She was the 46-year-old mother of two children, ages 9 and 11. In an Associated Press interview, her husband, Joseph Anticevic, recounted the events of that night with horror, anguish and regret. He said he and his wife were listening to the show when they heard popping noises that sounded like fireworks. At first, they took it for part of the show but then realized something was wrong. They saw three attackers spraying gunfire into the crowd from automatic weapons.
Anticevic remembered them yelling that “it was for their brothers in Syria and Iraq.”
At first, the couple dropped to the ground. Then, the terrorists went up a stairway, and the couple saw their chance to run for the exit. Stepping over bodies, they neared the main exit, but his wife crumbled into his arms, shot from behind. He gathered her up as best he could and kept pushing for the door. Two police officers appeared, exchanging gunfire with the terrorists. The officers wanted to lead him out, but he couldn’t manage with the lifeless weight of his wife. “I abandoned her, left her on the floor,” he said, speaking French.
But once outside, he told the police desperately, “My wife is still inside!” He tried to follow the two officers back into the theater, but they were repelled by more gunfire from the terrorists. In the interview several days after the ordeal, he voiced no regret about what he felt he had to do. “Those police officers got me out. They saved my life.”
Outside the theater, his thoughts turned to his children. He phoned, and his son picked up. He had been watching television and knew of an attack already. The father recalled the boy saying: “Daddy, I’m glad at least one of you is still alive.”