Mother acted as human shield to save boyfriend
AS questions over why 59 innocent people had been slaughtered remained unanswered yesterday, stories of bravery and grief continued to emerge from the victims and their loved ones.
One mother used her body to shield her partner from more gunfire after he was shot in the head.
Summer Clyburn, 22, was left with a bullet lodged in her back after she threw herself over Michael Gracia, the father of her four-month-old baby.
Policeman Mr Gracia, 24, who was on duty at the time, was in a critical condition yesterday. A funding page for the couple’s health bills said he faced ‘a long road to recovery’.
Posting a picture of Miss Clyburn holding her daughter, friend Lauren Harkins wrote: ‘If this isn’t the definition of a strong woman then I don’t know what is.’
Special needs teacher Sandy Casey, 35, who had recently become engaged, died despite her fiance trying to plug a bullet wound with his bare hands.
After she was hit in the back, Christopher Willemse, 32 – her partner of three years – held her tightly in his arms and tried to stop the steady flow of blood, while telling her he loved her.
Paying tribute to her, he told the Washington Post: ‘She was just a kind soul. She made everybody smile.’ On Facebook he wrote that he was mourning ‘such a beautiful life gone too fast’, adding: ‘She made me the happiest man in the world.’
Miss Casey, originally from Canada, had worked for nine years at Manhattan Beach Mid- dle School in California. The school said in a statement: ‘We lost a spectacular teacher who devoted her life to helping some of our most needy students.’
For Chris and Lisa Romero, Sunday was meant to be a celebration of their anniversary.
But in the hours after the carnage, the ‘kind and considerate’ school secretary was named among the dead.
Friend Rosie Fernandez told the New York Times Mrs Romero had been ‘ beyond excited’ for the concert, adding: ‘For her husband to remember her anniversary … this was a big thing for her.’
Father- of-two Jack Beaton, 54, was celebrating his 23rd anniversary with wife Laurie, 49. But he was shot as he tried to protect her from the bullets.
In a frantic telephone call to her mother Lauraine Cook, Mrs Beaton screamed saying that she had ‘lost him’.
Mrs Cook, 70, said: ‘ He had always told her, “I would die for you” … and she said he did. They were soulmates.’
Mother- of-two Stacee Etcheber, 50, was killed after her police officer husband told her to run as he cared for victims.
Yesterday after a desperate hunt for the hairdresser, her family confirmed her body had been found. Before the tragic news, her husband Vinnie, 50, is said to have scoured local hospitals carrying pictures of her.
Mr Etcheber’s brother Al told Mercury News: ‘After the first barrage, he told his wife and two other people to run … He helped some of the injured get to the hospital in the back of a pick-up truck and circled back to find Stacee. When he came back, everything was cordoned off.’
Lawyer Jennifer Irvine, from San Diego, California, was on holiday after recently opening her own practice. The 42-yearold was said to be holding hands with friends as she sang along to the music when she was shot in the head.
Publicist Jay Jones said of her yesterday: ‘Remembering a dear friend & colleague whose life was cut short by an unspeakable tragedy.’
Last night, most of the dead had been named, while 45 of the injured were still in a critical condition in hospital.