Dark Knight Rises Premier - 12 shot and killed, more wounded

[xela]

Last night the number of dead was at nine, and today it's 12 with nine more in critical condition, and over 30 people wounded from the attacks.

More info here.

Last night it seemed like the gunman got away, but luckily police have captured the suspect, James Holmes, and he is in custody. There is no publicly released motive for the crime so far, but the guy was getting his PhD in neuroscience. My guesses are that he was generally unstable to begin with, cracked from school pressure and life pressure, and decided to do some kind of villainous deed akin to comic book villains. When something like this happens, with completely random victims, some of which were children, I don't think there is any sanity or reasonable motive involved.

One of the most heartbreaking stories for me was of a man and his girlfriend. She was shot in the leg and he was shot in the waist. As he was calling police he noticed she stopped screaming. She was shot in the head during the commotion and died.

I am glad the shooter is in custody, but I am really curious as to what drove him to do this. I know that there is no justification, but you need to know HIS justification so things like this can be prevented in the future.

I really, really hope it's not another case of someone being bullied by peers/society to a breaking point, like with all those school shootings. I really hope folks are learning not to treat people like garbage. 99.99% will take it, but chemical imbalances in the brain can and will result in things like this.

And the victims are almost never the instigators. It's always innocent people.

Anyway, I wish nothing but the best for those affected.

[MSimonart]

We've had a similar affair here in Belgium, where a man disguised as the 'joker' went to a nurcery and killed some babies and nurces. He had a mental disorder, but was accountable. A dark shadow hovers over this movie...

As for the new exposé, it does come a little innapropriate, even though they couldn't know.

Lots of strenght too the victims and the families.

I heard that the culprit just had finished his studies. I think he did some medical stuff. He couldn't find a job. That's the only thing I know for now. This whole story is more than regrettable.

[xela]

We've had a similar affair here in Belgium, where a man disguised as the 'joker' went to a nurcery and killed some babies and nurces. He had a mental disorder, but was accountable. A dark shadow hovers over this movie...

As for the new exposé, it does come a little innapropriate, even though they couldn't know.

Lots of strenght too the victims and the families.

I heard that the culprit just had finished his studies. I think he did some medical stuff. He couldn't find a job. That's the only thing I know for now. This whole story is more than regrettable.

One of the most disgusting results is how people are using this story to further political agendas, and it hasn't even been 24 hours since  the incident.

The thing is, I'm not sure what you could even politicize right now. We have no idea why this guy did what he did. Drugs? Mental disorder? Revenge? Blackmailed?

[shutupdangit]

My heart goes out to all the victims of this tragedy.

I pulled an all-nighter watching the news because Aurora is east of where I live in Denver. I have several friends that live in that area but thankfully none of them were at the theater when it happened...I can't imagine what the people that were there are going through right now.

From what I've heard about the suspect, he was found after police had arrived and arrested near his car "without significant incident". Various reports claim that his hair was colored red and was quoted as saying "I'm the Joker" but I don't think the police have confirmed this yet. Also, police have confirmed that there are explosive devices in his apartment, described as a "booby trap". The only crime he has ever committed prior to this is a traffic violation. Overall these are not the actions of a sane person.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_21118947/police-search-apartment-suspected-gunman-deadly-aurora-shooting

I heard that the culprit just had finished his studies. I think he did some medical stuff. He couldn't find a job. That's the only thing I know for now. This whole story is more than regrettable.

He was enrolled in a PhD program related to Neuroscience but dropped out last month.

[MSimonart]

When I said families of the victims, I also thought about the family of the shooter. I think it's it must be as hard for them as for the families of the victims. I can't imagine being a mom of someone who will be described as a monster, who will be hated by lots of people, who will finish his life in prison. Certainly knowing this guy didn't seem violent or disordered. Nothing that has been released about the shooter at this moment could predict such a violent act.

[KPopFever605]

I heard that the shooter had all this tactical wear on, such as a bullet proof vest and a gas mask. He also terrorized with an AK-47 and tear gas. As my supervisor read the story, I did find it strikingly similar to the Joker's appearance in other Batman movies. I mean, the tear gas was already enough, but he had to go on and use a gun, shooting pellets. What struck me most was that the smallest person that died, or at least was injured was a 3-month-old baby. So Sad.

[John B.]

i heard a bit about this on the radio when i was on the way to work. as far as i knew, the guy was dressed like batman. What I hate is how I know people who now want to go see the film, something about this interested them

[xela]

When I said families of the victims, I also thought about the family of the shooter. I think it's it must be as hard for them as for the families of the victims. I can't imagine being a mom of someone who will be described as a monster, who will be hated by lots of people, who will finish his life in prison. Certainly knowing this guy didn't seem violent or disordered. Nothing that has been released about the shooter at this moment could predict such a violent act.

His mother apparently contacted authorities and told them it was definitely him.

There are two situations in these cases. One of them involves the parents/guardians being horrible scum that mistreat child to the point where the kid not killing people would be a shock. The other involves just regular parents that ended up in a pretty bad situation.

The mom's phone call here is very odd, though. If her kid was just an oddball and got arrested at the scene, and was labeled a suspect, the last thing you'd do is call the police and say "Yep, that's the guy." I really hope she didn't know about this before hand. Obviously this attack was premeditated, and I really hope there wasn't a soul in the world who could have prevented it.

@Shutupdangit: I'm really glad no one you knew was hurt, including you.

It seems like every year we have some new kind of insane shooting by some deranged psychopath. 

[Joker and the Thief]

All I have to say is that there are so many messed up, sick bastards in our world.
Horrible horrible occurrences, our prayers will be with them. 

[Joshua Robinson]

I have found this picture online. I love it. I feel sorry for the families affected, I heard it was mostly children and I also found another photo.

I would love to see the second one happen!

[KPopFever605]

Yah, I now what your talking about Joshua. I found the second picture you posted in Facebook without the censorship, and I proudly liked and shared it. I truly hope all the victims and their families and friends find closure to this unhappy ordeal.

[shutupdangit]

President Obama is going to attend a memorial for the victims tomorrow:
http://www.9news.com/news/article/278966/188/Obama-to-travel-to-Aurora-Sunday

I heard Westboro Baptist Church will be attending as well.

[Don Boyer]

We should all take a moment to learn a little more about the victims of the attack, and a lot less about the asshole who committed it.

http://www.9news.com/news/article/278870/222/Names-of-victims-emerge-in-theater-shooting

I understand what a lot of those people in Aurora are feeling now - the whole city of New York felt much the same nearly eleven years ago, just an order of magnitude greater.  It woke up many New Yorkers and people in the surrounding suburbs and made them reassess their priorities in life.  The conclusion of most was that life is too short and precious to spend it doing an insane number of hours working every week instead of getting together with family and friends and making real human connections.

It's never a bad time to reassess your life and decide for yourself if the path you're on is the path you want to continue taking.  It's part of what made me interested in becoming a magician and spreading my joy of it with people in the hospital who otherwise aren't feeling a lot of joy.  My night job pays well enough, especially factoring in that it's a union job that doesn't even require a high school diploma, but it's still largely a dead-end job and I certainly don't want to be doing that and nothing else for the rest of my life, especially with the hours I have to keep.