7:45AM PT — Police say Holmes’ studio apartment is “booby-trapped” in a sophisticated manner — and they are trying to figure out how to disarm an explosive device attached to the front door.
7:00 AM PT — A rep for the Aurora Medical Center says … of the 15 victims being treated at AMC, 12 sustained gunshot wounds.
The other three are being treated for chemical exposure.
Six of the wounded are in critical condition — with gun shot wounds to the neck, torso and abdomen.
6:50 AM PT — Officials have released the 911 calls made moments after the shooter began his killing spree.
The callers are frantic … describing the bloody chaos inside the theater. At one point, a caller says emergency responders can’t enter the theater because of the tear gas.
6:47 AM PT — A rep for the Aurora Medical Center says the hospital is treating 15 victims … and the age range is 16 to 31.
6:43 AM PT — NYPD Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly says the NYPD will take extra steps to provide protection at movie theaters showing “Batman” in New York … releasing the following statement:
“As a precaution against copycats and to raise the comfort levels among movie patrons in the wake of the horrendous shooting in Colorado, the New York City Police Department is providing coverage at theaters where the ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is playing in the five boroughs.”
6:12 AM PT — President Barack Obama has released a statement saying, “Michelle and I are shocked and saddened by the horrific and tragic shooting in Colorado.”
6:05 AM PT — The LAPD has immediately increased security at the famous Arclight Theater in Hollywood.
6:03 AM PT — Warner Bros. has canceled tonight’s red carpet premiere of “Dark Knight Rises” in Paris, France. The studio has issued the following statement:
“Warner Bros. is deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. We extend our sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time.”
5:48 AM PT — According to CNN, law enforcement officers found “items of interest” in the suspect’s home. They are saying the man is in his 20s and lives in the Aurora area.
A heavily armed gunman opened fire in the middle of a packed midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” … killing at least a dozen moviegoers and reportedly wounding at least 50 others (including a 3-month-old baby) in Aurora, Colorado.
The suspect has been identified as 24-year-old James Holmes from Aurora, CO.
Cops say Holmes was wearing a bulletproof vest, riot helmet and a gas mask when he entered the Century 16 Movie Theater through an emergency exit and began randomly firing at movie patrons. Witnesses say he tossed tear gas into the crowd before he started shooting.
Police arrested Holmes in the movie theater parking lot — and federal agents evacuated his apartment building –after he “made a statement about explosives” in the building (see below).
After a thorough sweep of the complex, officials determined the building was safe.
Holmes reportedly used 4 guns during the shooting — a rifle, a shotgun, a handgun and another firearm that’s being compared to an AK-47. Cell phone video taken from inside the lobby of the movie theater showed the chaos following the shooting.
One witness tells CNN Holmes did not resist arrest when cops moved in — “He did not put up a fight.”
At this point, police say there is no evidence of a second gunman.
Hundreds of police and FBI agents have already been assigned to the investigation.
A 15-year-old witness told CNN he was able to escape the theater when the gunman stopped firing to reload one of his guns.
Tags: The Dark Knight Rises
One more mass shooting in US – this time at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin.
Gunman, six others dead at Wisconsin Sikh temple
At least seven people, including a gunman shot by a police officer, have been killed in an attack on worshippers at a Sikh temple in the Milwaukee suburb of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, on Sunday, police said.
The officer was wounded but “returned fire, and that shooter was put down,” said Bradley Wentlandt, the police chief in nearby Greenfield, who briefed reporters. Investigators who picked through the building afterward found four bodies inside the temple and two other victims outside, plus the gunman, Wentlandt said.
Though early reports had suggested there may have been more than one attacker, he said officers had not identified any other gunmen.
The wounded officer, a 20-year veteran, was in surgery Sunday afternoon after being shot multiple times, but was expected to survive, Wentlandt said. He was sent to the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, south of Milwaukee, after a 911 call about 10:25 a.m. (11:25 a.m. ET).
Carolyn Bellin, a spokeswoman for Milwaukee’s Froedtert Hospital, said one of three men brought there from the incident was in surgery early Sunday morning, while another was in the surgical intensive care unit. The third was being evaluated in the emergency room. All three were in critical condition.
The temple has a congregation of 250 to 400, according to its website.
“I just want to say this temple was built a number of years ago and there have never been any problems with this temple,” Oak Creek Alderman Dan Jakubczyk said. “They’ve been a plus to this city and to my district.”
https://www.cnn.com/2012/08/05/us/wisconsin-temple-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
This is so sad. 27 Reported Killed in CT Elementary School Shooting
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/14/sandy-hook-elementary-school-shooting_n_2300831.html
18 kids and many more traumatized …
Count went up to 20 now – all between 5-10 yrs old.
I can’t understand how someone can shoot little children.
NBC News is saying that he took four guns and he used two of them. And all these guns were legally purchased by his mother.
“Suspect’s mother, Nancy Lanza, who also was a teacher at the school, found dead in suspect’s home in Newtown, law enforcement source says”
This is apparently one of the gun that he used to fire rounds but they are saying he used smaller hand guns to shoot the kids.
Its getting more and more sick with every incident – teens in theaters to kids in elementary school within 6 months. This deserves more than some sobs on TV.
It is really sad.
I am for no guns but I am not sure how this could be avoided in US. There are simply too many guns in system. Even with complete ban it is simply not possibel to retrieve all those guns. This paints even bleaker picture.
https://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/14/facing-facts-on-gun-control/
They should do what the Australian government did after the Port Arthur massacre in which 35 people were killed. There has not been a single massacre in Australia after the laws were changed.
“Under federal government co-ordination all states and territories of Australia banned and heavily restricted the legal ownership and use of self-loading rifles, self-loading and pump-action shotguns, and heavily tightened controls on their legal use. The government initiated a “buy-back” scheme with the owners paid according to a table of valuations. Some 643,000 firearms were handed in at a cost of $350 million which was funded by a temporary increase in the Medicare levy which raised $500 million”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australia)
Here is the list of massacres in Australia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_in_Australia
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/10/us/10iht-letter10.html
“There are almost 300 million guns in America, a third of them handguns, and almost 100 million are owned by the public. This is the highest concentration of gun ownership in the world.”
Compare to over half million. You need billion of $s to buy them back. Saw on local TV where Local police were giving flat $200 per firearm.
And I guess people are getting even more sicker
https://news.yahoo.com/man-fires-50-shots-calif-mall-parking-lot-042034513.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/07/a-land-without-guns-how-japan-has-virtually-eliminated-shooting-deaths/260189/