Dfmie Denver Post Breaking News Entry

For a distinguished example of BREAKING NEWS REPORTING
THE DENVER POST STAFF

Coverage from July 20 to July 24, 2012
AURORA
SHOOTINGS
RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
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AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. THE MAIN STORY
Unknown number of people
shot at Aurora movie theater
An unknown number of people were injured early Friday when shots
rang out at an Aurora movie theater during a premiere showing of the new
Batman movie.
Sometime after 1 a.m., police received reports of gunshots at the Cen-
tury 16 Movie Theaters at the Aurora Town Center.
No confrmed information is available on how many people were in-
jured and whether there were any fatalities.
Dozens of ambulances and police vehicles were outside the mall, where
EVOLUTION OF A
STORY: The frst post
was at 2:42:17 a.m.,
July 20, 2012. Story
would update 36
times before
appearing in print.
By The Denver Post staff
SCREENSHOT OF DENVERPOST.COM HOMEPAGE ABOUT 5 A.M.
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the theater was showing The Dark Knight Rises.
A witness, Bejamin Fernandez, 30, said he was watching the movie when
he heard a series of explosions. He said that people ran from the theater
and there were gunshots as police shouted get down!
He says he saw people falling, including one young girl.
A witness said that he was watching the Police had set up a command post
near the Dillards and were interviewing hundreds of possible witnesses.
Police spokeswoman Cassidee Carlson says the scene is still very ac-
tive and we have little information for release at this time.
Swedish Medical Center spokeswoman Nicole Williams says two peo-
ple injured at the theater have arrived at the hospital in critical condition.
She says emergency workers have said there could be several more patients.
AURORA A gunman burst into the emergency exit door of a theater
and shot 71 people, killing at least 12 of them, at a midnight premiere of the
new Batman movie Friday, creating a chaotic, smoke-flled scene that had
bloody moviegoers dragging each other outside.
It was like something out of a movie, said Jacob King, who was stand-
ing in the lobby when someone carried out the motionless body of a young
girl, covered in blood. You dont want to believe its real, but it is.
The moviegoer handed the childs body to a police offcer, who put her
in the back of his squad car and sped away.
The 24-year-old suspect, later identifed as James Holmes of Aurora,
stormed into the theater with three guns and two gas canisters that cloud-
ed the room and stung peoples eyes and throats.
Police arrested Holmes minutes after arriving at the movie theater, and
he remains in custody. Holmes surrendered to offcers behind the theater
near a white Hyundai.
Offcers say three weapons were used a shotgun, an assault rife and a
handgun. A second handgun was in his car, but police dont know if it was
71 shot, 12 killed
at Aurora movie theater
EVOLUTION OF A
STORY: This post, at
12:34:28 p.m., was
the 19th update of
the day. The story
would go through
36 versions online.
By Ryan Parker,
Kurtis A. Lee,
Jordan Steffen
and Jennifer Brown
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used in the attack.
Holmes was wearing full ballistic gear, including a vest, a helmet, a
gas mask and other body armor during the shooting.
Two devices were set off during the shooting.
Police found Holmes north Aurora apartment booby-trapped, the same
song playing on repeat on his stereo. The apartment complex has been
evacuated.
Ten people died at the scene, and two others died at hospitals. Many of
others who were shot were critically injured.
One of the victims died at Childrens Hospital in Aurora, but offcials
there would not say whether it was a child or an adult. The other fve pa-
tients survived, including one who is in critical condition with buckshot
SCREENSHOT OF DENVERPOST.COM HOMEPAGE ABOUT 8:40 P.M.
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injuries to the back.
Two of the victims at Childrens were hit with a high-velocity rife, perhaps
from 60 to 80 feet away, said emergency-room physician Dr. Guy Upshaw.
Police received multiple calls about the shooting beginning at 12:39 a.m.
and arrived minutes later at the theater complex, 14300 E. Alameda Ave.
Police say the suspect appeared at the front of one of the theaters
showing The Dark Knight Rises. Witnesses told The Post he entered
through an emergency exit at the right front of the Theater 9 less than 10
minutes into the flm.
