NFL: Chargers Sign Aurora Theater Shooting Survivor Zack Golditch

AURORA, CO -- As a Gateway High School senior student, football player Zack Golditch was in the wrong place at the wrong time: On July 20, 2012 he was shot in the neck watching a Batman movie during the 2012 Aurora theater mass shooting in which 12 were killed and 70 others were wounded. The bullet entered an inch away from vital arteries and missed his spine. But when he was released from the hospital, Golditch attended daily football practice anyway, even though he couldn't play.

Fast-forward to the 2018 NFL Draft, nearly six years later. Golditch, who played offensive lineman for Colorado State, signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Chargers on Saturday. Golditch told USA Today he wants to play swing guard-tackle for the Chargers, a position he played at CSU, as well as guard.

Golditch said he carries the memory of the shooting forward, for his own history and for the other victims.

“I never stopped and realized this is part of my story. I shouldn't push that away, because what I hold on to right now is a story, not just about myself, but about of everyone else,” Golditch told USA TODAY Sports earlier this month. “I can carry that and represent them through what I do and how I carry myself. I have to embrace it.”

“I was a 17-year-old kid going to see a movie; next thing you know, I might not have come home that night. For me to still be able to play football, to be able to be a normal person and an able-bodied person is great,” he told USA Today in Fort Collins. “I take nothing for granted. This opportunity to continue to live my life today is amazing.”

At CSU last year coaches named Golditch "first-team All-Mountain West," and he was credited for being part of the offensive line that allowed just 1.0 sack per game, a figure that ranked fifth in the country, according to his CSU stats page.

As a CSU freshman, he was presented with the Inspiration Award by the National Football Foundation in New York. In January, the 6-foot-5, 300-pound lineman received the Wuerffel Trophy.

Golditch tore a tendon on his left hand in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in January, and had surgery, which he feared would interfere with his NFL chances. But Golditch has been cleared to return to football and is expected to be able to play in the Chargers’ offseason games.

Image via Shutterstock: Colorado State offensive lineman Zack Golditch throws a block against Oregon State in Fort Collins.