Social Media

FacebookTwitterRSSYoutube

DARK ‘KNIGHT’ IN COLORADO

 

Shooting suspect James Holmes. Credit: www.poughkeepsiejournal.com

*RED FLASH*
Sunday, July 22, 2012
1:00 a.m. Eastern Time
Aurora, Colorado–The gunman in the Colorado movie theater shooting has obtained a lawyer and is no longer cooperating with law enforcement.  James Eagen Holmes, 24, of Aurora, entered a back door to the Cinema 16 Theater around midnight this morning as the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, was beginning.  The cinema houses 16 screens, three of which were showing the Dark Knight film.
The shooter entered theater number nine, dressed in body armor, a bullet proof vest, gloves, a gas mask, and a helmet, and set off a smoke bomb device.  Most thought the scene was a stunt for the much-anticipated superhero film, but it quickly became obvious it was something horrific.
Holmes is a graduate of a San Diego high school and recently dropped out of medical school.  Authorities say he acted alone.
Holmes began shooting when moviegoers tried to run away, aiming his weapon toward the back of the theater.  Police officers were already at the theater for crowd control, and began entering as the shooter was firing, ordering innocents to get down.
The shooter used a shotgun, rifle, and two handguns to carry out the attack, one or both of the latter possibly having been stashed in the theater prior to the event.  He had purchased the guns from Aurora-area gun stores and 6,000 rounds of ammunition off the internet. 
Police say it was clearly a premeditated attack, although the shooter appears not to have been targeting any certain individual/s.  Holmes was arrested outside the theater at his car, which also contained a suspicious device.As he was being taken into custody, Holmes eluded to the prospect of dangerous devices in his apartment in north Aurora only miles from the theater.  Law enforcement have confirmed that the apartment is booby trapped, and evacuated the building.  Bomb technicians have successfully dismantled trip wires in the apartment, and small booms have been heard by reporters in the area.
According to NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, Holmes told authorities in Colorado that he was the Joker–Batman’s enemy in the films.

Twelve people, including children and teenagers, are dead after a mass shooting early Friday morning. Credit: www.bakersfieldnow.com

In all, 12 are now dead, including children and teenagers.  Fifty nine are reported wounded and have been taken to five area hospitals.  Among the dead is a six-year-old girl.  The 10 bodies that laid in the theater all day Friday have now been removed, the last being removed after 7:00 ET on Friday.  Reports are that cell phones were ringing inside the theater as investigators were going about their business, some dropped by fleeing patrons and some belonging to the dead themselves.

President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney paused their campaigns Friday to remember the victims.  President Obama said he and the First Lady were “shocked and saddened” by the shootings, and urged Americans to “come together as one American family.”  The President also ordered all federal flags to half-staff.  Governor Romney echoed the President’s sentiments.

Theaters across the country showing the film are adding security and banning costumes, traditionally worn by fans at the premiers of major motion pictures.  In Paris, the premier was cancelled.  It should also be noted that the Cinema 16 Theater is a mere 12 miles from Columbine High School, site of Colorado’s last deadly massacre by two students there in 1999.

List of Victims:

Alex Sullivan–he died on his 27th birthday; Sunday would have been his first wedding anniversary; he was an employee of the theater, but not working Friday

Micayla Medek, 23, very religious young woman

Jessica Ghawi, 24, an aspiring sports reporter; she barely escaped a mass shooting in Toronto, Canada, last month; her family asks that you tweet “RIP Jessica”

Matt McQuinn, 27, died shielding his girlfriend

Petty Officer John Thomas Larimer, 27, U. S. Navy; serving at his first post at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora; he had joined the Navy in June, 2011

Staff Sgt. Jesse Childress, 29, U. S. Air Force; he was a reservist on active duty with the 310 Force Support Squadron

Jonathan Blunk, 26, served in the Navy from 2004 to 2009; leaves behind a 4-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy

Alexander Jonathan Boik, 18, had been accepted into Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design; he planned on being an art teacher and opening his own studio

Alex Teeves, 24, recently graduated from Morgridge College of Education

Rebecca Ann Wingo, 32, a student at the Community College of Aurora; leaves behind two daughters

Gordon W. Cowden, 51, originally from Austin, Texas; leaves behind four children

Veronica Moser, 6, had just learned how to swim; her mother is paralyzed and in critical condition in a Colorado hospital, but doesn’t know her child is dead

Click here to watch the interview with the father of the six-year-old killed