The suspect then threw some type of explosive and started shooting
into the packed theater. The man had a rife, a handgun and a gas mask
when police arrested him. A shotgun was left in the theater.
Police have no evidence that there are any additional suspects involved
in the shooting.
The bodies of the 10 people who died at the theater remain at the scene
while police continue to investigate.
Tom Sullivan embraces
his wife, Terry, left, and
daughter Megan outside
Gateway High School in
Aurora on Friday. At the
time, the family hadnt
heard any news about
the fate of son Alex,who
was at the movie theater
where dozens of people
were shot during a
midnight screening of
The Dark Knight Rises.
Friday night, the family
learned that Alex, who
turned 27 that day, was
one of the 12 who died. RJ
Sangosti, The Denver Post
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Josh Kelly, 28, was watching the movie with his girlfriend of about four
years. He lost her in the chaos.
Josh called his father, Robert Kelly, from the theater and said: I cant
fnd my girl. In the mayhem, the darkness and the smoke, and people pan-
icking and trampling one another, he just lost track and he couldnt see,
the elder Kelly said. My son is freaked out.
Robert Kelly rushed to the theater after his sons call, and found him
outside covered in blood. His girlfriend was among the fatalities. Now he
is home and sedated, under a nurses care.
Outside the back exit of the theater, FBI agents have placed yellow tape
and numbered evidence markers on objects in the parking lot, including
a gas mask. A bloody jacket and spilled popcorn were on the pavement.
Authorities also searched a white car parked behind the movie theater,
removing what appeared to be a combat helmet, a duffel bag, an ammuni-
tion clip and a vest.
After his arrest, the suspect made a statement about possible explo-
sives in his residence.
Police have blocked off a three-block area around an apartment complex
in north Aurora. Residents in the area said they were evacuated around 2
a.m. while police searched the third foor of the apartment building.
The University of Colorado confrmed that Holmes was in the process
of withdrawing from the universitys graduate program in neurosciences.
Holmes enrolled at the university in June 2011.
Jackie Mitchell said he had drinks with Holmes a few nights ago at the
Zephyr Lounge. Mitchell said the two talked about football.
Holmes was geeky and had a swagger to him, Mitchell said.
He just didnt seem the type to go into a movie theater and shoot it up,
Mitchell said. He seemed like a real smart dude.
Police from all over the metro area were called to the scene.
Corbin Dates and Jennifer Seeger were sitting in the second row of the
theater when Dates saw someone in the front row answer a phone call
during the opening credits and walk to the emergency door in the front of
the theater.
Less than an hour later, a man, dressed in black and wearing a gas mask
and what looked like body armor, entered through the same emergency
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exit. He lobbed two canisters, and almost instantly the theater flled with
smoke.
Dates and Seeger, like others in the theater, thought the man and the
smoke were all part of the show, they said. Right as their eyes began to tear
up from the smoke, the man fred a shot at the ceiling.
The gunman moved through the crowd and stopped in front of Seeger.
He pointed a long rife at her face and said nothing.
He shot at the person sitting behind her, Seeger said.
I have no idea why he didnt shoot me, Seeger said.
The two dived to the ground. They could feel hot shell casings hitting
their legs as the tried to crawl through the dark theater now flled with
smoke. Seegers forehead has a burn from one of the casings.
Her friends urged each other and the people around them to stay quiet,
desperate not to draw the attention of the gunman who was working his
way up the aisle.
As she huddled on the ground, Seeger could see bodies of women and
James Holmess car was
found in the back of the
theater. Police found a
combat helmet, duffel
bag, an ammunition
magazine, a vest and a
Glock handgun. Helen
H. Richardson, The
Denver Post
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children lying around her.
Seeger, who has some EMT training, tried to help a man bleeding next
to her. She worked to fnd a pulse but was forced to leave him behind as
they tried to fee the theater.
People tried to exit through the main entrance of the theater, Seeger
said. By then the gunman had worked his way to the back of the theater,
shooting at people as they tried to run.
Seeger estimates she was trapped in the theater for 10 to 15 minutes. When
she fnally reached the lobby, she saw a police offcer cocking a shotgun.
Once outside, Seeger called her father.
