Family, friends remember Jenna Cooper
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BY JOHN MABRY / Lincoln Journal Star
The good dreams? They're out there. It's Jenna. She's back, with that All-Big 12 smile and that ferocious left foot, and all is right again. Lindsey Ingram loves those dreams. Ellen Cooper only hears about them. "If I dream," she says, "it's horrible dreams."
Ellen hardly sleeps these days. It's been a year since she slept well. An early morning phone call from Lincoln on April 25, 2004, changed everything. Ingram, Jenna's roommate, was on the line to tell Ellen that her 21-year-old daughter had been shot at a party. Read the archived story | A summary of events
"So many people were affected by that one moment," Ellen says, "and not in a good way."
It's been a year, and it's not getting any easier. If anything, Ellen says, the healing process has gotten worse since the trial and sentencing of Lucky Iromuanya, who is in prison for life for the murder of Jenna and the attempted murder of Nolan Jenkins. A year later, Iromuanya reflects
Ellen says her "real mourning" started after the Feb. 24 sentencing.
Now, there's more sadness, more emptiness, more anger.
"It is unbearable," she says.
Katie Bunkers entered the NU soccer program a year behind Jenna Cooper. Both were defenders, so they naturally hit if off from the time Cooper showed Bunkers around on a recruiting trip.
"She was one of my hosts," says Bunkers, who will be a senior this fall. "Very friendly and very energetic.
"She played with so much aggression, so much speed and so much talent. I said, ‘I want to be like that, too.' She was just a great example for me and my teammates."
Bunkers was one of the teammates who went to a barbecue on April 24 at the South 35th Street home shared by Cooper and Ingram.
An argument after midnight over who took some shot glasses from the house ended with Iromuanya firing a shot that struck Jenkins' skull before hitting Cooper.
Ingram, a nursing student, saw blood on Cooper's shoulder and head but did not see anything to indicate it was a life-threatening wound.
Ellen was asleep at home in Louisville, Ky., when the phone rang. It was Ingram telling Ellen that Jenna had been shot in the shoulder. Ellen feared the worst.
"She knew it wasn't OK," says Jenna's brother, Billy, who was living at home at the time.
When paramedics tore apart Cooper's shirt, the severity of the situation became clear. The bullet had hit Cooper in the throat.
Ellen, Billy and Jenna's father, William, started their trip to Nebraska with a flight to Atlanta. On that flight, Ellen had a feeling she already had lost her girl.
"Jenna just died. Jenna just died."
In Atlanta, doctors told her by phone that they had lost Jenna briefly, but she was again showing signs of life.
The family made it to Bryan LGH Medical Center West in time to spend several hours with her before she was pronounced dead at 7:21 p.m.
"I haven't had dreams about that night," Ingram says. "I've had good dreams about Jenna."
The dreams don't erase the loss for long.
"I'll be driving, and I'll think how I can't believe she's not here," Ingram says. "It's hard to fathom the forever part of it."
When Nebraska soccer coach John Walker is asked about his anger over the shooting, he carefully evaluates his choice of words.
Anger? Not necessarily.
"It's just a terrible waste, especially for Jenna and her family," he says.
For the Coopers, there is more anger now than ever before.
"I am angry and upset that my sister is gone every day," says Billy, who visits the wooded area where Jenna's body is buried once or twice a week. "I don't want Lucky dead or to go out and beat him up, just to admit that it was his fault.
"His apology to my parents (in court) was about as half-ass as it could be."
Ellen didn't consider Iromuanya's comments an apology.
"Not to my way of hearing," she says. "To me, it wasn't anything heartfelt."
To Ellen, it came across as nothing more than an official statement prepared by defense attorneys.
"Maybe he wanted to say more, but he couldn't," she says.
Ingram said she believes Iromuanya feels bad for what he's done.
"I think he meant (the apology)," she says. "He's had a lot of time to think about it."
Ingram has gone through "a phase that I was angry" at Iromuanya.
"He's the reason she's not here," she says.
But some of her bitterness stems from the way her fiancee, Jenkins, was portrayed during the trial and from the fact the defense made race an issue in the case.
"It came up, and it's amazing that it came up," she says. "It's ridiculous."
Ingram says it's wrong to believe Iromuanya was treated as an uninvited guest that night. She points out that there were other black guests at the party, including at least two members of the NU soccer program.
