Colorado Movie Theater Shooting Victim's Girlfriend And Mother 'Hold Each Other Up'

College sweethearts Amanda Lindgren and Alex Teves were just beginning their lives together when their love story was cut tragically short. In July 2012, the 24-year-olds were at a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colorado when a gunman entered the theater and opened fire. Alex was one of 12 killed that night and used his last moments to protect Amanda and save her life.

One year later, filmmaker Jonas Elrod of the OWN series "In Deep Shift with Jonas Elrod" traveled to Colorado to meet with Amanda and document her spiritual journey. Amanda lives with an immeasurable loss and has been struggling to move forward, but her family is hopeful that she'll move home to Arizona where she can get the help and support she needs.

In the above clip from the upcoming episode, Alex's mother, Caren Teves, reflects on how difficult it is to be in Colorado on the anniversary of the tragedy. "The last few days have been very tough," Caren says. "In Arizona you're distanced from it, so it's not right in your face. Here, it's real tough. It's on the newspapers when you walk by. Just walking down the street, you can't get away from it. It brings me back to a place when Alex was here, and it's just a little hard to handle right now."

Though it stirs painful memories, Caren has come to Colorado to be there for Amanda. "Amanda's here and I need to be with her," Caren says. "Together we just find support and hold each other up."

It's what Alex would have wanted, she says. "Alex used to say to me 'I'm so happy you love Amanda.' He used to call me up and just tell me that, 'I'm so happy you love Amanda!' So I feel he would really want us to be together right now," Caren says.

Follow Amanda's story on "In Deep Shift with Jonas Elrod," airing Sunday, February 22 at noon ET on OWN.



Like Us On Facebook |
Follow Us On Twitter