the midnight showing of the new Batman movie last week.

The 2003 graduate of Crystal Lake South High School was active on the school’s speech team, in theater, in band and on the academic team, according to his obituary. After high school, Larimer went on to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater with a dual degree in political science and history, and was involved with the History Honors Society.

Larimer was a fourth generation U.S. Navy service members and had graduated from basic training at Great Lakes in 2011 before graduating from Cryptology Service School in Pensacola, Fla.

While seated in the middle of the crowded theater with his girlfriend who was in Denver for a short visit, Larimer covered her body and took a bullet for here, saving her life.

“John immediately and instinctively covered me and brought me to the ground in order to protect me from any danger,” Julia Vojtsek said in a prepared statement. “Moments later, John knowingly shielded me from a spray of gunshots.”

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the John T. Larimer Memorial Fund through Citibank at 225 W. Virginia Ave. in Crystal Lake.