Aurora shooting

[Sarge+ 3,436]

(CNN) -- A heavily armed gunman attacked an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater early Friday, tossing tear gas before opening fire on the terrified audience and killing 12 and wounding 38, authorities said. The theater was showing the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises."

 

One of the injured was just 3 months old, hospital workers said.

 

The shooting unfolded inside a darkened theater packed with Batman fans, some in costume for the movie's premiere. Screaming, panicked moviegoers scrambled to escape from the black-clad gunman, who wore a gas mask and randomly shot as he walked up the theater's steps, witnesses said.

 

The shooter used at least four guns -- an "AK type" rifle, a shotgun and two handguns, a federal law enforcement official told CNN. The official also said the shooter used tear gas.

 

Shooting turns movie into surreal horror: 'This is real'

 

Police quickly arrested a man believed to be the shooter in a rear parking lot of the theater, Frank Fania, a police spokesman, told CNN.

 

"He did not resist. He did not put up a fight," Fania said. Police seized a rifle and a handgun from the suspect, and another gun was found in the theater, he said. It was unclear where law enforcement found a second handgun.

 

Two federal law enforcement sources involved in the investigation identified the suspect as James Holmes, 24, of Aurora, Colorado.

 

The suspect was tentatively scheduled to appear in a Colorado courtroom on Monday, although no formal charges have been filed, according to the Colorado Office of the State Court Administrator.

 

Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said there was no evidence of a second gunman, and FBI spokesman Jason Pack said it did not appear the incident was related to terrorism.

 

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper issued a statement saying the shooting was "not only an act of extreme violence, it is also an act of depravity."

 

"It is beyond the power of words to fully express our sorrow this morning," he said.

 

'Bullet holes' everywhere: Victim accounts detailed

 

President Barack Obama said he and first lady Michelle Obama were "shocked and saddened" by the shooting and pledged the administration's support for victims.

 

"As we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one American family," Obama said.

 

Chaos broke out during the showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" at the Century Aurora 16 theater when the shooting began, police and witnesses said.

 

The gunman went to the rear door of the theater and propped it open, then tossed a canister before starting to shoot, according to a federal law enforcement source involved in the investigation.

 

A federal law enforcement official told CNN the man used tear gas.

 

One moviegoer, who was not identified, told KUSA the gunman was wearing a gas mask.

 

Some people in the audience thought the thick smoke and gunfire were a special effect accompanying the movie, police and witnesses said.

 

The smoke smelled like a Fourth of July firework, said CNN iReporter Adam Witt. It took a few gunshots before he figured out what was going on.

 

iReporter witness: 'We have to run'

 

"There were so many people running," he said. "I didn't look back. I just remember getting up from the floor and shouting, 'We have to drun.'"

 

Witt said he held his wife's hand as they rushed out of the theater.

 

"There was a moment where I lost her hand, but I grabbed her shirt," he said. "We didn't let go of each other."

 

Quentin Caldwell, who was attending a screening in the adjacent theater, said he wasn't sure at first what was going on, despite hearing a "pop, pop, pop, pop" sound.

 

"We really didn't know something was happening until someone came from the left entrance and said we should not go outside because somebody with a gun was out there," he said.

 

Armed guards appeared at the theater exit and demanded audience members raise their arms to ensure they were not carrying weapons, then told them to run, Caldwell said.

 

"Outside was chaos. There was wounded everywhere," he said.

 

Cell phone video taken by someone at the theater showed scores of people screaming and fleeing the building. Some had blood on their clothes.

 

A police officer carried a girl believed to be about 9 with gunshot wounds to her back out of the theater, a witness said. "She wasn't moving."

 

Timeline: Worst mass shootings in U.S.

 

Officers rushed many of the wounded to hospitals in their patrol cars.

 

Authorities also evacuated the suspect's Aurora apartment building after he made a statement about explosives in his unit, Oates said.

