At least 14 people killed in theater shooting at The Dark Knight Rises premiere

[Terminator X]

http://www.rt.com/news/shooting-dark-knight-rises-batman-denver-aurora-654/


At least 14 moviegoers were killed and 50 injured at a cinema in the Colorado city of Aurora in the Denver suburbs. They were attending a midnight showing of the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.

The theater was packed with a lot of people, many of them young fans, at the time the shooting started, 9news reports. The violence erupted some 15 minutes after the movie began, witnesses said.

Ten of the victims were killed on the spot, while four others died from injuries in hospital. Unconfirmed reports say there are children among the dead.

The Century 16 Theater has numerous individual viewing halls. Witnesses in theatres adjustment to theater 9 – the scene of the massacre – said they saw bullets coming through the walls and could hear injured people moaning.
Police say that the assailant initially opened a tear gas canister. Witnesses recounted hearing a hissing sound and smoke, and then the shooting started.

Witnesses reported seeing a tall, gun-wielding man clad in body armor and wearing a gas mask in the theatre. The assailant attempted to block the exits to trap the moviegoers inside. Some witnesses said the gunman managed to empty at least two clips.

[Comrade Samuel]

Does anybody know why this person did this or who he is?

This sounds like some pretty fucked up stuff.

[Le Socialiste]

An explosive device was found inside the theater as well, though it's not known whether it had been planted prior to the shooting or not.

http://gma.yahoo.com/mass-shooting-colo-movie-theater-10-people-dead-085940681--abc-news-topstories.html

[MrCool]

If Bush would be still in office, this would be used as an excuse to invade Iran.
Even though the identity of the shooter is still not revealed.

CNN is showing live footage of the shooter's apartment & car.

[ed miliband]

why just bush?

[Terminator X]

CNN's first statement was that this incident "does not appear to be related to terrorism" - lmao. if this isn't "terrorism" then what is? They're just saying it likely wasn't a brown person of Middle Eastern descent who committed the act.

[Tim Cornelis]

CNN's first statement was that this incident "does not appear to be related to terrorism" - lmao. if this isn't "terrorism" then what is? They're just saying it likely wasn't a brown person of Middle Eastern descent who committed the act.

It's not terrorism because it has no political or religious motive (none that we know of, at least), and therefore cannot be terrorist. Random shootings do not equal terrorism.

[Sasha]

It's not terrorism because it has no political or religious motive (none that we know of, at least), and therefore cannot be terrorist. Random shootings do not equal terrorism.

Except that, maybe excluding the 9/11 highjackers and those recently framed anarcho"blow up a bridge" kiddies, all or almost all (would be) US terrorists where very much mentally disturbed.. and whether your brown or not makes a huge difference whether your disturbed act of lashing out against the system is labeled terrorism or not.
The columbine or Virginia tech shooters where a lot more terrorists than some low IQ smuck who tried to buy a surface to air missile from an FBI agent for a hundred bucks.

[citizen of industry]

My theory - murder is rage directed outward. Suicide is rage directed inward. When there is a strong labor movement people can channel their rage constructively and organizationally against their oppresors. When there isn't, it seems hopeless. Some people snap and kill themselves or others. The US is the land of crazy mass homicides. Japan is the land of crazy mass suicides. I think the root is the same. And both have a good share of suicides and homocides, respectively.

We need to find out this person's social and work situation, not dwell on his mental constitution. What caused him to snap?

[Tim Cornelis]

Except that, maybe excluding the 9/11 highjackers and those recently framed anarcho"blow up a bridge" kiddies, all or almost all (would be) US terrorists where very much mentally disturbed.. and whether your brown or not makes a huge difference whether your disturbed act of lashing out against the system is labeled terrorism or not.
The columbine or Virginia tech shooters where a lot more terrorists than some low IQ smuck who tried to buy a surface to air missile from an FBI agent for a hundred bucks.

Except that you are ignoring the political motive which is essential to the definition of terrorism. Shooting and killing high schoolers is only terrorism if the motive was political. A mentally disturbed person (e.g. The V-Tech guy) killing people because he is mentally disturbed is simply not terrorism.

Terrorism = violence inflicted on a civilian population in the pursuit of political goals.

The Norwegian attacks by Breivik were terroristic because the motive as political (despite him probably being mentally disturbed). 9/11 was terroristic because the motive behind it was political. The V-Tech massacre was not terroristic as there was no political motive. And there are no signs that the person who committed this massacre had a political motive and hence CNN said there were no signs that this was a terrorist attack.

The political motive not the mental health defines terrorism.

[Kenco Smooth]

Except that, maybe excluding the 9/11 highjackers and those recently framed anarcho"blow up a bridge" kiddies, all or almost all (would be) US terrorists where very much mentally disturbed.. and whether your brown or not makes a huge difference whether your disturbed act of lashing out against the system is labeled terrorism or not.
The columbine or Virginia tech shooters where a lot more terrorists than some low IQ smuck who tried to buy a surface to air missile from an FBI agent for a hundred bucks.

Skin colour and religion obviously do play a role in what is and isn't labeled terrorism (I think that the bigger role here is media coverage and the nature of it than what is and isn't labeled terrorism but can't back that up with more than hunch). However to call school shooters terorists simply because their actions area kin to terrorists muddies the issue. The intent is everything to terrorism, an act has to be focused on political/religious aims to classify as terrorism. The acts of a deranged individual or one who simply holds a grudge against the world don't qualify.


My theory - murder is rage directed outward. Suicide is rage directed inward. When there is a strong labor movement people can channel their rage constructively and organizationally against their oppresors. When there isn't, it seems hopeless. Some people snap and kill themselves or others. The US is the land of crazy mass homicides. Japan is the land of crazy mass suicides. I think the root is the same. And both have a good share of suicides and homocides, respectively.

We need to find out this person's social and work situation, not dwell on his mental constitution. What caused him to snap?

His menal constitution may well be the essential aspect. Social circumstances don't simply present/imprint themselves on the mind when they surround a person. An active psychological process lies behind any social interaction or perception. It's fully possible that this act was a result of individual pathology. Not lashing out at some vaguely defined oppressors.

[citizen of industry]

True, but I'm still interested in the social situation. There was a mass killing around me a couple years back. It was discovered the person was a contract worker, recently laid off, in the middle of a recession. The union at his company consisted of the privileged employees, and made a deal with the company to lay off the contractors. His life was turned upside-down in a day. He couldn't find other employment, as it was recession, he couldn't fight the company, as the union was working with them.

Several weeks later he stabbed a bunch of people in a crowded shopping area. His actions were batshit insane. The reasons he gave were batshit insane. The press called him batshit insane. There is obvious pathology. Only some crazy communists sought to inquire as to his working conditions. One can speculate economics drove him to insanity, though genetic and social factors brought it to a head.

If the union hadn't been traitor, perhaps he would be now fighting the company and in a more stable mental condition.

[Salyut]

True, but I'm still interested in the social situation. There was a mass killing around me a couple years back. It was discovered the person was a contract worker, recently laid off, in the middle of a recession. The union at his company consisted of the privileged employees, and made a deal with the company to lay off the contractors. His life was turned upside-down in a day. He couldn't find other employment, as it was recession, he couldn't fight the company, as the union was working with them.

Several weeks later he stabbed a bunch of people in a crowded shopping area. His actions were batshit insane. The reasons he gave were batshit insane. The press called him batshit insane. There is obvious pathology. Only some crazy communists sought to inquire as to his working conditions. One can speculate economics drove him to insanity, though genetic and social factors brought it to a head.

If the union hadn't been traitor, perhaps he would be now fighting the company and in a more stable mental condition.

You might be interested in this book. (http://www.amazon.com/Going-Postal-Rebellion-Workplaces-Columbine/dp/1932360824) The ebook version can be found via google.

[Zostrianos]

BBC has an update with the guy's picture. He was a medical student:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18921492
At least 12 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a shooting at a midnight cinema showing of the new Batman film near Denver, Colorado.
Witnesses said a man wearing a gas mask opened fire after tossing a tear gas canister in the auditorium as movie-goers watched The Dark Knight Rises.
A 24-year-old former medical student was arrested in a car park nearby. He had a rifle, handgun and knife.
Another gun was recovered from the theatre, in the city of Aurora.
Police revised down the death toll from 14 earlier. They said about 50 people had been shot, including the deceased.
'Booby-trapped home' FBI sources named the gunman as Aurora resident James Holmes, a white American. They said no terrorism link had been established.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/61717000/jpg/_61717019_61708960.jpg James Holmes dropped out of the University of Colorado last month
Police said he had been a student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver until he dropped out last month.
US President Barack Obama has spoken of his shock at the incident, which began at about 00:30 local time (06:30 GMT) at the Century 16 cinema multiplex.
Acting on information from the suspect, the authorities said they had discovered his home in the north of Aurora was booby-trapped with flammable and explosive material.
The apartment complex was evacuated as FBI agents and police used a fire engine ladder to reach the property, and put a camera on the end of pole to look inside.
Police chief Dan Oates said the massacre was "a horrific event".
"The shooting apparently went on for some time," he added.
Witnesses said the gunman opened fire during an action scene in the summer blockbuster.
The gunman was described as clad in a bullet-proof vest and riot gear, drawing comparisons with the outfit worn by the villain Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.


