Batman shooting: Gunman kills 12 at US ‘Dark Knight’ screening

This is one of the most horrific nights I’ve ever had to work,said Comilla Sasson,an emergency doctor at University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora where 22 patients ranging in age from three months to 45 years arrived in private cars,police cars and ambulances.

Tell us: Should the public sale of guns be banned in the US?

Police took the suspect into custody in the parking lot behind the theater,Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates told a news conference.

Multiple media outlets named the suspect as James Eagan Holmes,24,though it could not independently confirm his identity.

The gunman appeared at the front of the theater during the movie and released a canister which let out a hissing sound before gunfire erupted,police said.

Dozens of police were at the scene,and the authorities evacuated the area while they checked for any explosive devices. They said there was no evidence of a second gunman.

Police also searched the suspect’s apartment building,breaking into a second-floor window after officers had been lifted in a crane,looking for explosives after the suspect made statements about explosives in his home. Police and sheriff’s deputies from several jurisdictions swarmed the scene with heavy weaponry trucks from the bomb squad.

When we got out of the theater it was just chaos. There was this one who guy was on all fours crawling. There was this girl spitting up blood,witness Donovan Tate told KCNC television. There were bullet holes in some people’s backs,some people’s arms. There was this one guy who was stripped down to just his boxers. It looked like he was shot in the back or something. It was crazy.

Confusion reigned as shooting broke out during an action scene in the summer blockbuster,one of more highly anticipated films of the year. He may have blended in with other movie-goers who wore costumes as heroes and villains.

He looked like he was in the military or like he was a SWAT person so he just kind of blended in with the chaos of the crowd. People thought he was probably like a cop or something,witness Jennifer Seeger told NBC’s Today.

Some moviegoers said they thought 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.

Aurora police spokesman Frank Fania told ABC’s “Good Morning America” he didn’t know yet if all the injuries were gunshot wounds. He said some might have been caused by other things,such as shrapnel.

The suspect spoke of “possible explosives in his residence,”.

“I thought it was showmanship. I didn’t think it was real,” Seeger said.

Seeger said she was in the second row when the gunman pointed a gun at her face. “At first,I was just a deer in headlights. I didn’t know what to do,” she said. Then she ducked to the ground as the gunman shot people seated behind her.

She said she began crawling toward an exit when she saw a girl about 14 years old “lying lifeless on the stairs.” She saw a man with a bullet wound in his back and tried to check his pulse,but “I had to go. I was going to get shot.”

Witness Shayla Roeder said she saw a young teenage girl on the ground bleeding outside the theater. “She just had this horrible look in her eyes …. We made eye contact and I could tell she was not all right,” Roeder said.

He came in and threw in the gas can and then I knew it was real. He shot the ceiling and right after he shot the ceiling he pointed the gun right at me. At that point I dove into the aisle. And I got lucky because he didn’t shoot me,she said.

“There were bullet (casings) just falling on my head. They were burning my forehead,” Jennifer Seeger said,adding that the gunman,dressed like a SWAT team member,fired steadily except when he stopped to reload.

“Every few seconds it was just boom,boom,boom,” Seeger said. “He would reload and shoot and anyone who would try to leave would just get killed.”

President Barack Obama,who was notified of the shooting early on Friday morning by his homeland security adviser,John Brennan,urged Americans to stand together with the people of Aurora in the hours and days to come.

Michelle and I are shocked and saddened by the horrific and tragic shooting in Colorado. Federal and local law enforcement are still responding,and my administration will do everything that we can to support the people of Aurora in this extraordinarily difficult time,Obama said in a statement.

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

MEMORIES OF COLUMBINE

Colorado has suffered mass killings in the past. In 1999,two students opened fire at Columbine High School in the suburb of Littleton,also near Denver,killing 12 students and a teacher.

Aurora Police spokesman Frank Fania said the suspect was carrying a knife,a rifle and a handgun when arrested,and one other gun was recovered from the theater. The gunman was also wearing a bulletproof vest.

He did not resist,he did not put up a fight,Fania said.

Chandler Brannon,25,who had been watching the movie with his girlfriend,said that about 20 minutes into the movie he saw a smoke bomb go off and heard what sounded like fireworks. He later realized they were a rapid volley of gunshots.