My dad is not a sentimental guy, but he was crying on the phone,
Seeger said.
James Wilburn was also sitting in the second row of the theater when
the emergency door opened.
He was dressed in black, Wilburn said, wearing a fak jacket and a
gas mask.
The man dropped a canister to the foor that began spewing gas before
he fred several rounds toward the back of the theater.
Naya Thompson, 21, said the gas spread quickly through the theater and
thinks that the gunman may have dropped two canisters.
It was like tear gas, Thompson said. I was coughing and choking, and
I couldnt breathe.
Benjamin Fernandez, 30, said he was watching the movie when he heard
a series of explosions. He said people ran from the theater and there were
gunshots as police shouted, Get down!
Fernandez said he saw people falling, including one young girl.
Brittany Romero was in Theater 10 for the 12:15 a.m. showing. When the
fre alarm sounded, people began throwing their popcorn and drinks in
the air, assuming it was a practical joke, Romero said.
Salina Jordan, 19, was in Theater 8 and saw people fall after they were
shot. She said one girl was struck in a cheek, and others were wounded in
the stomach, including a girl who looked to be around 9 years old.
Jordan said it sounded like frecrackers until someone ran into Theater
8 yelling, Theyre shooting out here!
The police came running in, telling people to run out. Some police were
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carrying or dragging bodies, she said.
Meghan Walton, 20, of Boulder said
she was sitting beside her friend Gage
Hankins, 18 of Ohio in Theater 8 when
he was shot in the arm before he was
rushed out of the theater.
I saw a whole lot of smoke in the
aisle, Walton said. I saw about three or
four bullets shot near the smoke.
Walton was with 10 members of the
group Friends: Association of Young
People who Stutter.
I ran outside and was holding his arm
that was shot, Walton said. My eyes
were blurred by the smoke. It was like
chaos. People were crying hysterically.
She counted 12 people who were
bleeding. Ambulances started arriving,
but there were not enough to put every-
one in them.
The worst was a man who was shot
in the head. He had his hand on his
head, Walton said. They started dou-
bling up, putting two people in the same
ambulance. One girl who wasnt injured as badly was placed in a police car
and rushed away.
Police set up a command post near the Dillards department store and
were interviewing hundreds of possible witnesses. Many were taken by
bus to Gateway High School for questioning.
Robert Jones, 28, was in Theater 9 when the shooting started.
Jones said when he frst saw smoke billowing from the front of the theater,
he thought it was a special effect. Shots rang out almost immediately after.
I thought it was pretty much the end of the world, Roberts said.
Roberts stayed fat on the ground until police came into the theater.
Tammi Stevens said her son, 18-year-old Jacob Stevens, was inside The-
Amanda Medek, who
was looking for her
sister Micayla, is
overcome with
emotion outside
Gateway High School
on Friday in Aurora.
Late Friday, it was
confrmed that Micayla
Medek was among the
12 people who lost
their lives in the mass
shooting at a movie
theater. RJ Sangosti,
The Denver Post
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ater 9 when the shooting started. Stevens was waiting for her son at Gate-
way High School while police interviewed him.
Jacob told his mom that he saw a guy walk into the theater wearing body
armor and throw some sort of cannister that then emitted some sort of gas.
You let your kids go to a late night movie ... you never think something
like this would happen, Stevens said.
President Barck Obama addressed the shooting from Ft. Myers, Fla.,
Friday morning.
We never understand what leads someone to terrorize their fellow hu-
man beings like this, Obama said. Life is very fragile, and it is precious.
Gov. John Hickenlooper released a statement Friday morning.
It is beyond the power of words to fully express our sorrow this morn-
ing, Hickenlooper said. We appreciate the swift work by local, state and
federal law enforcement. Coloradans have a remarkable ability to support
one another in times of crisis. This is one of those times.
In a statement released Friday morning, Republican Mitt Romney said
that he was deeply saddened by the senseless violence.
The FBI is assisting in the investigation. Offcers and deputies responded
from almost every local police and sheriffs department in the metro area.
The FBI said that there was no indication that the shooting has any con-
nection to terrorism.
Victims were transported to at least six hospitals. Several of them were
rushed to hospitals in police cars. Ages of people injured and killed in the
shooting vary.