President Obama: "It is a day for reflection and prayer"

There was chaos as movie-goers, some dressed in costume as heroes and villains, fled.
Ten people were killed at the cinema and two others died later in hospital of their wounds.
Many ambulances attended the scene.
About 50 people, some in a critical condition, were taken to four hospitals. Several victims were reportedly suffering from the effects of chemical exposure from the gunman's gas canister.
The casualties included a four-month-old baby, who was released from hospital after treatment, and a six-year-old child.
'Firing at random' One witness said the gunman had been "slowly making his way up the stairs and just firing - picking random people".
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/61714000/jpg/_61714422_015350313-1.jpg

Evan Dozier was in the cinema with his wife and children

Another witness, Chayyiel Jackson, told the BBC: "During the first action scene in the movie, on the right side a dude came in all blacked out, with a black mask. At first we thought it was part of the movie event.
"He threw tear gas across the crowd and after that people started to panic. He pulled out a rifle and started shooting.
"I was wondering if this was real life or a dream."
It is reported that some of the shots fired went through the wall and may have hit people in an adjacent auditorium.
Another eyewitness, identified only as Pam, told the BBC: "He fired a canister into the air. It shot it right into the air, then I started to hear the bang, bang, bang of a gun.
"I crawled my way through the row. Luckily the exit was close to where I was sitting so I got out pretty fast. I heard more shots as I left."
Continue reading the main story (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18921492#story_continues_2) Colorado gun laws



Residents allowed to keep guns in homes, offices and vehicles, but can only carry them in public with a permit
There are no limits to how many guns can be bought a month, and the state permits sale of automatic weapons
No waiting period for buying a handgun, both state and federal state law requires criminal background checks
Since 1998 Columbine massacre, 20 miles from scene of Friday's shooting, it has become easier to buy guns in US - a national ban on assault weapons sale expired in 2004


Another eyewitness, Salina Jordan, 19, told the Denver Post (http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_21118201/unknown-number-people-shot-at-aurora-movie-theater) she had seen one girl shot in the cheek, and a girl who appeared to be about nine years old with a gunshot wound to the stomach.
A witness in the next-door theatre told 9News he initially thought live special effects had been laid on by the cinema after hearing loud bangs and seeing smoke.
President Obama said in a statement that he and First Lady Michelle Obama were "shocked and saddened by the horrific and tragic shooting".
He added: "As we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one American family."
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said his officers would patrol screenings of the film in that city to deter any copycat shootings.
Plans for Friday night's red carpet premiere of the film on the Champs-Elysees in Paris have been cancelled, while media interviews with its stars have been called off.

[Arlekino]

Do anybody think his face look like we so him somewhere?

[Os Cangaceiros]

Looks like the invisible party just gained another member. :unsure:

[Davide]

It's really sad to hear i don't know why people don't think about the other life's. 14 person are killed that means 14 families are destroyed, Don'r know when we will start thinking abut the rights of humanity.

[Rafiq]

I'm guessing he was a wannabee villain? What a fucking moron.

[Zostrianos]

Another Joker copycat shooter was just arrested. He was about to shoot up his workplace.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19022567
A heavily armed man who called himself a "joker" has been arrested after threatening his employer in the US state of Maryland, police say.
Neil Prescott, 28, allegedly said he was going to "load my guns and blow everybody up" at his workplace.
Wearing a t-shirt that read "guns don't kill people. I do" when arrested, he was in the process of being fired.
The suspect in last week's massacre at a Colorado Batman screening reportedly told police he was The Joker.
Mark Magaw, police chief of Prince George's County in Maryland, told reporters they were taking "all threats seriously" in light of last Friday's shootings.
"If you're going to make a threat, we will take action," he said.
'Very quiet' Mr Prescott had several thousand rounds of ammunition and about two dozen firearms in his apartment when it was searched by the authorities on Friday morning.
Police said he was "very quiet" and co-operative when arrested at his home in Crofton, near Annapolis.
He allegedly made multiple threats this week, including telling a supervisor at the mailroom supplier where he worked that he wanted to see his "brain splatter on the floor".
Mr Prescott was receiving a mental health evaluation with charges pending.
Meanwhile, a defence motion filed on Friday says that James Holmes, the suspect in the Colorado shooting, was being treated by a psychiatrist at the university where he studied.
On Friday in Colorado more than 1,000 people attended the funeral of Micayla Medek, one of the 12 victims of last week's shooting.
The 23-year-old was a student who had gone to the movie with a group of friends.
A full military funeral is scheduled next Friday for Jonathan Blunk, a navy veteran.

[Terminator X]

Anybody hear any of the batshit conspiracy theories going around on this guy? That he's a CIA operative that was set up to perform this massacre to make gun control an election issue and have something to do with a UN Gun Treaty? Why would he risk getting the death penalty if so? Makes no sense to me.

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

The suspected ‘Batman massacre’ gunman was seeing a psychiatrist specialising in schizophrenia before the attack that killed 12 in Colorado, court documents showed.



Article here: http://www.timeslive.co.za/world/2012/07/28/batman-massacre-gunman-was-a-psychiatric-patient-court-hears