I told my girlfriend to just play dead,he said,adding that he never got a full view of the gunman. All I could see was a silhouette.

One man told an NBC affiliate he was in the adjacent theater watching another screening of the Batman movie when he heard gunshots and the theater filled with thick,choking smoke.

He saw bullets holes in the wall,and some people in his theater were wounded. I heard moaning … they were in pain.

Fania said police received the first call about the shooting at 12:39 a.m. local time (06:39 GMT) and responded within a minute or two.

Local hospitals were alerted to a mass casualty incident. Fania told NBC News that 10 of the victims died in the theater and two died in the hospital.

SECURITY PRECAUTIONS

In New York,police will deploy officers at screenings of The Dark Knight Rises throughout the city as a precaution against copycats,Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement.

Time Warner-owned Warner Bros.,the studio behind the film,cancelled its premiere in Paris.

Warner Bros. is deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. We extend our sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time,spokeswoman Jessica Zacholl said.

The film,with a budget of $250 million,opened on 4,404 screens,the second widest release ever behind Twilight: Eclipse,and industry analysts had said it stood a good chance of matching or beating the opening weekend box office record of $207 million set by Disney’s Avengers in May.

The prior release in the Batman series,The Dark Knight,has grossed more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office since its release in 2008.

No apparent terrorism link to Colorado shooting – White House

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE: The White House said on Friday that it did not believe the deadly shooting in Colorado had any connection to terrorism.

We do not believe at this point that there is an apparent nexus to terrorism,White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters traveling with Obama in Florida.

The president was first informed of the deadly rampage at around 2:30 a.m. ET (0630 GMT),Carney said.

Social media becomes outlet after deadly spree

Washington: News of today’s horrific shooting spree in a US movie theater spread quickly on social media,and video and pictures from the scene spread around the world within minutes of the deadly attack.

Within minutes,some on the scene began tweeting about the attack. Isaac J Ramos wrote: “There was a shooting at century 16 aurora about 30 minutes into the movie. Its crazy.”

Domnick Bivins tweeted: “Woww Someone Just Shot Up This Batman Movie. . I Literally Just Seen A Little Girl Get Carried Out With Bullet Wounds Smh The Nerve Of Ppl.”

A cameraphone video circulated on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx31jI5YnBo) with grainy images of the scene.

And an unidentified victim who apparently survived after being wounded posted a picture of his wound and T-shirt with a hole in it on the file-sharing site imgur (http://imgur.com/a/vtMhj).

Later,some expressed horror,and others said they were just glad to be alive.

“Movie theater just got shot up while we were watching Batman. I’m ok a little freaked out. Walking to Isaac’s house with a group of friends,” tweeted Jaime Marshall.

One of those killed was Jessica Ghawi,an aspiring sportswriter who recently moved to Denver and who escaped a shooting spree earlier this year in Toronto,according to KENS-TV,quoting family members.

“My friend Jessica Ghawi was killed in the Aurora Shooting — she was an aspiring sportscaster — she will be missed,” tweeted Natalie Tejeda. “Just upset,angry,confused. So many lives,so many futures.”

Ghawi,who wrote a hockey blog under the name Jessica Redfield,had commented about the Toronto shooting in a June 5 blog post.

“This empty,almost sickening feeling won’t go away,” she wrote. ”

The gunman was wearing a gas mask when he opened fire in a crowded US movie theater screening the latest Batman film early Friday,killing at least 12 and wounding nearly 40,police and reports said.

TIMELINE – Mass shooting incidents in last 25 years

Here is a timeline of some of the worst shooting incidents carried out by one or two gunmen around the world in the last 25 years:

March 13,1996 – BRITAIN – Gunman Thomas Hamilton burst into a primary school in the Scottish town of Dunblane and shot dead 16 children and their teacher before killing himself.

April 28,1996 – AUSTRALIA – Martin Bryant unleashed modern Australia’s worst mass murder when he shot dead 35 people at the Port Arthur tourist site in the southern state of Tasmania.

April 1999 – UNITED STATES – Two heavily-armed teenagers went on a rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton,Denver,shooting 13 students and staff before taking their own lives.

July 1999 – UNITED STATES – A gunman killed nine people at two brokerages in Atlanta,after apparently killing his wife and two children. He committed suicide five hours later.

