A woman who survived the 2012 movie theater mass shooting that happened in Aurora, Colorado, has tied the knot with one of the responding officers.
Lasamoa Cross, who now goes by Lasamoa Lanier, was at the movies with her fiancé A.J. Boik, who was one of the fatal victims of the shooting.
On July 20, 2012, a gunman walked into a movie theater in Aurora and fatally shot 12 people and injured 70 while they were watching a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises.
Over the next three years, Lasamoa realized the officers who responded to the scene and testified at the trial had experienced similar trauma as she did, PEOPLE reported.
She decided to write letters to several of them to thank them for helping that day. Cody Lanier, who was one of the recipients of the letter, responded. The two eventually met at a Chipotle restaurant to talk and quickly connected and began dating.
They got married in October 2021. On their wedding page, Lasamoa wrote, “Some tragic beginnings have very beautiful outcomes.”
She also said that before they met, she had sent Cody a friend request on social media and offered her condolences before letting him know she had a letter and gift for him. On their wedding page, Lasamoa also detailed how after they met, they connected instantly when they opened up about experiencing similar losses in their lives.
“What was supposed to be an hour lunch turned into a four-hour lunch, catching up, talking about my experience in the shooting, and his sweet childhood friend, Danae, who was killed in a car accident back in Montana — she was 18, just like Aj,” Lasamoa wrote on the wedding page. “He knew what a huge loss that early in life felt like, and from there I felt he understood me differently than anyone else.”
Cody told 9News that his now-wife “kind of filled this gap,” adding, “Beyond that it was just this connection. Every day since she turned into my best friend.”
“Beauty from ashes, man. I don’t know what I would do without her.”
On the couple’s wedding page, Lasamoa wrote, “The story started out so dark and so tragic, but since that day at Chipotle every day since has been the writing of the upmost beautiful and most unconventional love story ever told.”
Discover more from Baller Alert
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
