Her Grandfather, Dallas Green, who managed the Phillies to the World Series in 1980 and one of the few men to manage both the Yankees and the Mets, was confused when his wife, Syliva, came into the living room after talking to their son on the phone Saturday. She was in shock and tears, barely able to get out the words, “They shot our beautiful Christina.”
Christina was killed in the shooting spree at U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ meet-and-greet in Tucson, AZ, Saturday. One of the bullets had been fired directly into Christina’s heart.
“I can’t believe our princess is gone,” Green said to a friend. He then told the Daily News, “I’ve had a lot of tough things happen to me in my life but this is one I’m never going to get over. We’re all hurting pretty bad. My son is devastated.”
Christina, who was the daughter of his son, John, a Dodger scout, had gone with neighbors to meet Rep. Giffords so she could see how government works.
Her mother Roxanna, told Fox News that Christina was “very interested in government …how she could help her community.”
The Arizona Republic, interviewing her uncle, Greg Segalinia, outside her house, reported that a neighbor had invited Christina along because she thought she would enjoy it. “The next thing you know this happened,” Segalini said. “How do you prepare for something like this. My little niece got killed-took one on the chest and she is dead.”
Segalinia told the Republic that his niece was involved several extracurricular activities ranging from ballet to baseball, the sport of her father and grandfather.
According to TV station KVOA, she was a passionate dancer who loved ballet, hip-hop, jazz and gymnastics. KVOA also noted that Christina was the only girl on her Canyon del Oro Little League baseball team, “The Pirates,” and played second base. She also loved horseback riding, swimming, and animals. Family members described Christina as vibrant and excited about life.
Her parents called her “the best daughter in the world.”
The 9-year old had just been elected to her student council at the Mesa Verde Elementary School. “She was a good speaker,” John Green told the Arizona Star. “I could easily have seen her as a politician.”
John Green later reflected on his daughter being born on September 11, 2001, and now dying in this massacre. Born – and died – on two very emotional, senseless and tragic days for America; yet, said Green, the nine years in between were magical for his little girl as well as for them.
Christina was one of the babies featured in a book called Faces of Hope, Babies Born on 9/11, by Christine Pisera Naman. When she was old enough, her parents had told her about the day she was born. Misunderstanding, Christina then told a few people that she was born on a “holiday.”
Big Journalism.com had an additional, sad perspective on this national tragedy; “Christina’s birth brought hope to America, taught us that in the face of tragedy life goes on. Her death was used by the media to destroy hope and generate political divisiveness, a sad tribute to this young girl’s life.”
It was tragic that “CBS found the time to exploit the shooting for it’s own progressive slant, but didn’t have the time to show this picture, or to tell Christina’s story in their report.”
As for the personal, family perspective, Dallas Green said, “I can’t believe this could happen to any 9-year old child, much less our own,” and that it’s “The worst thing to ever happen to us.”