June 2001 – NEPAL – Eight members of the Nepalese Royal family were killed in a palace massacre by Crown Prince Dipendra who later turned a gun on himself and died few days later. His youngest brother also died later raising the death toll to 10.

April 26,2002 – GERMANY – In Erfurt,eastern Germany,19-year-old Robert Steinhauser opened fire after saying he was not going to take a math test. He killed 12 teachers,a secretary,two pupils and a policeman at the Gutenberg Gymnasium,before killing himself.

Oct. 2002 – UNITED STATES – John Muhammad and Lee Malvo killed 10 people in sniper-style shooting deaths that terrorized the Washington,D.C.,area.

April 16,2007 – USA – Virginia Tech,a university in Blacksburg,Virginia,became the site of the deadliest rampage in U.S. history when a gunman killed 32 people and himself.

Nov. 7,2007 – FINLAND – Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed six fellow students,the school nurse,the principal and himself with a handgun at the Jokela High School near Helsinki.

Sept. 23,2008 – FINLAND – Student Matti Saari opened fire in a vocational school in Kauhajoki in northwest Finland,killing nine other students and one male staff member before killing himself.

March 11,2009 – GERMANY – A 17-year-old gunman dressed in combat gear killed nine students and three teachers at a school near Stuttgart. He also killed one other person at a nearby clinic. He was later killed in a shoot-out with police. Two additional passers-by were killed and two policemen seriously injured,bringing the death toll to 16 including the gunman.

June 2,2010 – BRITAIN – Gunman Derrick Bird opened fire on people in towns across the rural county of Cumbria. Twelve people were killed and 11 injured. Bird also killed himself.

April 9,2011 – NETHERLANDS – Tristan van der Vlis opened fire in the Ridderhof mall in Alphen aan den Rijn,south of Amsterdam,killing six before turning the gun on himself.

July 22,2011 – NORWAY – Police seize a gunman who killed 69 people at a youth summer camp of Norway’s ruling political party,on the small,holiday island of Utoeya. Anders Behring Breivik is later charged with the killings,as well as with an earlier bombing in Oslo which killed eight people. The trial ended last month with Breivik saying that his bombing and shooting rampage was necessary to defend the country – prompting a walk-out by relatives of his victims.

Dec. 13,2011 – BELGIUM – Gunman Nordine Armani killed three people,including a 17-month-old toddler,wounding 121 in a central square in the eastern city of Liege,before shooting himself. The next day Belgian investigators found the body of a woman in warehouse used by the gunman raising the death toll,including the killer,to five.

July 20,2012 – UNITED STATES – A masked gunman killed 14 people and wounded 50 others when he opened fire on moviegoers at a showing of new Batman film The Dark Knight Rises in the city of Denver.

Obama shocked,saddened by cinema hall shooting

Washington: Shocked and saddened by the “horrific” cinema hall shooting in Colorado,US President Barack Obama today vowed to bring to justice the perpetrators of the heinous crime that claimed at least 14 lives and left 50 people injured.

“Michelle and I are shocked and saddened by the horrific and tragic shooting in Colorado. Federal and local law enforcement are still responding,and my administration will do everything that we can to support the people of Aurora (the city where the Cinema hall is located) in this extraordinarily difficult time,” Obama said in a statement.

The President,who was notified of the shooting in an Aurora cinema hall by his Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan at 5:26 am local time,is in Palm Beach,Florida,on a two-day election campaign trip.

“We are committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice,ensuring the safety of our people,and caring for those who have been wounded. As we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge,we must now come together as one American family,” Obama said.

“All of us must have the people of Aurora in our thoughts and prayers as they confront the loss of family,friends,and neighbours,and we must stand together with them in the challenging hours and days to come,” said the US President.

A 24-year-old white male suspect,who opened fire during the premiere of the latest Batman film ‘The Dark Knight Rises’,has been taken into custody by the police.

The gunman told the police that he had explosives in his apartment,which has now been evacuated.

The FBI has been rushed to the scene and is investigating the incident,apparently to look into the terrorist angle to it.

The entire area has been evacuated.

When the gunman was apprehended,he was at the back of the theatre near the parking lot close to his vehicle,which had a Tennessee license plate,police said.

Police said he apparently used some kind of a tear gas inside the theatre before the shooting.