AUSTIN, Texas — A woman who dives right into your heart and stays there: That is how Madeleine Sosin described her friend, 64-year-old Laura Jauregui. Sosin and Jauregui met before Sosin moved out of Austin.
"She was so vividly alive, with such an infectious smile and adventurous spirit that we would just instantly fall in love with her," Sosin said. "So, I'm very sorrowful for the loss of my friend, Laura."
Jauregui split her time between Austin and Uruguay, where she operated a hotel.
Her former colleague, Nigel Jacobs, can attest to Jauregui's adventurous spirit. They traveled to India together, developing mobile apps. Jacobs said part of her heart stayed in Austin due to the friends and connections she had in the city.
"She sort of developed it completely herself. She has this tremendous vision about how to create things," Jacobs said.
Jauregui was a friend that Sosin calls a "vital life force," who was suddenly ripped from the chance to live out the rest of her days. Jauregui died in a shooting at the Arboretum Shopping Center on Aug. 31. According to an Austin police report, 38-year-old Tang-Kang Dave Chiang shot Jauregui and another woman before turning his weapon on himself. Jauregui died at the scene while the other woman was critically injured.
"It was just so shocking that she was just enjoying a tea with a friend at a café and next thing, she's gone. It was you know, it's just horrifying," Jacobs said.
Sosin also calls Jauregui a person who touched people in different ways. Now that she has been taken away, Sosin is left reflecting, remembering and realizing what Jauregui's loved ones have lost.
"Laura's joy was infectious. We need more joy in our world – she gave that freely," Sosin said.
Jauregui's friends told KVUE they hope to plan a memorial for her in the next few months.