14 Killed in Dark Knight Rises Cinema Shooting

[Fierce_LiNk]

Already posted in the Dark Knight Rises thread, but this is pretty important news, so it deserves its own thread.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18921492

 

• 14 people shot dead in a cinema in Denver during the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises
  
• 50 others are injured, many with critical injuries
  
• Gunman walked into the cinema around 40 minutes into the film, fired some sort of gas cannister(possibly tear gas) before picking off people at random
  

 

I'm watching some of the live feed on the BBC website. Horrific. According to some eyewitnesses, they initially thought it was part of a stunt or a "joke" when the person walked in and fired off the gas cannister. Then, the shooting started.

[Murr]

 

:: Alex Molano told Denver's 9 News how he saw a police officer carrying a little girl who wasn't moving

 

“I don’t want to upset anyone by anything I say but I don’t think anyone should be kept in the dark by what happened. I spoke to a young woman who was in theatre Nine and what she described sounded like madness.

 

"She described how a man six feet tall kicked through the door wearing a riot helmet and a bullet proof vest and he was completely covered in black and wearing goggles.

 

“She saw he had a shotgun and her and her boyfriend dropped to the floor and started to crawl to get away. They got up and went through the emergency exit, she turned around and saw the man slowly making his way up the stairs and just firing at people, just picking random people.

 

 

Witness Alex Molano

“I saw four, maybe five people wounded who were limping and slightly bloody. I saw a girl covered in blood but didn’t have any wounds on here. It made me think the worst.

 

“I honestly don’t know whose little girl it was, but a cop came walking through the front door holding a little girl in his arms and she wasn’t moving.

 

“I’d heard another witness in my theatre, she was on the phone and the really messed up part for me was that she said she saw bullet holes in the little girl’s back.

 

"I honestly can’t think of any person who would intentionally hurt a little girl so it makes me think she got caught in the crossfire.”

 

:: James Cameron saw a mother holding a little girl who had been shot in the back

 

"By the sound of it, it sounded like there could have been three or four people in the shooting. There were definitely multiple calibres going off.

 

“There was a child struck, a little baby girl was struck in her back and that was something that’s going to stay with me for the rest of my life. You can never prepare yourself for seeing a mother holding her child. That’s the one thing that sticks in my mind.

 

"I’m outside the hospital now, people are walking in here and the waiting room is full. It’s crazy, I’m still feeling the effects of that gas. It’s horrible, it’s like something out of a sci-fi movie.

 

“It was crazy; it was like law enforcement just fell out of the sky. One minute I’m helping my friend, the next I’m yelling for help and then there was police everywhere, they responded unbelievably."

 

 

 

Sky News - http://news.sky.com/story/962836/i-saw-a-little-baby-girl-hit-in-the-back

 

 

 

EDIT -

 

3 Month old baby was shot also -

 

youngest patient at UHosp is 3 months yes months 20 victims there 9 critical, all gunshot wounds #theatershooting

 

Edited July 20, 2012 by Murr

[V. Amoleo]

Absolutely horrific.

[Serebii]

And Americans say calls for stricter gun control are pointless and unconstitutional :/ Stuff like this should not happen. Over there, anyone can get a gun so easily and innocent people and children get killed. It's horrible

[The Peeps]

I agree with Serebii. There's a reason why stuff like this happens more in America than other countries.

[nightwolf]

I don't know what to say here really, its just a disgusting and horrible thing, I feel for the families and people who were there

[Diageo]

The police have revised the numbers to 12 dead and 40 injured.

[Jon]

You can't account for people with no conscience or morals. Restrict their access to firearms and they'll simply find another way to cause devastation.

 

Utterly terrible and my thoughts are with anyone involved in this atrocity.

[bryanee]

 

From gaf, news interview with some one who was there. Huge respect for this man and what he says especially at the end.

[Iun]

You can't account for people with no conscience or morals. Restrict their access to firearms and they'll simply find another way to cause devastation.

 

Utterly terrible and my thoughts are with anyone involved in this atrocity.

 

Agreed. If they don't have a gun, they'll use a knife. If they don't intend to kill people while driving their car, they'll do it accidentally because they believe the rules of the road don't apply to them, or they just HAD to take that call on their mobile.

[Jonnas]

Dreadful. Utterly horrible. He shot infants, toddlers, he shot people for the sake of it. There doesn't seem to even be a reason for what he did.

 

I heard this on the news, the shooter was wearing a gas mask, right? It eventually occurred to me that the villain in the movie is known for wearing a gas mask... Was that intentional on his part?

 

You can't account for people with no conscience or morals. Restrict their access to firearms and they'll simply find another way to cause devastation.

 

Yes, but the damage one can make with a gun is quite different than the one they could make with a knife.

I recall an incident here in Porto where someone flipped out in a crowded place and stabbed 3 people before being detained. If he had used a gun, that number would be much higher, no doubt.

And if this killer here used a melee weapon instead of firearms, the body count could've been so much lower.

[bryanee]

Dreadful. Utterly horrible. He shot infants, toddlers, he shot people for the sake of it. There doesn't seem to even be a reason for what he did.

 

I heard this on the news, the shooter was wearing a gas mask, right? It eventually occurred to me that the villain in the movie is known for wearing a gas mask... Was that intentional on his part?

 

 

 

Yes, but the damage one can make with a gun is quite different than the one they could make with a knife.

I recall an incident here in Porto where someone flipped out in a crowded place and stabbed 3 people before being detained. If he had used a gun, that number would be much higher, no doubt.

And if this killer here used a melee weapon instead of firearms, the body count could've been so much lower.

 

 

He was wearing a gas mask because he used tear gas in the cinema.

