20-07-2012, 08:25 PM
A gunman opened fire early Friday at a suburban Denver movie theatre complex on the opening night of the latest Batman movie, killing 12 people and and injuring 59 others, police said.
The gunman, who is in custody, stood at the front of the theatre and fired into the crowd around 12:30 a.m. MT at a multiplex theatre in a mall in Aurora, a community of about 327,000 people about 16 kilometres east of downtown Denver.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said police haven't been able to pinpoint how many shots were fired in the attack.
"There were many, many rounds fired," he said during a news conference on Friday afternoon.
Police, ambulances and emergency crews swarmed on the scene after frantic calls started flooding the 911 switchboard.
Witnesses shared dramatic accounts of the ordeal, from ducking the gunman's bullets to seeing the lifeless bodies lying on the floor.
"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, stopping only to reload. "Every few seconds it was just: Boom, boom, boom," she said. "He would reload and shoot and anyone who would try to leave would just get killed."
James Holmes, 24, is the suspect in a shooting attack which killed 12 people in a suburb of Denver, according to law enforcement officials.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]3886[/ATTACH](The University of Colorado/Reuters)
Number of injured rises
Authorities had pegged the number of injured at 38 earlier in the day, but Oates revised the total upwards later in the day.
The youngest victim was a three-month-old baby.
Officers found the suspected gunman, who has been identified as 24-year-old James Holmes, next to his car behind the theatre.
The suspect wore a gas mask, a ballistic helmet and vest as well as leg, groin and throat protectors, Oates said, and had an AR-15 military-style, semi-automatic rifle, a shotgun and two pistols.
Oates said Holmes wore body armour and used an assault rifle, a shotgun and a Glock handgun.
Holmes graduated from high school in the San Diego area and had enrolled at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 2011. He was "in the process of withdrawing" from the school's graduate neurosciences program, the university said in a statement.
There was no immediate word of any motive behind Friday's shooting, and Holmes' family issued a statement on Friday, expressing their condolences to the victims and saying that they were co-operating with authorities.
"Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families and friends of those involved," the statement said. "We are still trying to process this information and we appreciate that people will respect our privacy."
'We heard people screaming'
The suspect spoke of "possible explosives in his residence. We are dealing with that potential threat," Oates said, without providing details on where that was.
He said police also checked for explosives in the parking lot and at the Century 16 theatre and secured those areas.
Judy Goos hugs her daughter's friend, Isaiah Bow, 20, while eyewitnesses Emma Goos, 19, left, and Terrell Wallin, 20, right, gather outside a high school where people were brought for questioning Friday after a shooting a Denver-area movie theatre. (Barry Gutierrez/Associated Press)
Police used a hook-and-ladder fire truck to put a camera on a pole through a window in the suspect's third-floor apartment, which is located about six kilometres from the theatre. They found the aparment to be booby-trapped, prompting five buildings in the area to be evacuated as authorities attempted to disarm flammable and explosive material.
Witness Hayden Miller told KUSA-TV that he was inside theatre 16 and 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 [the] theatre."
Gun pointed at face of witness
A woman who escaped the shooting at a Denver suburb movie theater says the shooter pointed a gun at her face but then shot people seated behind her.
Jennifer Seeger, 24, says she was in the second row, just over a metre from the gunman. She says she "was just a deer in headlights" and ducked to the ground.
Seeger says bullet casings were falling on her head and burning her forehead as the gunman fired steadily, except when he stopped to reload.
She says it was "boom, boom, boom" every few seconds and the gunman shot anyone who tried to leave. Seeger says she began crawling toward an exit when she saw a girl about 14 years old "lying lifeless on the stairs."
Associated Press
Witnesses in other theatres reported seeing bullets come through the walls and hearing moans.
The gunman, who is in custody, stood at the front of the theatre and fired into the crowd around 12:30 a.m. MT at a multiplex theatre in a mall in Aurora, a community of about 327,000 people about 16 kilometres east of downtown Denver.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said police haven't been able to pinpoint how many shots were fired in the attack.
"There were many, many rounds fired," he said during a news conference on Friday afternoon.
Police, ambulances and emergency crews swarmed on the scene after frantic calls started flooding the 911 switchboard.
Witnesses shared dramatic accounts of the ordeal, from ducking the gunman's bullets to seeing the lifeless bodies lying on the floor.
"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, stopping only to reload. "Every few seconds it was just: Boom, boom, boom," she said. "He would reload and shoot and anyone who would try to leave would just get killed."
James Holmes, 24, is the suspect in a shooting attack which killed 12 people in a suburb of Denver, according to law enforcement officials.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]3886[/ATTACH](The University of Colorado/Reuters)
Number of injured rises
Authorities had pegged the number of injured at 38 earlier in the day, but Oates revised the total upwards later in the day.
The youngest victim was a three-month-old baby.
Officers found the suspected gunman, who has been identified as 24-year-old James Holmes, next to his car behind the theatre.
The suspect wore a gas mask, a ballistic helmet and vest as well as leg, groin and throat protectors, Oates said, and had an AR-15 military-style, semi-automatic rifle, a shotgun and two pistols.
Oates said Holmes wore body armour and used an assault rifle, a shotgun and a Glock handgun.
Holmes graduated from high school in the San Diego area and had enrolled at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 2011. He was "in the process of withdrawing" from the school's graduate neurosciences program, the university said in a statement.
There was no immediate word of any motive behind Friday's shooting, and Holmes' family issued a statement on Friday, expressing their condolences to the victims and saying that they were co-operating with authorities.
"Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families and friends of those involved," the statement said. "We are still trying to process this information and we appreciate that people will respect our privacy."
'We heard people screaming'
The suspect spoke of "possible explosives in his residence. We are dealing with that potential threat," Oates said, without providing details on where that was.
He said police also checked for explosives in the parking lot and at the Century 16 theatre and secured those areas.
Judy Goos hugs her daughter's friend, Isaiah Bow, 20, while eyewitnesses Emma Goos, 19, left, and Terrell Wallin, 20, right, gather outside a high school where people were brought for questioning Friday after a shooting a Denver-area movie theatre. (Barry Gutierrez/Associated Press)
Police used a hook-and-ladder fire truck to put a camera on a pole through a window in the suspect's third-floor apartment, which is located about six kilometres from the theatre. They found the aparment to be booby-trapped, prompting five buildings in the area to be evacuated as authorities attempted to disarm flammable and explosive material.
Witness Hayden Miller told KUSA-TV that he was inside theatre 16 and 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 [the] theatre."
Gun pointed at face of witness
A woman who escaped the shooting at a Denver suburb movie theater says the shooter pointed a gun at her face but then shot people seated behind her.
Jennifer Seeger, 24, says she was in the second row, just over a metre from the gunman. She says she "was just a deer in headlights" and ducked to the ground.
Seeger says bullet casings were falling on her head and burning her forehead as the gunman fired steadily, except when he stopped to reload.
She says it was "boom, boom, boom" every few seconds and the gunman shot anyone who tried to leave. Seeger says she began crawling toward an exit when she saw a girl about 14 years old "lying lifeless on the stairs."
Associated Press
Witnesses in other theatres reported seeing bullets come through the walls and hearing moans.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass