At least 12 are dead and another 50 are injured in Aurora, CO, where a gunman opened fire during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises. According to a witness, the shooter entered through the emergency exit and “released some sort of canister. They heard a hissing sound and some gas emerged and the gunman opened fire.”
Another report cites witnesses who said the gunmen entered during a shoot-out scene set off smoke bombs or teargas, put on a gas mask and started firing an assault rifle.
“Like little explosions going on and shortly after that we heard people screaming,” according to a witness who said at first he thought it was part of a louder movie next door. But then he saw “people hunched over leaving theater.”
According to another witness:
“We were watching a scene of the movie — it was a shootout scene, there were guns firing,” he said. “Then loud bangs came from the right of the theater. Smoke took over the entire theater, and it was really thick and no one could really see anything. Me and my sister were sitting there wondering what was going on. Five people were limping, wounded, slightly bloody.”
According to the AP, one person has been arrested, and there is no evidence of multiple shooters. Officers found the 24-year-old gunman, James Holmes, near a car behind the theater. “A gas mask, rifle, handgun at least one additional weapon (were) found inside.” The suspect’s apartment is being searched for explosives, and a robot could be seen searching the area around the car he was hiding behind.
The shooting occurred at a Century 16 theaters at the Aurora Mall. So far, officers say there has been no connection made to terrorism.
This is a cell phone video taken inside the theater after the shooting (via Buzzfeed).
(Image and Story Source: AP)