 

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents went to his home to search for explosives, agency spokesman Tom Mangan said.

 

Law enforcement officers who searched the suspect's apartment found "items of interest," a federal law enforcement source involved in the investigation told HLN. He did not elaborate.

 

A woman who lives across the street from where the suspect is believed to live said police evacuated her building around 4 a.m.

 

"They told us there was a bomb or bomb material located in the house across the street from us." Rebecca Bradshaw said.

 

In addition to looking into the possibility of explosives, ATF agents also are conducting emergency traces on the weapons to see how they were obtained, Mangan said.

 

Authorities also searched the suspect's car in the parking lot of the movie theater.

 

KWGN: Witnesses first thought gunfire was part of movie

 

Police initially said 14 people had died -- 10 in the theater and four at area hospitals -- but revised the death toll to 12 later Friday morning, according to Aurora Police Lt. Jad Lanigan.

 

Several people remained in critical condition at area hospitals.

 

Of the wounded, at least 20 were being treated at the University of Colorado Hospital, said spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery. All of the wounded suffered from gunshot wounds, which ranged from minor to critical, she said.

 

"They're arriving by police, by ambulance. Some are walking in," she said.

 

The victims being treated there ranged in age from 3 months to 45, the hospital said.

 

Denver Health Center had six patients from the shooting, one in critical condition and five in fair condition, said Shelly Davis, house supervisor.

 

Swedish Health Center spokeswoman Nicole Williams said her hospital was treating three people, two of them in critical condition and one in fair condition. A fourth patient with minor injuries was treated and released, she said.

 

Parker Adventist Hospital was treating two people for minor injuries, according to a spokeswoman.

 

Hundreds of police officers descended on the theater, and the FBI has joined the investigation.

 

Opinion: Gun control won't stop mass murder

 

"We were calling for help from every police and fire agency," Fania said.

 

Warner Bros., the studio behind the movie, said the company and filmmakers were "deeply saddened" to learn of the incident. The studio canceled the movie's Paris premiere, while New York police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said his officers would watch over screenings of "The Dark Knight" to prevent copycat shootings.

 

Obama was expected to speak about the incident at a campaign event in Ft. Meyers, Florida, on Friday morning. He pulled some advertising and canceled a second campaign event scheduled for Winter Park, Florida, according to his campaign. He will instead return to Washington, the campaign said.

 

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney also issued a statement, saying he and his wife Anne were "deeply saddened by the news of the senseless violence."

 

Aurora, a Denver suburb, is about 13 miles from Littleton, Colorado -- site of the April 1999 Columbine High School massacre.

 

In that incident, two teenage students, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, armed themselves with guns and bombs and opened fire inside the high school. They killed 13 people and wounded 23 others before killing themselves.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/20/us/colorado-theater-shooting/index.html

 

This is just awful and I'm so glad none of you guys who went out to see it last night encountered something like this. It's obvious he planned this for a long time prior to last night so I see no problem in getting the death penalty. I hope the families of the victims and those who were wounded can be at peace some day. Very sad that people can't even go have a good time at the movies without being in danger anymore.

[SteVo+ 3,702]

Such a horrific tragedy...may those who lost their lives rest in peace, and may the wounded endure a speedy and full recovery.

 

Also, I hope this isn't used as a "launching pad" for more gun control laws and/or added security at movie theaters. I could certainly see them beefing up on big premieres like this, at the least.

[NaTaS+ 958]

I'm surprised it's only noon and just now a post on it? I figured coming here there would have already been a long thread about it.

 

Such a random, senseless act.

[NaTaS+ 958]

Marilyn Manson on the Columbine shootings - Still seems relevant to today's tragedy.

 

 

 

Columbine: Whose Fault Is It?

