AURORA | Families of those killed in the Aurora theater shooting and people seriously wounded will get about $200,000 each from the Aurora Victim relief Fund, according to a plan unveiled Monday.
Kenneth Feinberg, the man appointed last month to oversee the fund, laid out the plan Monday.
Under the plan, the families of the 12 people killed as well as a handful of victims who were paralyzed or sustained serious brain damage will get about 70 percent of the fund approximately $5 million fund. That works out to about $200,000 each for dead and paralyzed victims.
The rest of the money will be divided among other victims based on how long they were hospitalized. The longer the hospital stay, the bigger the check, Feinberg said.
The plan is similar to one Feinberg detailed last week during a meeting with several victims.
People who were inside the Century Aurora 16 theater that night but weren’t physically injured won’t see any money from the fund, Feinberg said last week.
“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 on Thursday.
But, Feinberg said, those victims will be eligible for free psychological help from mental health providers.
The families said they were frustrated by an initial plan that would have excluded them from the process of disbursing funds. They also questioned a decision to give $100,000 to nonprofit organizations instead of the families.
Rich Audsley, special adviser to the 7/20 committee appointed by Gov. John Hickenlooper to oversee the distribution, said the $100,000 was given to nonprofit organizations because of conditions set by the donors. He promised a full, independent audit after the money is distributed.
He said organizations will seek a government grant to pay for any mental health treatment that is needed.
Melisa Cowden, the ex-wife of Gordon Cowden, who was killed in the shootings, said her teenage children need money to get on with their lives.
“I’m happy with the fact that the money that is still there is being distributed. There will never be enough money to compensate for the loss of their dad,” she said.