On July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurred inside in Theater 9 at the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises.
12 were killed and 70 others injured.
WHAT HAPPENED
Police said Holmes bought a ticket, entered the theater, and sat in the front row.
Then about 20 minutes into the film, he left the theater through an emergency exit door beside the movie screen.
He propped the door slightly open with a plastic tablecloth holder.
The massacre in Aurora began when 24-year-old James Holmes, dressed in tactical gear, reentered theater at 12:30 a.m., through a parking lot exit door and threw gas canisters into the theater.
Holmes set off tear gas grenades and shot into the audience with multiple firearms.
He was listening to techno music through a set of headphones so the reactions in the theater could not be heard.
Some audience members to initially thought he was performing a stunt for the film, a Batman sequel eagerly anticipated by fans.
Holmes opened fire at the audience, shooting people at random.
At the time, the attack had the largest number of casualties in one shooting in modern U.S. history.
It was the deadliest shooting in Colorado since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.
Holmes was arrested in his car outside the cinema minutes later.
He put up no resistance.
Law enforcement agents evacuated buildings near Holmes’ Aurora apartment after he told them he had booby-trapped his home with explosive devices.
They were defused by the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad a day after the shooting.
Holmes confessed to the shooting but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Arapahoe County prosecutors sought the death penalty for Holmes.
The trial began on April 27, 2015.
When Holmes made his first appearance in court, his hair was dyed neon orange and he seemed dazed and emotionless.
Investigators learned that in the months leading up to the shooting, Holmes had acquired weapons from Colorado gun shops and ordered thousands of rounds of ammunition online.
Court documents later revealed that a month before the shooting, a University of Colorado psychiatrist who had treated Holmes reported to campus police that he could be a danger to the public and had threatened her.
During the trial his notebook was entered into evidence.
Holmes' notebook elaborated on his obsession to kill since ten years prior to the shooting and his dissatisfaction with life and finding work, as well as health issues.
It also had details of planning for the shooting.
On July 16, Holmes, who has offered no motive for the shooting spree,was convicted of 24 counts of first-degree murder, 140 counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of possessing explosives.
On August 7, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
On August 26, he was given twelve life sentences, one for every person he killed; he also got 3,318 years for the attempted murders of those he wounded and for rigging his apartment with explosives.
It was the deadliest mass shooting in Colorado since the 1999 Columbine shooting, in which 12 high school students and a teacher were murdered.
VICTIMS
Jonathan Blunk age 26, John Larimer age 27, Matt McQuinn age 27, and Alexander Teves age 24, died protecting their girlfriends.
Gordon Cowden age 51, died saving the lives of his two teenage daughters.
Seven weeks earlier, Jessica Ghawi (a.k.a. Jessica Redfield, a sports journalist, age 24 while on vacation, left the food court minutes prior to the Toronto Eaton Centre shooting.
Other Victims that died
Alexander J. Boik, age 18
Jesse Childress, age 29
Micayla Medek, age 23
Veronica Moser-Sullivan, age 6
Alex Sullivan, age 27
Rebecca Wingo, age 31
Seriously injured victims
Ashley Moser, Veronica Moser-Sullivan's mother, suffered critical injuries after being shot in the chest and was rendered a paraplegic.
She was pregnant at the time and miscarried a week after the attack.
Caleb Medley, the last victim discharged, left University Hospital on September 12.
He had serious brain damage and an injury to his right eye from a shotgun blast to the head, and underwent three brain surgeries.
He required a feeding tube, had severely impaired movement, and could no longer speak.
One of the survivors, Zack Golditch, did not let the incident deter him from following his dream of playing football.
He is 23 years old now.
“I never stopped and realized this is part of my story. I shouldn't push that away, because what I hold on to right now is a story, not just about myself, but about of everyone else. I can carry that and represent them through what I do and how I carry myself,” Golditch said. “I have to embrace it.”
He was in Theater 8 during the shooting.
He was hit by one of the bullets that came through the wall.
The bullet made a clean entry and exit through Golditch’s neck, narrowly missing any crucial arteries, vertebrae and Golditch’s skull.
Surviving the Aurora shooting helped Golditch commit to helping others. He frequently visited the Boys and Girls Club and Colorado Children’s Hospital in Aurora and participated in a service trip to Jamaica with other CSU athletes.
“I was a 17-year-old kid going to see a movie, next thing you know I might not have come home that night.
For me to still be able to play football, to be able to be a normal person and an able-bodied person is great,” Golditch said.
“I take nothing for granted. This opportunity to continue to live my life today is amazing.”
CONSPIRACY THEORIES
Holmes was found in his locked car with a gas mask on.
According to police radio transmissions, an officer found "a suspect in a gas mask".
Another officer asked "Is that the dude in the white car you're by?"
Some say he was heavily drugged.
Theorists say that this would have forced first responders to break the passenger side window and get a white stretcher board in preparation to transport him.
More police transmissions make theorists suspect more than one shooter.
Three minutes after Holmes was detained in his car, an officer says: "One of the shooters might be wearing a white and blue plaid shirt" and the dispatcher responds "Copy, outstanding shooter possibly wearing a white and blue plaid shirt."
An officer says "The suspect is saying that he's the only one but I'm getting conflicting suspect descriptions from the witnesses out here."
Then, the dispatcher receives several updates and says: "Copy, all units ... male with a red backpack and another one possibly in black clothing headed toward Alameda" Avenue.
Then an officer says: "Suspect is going to be male, unknown race, black camo-type outfit, believed to be wearing a vest, gas mask and multiple long guns."
Officer: "Talking to people making statements, sounds like we have possibly 2 shooters, one that was in Theater 8 seated, another one that came in from the outside into Theater 9. Sounds like it was a coordinated attack."
Dispatch: "Every unit, possible 2nd shooter still at large... Keep the media away from them."
More unexplained things.
The orange duffel bag, gas can and ballistic gear found at a different part of the parking lot.
Authorities say they found a 100-round, drum-style ammo clip in the rifle used by Holmes.
Conspiracy Theorists think that the rifle found outside of the Theater 9 emergency exit appears to have a normal clip.
There was a second gas mask found at the far end of the parking lot, hundreds of feet from Theater 9's emergency exit and Holmes' car.
Arapahoe County Court judge has granted a request to seal the case against Holmes after the prosecutors argued that disclosing the court records would be "contrary to public interest" and "could jeopardize the ongoing investigation."
No comments:
Post a Comment