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Chaos, bloodshed in Theatre 9
Calm gunman silently walks up aisle firing shots
Anxious family members gather outside the movie theatre after the shooting. (KARL GEHRING / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS )
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A gun is seen outside the movie theatre Friday in Aurora, Colo. (HELEN H. RICHARDSON / THE DENVER POST )
Witnesses comfort each at the scene. (R.J. SANGOSTI / THE DENVER POST)
AURORA, Colo. — The madness, once again, descended without warning. This time, instead of Virginia Tech, Columbine or Fort Hood, it was a suburban Denver multiplex where a heavily armed man clad in black came through an emergency entrance, set off canisters of an unknown gas and opened fire in a darkened theatre early Friday morning.
Authorities are beginning to piece together how and why the suspected gunman, James Holmes, 24, allegedly killed 12 people and wounded 58 during the midnight première of The Dark Knight Rises.
But emerging details suggested Holmes, a University of Colorado graduate student who was in the process of withdrawing from his neuroscience program, was coming from an ominous place. His apartment, about eight kilometres from the theatre, was rigged with wires and incendiary materials, authorities said. Technicians were trying to determine whether they were a hoax or posed a real danger.
The only near-certainty Friday was that the gunman had acted alone and not as part of a terrorist group or other conspiracy. Federal law enforcement sources said Holmes bought a ticket, entered the theatre, then left and returned through an emergency exit.
"We are not looking for any other suspects," Aurora police Chief Dan Oates told reporters. "We are confident that he acted alone, but we will do a thorough investigation to make sure that is the case."
Witnesses recounted scenes of chaos and bloodshed inside Theatre 9.
Chris Ramos, 20, who was seated in the fifth row, said about 20 minutes into the movie, someone at the front tossed what looked like stuffed toy baseball bats into the crowd. He said he thought the canisters were some sort of promotional gimmick for the film.
"The first sign that something was wrong was when the guy next to me got shot," said Ramos, who attended the movie with his sister and two friends. "I shielded my 17-year-old sister on the floor. I started crying, not because I was afraid, but because the tear gas started to burn my eyes."
The gunman looked calm and uttered not a word as he walked up an aisle, firing as he went, witnesses said.
"There were bullet (casings) just falling on my head. They were burning my forehead," Jennifer Seeger said, adding the gunman fired steadily except when he stopped to reload. "Every few seconds it was just boom, boom, boom. He would reload and shoot and anyone who would try to leave would just get killed."
It was complete panic as survivors pushed to reach the exits, Ramos said, adding he was kicked in the face several times by people trying to get up off the floor and out of the aisle. He estimated the shooting continued for a minute and a half.
Salina Jordan, 19, was in an adjoining theatre watching the same movie when she heard a series of pops. "It was so in sync we thought it was part of the movie," she said. "We thought it was a special effect because they were trying to do it up big for opening night."
Then bullets began piercing the wall. A teenager to Jordan’s right was shot in the jaw. A fire alarm went off.
Officers arrived at the theatre complex within 90 seconds of receiving the first 911 call at 12:39 a.m., police said.
In the lobby, near the concession stands, SWAT teams trained their guns on Theatre 9. They directed frightened patrons to remain in place — or to run for the exits — as gunfire started and stopped. Jordan said she watched a police officer carry out the inert body of a young girl, who appeared to be about 9. "She had been shot through her stomach, and the blood was just coming out," Jordan said. "Her body was so limp. And her face, there was no life in her face.’’
Police almost immediately arrested Holmes, who was next to his white Hyundai outside a rear entrance to the theatre. Oates said he was wearing a "ballistic helmet," a bulletproof vest, leggings, a throat protector, a groin protector, a gas mask and protective gloves.
Federal law enforcement sources said all four guns they think were used in the attack — two Glock pistols, a Remington 12-gauge shotgun and a Smith & Wesson AR-15 assault rifle — were purchased legally over the past two months.
Authorities began early Friday evening to remove the bodies of 10 victims that remained inside the theatre. Oates said police are working as quickly as possible to identify them and notify their relatives.
The Pentagon said three military personnel were injured in the shooting and another service member at the theatre remained unaccounted for.
Other victims remained hospitalized, with at least two in critical condition, and police warned the death toll could increase. James Denton, trauma director for the Medical Center of Aurora, said 12 patients were admitted with gunshot wounds and three were treated for chemical exposure. The victims ranged in age from 16 to 31.
U.S. President Barack Obama and his Republican presidential challenger, Mitt Romney, expressed condolences, cancelled campaign events and suspended advertising in Colorado.
Noting his two young daughters like to go to the movies, just like millions of other Americans, Obama said he and first lady Michelle Obama would "hug our girls tighter tonight."
The shooting is a "reminder that life is fragile," he said. "Our time here is limited, and it is precious."
Romney, at an appearance in Bow, N.H., said he spoke "not as a man running for office but as a father and grandfather, a husband, an American. This is a time for each of us to look into our hearts and remember how much we love one another and how much we love and how much we care for our great country."
Holmes, who will have a preliminary court appearance on Monday, had no previous contact with the Aurora Police Department, save for a 2011 traffic summons for speeding, Oates said.
In San Diego, a woman contacted by ABC News told reporters she was Holmes’s mother. She said she had awoken unaware of the shootings and had not been contacted by authorities, but expressed concern her son may have been involved. "You have the right person," she said. "I need to call the police… I need to fly out to Colorado."
— The Washington Post, with files from The Associated Press
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