14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

How horrible.

By NBC News staff
Updated at 7:18 a.m. ET: Fourteen 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. At least 50 other people were injured, Oates said, including a six-year-old girl.
Witnesses said tear gas also went off in the theater.
A 24-year-old male suspect was apprehended in the shopping center's parking lot, Oates said.

The incident occurred in the Century 16 Movie Theaters at the Aurora Town Center, police told NBC News. Aurora is a suburb less than 10 miles east of downtown Denver.
NBC station KUSA-Denver cited a witness as seeing a black-clad 6-foot-tall man wearing a riot helmet, goggles and bullet-proof vest.
However, many people attended the film dressed in Batman-related costumes.
Watch live video from KUSA
Witnesses said the gunman entered the theater through an emergency exit door.
The suspect was found in possession of a gas mask, Oates said. Ammunition was found in the suspect's car, police said.
Citing officials, NBC News' Pete Williams reported that the shooter had three weapons -- a rifle and two handguns. The suspect's car has Tennessee plates but authorities believe he was living locally.
Oates said there was no evidence of additional suspects.
The suspect's apartment building in north Aurora was evacuated after the suspect made a statement to police about possible explosives at his home, Oates said.
An FBI official told NBC News that the agency was working with local authorities on the investigation, but that there was no early indication of a link to terrorism. President Barack Obama had been notified by counterterrorism chief John Brennan and was aware of the incident, KUSA said.
In a statement, Obama said: "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."
'Get us some damn gas masks'
Police raiding the theater in the hunt for the suspect had to ask for gas masks.
"Get us some damn gas masks for theater 9, we can't get in it," one officer radioed back to emergency dispatch during the operation, according to an excerpt aired on KUSA.
Witnesses told reporters that gunfire erupted during a shootout scene in the film.
Brenda Stuart, of 850 KOA radio, told Sky News that "a lot of people thought the gunshots were part of the movie."
Aurora Police respond to the shooting at the Century 16 Movie Theater early Friday.
She added that bullets had passed from one theater into an adjoining one.
One young man told KUSA that he was out front of the theater with friends when the shooting broke out.
"Next thing you know you hear 'boom' like tear gas, a bomb. ... Then you hear gunshots go off, like a fully automatic weapon. [There were] like 50-60 gunshots," he told KUSA.
"I was just worried about getting out of there," he told KUSA.
More on this story from breakingnews.com
The man, who did not give his name, said he heard gunfire continue for at least 20 minutes.
"People were coming out of there screaming, some of the people were coming out of there bleeding. ... People were coming out with their shirts covered in blood," he said.
As he left the theater, eyewitness Hayden Miller told KUSA said people ran up to him and said "there was a gunman setting off bombs and shooting people. ... He wasn't giving anyone a chance to get out ... It hasn't really hit me. I'm in shock. It's insane that this can happen in a movie theater where people had gone to have fun."

Another eyewitness, whose name was not given, told KUSA that he "saw at least four, maybe five people limping, slightly wounded. ... I saw one girl covered in blood.
"I don't know whose little girl that was, but my heart goes out to them. ... A cop came walking through the front door ... holding a little girl in his arms and she wasn't moving, she wasn't moving," the young man, whose voiced cracked as he spoke, told KUSA.
Salina Jordan, 19, who was in Theater 8, told the Denver Post she saw one girl struck in the cheek and others in the stomach, including a girl who looked to be around 9 years old.

Jordan told the Post that someone ran into her theater yelling, "they're shooting out here!" An alarm came on, Jordan said, announcing there was a "murder in [the] theater."
Jordan told the newspaper she saw police carrying bodies out of the theater as well as officers opening fire.
Local emergency crews from several cities, including Denver and Boulder, converged on the scene, Stuart told Sky News.
Cathy Canzanora, a 911 dispatcher, told NBC News that emergency dispatchers were deluged with calls from "everybody who had cellphones in the theater" at 12:39 a.m. Friday local time (2:39 a.m. ET).
Police cars transport the wounded
The injured were being transported to several local hospitals, police told NBC.
KOA's Stuart said that police officers were taking victims to hospitals in their cars and not waiting for ambulances.
Natalie Goldstein, of Children's Hospital Colorado, said the facility was treating six patients from the shooting, ranging in age from 6 to 31.
PhotoBlog: More images from the scene of the shooting in Aurora
Justin Bentzinger, a house supervisor at the Swedish Medical Center, told NBC News they were treating three patients. Two were in critical condition, the third was in fair condition.
Kalena Wilkinson, a public information officer for Denver Health, said six patients were taken to that hospital, with one in critical condition and the other five in "fair" conditions.
Tracy Weise, of the public relations department at Aurora Medical Center, told NBC News they were treating 12 patients with a range of injuries from minor to critical.
"We have a variety of ages, quite a few 20s, teenagers, that kind of age," she said.
Further local coverage from KUSA
Jacque Montgomery, a spokesperson for University of Colorado Hospital, told NBC News that they were treating 20 patients from the shooting.
"Injuries range from minor to severe gunshot injuries," she said.
At least three people had been treated for chemical exposure, KUSA reported.
Hundreds of witnesses who have not been injured have been taken to Gateway High School for a debriefing, local media reported.
"The Dark Knight Rises," starring Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway, is the latest in the popular Batman action movie franchise. Friday was its international premiere.
NBC station KUSA contributed to this report.
This is breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

Why??? How senseless and sad.

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

This story is very heartbreaking. Those people were just going to see a movie and now are dead. I really do not understand how anyone could do this.

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

I really dread waking up and seeing the news each day.

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

I can't imagine what the families of those that were killed, the witnesses, and the injured survivors are going through...and what they will go through for the rest of their lives.

ETA: and any on-scene law enforcement, as well. No amount of training can prepare a human being to bear witness to something like this.

Message edited 7/20/2012 8:42:57 AM.

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

I got the chills reading this- how awful!!

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

Not what I wanted to wake up hearing. Prayers for all the families of those involved.

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

This is just heartbreaking!! How incredibly sad!! After hearing on the radio about the gas I started thinking about the original Joker (jack Nicholson) Didnt he use gas to kill people? Not sure if thats what he was doing? My heart goes out to all those who were affected by this horrible horrible event!

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

So incredibly sad. Senseless!!! My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families!!

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

Horrible. Just everyday people trying to enjoy some of everyday life

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

This really saddens me and frightens me at the same time.

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

It's sad and scares me , that there are such crazy people out there.

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

so senseless. this world is turning into a war zone of idiots fighting for who even knows what anymore. so incredibly sad

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

this is crazy! Here's is one of the wounded

warning - gunshot wound

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

It is so sad... so upsetting... so scary..

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

Wanna know stupid?

Report on Today show this morning:

Savanah: "Caller, tell us what you saw".

19 year old kid: "Dude, my friends and I were at the mall and wanted to go see the movie.
While we there we heard the gunshots."

Savanah: "How long was he shooting for?"

19 YO: "About 5 min before the cops came".

This kid *stayed* for 5 min (and longer) to see what was happening???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Like, how stupid is America?

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

I just don't understand WHY?!

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

tragic

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

Such a senseless tragedy. I heard on the radio this morning that the youngest injured was a 3 MONTH OLD. What the fcuk is wrong with people? Why did this monster do something this horrific?

14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

this is just so sad and senseless

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

Re: 14 dead in mass shooting at Dark Knight Rises in CO

I'm so sadden by the news. I'm pregnant and very hormonal and I just can't stop crying and thinking about all the kids that were there.
Why are people so miserable in life. If you hate life so much, why not just take your life and let everyone else live.
to them all.