A suspected gunman opened fire in a packed theatre about 16 kilometres outside of Denver during a midnight screening of the new Batman movie, “The Dark Knight Rises,” early Friday morning.
Police have identified the 24-year-old suspect as James Holmes. The FBI said Holmes is not connected with any terrorist groups.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said witnesses reported that at about 12:30 a.m. the gunman released some sort of canister at the front of the threatre before shots were fired.
“They heard a hissing sound and some gas emerged and the gunman opened fire,” he said.
No motive for the shooting is known yet and police said the shooter acted alone. A reported 250 police officers are at the scene assisting Aurora police in their investigation.
Rene Marsh said on Friday that witnesses at the scene said the shooter was wearing a riot helmet, a bullet-proof vest and dressed from head to toe in black.
Marsh said that “very young” victims were seen being carried out of the theatre in police officers’ arms.
Ten people were reportedly killed on the scene.
Local Denver reporter Bertha Lynn said police evacuated an apartment in the suburb of about 325,000 after the suspect made reference to explosives in his home.
“It’s a very terrifying scene,” Lynn told Canada AM. “The thing that comes to mind immediately is the Columbine High School shooting, this incident dredges up those horrible memories,” said Lynn.
Around 48 victims are being treated at Denver-area hospitals, some are in critical condition. Local media are reporting the youngest victim is only three months old.
A man inside the theatre said the gunman opened fire during a shoot-out scene.
“A loud bang came from the right of the theatre. Smoke took over the entire theatre and it was really thick and no one could really see anything,” he told local media.
Professor of criminology and author of ‘Extreme Killing: Understand Serial and Mass Killing’ James Alan Fox said mass shootings in public places are almost always premeditated.
“These tend to be well-planned executions,” he told Canada AM. “Although he did not know his victims, and in that case it’s random, what was not random was when he chose to commit this murder and where.”
Fox predicted that in the aftermath of the shooting the issue of increased security in public places will arise. However he warned, “We can’t make our society look like an armed fortress.
“Unfortunately, these such events, and they are rare although they don’t seem it, are one of the big prices we pay for the freedom we enjoy.”
Source: CTV News
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