It bothers Billy to think anyone would ever associate his sister with any form of racism.
"I hate when they make it a black-white issue," he says.
Because the case is still in the appeals process, Jenkins is not allowed to discuss details of the night. But he did say he wasn't looking for a fight with Iromuanya; he just wanted Iromuanya to back away from a heated discussion with Cooper.
In his mind, the only thing at issue is the combination of one man's anger ana gun.
"I don't think what happened a year ago had anything to do with (race)," Ingram says.
Ingram and the Coopers say the defense painted an unfair picture of Jenkins as an instigator. Prosecutors said Jenkins was trying to make peace with Iromuanya before the shooting.
"All he hears is that he caused the problem," Ingram says. "That was hard on him. There were times when he's been alone on this."
Jenkins ins't concerned about how he's perceived.
"I know that it all came out with the right conclusion," he says.
Defense attorneys, during the trial and in their appeal process, have contended that Ellen should not have been allowed to take the stand to speak on her daughter's behalf. They have claimed that her emotional testimony, which included her being shown a photo of Jenna in the hospital, had nothing to do with proving Iromuanya's guilt.
Ellen says her time on the stand was not emotional at all until she was asked to identify Jenna in the photo.
"Every time I spoke, they went to a sidebar," she says. "I got to say who Jenna was and what she did."
The gun was a .32-caliber Derringer, and it's that gun that brings Ellen's emotions to a boil.
"There were people who knew this guy carried a gun," she says in an emphatic tone. "They should have done something."
Ellen said she believes Iromuanya's mother, Helen, was one of the people who knew. Helen says she didn't know, but the presence of a gun is the part of the tragedy that makes the least amount of sense to Ellen.
"Does that sound logical to you? Who thinks it's justified to shoot someone?"
She cringes when she hears Iromuanya portrayed as a "nice kid" who just made a mistake.
What about the gun, she wonders, and what about Iromuanya's three kids out of wedlock?
"He's not this great kid," she says. "Anything less (than life) would not have been right. I still think he's a threat to society."
Through the anger, Ellen does find compassion for Iromuanya's family.
The two mothers shared a hug after the sentencing.
The meeting came at Helen's request, although according to Jenna's mom, Helen was unable to get the words out when they talked.
"I told her I understand her pain," Ellen says. "I felt bad for her pain."
The pain for the Husker soccer team continues as well.
After Jenna's death, Walker found himself in an emotional holding pattern. He had to play coach and counselor to a team and a family.
"There's nothing in your background to prepare you for this at all," Walker says. "I think the hardest thing is all along the way you're not sure if you're doing it the right way.
"The thing I kept trying to tell the players was to do everything we could to help Jenna's family."
Walker says the Huskers deserve a lot of credit for the way they responded last summer and during the 2004 season. NU upset Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Illinois 2-1 in the third round.
There are even higher hopes for the 2005 season, but Walker's primary challenge will remain the same.
There are times when he will spend hours planning what's said in team meetings.
Is that enough about Jenna? Is that too much about Jenna?
"You don't want to set off emotions because of one careless sentence," he says.
You also don't want to let down a mom.
"I think Ellen's biggest worry is that Jenna will be forgotten," Walker says. "I'm aware of that. You try to make sure you honor that."
The Coopers are grateful for all the support they have received from Walker, the team and the Lincoln community.
"I will forever follow the Nebraska soccer team," Ellen says. "Jenna left this world in Lincoln. It will always be very close to me."
Several Husker soccer players plan to return to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby on May 7. That's an event Ellen is looking forward to, just as she's looking forward to attending the June wedding of Ingram and Jenkins in Lincoln.
Jenkins says he has recovered from his head injury. The headaches he had been suffering for months are gone.
Bunkers sees the light at the end of a nightmarish tunnel.
"I think we're getting to the point where we can come to some kind of clarity, some kind of peace, for the most part," she says. "Nobody wins, really. The Coopers have lost a huge part of their life, and at the same time, the Iromuanyas have lost their son, too.
"It's difficult."
And in Ellen's eyes, the blame ultimately falls on one set of shoulders.
"He did this to himself," Ellen says. "(Prison) is where he belongs."
Reach John Mabry at 473-7320 or jmabry@journalstar.com.
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