DENVER — Almost two weeks after the Denver-Lakewood mass shooting that left five people dead, Jimmy Maldonado is back home from the hospital after being shot.
For Maldonado, no words can describe the pain of losing someone you love. That person is his wife, Alyssa Gunn Maldonado, whose stories are now told through pictures.
"She used to get so much joy to watch me look at the ocean and run in there," Maldonado said. "She thought it was so funny."
Maldonado was shot at Sol Tribe Tattoo. The bullet is still lodged in his back.
"I got shot right here, my clavicle, and then they went through and punctured the top lobe of my lung, fractured my collarbone, shoulder and my rib," he said.
Jimmy’s wife, Alyssa Gunn Maldonado, was also at Sol Tribe Tattoo at the time of the shooting. She and her good friend, Alicia Cardenas, were shot and killed.
"I heard her dying, and I heard Alicia," Maldonado said. "Just both of them, you know, their last words and stuff, and it was bad."
The heartbroken husband wishes he could have done more that night.
"I just want her to know that I'm sorry," Maldonado said. "I love her so much. I just wish I could have protected her."
He says his wife was passionate, loving, and an amazing mother to his 12-year-old son from a previous relationship.
"He really loved her, and those two also shared a unique bond together," Maldonado said. "She was...she was like light in shadow. She was sweet and gangster, you know, like she was just she had an amazing balance."
All of that and more stolen in a matter of seconds.
"We were planning on having a family," Maldonado said. "He (the shooter) took away my life, you know, she was my life."
To honor her memory, Maldonado wants to focus on his recovery and keep her name alive.
"She's not going to want me sad all the time and being like this, you know," he said. "She's going to want me to move on, you know, and that's what I want to do for her."
The family has started a GoFundMe in order to help with Maldonado's road to recovery and future expenses.