 

by Marilyn Manson

 

It is sad to think that the first few people on earth needed no books, movies, games or music to inspire cold-blooded murder. The day that Cain bashed his brother Abel's brains in, the only motivation he needed was his own human disposition to violence. Whether you interpret the Bible as literature or as the final word of whatever God may be, Christianity has given us an image of death and sexuality that we have based our culture around. A half-naked dead man hangs in most homes and around our necks, and we have just taken that for granted all our lives. Is it a symbol of hope or hopelessness? The world's most famous murder-suicide was also the birth of the death icon -- the blueprint for celebrity. Unfortunately, for all of their inspiring morality, nowhere in the Gospels is intelligence praised as a virtue.

 

A lot of people forget or never realize that I started my band as a criticism of these very issues of despair and hypocrisy. The name Marilyn Manson has never celebrated the sad fact that America puts killers on the cover of Time magazine, giving them as much notoriety as our favorite movie stars. From Jesse James to Charles Manson, the media, since their inception, have turned criminals into folk heroes. They just created two new ones when they plastered those dipshits Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris' pictures on the front of every newspaper. Don't be surprised if every kid who gets pushed around has two new idols.

 

We applaud the creation of a bomb whose sole purpose is to destroy all of mankind, and we grow up watching our president's brains splattered all over Texas. Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised. Does anyone think the Civil War was the least bit civil? If television had existed, you could be sure they would have been there to cover it, or maybe even participate in it, like their violent car chase of Princess Di. Disgusting vultures looking for corpses, exploiting, fucking, filming and serving it up for our hungry appetites in a gluttonous display of endless human stupidity.

 

When it comes down to who's to blame for the high school murders in Littleton, Colorado, throw a rock and you'll hit someone who's guilty. We're the people who sit back and tolerate children owning guns, and we're the ones who tune in and watch the up-to-the-minute details of what they do with them. I think it's terrible when anyone dies, especially if it is someone you know and love. But what is more offensive is that when these tragedies happen, most people don't really care any more than they would about the season finale of Friends or The Real World. I was dumbfounded as I watched the media snake right in, not missing a teardrop, interviewing the parents of dead children, televising the funerals. Then came the witch hunt.

 

Man's greatest fear is chaos. It was unthinkable that these kids did not have a simple black-and-white reason for their actions. And so a scapegoat was needed. I remember hearing the initial reports from Littleton, that Harris and Klebold were wearing makeup and were dressed like Marilyn Manson, whom they obviously must worship, since they were dressed in black. Of course, speculation snowballed into making me the poster boy for everything that is bad in the world. These two idiots weren't wearing makeup, and they weren't dressed like me or like goths. Since Middle America has not heard of the music they did listen to (KMFDM and Rammstein, among others), the media picked something they thought was similar.

 

Responsible journalists have reported with less publicity that Harris and Klebold were not Marilyn Manson fans -- that they even disliked my music. Even if they were fans, that gives them no excuse, nor does it mean that music is to blame. Did we look for James Huberty's inspiration when he gunned down people at McDonald's? What did Timothy McVeigh like to watch? What about David Koresh, Jim Jones? Do you think entertainment inspired Kip Kinkel, or should we blame the fact that his father bought him the guns he used in the Springfield, Oregon, murders? What inspires Bill Clinton to blow people up in Kosovo? Was it something that Monica Lewinsky said to him? Isn't killing just killing, regardless if it's in Vietnam or Jonesboro, Arkansas? Why do we justify one, just because it seems to be for the right reasons? Should there ever be a right reason? If a kid is old enough to drive a car or buy a gun, isn't he old enough to be held personally responsible for what he does with his car or gun? Or if he's a teenager, should someone else be blamed because he isn't as enlightened as an eighteen-year-old?

