Gunman Kills 12 at ‘Dark Knight’ Screening

Posted on Jul 20, 2012

Screenshot via ABCNews.com

The shooting suspect has been identified as James Holmes, seen above.

UPDATE: The shooting suspect has been identified as James Holmes, a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado in Denver.

A gunman shot up the audience at a premiere of the new Batman film, “The Dark Knight Rises,” in Aurora, Colo., early Friday morning. Twelve people were killed and 59 others were injured by tear gas and bullets during the tragedy.

The shooter, who wore a bulletproof vest and a gas mask, was apprehended outside the theater. He did not resist, and was carrying a knife, a rifle and a handgun.

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

The Guardian:

The gunman, named by law enforcement officials speaking on condition of anonimity [sic] as James Holmes, 24, entered one of the three cinemas showing The Dark Knight Rises at the multiplex cinema in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, at about 12.30am. He came in through a side exit, dressed in black and wearing a flack jacket and mask, and carrying a rifle and hand guns.

Several eyewitnesses said they had assumed he was a special effects installation arranged by the cinema to mark the international premier of the Batman film, which by that time had reached a dramatic action sequence with Anne Hathaway in a shoot-out on screen. Even when he flung a gas canister into the air above the audience, and fumes spread through auditorium after a loud bang, people thought it was a clever stunt.

Then he started shooting, first to the back of the room and then randomly at individuals as they tried to make a get-away down the aisles.

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