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July 20, 2012
12 Killed in Shooting at Colorado Theater
By DAN FROSCH, WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM, TIMOTHY WILLIAMS and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
AURORA, Colo. — A gunman dressed head to foot in body armor and brandishing three weapons, including an assault rifle, opened fire in a theater crowded with families and children at a midnight showing of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises” in a Denver suburb early Friday morning, killing at least 12 people and wounding 59 others, police and federal officials said.

The suspect, James Holmes, 24, told the police after his arrest that he had booby-trapped his Aurora apartment with explosive devices, leading the police to evacuate five buildings in the neighborhood as they sought to disable what they described as “incendiary devices” rigged to trip wires.

Mr. Holmes’s only criminal history was a traffic summons, said Aurora’s police chief, Dan Oates. Mr. Holmes earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in neuroscience in 2010 from the University of California, Riverside.

During the attack, witnesses said Mr. Holmes had entered through a side door of the packed theater and first set off at least two smoke devices before firing randomly at audience members, who had just settled into their seats. Within minutes, he was arrested in a parking lot behind the theater near his car, the police said.

Mr. Holmes had apparently planned the attack for some time: He wore a gas mask, body armor, a tactical helmet and was dressed completely in black. He entered the theater with an AR-15 assault rifle, a Remington 12-guage shotgun and a 40-caliber Glock handgun. A fourth gun, another Glock pistol, was found in his car. The authorities believe that Mr. Holmes acted alone, and that the death toll may increase because some of the injuries were serious.

The police and witnesses described a scene of utter chaos inside the darkened, smoke-filled theater as bullets resounded loudly around them, and people who had gone to see a PG-13-rated action movie were suddenly forced to scramble to safety as friends and loved ones were felled around them.

Chief Oates said he did not know how many shots Mr. Holmes had fired, saying only that it was “many, many rounds.”

Jordan Crofter, 19, said he had felt lucky to have snagged a seat in the front row at the midnight screening. But about five minutes into the movie, he said, a side door swung open and a man in black wearing a gas mask calmly strode through.

At first, Mr. Crofter thought perhaps the man was part of the movie. But within a few seconds, he said, the man hurled two gas canisters down the theater aisle.

“He walked in so casually, like he knew what he was doing,” said Mr. Crofter. “I heard two pops. Everyone was distracted. That was when the panic and the chaos started.”

Mr. Crofter said that once he noticed that the man was also carrying a rifle, he ran in the opposite direction as fast as he could.

“He started shooting, and everyone ducked and started screaming,” he said. “He looked like he was ready to go into battle, It was like he was walking around and having fun. Emotionless.”

With the investigation in its earliest stages, the authorities said they were unsure what prompted the attack, or whether Mr. Holmes had ties to any hate groups.

“No motivation yet,” one senior law enforcement official said, adding, “The kid’s not talking.”Mr. Holmes however, did tell the police that he had explosives at an Aurora residence, which led F.B.I. agents, along with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the local police to cordon off a north Aurora neighborhood, focusing attention on a third-floor apartment in a red brick building.

Firefighters perched on a cherry picker were seen breaking the window with an ax.

The police described the apartment as being full of wires.

“It’s something I’ve never seen before,” said Chief Oates.

John Priest, who lives in the neighborhood, said that his 21-year-old son had been in the movie theater with two friends during the shooting, but was unharmed. The two friends, however, had been wounded — one was hit by a bullet in the buttocks and grazed in the leg, and the other was shot in the leg. Neither injury is life threatening, he said.

“How could people do something like this?” he said. “I don’t understand this.”

Aurora, which has a population of about 325,000, had only six killings in all of 2011, according to F.B.I. crime data.

At Gateway High School, where the authorities have directed people to gather to get news about friends and family members, Rosemary Ratcliff said she had so far been unable to find her son, Abdullah, 17, who she believes had been at the midnight screening.

“I haven’t heard from him, and none of his friends are picking up their phones,” she said in a near-whisper as she left the school.

The authorities have not released the names of victims, but Pentagon officials said that some members of the military were among the casualties. The officials said they did not yet have an accurate count, or know what branches of the service the victims were from, or whether they were dead or injured.

The injured were sent to six hospitals in the region, including Children’s Hospital Colorado and the University of Colorado Hospital.

“The entire emergency department staff was called in,” said Dr. Comilla Sasson, who said that even though the emergency room was full before the shooting happened, it admitted 20 victims who ranged in age from 3 months to 45 years. The victims’ injuries included gunshot wounds and shrapnel injuries, Dr. Sasson said. Nine people were in critical condition.

At least three other people were in critical condition at other hospitals, officials said.

The shooting erupted at the Century 16 Theater during the first showings of “The Dark Knight Rises.” Throngs had gathered, some dressed as characters from the highly anticipated Batman sequel.

The police and witnesses said after the gunman entered the theater through an exit door that there was the smell of either pepper spray or tear gas in the theater as gunshots rang out.

Chief Oates said the device made “a hissing sound” before starting to emit smoke.

President Obama, in southern Florida as part of a campaign swing, was notified of the shooting by his top counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, at 5:26 a.m., the White House said. He later released a statement saying that he and his wife, Michelle, were “shocked and saddened by the horrific and tragic shooting in Colorado,” and vowed to bring those responsible to justice.

Mr. Obama was briefed Friday morning by Mr. Brennan, Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director, and Jacob Lew, the White House chief of staff. “We do not believe at this point there was an apparent nexus to terrorism,” Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Air Force One.

Mr. Obama returned to Washington on Friday afternoon, cutting short his Florida trip, his campaign said.

In remarks in Fort Myers, Fla., Mr. Obama talked in highly personal ways about the tragedy. “My daughters go to the movies,” he said. “What if Malia and Sasha had been in the theater as so many of our kids do every day? Michelle and I will be fortunate enough to hug our girls a little tighter tonight.”

He reflected on the fragility of life and the triviality of so much of what passes for daily existence, calling on the country to remember what really matters. “The people we lost in Aurora loved and were loved,” he said. “They were mothers and fathers, they were husbands and wives, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, friends and neighbors. They had hopes for the future and they had dreams that were not yet fulfilled.”

He asked for a moment of silence and asked the crowd to “spend a little time thinking about the incredible blessings that God has given us.”

Both Mr. Obama and Mitt Romney, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, said they planned to pull television campaign advertisements in Colorado.

The movie studio Warner Bros., which is owned by Time Warner, released a statement Friday morning, saying that the company and the filmmakers were “deeply saddened” and “extend our sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time.”

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, who has waged a national campaign for stricter gun laws, called on President Obama and Mr. Romney to more concretely address the issue of gun violence in their campaigns.

“You know, soothing words are nice,” Mr. Bloomberg said during his weekly radio program, “but maybe it’s time that the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country.”

On Friday morning, television images showed several ambulances moving about and dozens of police officers gathered at the Century 16 complex in the early morning darkness. A police robot could be seen inspecting a white compact sedan, its two doors and trunk wide open, in the parking lot of the movie complex, television images showed, though it was unclear whether the car belonged to the gunman.

Cellphone video appeared to show the traumatic scene outside of the large multiplex immediately after the shooting. Some people wandered away with bloodstained shirts as others could be heard screaming, “Get out of here!”

Dan Frosch reported from Aurora, William K. Rashbaum and Timothy Williams from New York, and Michael S. Schmidt from Washington. Reporting was contributed by Peter Baker from West Palm Beach, Fla.; Elisabeth Bumiller from Washington; and J. David Goodman, Victoria Shannon and Thomas Kaplan from New York. Kitty Bennett and Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/us...ooting.html?hp