 

America loves to find an icon to hang its guilt on. But, admittedly, I have assumed the role of Antichrist; I am the Nineties voice of individuality, and people tend to associate anyone who looks and behaves differently with illegal or immoral activity. Deep down, most adults hate people who go against the grain. It's comical that people are naive enough to have forgotten Elvis, Jim Morrison and Ozzy so quickly. All of them were subjected to the same age-old arguments, scrutiny and prejudice. I wrote a song called "Lunchbox," and some journalists have interpreted it as a song about guns. Ironically, the song is about being picked on and fighting back with my Kiss lunch box, which I used as a weapon on the playground. In 1979, metal lunch boxes were banned because they were considered dangerous weapons in the hands of delinquents. I also wrote a song called "Get Your Gunn." The title is spelled with two n's because the song was a reaction to the murder of Dr. David Gunn, who was killed in Florida by pro-life activists while I was living there. That was the ultimate hypocrisy I witnessed growing up: that these people killed someone in the name of being "pro-life."

 

The somewhat positive messages of these songs are usually the ones that sensationalists misinterpret as promoting the very things I am decrying. Right now, everyone is thinking of how they can prevent things like Littleton. How do you prevent AIDS, world war, depression, car crashes? We live in a free country, but with that freedom there is a burden of personal responsibility. Rather than teaching a child what is moral and immoral, right and wrong, we first and foremost can establish what the laws that govern us are. You can always escape hell by not believing in it, but you cannot escape death and you cannot escape prison.

 

It is no wonder that kids are growing up more cynical; they have a lot of information in front of them. They can see that they are living in a world that's made of bullshit. In the past, there was always the idea that you could turn and run and start something better. But now America has become one big mall, and because of the Internet and all of the technology we have, there's nowhere to run. People are the same everywhere. Sometimes music, movies and books are the only things that let us feel like someone else feels like we do. I've always tried to let people know it's OK, or better, if you don't fit into the program. Use your imagination -- if some geek from Ohio can become something, why can't anyone else with the willpower and creativity?

 

I chose not to jump into the media frenzy and defend myself, though I was begged to be on every single TV show in existence. I didn't want to contribute to these fame-seeking journalists and opportunists looking to fill their churches or to get elected because of their self-righteous finger-pointing. They want to blame entertainment? Isn't religion the first real entertainment? People dress up in costumes, sing songs and dedicate themselves in eternal fandom. Everyone will agree that nothing was more entertaining than Clinton shooting off his prick and then his bombs in true political form. And the news -- that's obvious. So is entertainment to blame? I'd like media commentators to ask themselves, because their coverage of the event was some of the most gruesome entertainment any of us have seen.

 

I think that the National Rifle Association is far too powerful to take on, so most people choose Doom, The Basketball Diaries or yours truly. This kind of controversy does not help me sell records or tickets, and I wouldn't want it to. I'm a controversial artist, one who dares to have an opinion and bothers to create music and videos that challenge people's ideas in a world that is watered-down and hollow. In my work I examine the America we live in, and I've always tried to show people that the devil we blame our atrocities on is really just each one of us. So don't expect the end of the world to come one day out of the blue -- it's been happening every day for a long time.

 

MARILYN MANSON (May 28, 1999)

 

 

 

[Thanatos 2,847]

I want to know why a six-year-old is out at midnight to watch the Dark Knight Rises. I guess it doesn't matter anymore, but man. I wouldn't be letting my six-year-old watch DKR, that's for sure.

 

Such a horrific tragedy, what makes it worse is that apparently an officer on duty saw the gunman coming into the theater, but realized he couldn't take him down, as he saw the guns and the bullet-proof vest, so he called for backup, but by the time it got there, he had already opened fire.

[Vin+ 3,121]

I woud say that someone probably spoiled the movie for him, but that would be in very bad taste.

 

So, a more tasteful question: Does Colorado allow concealed carry?

[NaTaS+ 958]

Vin: Yes, Colorado is a conceal carry state. My cousin carries there.

 

I agree with the 6 year old question too. Also, wtf is a 3 month old doing at a midnight showing?

[Barracuda 629]

I'd rather be shot than sit and watch a movie with a crying 3 month old baby.[/badjoke]

 

But seriously, this is just awful. Fuckin people man.

