Reservist killed in theater shooting remembered

DENVER (AP) – Friends and family gathered Saturday to celebrate the life of an Air Force reservist who was among those killed in a mass shooting at an Aurora movie theater.

A funeral service was held at Buckley Air Force base in Aurora for Staff Sgt. Jesse Childress, followed by burial at Fort Logan National Cemetery southwest of Denver. Veterans Affairs spokesman Paul Sherbo says about 200 people attended the burial, including about 50 in uniform.

Both services were private, but friends and colleagues have described the 29-year-old from Thornton as a good friend who was experienced and knowledgeable. Childress was an Air Force cyber-systems operator based at Buckley.

Twenty-four-year-old James Holmes is accused of opening fire in the theater July 20, killing Childress and 11 others, and wounding 58.

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