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The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

Update on shooting victims

Susan Hileman had been looking for an event to share with 9-year-old family friend Christina Green. What was supposed to be a meet and greet with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords seemed like the perfect choice, husband Bill Hileman said.

The two were holding hands in line when the shooting took place, according to Bill Hileman.

Both Susan Hileman and Green were shot at the event on Saturday and transported to University Medical Center. Green was pronounced dead on arrival, and Susan Hileman is still a patient at UMC.

Bill Hileman received a call from an anonymous woman on the scene informing him the two had been “”in an accident.””

The very first thing Susan Hileman asked her husband was, “”What happened to Christina?””

He decided the best thing to do was to tell her the truth.

One of the first people Bill Hileman met upon arriving at the emergency room was a minister who had wandered in off the street to help comfort people.

“”That’s my Tucson,”” Bill Hileman said.

The couple chose to live in Tucson because of the community.

Susan Hileman thought the event would provide Green with a positive female role model, according to Bill Hileman. Susan Hileman had been looking for an event because Green had been elected to student council at her school and was interested in government.

Bill Hileman said in her best mindset she understands the shooting was the act of a madman but that she still has dark moments.

Susan Hileman has been screaming out, “”Christina, Christina, let’s get out of here!”” in what her husband calls “”semiconscious ramblings”” and keeps mentioning them holding hands.

His wife is “”very active in any community she lives in,”” Bill Hileman said. “”Suzie and Christina are generationally apart but very much birds of a feather.””

Susan Hileman reached out to the Green family when they first moved to Tucson, and the Green children often visit the Hileman home, according to Bill Hileman.

The Green family and Bill Hileman have been in constant contact since the shooting took place.

But their story is only one of many.

Mavy Stoddard is convinced her husband saved her life the day of the shooting, said her daughters Angela Robinson and Penny Wilson. Dorwan Stoddard used his body to shield her and died at the scene. During the shooting Mavy Stoddard did not realize she had been shot three times; she was focused on trying to help her husband, said the daughters.

Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard were sixth-grade sweethearts who married other people and then reunited and married 15 years ago in Tucson. The two had both lost their spouses of 40 years, said her daughters Wilson and Robinson.

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