A story I doubt any of us heard about before this.
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After potential brush with death, Jacob Martin enjoying time with Texans
The midnight premiere of the latest Batman film intrigued Jacob Martin, who was heading into his senior year of high school seven years ago.
The Katy native and future Texans outside linebacker called the Century Aurora 16 Multiplex Theater in Aurora, Colorado, to arrange for tickets for himself and his friends.
Fortunately for Martin, in a life-and-death twist of fate, the theater only could accommodate four tickets instead of the seven they needed to watch “The Dark Knight Rises” together.
“We didn’t have enough tickets,” Martin said Wednesday inside the Texans’ locker room, recounting the life-altering episode one day before celebrating Thanksgiving with his family in Katy. “That’s the only reason we didn’t go.”
While Martin and his friends hung out at a golf course near his parents’ home, one of the darkest tragedies of the past decade in this nation unfolded on July 20, 2012. Mayhem ensued as James Holmes fired a barrage of bullets, murdering 12 people and wounding 70 others in the packed theater. In the wake of the mass shooting, Holmes was convicted for his heinous crimes and sentenced to 12 consecutive life sentences in prison along with an additional 3,318 years.
While the shooting was happening, panic began to sink in for Martin’s parents. They couldn’t reach their son because his cellphone was out of power and he had previously informed them of his plans to attend the movie.
Martin’s parents frantically tried in vain to reach their son as their worst fears increased in intensity. They didn’t know what had happened to him, a cruel suspense that ended in relief and happiness when Martin walked into his home unaware of what had transpired at the theater and of all the worrying prompted by being unreachable during the shooting spree.
“It was a typical mom-and-dad response: ‘Where are you? Where were you?’” Martin said. “More than anything, they were just thankful everything was OK. I had no idea what was going on. I just walked in the house and they had been looking for me.”
If Martin had been inside that theater at the time of Holmes’ rampage, odds are high that he would have died or been injured by a suicidal man with severe mental health issues.
“My life would be different completely,” Martin said. “I was very lucky.”
Going to the movies isn’t something that Martin enjoys doing much anymore. He was impacted by his potential brush with death.
Life is sweet, though, for Martin. He’s playing for his hometown