CHICAGO (MCT) — An Algonquin, Ill., woman whose boyfriend died while protecting her during the Colorado movie theater massacre said Monday she was “saved by John and his ultimate kindness.”

When the shooting started during a midnight showing of the new “Batman” film early Friday, John Larimer, 27, of Crystal Lake, Ill., “immediately and instinctively covered me and brought me to the ground in order to protect me from any danger,” said Julia Vojtsek, 23, in a statement she handed to reporters outside her home.