It has been a long, sad day. I have been tweeting about the massacre in Paris, the danger to free speech, and those who are failing it in this time of testing all day. I will write something more thorough in the days to come when my colleagues have not already covered both breaking news and think pieces so very thoroughly as to make my first-day contributions pale by comparison.

I thought some of you might be in the mood for a bit of good news, though it touches on another terrible news story— the NYPD shooting. On the day 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley murdered two NYPD officers execution-style in Brooklyn, he first shot Shaneka Thompson. Thompson, who works with the VA and is an Air Force reservist, is reportedly Brinsley’s ex-girlfriend. Brinsley arrived at her apartment in Baltimore that morning, where he got into a fight with Thompson before shooting her in the stomach. Thompson’s mother, according to reporting, overheard some of their fight through the phone before Thompson’s line went dead. Much of Thompson’s story was somewhat understandably overshadowed by the horrific nature of the rest of Brinsley’s crimes.

She was hospitalized, but got to go home over the holidays, Dec. 30:

The Owings Mills woman who authorities say was the first victim of the man who later shot two New York City police officers to death this month has been released from the hospital.

Shaneka Thompson, 29, was discharged from the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, a spokeswoman for the hospital said Tuesday…

Thompson’s grandfather, James Delly, who lives in South Carolina, said Tuesday that Thompson was “doing fine,” but declined to comment further.

Police have said that Thompson, a member of the Air Force Reserve, dated Brinsley for less than a year. She served in the 440th Medical Squadron, based at Pope Field in Fort Bragg, N.C., and has worked as a medical administrator.

Godspeed in her recovery, and prayers for the injured in Paris who are facing some of the same struggles tonight.