[Jonnas]

Hadn't heard that part. Jesus Christ...

[Iun]

Dreadful. Utterly horrible. He shot infants, toddlers, he shot people for the sake of it. There doesn't seem to even be a reason for what he did.

 

I heard this on the news, the shooter was wearing a gas mask, right? It eventually occurred to me that the villain in the movie is known for wearing a gas mask... Was that intentional on his part?

 

 

 

Yes, but the damage one can make with a gun is quite different than the one they could make with a knife.

I recall an incident here in Porto where someone flipped out in a crowded place and stabbed 3 people before being detained. If he had used a gun, that number would be much higher, no doubt.

And if this killer here used a melee weapon instead of firearms, the body count could've been so much lower.

 

I'm going to play devil's advocate here and say that. Honestly speaking, if you have a gun and a clip with 12 rounds, you can probably kill 12 people. If you have a knife then the only limit is the strength of your arm and the strength of the people you are going for. A car with a full tank of petrol could easily help you run down 50 people.

 

And as someone said, the chap used tear gas - he could have done an equal amount of damage with a knife in a crowded and confused situation.

[Serebii]

Perhaps, but that doesn't stop the fact that these massacres happen every month in America, where you can get guns in your supermarket whereas say here in the UK, it rarely happens.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Some interesting posts in this thread here. Yes, I do agree that if somebody wants to kill others or create acts of devastation, they will do it. There's a line in The Dark Knight which just sums this up for me: "Some people just want to watch the world burn."

 

Yes, if they want to kill, they will find a way. But, at the same time, let's not make it easy for these people. This man, according to reports, purchased weapons and ammunition legally. I'm not comfortable at all with people being able to purchase weapons so easily. I would argue that it is much easier to commit acts like this with a gun than with a knife. At least with a knife you have a chance to defend yourself. What chance do you have with a rifle?

[gaggle64]

I just want to pre-empt the inevitable media cycle by posting this now. Pay attention to the forensic psychiatrist especially. It continues to be frighteningly spot on.

 

[Jon]

Perhaps, but that doesn't stop the fact that these massacres happen every month in America, where you can get guns in your supermarket whereas say here in the UK, it rarely happens.

 

 

Well no it doesn't happen every month and the US is just slightly a bigger country than the UK, so it's not really a realistic comparison.

[Jonnas]

I'm going to play devil's advocate here and say that. Honestly speaking, if you have a gun and a clip with 12 rounds, you can probably kill 12 people. If you have a knife then the only limit is the strength of your arm and the strength of the people you are going for. A car with a full tank of petrol could easily help you run down 50 people.

 

And as someone said, the chap used tear gas - he could have done an equal amount of damage with a knife in a crowded and confused situation.

 

True, when I said that, I was unaware of the tear gas. In a closed room with everyone in the vicinity immobilised, there is no difference between a gun and a knife (Except that the gun is likely faster).

And correct me if I'm wrong, but if the guy is willing to bring tear gas, surely he'll bring more ammo?

 

But as you say, a knife is limited by the strength of the user and the potential victim. Since there are several with these massacres, overpowering someone with a knife is far more probable than doing anything to a gunman.

 

Perhaps, but that doesn't stop the fact that these massacres happen every month in America, where you can get guns in your supermarket whereas say here in the UK, it rarely happens.

 

Hyperboles undermine your point. It's not that frequent, and I've heard of plenty of similar massacres in other countries (especially nordic countries, for some reason).

 

It is true that the American gun system makes these guys' goal way easier than it should be, though.

[Serebii]

True, when I said that, I was unaware of the tear gas. In a closed room with everyone in the vicinity immobilised, there is no difference between a gun and a knife (Except that the gun is likely faster).

And correct me if I'm wrong, but if the guy is willing to bring tear gas, surely he'll bring more ammo?

 

But as you say, a knife is limited by the strength of the user and the potential victim. Since there are several with these massacres, overpowering someone with a knife is far more probable than doing anything to a gunman.

 

 

 

Hyperboles undermine your point. It's not that frequent, and I've heard of plenty of similar massacres in other countries (especially nordic countries, for some reason).

 

It is true that the American gun system makes these guys' goal way easier than it should be, though.

Sorry, I'm a journalist. Hyperbole is my job :p

 

It's true though that they're far more commonplace in America though and it is pretty frequent. There are around a dozen instances of these in the states each year

[Beast]

It's scary how he purchased those weapons legally and I think that this is absolutely horrific. My heart goes out to all of their family and friends and it's just horrible to hear children were involved in this as well!

[flameboy]

Obvious there was going to be a video game link however lose it may seem;

 

A former classmate from the University of Colorado suggested another cause for the killings, saying Holmes had lost touch with reality after becoming 'obsessed' with video games.

The classmate told the Daily Mail: 'James was obsessed with computer games and was always playing role-playing games.

'I can’t remember which one but it was something like World of Warcraft, one of those where you compete against people on the internet.

 

'He did not have much of a life apart from that and doing his work. James seemed like he wanted to be in the game and be one of the characters.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2177881/James-Holmes-Families-The-Jokers-victims-death-penalty-watch-killers-bizarre-court-appearance.html#ixzz21XKwCzIB

[Fierce_LiNk]

Obvious there was going to be a video game link however lose it may seem;

 

 

"He likes playing games...something with other people...must've been Warcraft...that was probably why he killed everyone."

 

So stupid.

[Cube]

To be fair, it's a small part of the article and isn't even in the bullet points at the top.

[flameboy]

To be fair, it's a small part of the article and isn't even in the bullet points at the top.

 

Yes true but's it still irresponsible journalism in my opinion.