At least 12 dead, 50 injured in shooting at Colorado movie theater, police say

[VCURamFan]

URGENT: At least 12 people have been killed and up to 50 injured after a mass shooting at a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" at a suburban Denver movie theater, police say.

The suspect, identified by federal law enforcement officials as James Holmes, 24, is in police custody. KUSA reports that Holmes kicked down an emergency door at the theater, threw in some type of a smoke bomb and began shooting when moviegoers started to run.

Witnesses say they heard a series of explosions and up to 20 gunshots after the scene grew chaotic. About 100 witnesses were taken to a local high school to be questioned by police.

Police, ambulances and emergency crews swarmed on the Aurora, Colo., theater after frantic 911 calls around 12:30 a.m. local time, officials said.
Holmes reportedly fired shots inside the theater and fled to the parking lot and was confronted by police already at the theater for crowd control.

Holmes wore a bulletproof vest, police said, and was carrying a rifle and two handguns. The handguns may have been placed in the theater before the shooting.

FBI spokesman Jason Pack said there's no indication in the investigation so far of any connection to terrorism.

President Obama said he is "shocked and saddened" by the mass shooting and urged the nation to "come together as one American family." He said his administration will do everything it can to support the people of Aurora, Colo. The White House says Obama, who was in Florida at the time of the shooting, was informed of the shooting by Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan.

James Cameron, who was in an adjacent theater, said he hear commotion and screaming. People seated around him began coughing and having difficulty breathing.

"By the sound of it, it sounds like there could have been three or four guys shooting," he said.

Audra Mincey, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Medical Center, told Fox News there are two patients in critical condition.
Mincey said the hospital set up its incident command center and mobilized personnel.

Earlier reports said there may have been a second shooter, but police believe only one shooter was involved, KDVR tells Fox News.

Police Chief Dan Oates said there's no evidence of any other attackers. There was also no immediate word of any motive.

Holmes spoke of "possible explosives in his residence. We are dealing with that potential threat," Oates said.

Bejamin Fernandez, 30, told the Denver Post that he heard a series of explosions. He said that people ran from the theater and there were gunshots as police shouted "get down!"

Fernandez said he saw people falling, including one young girl.

Jordan told the paper that one girl was struck in cheek, others in stomach including a girl who looked to be around 9-years-old.
Jordan said it sounded like firecrackers until someone ran into Theater 8 yelling "they're shooting out here!"

Hayden Miller told KUSA-TV that he heard several shots.

"Like little explosions going on and shortly after that we heard people screaming," he told the station.

Hayden said at first he thought it was part of a louder movie next door. But then he saw "people hunched over leaving theater."
It was the worst mass shooting in the U.S. since the 2007 shooting on the Virginia Tech campus.

Some moviegoers said they thought the attack was part of the show. Then they saw a silhouette of a person in the smoke at the front of the theater, pointing a gun at the crowd.

"I told my friend, `We've got to get out of here,' but then he shot people trying to go out the exits," Jennifer Seeger told NBC's "Today." She the shooter made his way up the aisle, shooting as he went, saying nothing.

The youngest victim reported was a 6-year-old being treated at Children's Hospital Colorado, where a total of six victims were taken. Their condition wasn't known.

Two people in critical condition were rushed to nearby Swedish Medical Center, spokeswoman Nicole Williams said.

Aurora is on Denver's east side and is Colorado's third-largest city with 327,000 residents. It is home to a large Defense Department satellite intelligence operation at Buckley Air Force Base, as well as The Children's Hospital, the University of Colorado Hospital and a future Veterans Affairs hospital.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/20...#ixzz21ANtjWPv

[Bonnie]

I got up really early this morning and saw this first thing. Just terrible! It's hard enough to hear about adults being shot, but to hear about little babies and children being shot, just awful. I will never comprehend the mind that can do these things.

Just as an aside, I saw the other day where the Fort Hood killer is still getting paid, I believe they said $6,000/mo., while his victims struggle to pay their medical bills. Talk about messed up!

[rearnakedchoke]

sad stuff .. hopefully the injured pull through ...

[MattHughesRocks]

How horrible. What an asshole.

[Tyburn]

But Why did he do it...I mean it seems really rather odd to massicre people at a cinema of all places

[Bonnie]

Originally Posted by Tyburn

But Why did he do it...I mean it seems really rather odd to massicre people at a cinema of all places

Actually, it's a perfect place for an ambush. Much like a school/classroom, you've got a captured audience of victims. Plus, it's dark inside the movie theater. He seemed to have thought this out quite well. From what some of the people are saying, at first, they thought it was something put on by the theater as part of the movie, but they quickly realized he was shooting people for real.

From what they've been reporting about this guy, he's very smart, he graduated with honors top of his class from the University of California-Riverside in neuroscience and was continuing graduate studies there in Aurora until a month ago. He told the police he had booby-trapped his apartment with chemical and incendiary devices. I think they're still trying to find a way to defuse everything. They said they might have to just blow the whole apartment building up because he's got all these wires leading to and from all these devices.

[TENNESSEAN]

They should put him in the building then blow it up.

[flo]

Originally Posted by TENNESSEAN

They should put him in the building then blow it up.

I'm totally with you on that.

Only fill it with tear gas first.

[Bonnie]

Originally Posted by TENNESSEAN

They should put him in the building then blow it up.

Sounds like a good plan to me! Apparently that's what his plan was for the police...turnabout is fair play after all.

My sister told me she heard how he fixed his stereo to come on at a certain time to start blasting out loud music in the hopes his neighbors would call the police about it, and then when they showed up....KABOOM! That way, police and fire would be diverted to his apartment while he was executing (literally) his plan at the theater. Something must have gone wrong with that part of his plan though. His neighbor said she went over and banged on his door but nobody answered. She said when she banged on the door it felt like maybe it was unlocked and she thought about opening it and poking her head in to see what was going on, but she didn't, thank God!

[J.B.]

This has literally made me sick all day. My friend Crystal has a cousin who is a nurse in Aurora CO, and she said it's been horrible since last night. To shoot and kill little kids like that. I hope God has mercy on his soul, because humanity doesn't owe him a single shred IMO.