Remembering Ella Cook

Last Saturday, a masked gunman opened fire on a group of Brown University students who were studying for their final exams. Two students were murdered, while nine others were wounded (including several with critical injuries). Following a campuswide lockdown, Brown cancelled its remaining fall classes and sent students home. The shooter remains at large at the time of writing, though images of the suspect have been released. A manhunt is underway as media outlets are raising concerns about Brown’s campus security.

The two murder victims are now identified as Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov and Ella Cook. Umurzokov was a freshman from Uzbekistan who was majoring in biochemistry and neuroscience. Ella Cook was a sophomore from Birmingham, Ala., who was studying French and math. Unfortunately, murder has dominated the news cycle in recent days. The Brown shooting occurred the same weekend as the horrific mass murder of 15 Jews in Australia by Islamic terrorists.

Most of the media’s attention has focused on Ella Cook, who was vice president of Brown’s chapter of the College Republicans. Brown was founded in 1764 by Baptists in Providence, R.I. Today, like the other Ivy League universities, Brown is a bastion of progressive ideology, so openly conservative students are uncommon. For this reason, some on social media have speculated that Cook was targeted, though at present there is no evidence to support that theory.

While the potential political dynamics of Ella Cook’s murder may well prove newsworthy, the most important thing about this young woman was her faith in Christ. Cook was a member of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Ala. The Rev. Craig Smalley, the church’s rector, announced her death to the congregation on Sunday. His comments were reported by local news outlets.

Some of you have heard the tragedy yesterday of Brown University, the shooting, of a number of people. And, tragically, one of our parishioners, Ella Cook, was one of those who was killed yesterday.

And those of you who knew her, those of you who know her, she was an incredible, grounded, faithful, bright light. Not only here, growing up here at the Advent and the myriad ways in which she served faithfully and the ways in which she encouraged and lift up those around her.

According to Cook’s obituary in the New York Times, she was a high-achieving student who was active in her home church and various high school organizations. Cook was also an accomplished pianist. Last summer, she worked as a program assistant for Oxbridge Academic Programs, which sponsors summer study programs for high-achieving teenagers in leading universities in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. By every indication, Cook was an outstanding young woman who loved the Lord and desired to serve others.

As the father of a daughter who is also a 19-year-old college sophomore who loves the Lord, I can’t imagine what Ella Cook’s family and friends are going through. Of course, Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov’s loved ones are grieving his tragic murder. As believers, we should pray for those who are mourning, for the ongoing recovery of the other victims of this heinous crime, and for the murderer to be brought to justice swiftly. And during this Advent season, we should long for the day when King Jesus comes again to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found—including the murder of every promising young life.