Fourteen people were killed and up to 50 others wounded after a gunman opened fire at a midnight showing of the “The Dark Knight Rises” at a mall outside of Denver.
A 24-year-old suspect is in custody and a SWAT team had surrounded his apartment building amid reports it was packed with explosives, police said.
The suspect walked into the movie theater in Aurora minutes after the movie started, released a canister that might have emitted tear gas and opened fire, Denver’s NBC affiliate 9News reported.
“A lot of people thought the gunshots were part of the movie,” Brenda Stuart, of 850 KOA radio in Colorado, told Britain’s Sky News.
Ten people were found dead at the scene. Four died at local hospitals.“This is a horrific event,” Aurora police chief Dan Oates said at a press conference early Friday morning.
Oates said the black-clad gunman had a gas mask and was arrested in the back of the movie theater.
CNN reported that the suspect was wearing a bulletproof vest and packing a rifle.
The New York Daily News, “Dark Knight Rises’ Screening Shooting in Suburban Denver Theater Leaves 14 Dead, Up to 50 Wounded.”
Jesus H. Christ.
(via inothernews)