‘Dark Knight’ madness at Colo. moviehouse
THE KILLER was as crazy as any Batman villain.
He sat in the front row of a darkened theater in Aurora, Colo., with about 100 other moviegoers eagerly anticipating a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight” on July 20.
Twenty minutes into the film, James Eagan Holmes slipped out the exit door, leaving it ajar, and went to his car — where he donned a gas mask, a load-bearing vest, a ballistic helmet, bullet-resistant leggings, a throat and groin protector and tactical gloves. He retrieved a 12-gauge Remington shotgun, a Smith & Wesson semiautomatic rifle with a 100-round drum magazine, and a Glock .22 handgun.
He returned to the e exit door at approximately 12:30 a.m., and d few even noticed him — until he started shooting into the densely y packed crowd.
He sprayed his bullets upward first, aiming toward the back of the theater, then raked those fleeing in n the aisles. Bullets went t through the walls and d hit people in the adjacent theater. Some witnesses said Holmes discharged smoke or tear gas, adding to the confusion and terror as people screamed and ran for f cover.
In 90 seconds, Holmes fatally shot 12 people and injured 58. He might have shot more had his Smith & Wesson not jammed. Holmes was apprehended in the cinema parking lot near n his car.
With bright red hair and a bulging, ravingmad m eyes, Holmes didn’t d look too far from the Joker — the psycho Batman character he claimed to be.
Amid the shock and destruction, tales of heroism emerged: many victims died shielding friends and loved ones from the madman’s bullets. But it was cold comfort for the families of the 12 people killed. The oldest victim was 51, and the youngest was 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan. Her mother, Ashley Moser, who was three months pregnant at the time, was sitting next to her in the theater.
Moser was critically injured by shots to her throat and abdomen. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors fought to save her. She survived with likely permanent partial paralysis, but her unborn child died.