[BwareDWare94 723]

My question is...how the hell did he get FOUR guns, including RIFLES into the theater in the first place?

 

This is why you must be prejudiced toward people in trench coats or anything similar to the getup this dude was in when you work security at theaters, and I realize there may have been no security checking people out at this theater, but now we have no other option.

 

May the 12 dead rest in peace, and may the 50 injured recover fully and thank God the infant that was hurt has already been released.

 

May the shooter find trial and tribulation in the rest of his days and may Hell welcome his soul with torture that lasts for eternity.

 

People like this make me hope that Heaven and Hell exist, simply because of what they'd go through in Hell.

Edited July 20, 2012 by BwareDWare94

[Thanatos 2,847]

My question is...how the hell did he get FOUR guns, including RIFLES into the theater in the first place?

 

This is why you must be prejudiced toward people in trench coats or anything similar to the getup this dude was in when you work security at theaters, and I realize there may have been no security checking people out at this theater, but now we have no other option.

 

May the 12 dead rest in peace, and may the 50 injured recover fully and thank God the infant that was hurt has already been released.

 

May the shooter find trial and tribulation in the rest of his days and may Hell welcome his soul with torture that lasts for eternity.

 

People like this make me hope that Heaven and Hell exist, simply because of what they'd go through in Hell.

 

The officer DID see the guns, according to some of the news I've seen. He just also saw the bullet-proof vest and knew he couldn't take him.

 

Now, I might have shot him in the head, but then that officer would be arrested, of course.

[NaTaS+ 958]

Woman who died in Colo. movie rampage narrowly escaped being shot last month

 

This is some Final Destination shit.

 

 

 

A woman who died in the movie theater shooting in Denver had previously escaped a shooting at a mall in Toronto in June, saying an “odd feeling” compelled her to leave the shopping center, she wrote in a blog post about the experience.

 

Jessica Ghawi had recently moved from San Antonio to Denver, kens5.com reported. An aspiring sportscaster, she had gone to see the movie “Batman: The Dark Knight Rises,” with a friend from Texas who was injured in the shooting, the television station reported.

 

Ghawi (who wrote under the name Jessica Redfield) said on her blog that she was visiting Toronto in June and stopped by a popular shopping mall to get something to eat when she got an “odd feeling” in her chest.

 

“This empty, almost sickening feeling won’t go away. I noticed this feeling when I was in the Eaton Center in Toronto just seconds before someone opened fire in the food court,” she wrote in her blog. “An odd feeling which led me to go outside and unknowingly out of harm‘s way. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around how a weird feeling saved me from being in the middle of a deadly shooting.”

 

 

More at the link above.

 

 

 

[BwareDWare94 723]

The officer DID see the guns, according to some of the news I've seen. He just also saw the bullet-proof vest and knew he couldn't take him.

 

Now, I might have shot him in the head, but then that officer would be arrested, of course.

 

No, I'm talking about how he got all that into the theater in the first place.

[BC 331]

With all of the people cleaning, serving, taking tickets, going to the bathroom through the hallways..

[AllYouNeedIsLovie 377]

Just awful. What a tragedy. My prayers go out to everyone and their families who were involved in this disaster.

[Guest Phailadelphia]

No, I'm talking about how he got all that into the theater in the first place.

 

He entered the theater clean, went out the back door and propped it open, then went to his career and strapped on his gear and weapons.

[DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F 2,241]

Jesus Christ...

[RazorStar 4,025]

so I was just watching some stuff on CNN about this before I went to sleep, and apparently this was a guy who was a PHD candidate for Neuroscience at Colorado University. I mean, what the fuck would drive a potential brain surgeon to do that? This is just a senseless act and I give my sympathies to those who lost someone on this night.

