Holmes was arrested at the movie theater parking lot, near his car. He didn't resist. Police say he was wearing a gas mask and bulletproof vest. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly added that Holmes had "his hair painted red, he said he was 'The Joker,' obviously the 'enemy' of Batman."
After his arrest, police entered Holmes' apartment, which they described as "booby trapped" with sophisticated explosives. They also noted that he had a posted of Will Ferrell from "Anchorman" on his wall.
Meanwhile, the world has been reacting. President Obama released a statement, reminding people that "life is very fragile." "Bowling for Columbine" director Michael Moore fears that "historians will look back on us and simply say we were a violent nation." And NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg is calling for President Obama and Mitt Romney to take a firmer stance on gun laws.
ABC has been working hard to connect the shootings to the Republicans, stating that Holmes signed up for the Colorado Tea Party. The network later apologized for the mistake. "ABC News apologizes for the mistake, and for disseminating that information before it was properly vetted."
Out of fear that others will try to copy Holmes, the Department of Homeland Security has been working with theater owners to beef up their security, something that European theaters have been doing since the shootings were first reported. And the Paris premiere of the movie, that was set to take place Friday night, has now been cancelled.
Analysts are predicting that this will not stop movie-goers from seeing "The Dark Knight Rises," but theater chains have experienced a drop at the stock market.
One witness posted photos of his wounds (see below), while others are speaking up:
* Donovan Tate, who escaped with his girlfriend, said: "There was this one guy on all fours crawling. There was this girl spitting up blood. There were bullet holes in some people’s backs, in some people’s arms. There was one guy who was just stripped down to his boxers. It looked like he had been shot in the back or something."
* Benjamin Fernandez said: "I was with my younger sister and a friend. We decided there's something not right going on. And we got up and as soon as we walked out the door, we saw several police officers with just different guns, like shotguns. We walked to the left, and we just saw pretty much everything. I saw a younger girl laying there, like with bullet wounds just bleeding, and the look in her eyes was like -- I don't know. I've had family members who have been close to death, I've been there at the hospital, and she just had that same look. It was scary."
* Jennifer Seeger said: "At first, I didn't think it was anything serious, I thought it was a joke or part of the show... he came in, he was five feet away from me, he came in on my right side, I was in the second row in the very front. He came in and he threw in the gas can. And then I knew it was real. And then he shot the ceiling, and right after he shot the ceiling, he pointed the gun right at me, and at that point, I dove into the aisle, and I got lucky because he didn't shoot me. But then he started to shoot people behind me, and bullets started falling on my head, it was like burning my head because it was so fresh. I could smell gunpowder. And at that point he walked up the stairs, and all you could hear is mass chaos."
* Christ Jones said: "We were maybe 20 or 30 minutes into the movie and all you hear, first you smell smoke, everybody thought it was fireworks or something like that, and then you just see people dropping and the gunshots are constant. I heard at least 20 to 30 rounds within that minute or two."
* Adam Witt said: "I hit the floor and hid behind the seats in front of me, pulling my wife down to hide with me. It was the longest minute of my life. The gunshots just kept coming. I knew it could be over any second. I knew my wife could be gone any second. It was absolutely surreal. I felt something hit my left arm, and my first thought was, 'At least it's just my arm.'"
In some sobering and frighting news we've just learned that during a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" (12:30am) 12 people have lost their lives in a bizarre theater shooting that not only left 12 dead but more than 50 injured. This is just breaking all over the US and details are sketchy at this point. A man dressed in all black wearing a mask started shooting random people in the theater why also setting off smoke grenades. Below is the official press release.
The gunman pictured below. (James E. Holmes)
WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW.
From USA Today:
Police Chief Dan Oates says 12 people are dead following a shooting at a suburban Denver movie theater. He says 50 others were injured.
Calls to police about the shooting started coming in about 12:30 a.m. Friday from a mall theater that was showing the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises, the office said.
One person has been arrested but police did not have any other details.
"The scene is still very active and we have little information for release at this time," police spokeswoman Cassidee Carlson said in a brief news release.
Witness Hayden Miller told KUSA-TV that he was inside Theater 16 and heard several shots.
"Like little explosions going on and shortly after that we heard people screaming," he told the station.
Hayden said at first he thought it was part of a louder movie next door. But then he saw "people hunched over leaving theater."
Spokeswoman Nicole Williams said that two people in critical condition had been rushed to the nearby Swedish Medical Center.
She said emergency crews told her staff to prepare for several more patients from the shooting scene.
"We're on standby to receive," she said. "Police said they could have as many as 20 or more (patients)."
Williams said she was told that "somebody opened fire with some sort of weapon during the "Dark Knight" movie.
Aurora is located on the outskirts of Denver, about 10 miles southeast of downtown.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/sto ... 56351098/1
