AURORA | Under a rough plan laid out Thursday, about 75 percent of the $5 million fund for the victims of the Aurora theater shooting will go to families of the deceased and the most-seriously wounded.
Kenneth Feinberg, the man appointed last month to oversee the fund, said that the other 25 percent would likely go to the remaining inured based on how many days each of them spent in the hospital. The longer the hospital stay, the more money they will receive, he said.
People who were inside the Century Aurora 16 theater that night but weren’t physically injured likely won’t see any money, Feinberg said.
“There is not enough money for people who were psychologically injured. There were 400 people in that theater,” he told a crowd of a little more than 30 people at Aurora Central Library.
Feinberg, who previously administered relief funds following the Virginia Tech shootings and the Sept. 11 terror attacks, said the plan he laid out Friday isn’t set in stone and he is open to changes based on what the victims want.
But, he said, he wants to have a plan in place and the money distributed before Thanksgiving.
“We are on a very fast track, this money should be distributed as soon as possible,” he said.
Officials asked Feinberg to oversee the fund last month amid ongoing criticism from many victims who said the money was being doled out too slowly and that they didn’t enough say in the matter.
Feinberg is scheduled to meet with more victims Friday morning.
“A little more than 30 people. . .” attended the meeting with Mr. Feinberg. Where were all the other so-called victims, those who lived in same apartment building as the shooter? Those who perhaps skinned their knees running out of the theatre? What about the employees who have not worked in the theatre since the shooting? Imagine some would call them victims too. To me, the true victims are the families of those killed and those who were seriously injured by the shooter and no others. Now there are two more families suing Cinemark Theatres. . will this never end?