[Glanvilles Grits 142]

Everyone is asking how he got the guns? Easy, he had NO prior meetings with the police. He had one traffic stop his entire life for speeding. The guy wasn't on any anti-depressants, or medications to indicate that he shouldn't be in the possession of guns. Supposedly he bought a ticket to the movie, propped an emergency exit in the theater open and went outside to put all his gear on and grab his weapons (Including his gas grenades), then he returned.

 

The next thing I say might be something people see as disrespectful or that they disagree with, but it needs to be said, and it's something I feel very strongly about. Keep in mind too, that I do feel horrible for the families involved, and those who lost their lives or were injured.

 

I understand that the shooting needs to be discussed (And other acts like this in general) and information needs to be released to everyone and such. To me though it's almost like the US enables these guys and gives them a reason to commit these horrible acts just by simply pasting their face on every website, news station, and talking about them for 48 hours straight. It's pretty clear that majority of things like this are simply done for recognition. I feel like if it wasn't as publicized, maybe it wouldn't give these nut jobs incentive to go around and shoot people.

 

 

You can't begin to even imagine what had motivated him to do this. I highly doubt it was video games, movies, or even a TV show. Quite simply, it was more likely just his social life in general. I feel like when all is said and done at the end of the day, something will come out about this guy that will reveal a long history of being bullied or an issue of that nature where he finally just couldn't take it anymore and folded. He probably saw this as a way "out" of his perpetual nightmare life. Could be wrong on that. But there is absolutely NO history on this guy. So it all makes NO sense what so ever. Not to mention his apartment is laced with trip wires, chemicals, and sophisticated home made pipe bombs. This shooting had been planned for months.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

He should have just put a single bullet in the chamber, raised the barrel to his temple and pulled the trigger.

[RazorStar 4,025]

According to what I hear from my dad, apparently he wants to be the joker.

[DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F 2,241]

I think he tried to put on his best joker impersonation... The red hair (although Joker doesn't have red hair), and once he told the officers he was the joker, he told them he had a "surprise" in his apartment.

 

Its obvious he knew he was gonna get caught, and almost as if he wanted to get caught.

[ATL_Predator+ 1,196]

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/21/12875584-shooting-survivor-boyfriend-took-a-bullet-for-me?lite

 

There were 2 other boyfriends who also did similar life-saving acts of their girlfriends. Absolutely amazing.

[Milla4Prez63 678]

This whole thing is sad and scary to me, because I went to the midnight premiere and it just makes you realize how easy something like this can happen.

 

RIP to the victims and my condolences to the families.

[BoneKrusher+ 1,276]

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/21/12875584-shooting-survivor-boyfriend-took-a-bullet-for-me?lite

 

There were 2 other boyfriends who also did similar life-saving acts of their girlfriends. Absolutely amazing.

yep, saw this on CNN today.

 

every detail about this is as terrible as possible but the story of the girl who was an up and coming sports reporter absolutely broke my heart.

her mother told ABC news that the boy who was with her called and broke the news to her.

he said she told him as they were trying to escape that she had been shot in the leg and the Bastard was nearby and shot her in the face at close range.

[Bay 2,003]

yep, saw this on CNN today.

 

every detail about this is as terrible as possible but the story of the girl who was an up and coming sports reporter absolutely broke my heart.

her mother told ABC news that the boy who was with her called and broke the news to her.

he said she told him as they were trying to escape that she had been shot in the leg and the Bastard was nearby and shot her in the face at close range.

 

Among the 12 killed was Jessica Ghawi, 25, who wrote under the name Jessica Redfield and was part of the Denver-area hockey community.Among other outlets, she wrote for the website Busted Coverage and was an intern at Denver radio station 104.3 FM and for the You Can Play Project.

 

"The thing that stood out to me most about Jessica was how sharp-witted she was, and funny at that," Sporting News NHL writer Jesse Spector told People Magazine's website. "It's what made following her on Twitter so much fun. She was amazingly enthusiastic about hockey, journalism and life in general.

 

Just horrible.