Theater shooting victims to wed on mass shooting anniversary

AURORA, Colo., July 19 (UPI) -- Two victims of the July 2012 massacre at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., say they are getting married on the one year anniversary of the shooting.

Eugene Han, 21, and Kirstin Davis, 22, said they want to change the meaning of the day accused gunman James Holmes opened fire at a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises," leaving 12 people dead and 58 wounded, CNN reported.

The couple, who were both wounded in the shooting, got engaged in April, and shortly thereafter decided their wedding would take place July 20 -- the first anniversary of the shooting.

"My thought process was that everyone has a date that they want to get married on that means something special to them," Han told CNN Thursday. "For us, it was a night of terror and all that. So we wanted to change the date and, you know, make it our own."

Han and Davis will be married in a church about 3 miles away from the theater, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Among Han's groomsmen will be Adan Avila, who was also shot and lost part of a leg in the shooting, and Luke Priest, who was uninjured in the shooting.

Davis said she was initially worried their wedding date would be seen as insensitive.

However, Han said the couple just "want to show other people you can make it a happier day."

"We're closing one book and opening a whole new story," he said.