Eugene Cho Says Seattle Pacific University Student Killed By Shooter Attended His Church; He Remembers His 'Infectious Smile'
Eugene Cho, the Washington-based pastor of Quest Church, revealed Friday that the Seattle Pacific University student shot and killed last Thursday, Paul Lee, had attended his church.
"I remember meeting him once. I don't remember much about our chat," wrote Cho on his blog. "I just remembered his overly wide infectious smile. I don't really know much about him but his friends speak the world about him. They speak of his humor, smiles, energy, goofiness, and his faith in Christ."
Lee was 19, and like Cho, also Korean-American, and described by a friend in a Seattle Times profile as "different, but in a good way."
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"You're not used to that personality, but you loved him for who he was," Kilian Olszewsky, who lived on Lee's floor, said. "He was adored by everyone, and he was affectionate with everyone."
Lee, a freshman was from Portland, Oregon, had a strong passion for dancing, evidenced by his participation in the school's hip-hop club and a makeshift memorial site on which one student exhorted him to "keep dancing in heaven."
Cho lamented that yet another innocent life had been lost in a "senseless shooting."
"We live in a world where one can point to numerous recent examples of senseless shootings. Just typing that is infuriating. It happens in neighborhoods, street corners, houses, navy yards, sororities and schools of all levels," he wrote. "... But when you watch it or read it on the news (likely on your smartphone or tablet), you can't possibly fathom it happening in 'your school.' Well, yesterday, on a nearly perfect 72 degree Seattle day, that shooting took place at Seattle Pacific University."
The pastor added that SPU was roughly a mile from his church and home to many professors, administrators and students. His wife, Minhee, was an alumna of its graduate school, while some of the church's employees were also former students.
"And as we mourn and pray, there will come a time. Another time. Again. To ask the question about guns and violence in our culture and society. Seriously, what would Jesus do with guns?" asked Cho. "But for now, we mourn and pray. We pray for those at the hospital. We pray for the community at SPU. We pray for his family. And we mourn some more.
"Rest in Peace, Paul. As I've heard of your dancing prowess from your friends … may you rest in peace and dance with joy with your Creator."
Aaron Rey Ybarra is suspected of being the gunman who entered SPU's campus last Thursday and killed Lee and sent two other students to the hospital. According to a Seattle Times report, Ybarra was an alcoholic and suffered from a mental illness.
