AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez
Judy Goos hugs her daughter's friend, Isaiah Bow, 20, while eye witnesses Emma Goos, 19, left, and Terrell Wallin, 20, right, gather outside Gateway High School where witnesses were brought for questioning early Friday morning in Denver.
From reports, the shooting at the Century 16 movie theater in suburban Denver began during a scene in which actor Anne Hathaway's character, Catwoman, is in a shootout with Gotham City police in "The Dark Knight Rises," the highly-anticipated superhero sequel that opened last night all over the nation in midnight screenings. Audience members describe the noise, all of a sudden, as being particularly loud. Even when smoke came into the theater, some even thought it was part of the show.
Then it quickly became all too real:
Twelve people were killed and at least 50 others wounded early Friday when a gunman opened fire at a midnight screening of the summer blockbuster "The Dark Knight Rises" near Denver, authorities and witnesses said.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates told reporters that 10 people died at the scene and four others died after being taken to local hospitals. However, a police officer later told MSNBC TV that the death toll had been revised to 12. A three-month-old and a six-year-old girl were among those treated, according to reports.
NBC's TODAY spoke to a witness:
"It was mass chaos," witness Jennifer Seeger told TODAY. The gunman shot the ceiling and then "he threw in the gas can, and then I knew it was real."
"Everyone's going for the door and then everyone starts saying, 'no, he's going to shoot people going for the door,' and he did," she recalled. "They're trying to escape, and he shot those people as well."
The sole suspect's name is James Holmes, a 24-year-old man with four weapons: a shotgun, an AK-style rifle, and two handguns. Reports indicate that he was also wearing a gas mask and bulletproof vest when he was arrested after the incident, without incident. The FBI stated that "no indications at this early point in the investigation of any nexus to terrorism." (It makes one wonder how strictly they define "terrorism.")
In the embedded KUSA video below, the scene is described in painful detail by a young man who was in the theater. I advise caution in listening. Hat tip to The Raw Story on this. (Our own Chuck Todd just announced on air that the baby he describes, per KUSA, was just released from the hospital.)
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How terribly tragic and scary!! These are the kind of stories that make people agoraphobic
Why is that girl smiling in the back? WTF?
John I haven't seen the clip yet, but I'm guessing shock?
There are a lot of Mentally challenged people out there. You never know how they are going to repsond to what there here from people they listen to. Mr. Rush Limbaugh has been spitting crazy political talk about this film all week. It may just be poor timing, but it's reported that this guy is possibly a TeaParty person. My point is, people like Rush need to understand what they say has power to make people act out. Just look at what happened to Hillary Clinton while she was in the middle east, just last week. People throwing stuff at her motorcade, that was a direct result of Michelle Bachman talking crazy about what the hell she thinks going on in the Obama Adm. as it pertains to the Muslim Brotherhood. These talking heads are more dangerous to this country than outsiders trying to harm us, they need to be held accountable for the crazy, dangerous things they say.
I agree with the outrage over this mass murder and efforts to stop violence, especially mass gun violence, but I think outrage can be expressed WITHOUT implying the modern era is somehow uniquely violent. In fact, violent crime and homicide (by FBI Uniform Crime reports, the National Crime Victimization surveys, and public health reports) now stands at their LOWEST levels ever reliably recorded--especially in major cities, and especially among young people. Gun and mass violence has been a tragedy throughout US history; there was no "safe" past paradise, and most past eras were more violent than today. (Putnam, by the way, has strongly modified his dubious thesis that we live in a more fragmented society now). I know the media and cultural commentators love to perpetually misrepresent the present as uniquely depraved and violent, but this plays to the advantage of right-wingers who seek to demonize racial diversification and modern developments in order to lionize past, segregated, white-dominated times.
We have a lot to learn about this guy before we start blaming media, "crazy loner" theories or ascribing political beliefs. By initial reports, he was a quiet, unassuming academic, perhaps unfriendly but no history of violence. Grew up middle-class in CA, played soccer and ran cross-country, graduated with honors from college with a bachelors and masters and was doing well in his PhD program until last fall when his grades suddenly tanked. It would seem he purchased all this weapons, supplies, ammunition, etc. legally starting in May.
This guy is more Charles Whitman than Jared Loughner, I think we need to be careful making assumptions until we learn more about the guy. Hopefully the police will be able to get into his apartment and find something.
Ask the right questions:
1. Why didn't police enter theater #9 and kill the gunman? This is a very important and most obvious question. I personally saw three different eyewitnesses say the gunman was shooting for 15 to 20 minutes.....they all used the exact phrase, "....15 to 20 minutes." Aurora Police Dept. bragged that approx. 25 officers arrived within 90 seconds of the 911 call, so what were those officers doing during those many minutes the gunman was still in movie theater number nine? Aurora Police Dept. also said there were over 250 police officers there within minutes. Why didn't they shoot the gunman? Why did they wait outside the movie theater #9 while the gunman remained inside still shooting people?
Where did a college student get the $20,000 to purchase all the heavy equipment he bought?
Thank you for remembering Columbine. Please do not forget the Platte Canyon High School tragedy and the senseless murder of Emily Keyes. May she never be forgotten!