Victim’s cousin: ‘Jon believed in the justice system’

>>> survivors are struggling to deal with the horror of that night. jansen young talked to savannah guthrie about jonathan blunk .

>> i think john just took a bullet for me. i was thinking about what a great hero he is. like he provided me the opportunity to survive. he just knew, you know.

>> he was obviously a wonderful person, what he did for you and those final moments. what would you want people to know about this man that you loved?

>> he wasn't just a hero last night. he has been a hero forever and well before i even met him. one thing he said to me once was we were like talking and one thing he said was i was born to serve my country. because he was re-enlisting and it was just what he wanted to do, and he loved it, you know. i know even though he saved me, and he gave me the opportunity to live, he would have done it for anyone that day.

>> joining me now is jon blunk 's cousin, jessica watts. i know you were one of the few family members who wanted to go into that courtroom yesterday. you wanted to look at the alleged shooter, james holmes , in that court appearance. first of all, our condolences to you. jon blunk was such a hero. we just heard the testimony from his friend. i want to hear more about him. i'm wondering what did you see when you were in the courtroom?

>> first of all, thank you for having me. jon , he believed in the justice system . he was part of the military and when he got out of the military, he was at one point trying to become a police officer . and he believed in the justice system so i wanted to go yesterday and to see how, you know, things played out, make sure that for jon 's sake, that the trial was held, you know, that the trial is held and all the proceedings are held with integrity and a fair trial , because that's something that jon believed in.

>> we all watched the face of this young man and the orange hair and the dazed expression and it was hard to read what was going on, because he was so expressionless. what was your impression?

>> i actually reserved any sort of impression. i was more blank than anything, just soaking it all in, a sponge, if you will, and i was mostly there to soak it in, you know, so that i understood the gravity of what was going on. but also to be there for other families who were having a harder time coping as he walked into the courtroom.

>> and tell us about jon . if we could focus more on the heroes and the survivors and those tragically who did not survive rather than the alleged suspect. tell us about jon and his life and you've mentioned a bit about his belief in the justice system and his interest in the police at one point, his service in the navy. two tours in the navy, as i understand it.

>> and you know, he had two amazingly extraordinarily beautiful children, and you know, his wife and he had a very loving, supportive family that were really behind him and his decisions to, you know, be in the military, to pursue -- he was also, you know, he worked for the fire department or you know, he was a firefighter and he was, you know, he worked as an emt. you know, he had that training, that background. and also, as well as he was looking to re-enlist as a navy s.e.a.l. and that was something that we had discussed about him, you know, working to get back into the military and eventually pursue his ultimate goal, professionally, to become a navy s.e.a.l.

>> we are so sorry and sorry for your loss. thank you for sharing with us your thoughts today, jessica.