14 People Killed at "The Dark Knight Rises" Premiere

Sad news to report out  in Aurora, Colorado is that 14 people are dead and up to 50 injured after a masked gunman opened fire at a late-night screening of the new Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.
14 people in Aurora, Colorado are dead, and over 50 are wounded, after a gunman entered a screening of The Dark Knight Rises early this morning and opened fire. Sources in Aurora, located about 9 miles outside of Denver, say the man entered through the emergency exit about 40 minutes into a midnight screening of the film, set off a smoke device at the front of the screen, and opened fire.

Police have taken a suspect into custody. A man said to be in his early 20s carrying a knife, rifle and handgun and wearing a bulletproof vest was arrested without a struggle in a car park behind the cinema. The police chief, Dan Oates in the Denver suburb of Aurora, where the shooting took place, said there was no evidence of a second gunman.

"This is a horrific event," Dan Oates told reporters. He said police had checked for explosives in the cinema and car park and secured both areas. "Our hearts go out to all of the family. We have mobilised the witnesses that we could get our hands on to an area high school where de-briefings are under way," he said. Local hospitals were alerted to a "mass casualty incident". Media reports said 10 people died at the scene and four died later in hospital. A witness told CNN: "We heard anywhere from 10 to 20 shots and little explosions going on. Shortly after that we heard people screaming. Then they came on PA system and said everyone needed to get out. As soon as we got out, there were people running around and screaming."

 

 Other witnesses said the gunman opened fire during a shootout scene in the movie, leading to confusion. Police said the first emergency call was made at 00.39am local time. A spokeswoman for Denver's Swedish Medical Center said three people had been admitted to the hospital with gunshot wounds and were in a critical condition.Another hospital, Denver Health, had received six wounded, one of whom was in critical condition, a spokeswoman said.

It's hard to know what more to say about something so horrifying, especially with so little information out there. We'll bring you more as we can, but in the meantime, our thoughts and prayers go to the victims and their families from all of us here at Templar Digital and the people of Aurora for whom going to the movies will mean something different for a long time. Actually, that last part applies to all of us, this isn't just going to change the way we talk about The Dark Knight Rises, but the entire experience of going to the movies.


 -Eric Chacón
-Brian Lansangan
-Alexander Gothelf
-Kevin Tenorio