During a midnight screening of the new summer blockbuster, The Dark Knight Rises, in suburban Aurora, Colorado, 24-year-old James Holmes went on a shooting rampage and shot 71 people in total – 12 people died and 59 were wounded. The Aurora event is the worst mass shooting in the United States, in regard to the number of casualties.
After a few minutes into the 12:05 a.m. movie, Holmes entered through the emergency exit door wearing a gas mask and body armor – including a ballistic helmet and vest. To moviegoers he appeared to be a Batman fan in costume for the special event. Some witnesses believed that he was pulling a prank or a stunt.
All such pretenses disappeared as Holmes threw at least one gas canister into the threatre aisle. With noxious gas overwhelming the moviegoers, Holmes started shooting the audience. After his rampage, he went to the parking lot in the back of the theatre and gave himself in without any struggle to the Aurora police. He is thought to have acted alone and is currently in custody for questioning.
One weapon was found in the theatre and three more were discovered in Holmes’ car – a shotgun, an AR-15 assault rifle, and two Glock handguns, all bought legally. Holmes had dyed his hair red and called himself “The Joker,” in a reference to the villain of a previous Batman film, The Dark Knight.
The only other encounter Holmes had with the police was a speeding ticket issue last October. He described himself as “quiet and easy going” in an apartment rental application. In 2010, he graduated from University of California, Riverside with a bachelor’s degree and honors in neuroscience. He was enrolled in University of Colorado, Denver for the graduate program in neurosciences but the school released that he had been in the process of withdrawing. It is unclear why he was dropping out.
During the investigation, Holmes tipped off police that there were explosives at his residence, a red bricked, ordinary-looking apartment four miles from the theatre. The police released that the explosives they found were “pretty sophisticated,” as Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates stated.
Survivors of the shooting were brought to Gateway High School for questioning about what had happened. Out of the 12 that died, 10 were found dead in the theatre while two died due to wounds while on the way to the hospital.
The Dark Knight Rises was one of the most anticipated films of the summer and attracted many fans of the Batman franchise, including family viewers. In the Aurora shooting, the youngest victim was six years old while the oldest was 51.
Holmes has not yet given a motive for his actions; he is due to court on Monday, July 23rd.
