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2012 Aurora shooting
Bottom left: Map of Colorado with Denver and Aurora marked. Top: Map of central Aurora. Bottom right: Aurora Town Center and the location of the Century 16 movie theater.
Location	14300 E. Alameda Avenue Aurora, Colorado, U.S.
Coordinates	39°42′21″N 104°49′14″W / 39.7059°N 104.8206°W / 39.7059; -104.8206
Date	July 20, 2012 (2012-07-20) 12:39 am (local time) (UTC-6)
Attack type	Mass murder
Weapons	Smith & Wesson AR-15, Remington Model 870, two .40 caliber Glock handguns
Deaths	12
Injured	58

On July 20, 2012, a gunman opened fire during the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in a Cinemark movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others. The gunman, believed to be acting alone and dressed in protective clothing, entered the theater and set off tactical grenades, then opened fire with multiple firearms on the theatergoers. The attack was the largest mass shooting in terms of number of casualties in United States history.

Shooting

The attack occurred in Theater 9 at the Century 16 movie theater next to the Town Center at Aurora shopping mall. The shooter bought a ticket and walked into Theater 9. He then left through an emergency exit, propping it open, and dressed in protective black clothing and gathered weapons from his car, which was parked behind the exit. He returned through the emergency exit about half an hour into the film, "dressed all in black; he was wearing a ballistic helmet, a tactical ballistic vest, ballistic leggings, a throat protector and a groin protector and a gas mask, and black tactical gloves," according to Aurora police chief Dan Oates.

Oates said that the suspect used two devices to distract the audience members, which "ignited some sort of irritant or smoke" in the cinema, before using a Smith & Wesson AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a 12-gauge Remington Model 870 shotgun, and a .40 caliber Glock handgun to shoot at the crowd in the cinema. A second Glock handgun was found in the suspect's white Hyundai car.

Most of the audience did not take the gunman as a threat when he first entered the theater. He appeared to be wearing a costume, but others too had dressed up for the movie and thought the gunman was pulling off a prank until he dispersed gas canisters and began firing his weapons. Some present thought the gunman was part of a special effects installation set up for the premiere.

Around the first gun scene in the movie, the now masked gunman threw a canister emitting smoke, which partially obscured the audience's sight. The gunman produced a rifle and opened fire on the audience, only stopping to reload his weapon. First he shot to the back of the room, and then aimed towards people who were trying to get away through the aisles. Some bullets penetrated the wall of the cinema and injured people in the adjoining Theater 8, where the same film was being screened. Upon leaving, an audience member saw the gunman advancing toward the exit and blocked his progress by holding the exit shut while the attacker pounded the other side of the door.

The first phone calls to emergency services were made at 12:39 am. The police arrived within 90 seconds and apprehended the suspect. The police interviewed over 200 witnesses following the attack. Investigators believe that the shooter acted on his own, and was not part of a larger group or a terrorist organization. The alleged shooter, James Eagan Holmes, had bought approximately 6,000 rounds of ammunition in the 60 days prior to the shooting.

Victims

There were a total of 70 victims either shot or injured in some way during the rampage. Twelve died from their wounds or injuries. Ten people died at the scene, and two people were pronounced dead in local hospitals.

The injured were treated at Children's Hospital Colorado, Denver Health Medical Center, The Medical Center of Aurora, Parker Adventist Hospital, Rose Medical Center, Swedish Hospital, and University Hospital, as well as at a makeshift hospital set up at the scene of the attack. Uninjured witnesses were transported to Gateway High School for debriefing. The victims' ages ranged from 3 months to 45 years.

Suspect

After the shooting at the scene

The alleged shooter James Eagan Holmes, age 24, was born December 13, 1987, in San Diego, California. He was taken into police custody behind the theater next to his Hyundai car in the theater parking lot and did not resist arrest. The responding officers recovered multiple firearms from inside the vehicle and inside the theater. Two federal authorities told ABC News that the suspect painted his hair red and called himself "The Joker", although Aurora police chief Dan Oates would not confirm this.

Suspected explosives and booby traps at suspect's apartment

Once apprehended, Holmes told authorities about explosives in his residence in northern Aurora. Police were treating the home, 5 miles (8 km) from the scene of the crime, as a site where explosives might be present. According to the police, Holmes himself told them that he had booby-trapped his apartment before heading to the theater; as a result, police evacuated five nearby buildings and cleared the area. Police stated that the explosives "look very sophisticated." The apartment complex is limited to University of Colorado Medical Center students, patients, and staff members. FBI agents and police officers used a ladder to access Holmes' apartment, where they used a camera mounted on a pole to confirm that the apartment was booby-trapped with explosives.

On Saturday July 21, 2012, officials disarmed the trip wires and first explosive device items using a fire department hook and ladder truck. This way they can create an entry point into the apartment by a human or robot. The door to the apartment was rigged to explode if someone tried to enter.

Biography

Holmes was raised in San Diego, California. He graduated from Westview High School in the Torrey Highlands community of San Diego in 2006, where he played soccer and ran cross-country before going to college. He obtained an undergraduate degree with honors in neuroscience from the University of California, Riverside in 2010. Holmes enrolled as a Ph.D. student in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. In 2012, his academic performance declined, and he was in the process of withdrawing from school. He had no prior criminal record.

Media outlets reported that they initially found few digital footprints left by Holmes, other than a university email address and an old Myspace photo. A profile on the sex cruising website Adult FriendFinder was subsequently discovered, on which a man who presumably was Holmes asked cryptically, "Will you visit me in prison?" The profile was created on July 5, about two weeks before the shooting.

Reactions

President Barack Obama extended his condolences to the victims and their families, addressing the tragedy in lieu of a scheduled campaign event. Both Obama's and Mitt Romney's election campaigns temporarily suspended television advertising in Colorado for the upcoming presidential election. Secretary Janet Napolitano also directed the Department of Homeland Security to offer support in the investigation. President Obama ordered flags at government buildings flown at half staff, in tribute to the victims, until July 25.

The distributor of The Dark Knight Rises, Warner Bros., stated that they were deeply saddened by the shooting. They canceled the film's Paris gala premiere and suspended the marketing campaign for it in Finland. Christopher Nolan, the film's director, spoke on behalf of his cast and crew and called the event "devastating". The police departments in the New York metropolitan area increased security after the attack. Certain versions of television advertisements for the movie have been cancelled. Warner Bros. instructed cinemas to stop showing a trailer for the film Gangster Squad, which preceded The Dark Knight Rises screenings in some cities, though not in Aurora, because it contained a scene involving the mass shooting of a movie theater audience with automatic weapons as chaos ensues.

The evening after the shooting, a candlelight vigil was held at the site.

References

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External links

• Denver Post | map of cinema, suspect's apartment, and hospitals
• The New York Times | map of crime scene
• articles and videos at CBS News
• James Holmes (Batman Shootings, Auroro, Colo.) collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Aurora Theater Shooting collected news and commentary from The Denver Post

• Colorado
• Criminal justice

• Media from Commons
• News from Wikinews
• Quotations from Wikiquote

• Current events from July 2012
• 2012 in Colorado
• 2012 murders in the United States
• Aurora, Colorado
• Mass murder in 2012
• Murder in Colorado
• Massacres in the United States