One child and fve adults were taken to Childrens Hospital Colorado.
The adults ranged in age from 18 to 31 years old. One of the six patients
died and the other fve are currently listed in conditions from good to
critical.
Information on which of the patients died was not released.
Shortly after midnight, patients started arriving at the Medical Center
of Aurora. A total of 15 patients ranging from 16 to 31 years old were
sent to the medical center, 12 of them with gunshot wounds.
Eight of the patients have been discharged, fve victims remain in criti-
cal condition and two patients are being prepared for surgery.
All of the patients came in with wounds to their torsos, heads or necks.
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Doctors said the wounds were caused by a high-caliber weapon or what
appeared to be shrapnel.
Swedish Medical Center spokeswoman Nicole Williams says two peo-
ple injured at the theater have arrived at the hospital in critical condition.
She says emergency workers said there could be several more patients.
Denver Health Medical Center treated six victims from the shooting.
All were treated for gunshot wounds and abrasions. Three victims have
since been released, the other three remain in fair condition, hospital of-
fcials said.
A total of 23 victims were taken to the University of Colorado Hospital.
Rep. Ronda Fields of Aurora announced that she is hosting a prayer
vigil for any and all at 7 p.m. at the Aurora Municipal Building at 15151 E.
Alameda Parkway.
Warner Bros. studio released a statement Friday morning saying the
studio is deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. The stu-
dio has canceled the red carpet premier of The Dark Knight Rises in
Paris, The Hollywood Reporter said.
Aurora police are asking anyone with information about the shooting
to call 303-627-3100.
Denver Post Staff Writers Eric Gorski, Kieran Nicholson, Michael Booth and
Tegan Hanlon contributed to this report
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AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. #THEATERSHOOTING
The Denver Post was an early adopter of social media. Our reporters, photog-
raphers and editors understand the tools and are adept at fnding sources, infor-
mation and then leading the competition in pushing those details to our readers.
Over the course of the frst four days of the shooting, The Post and its reporters
posted more than a thousand entries on Twitter and Facebook. What follows on
the next pages is a sampling of the frst 24 hours of coverage. We followed that on
day 2 with minute-by-minute tweets as bomb experts disarmed James Holmes
booby-trapped apartment; and then from President Obamas visit and the me-
morial on Sunday; and fnally, from the hearing and Holmes frst appearance on
Monday. In between, the people who follow @denverpost and our reporters and
editors knew what we knew immediately.
Above: Screenshot from www.storify.com/denverpost; Link to theater shooting Tweets at:
http://extras.denverpost.com/contests/2012/aurora-theater-shooting-denver-post-fnal-full.pdf
CLICK HERE TO SEE FOUR-DAY LOG OF TWEETS
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AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. PHOTO GALLERY
In the early morning hours of July 20, Denver Post photojournalists were dispatched to the
Century 16 Movie Theater in Aurora to document the aftermath of a mass shooting that killed
12 and wounded 58 people. The slideshow was launched on denverpost.com at 2:24 a.m. and
included images from the movie theater, local hospitals and Gateway High School, a gathering
place for victims and witnesses. As the day went on, the gallery was continually updated with
photos from the shooters booby-trapped apartment, the investigation at the theater and the
stream of parents and friends picking up victims and witnesses from the high school.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW GALLERY
http://photos.denverpost.com/2012/07/20/photos-shooting-at-aurora-theater/
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AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. VIDEOS
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In the early morning hours of July 20, Denver Post photojournalists were dispatched to
the Century 16 Movie Theater in Aurora, Colorado to document the aftermath of a mass
shooting that killed 12 and wounded 58 people. This video is a compilation of four videos
from that day: The frst is raw video obtained from a theatergoer at the scene. Next are two
videos with witnesses, the frst posted at 6:30 in the morning and a second later that day. The
last video is two days later, from the memorial attended by thousands.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO
http://vimeopro.com/digitalfrstmedia/denver-post-aurora-shooting-videos
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AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. THE SUSPECT
A gas mask lies on the ground outside the theater where James Holmes was apprehended after the theater shootings. Karl Gehring, The Denver Post
EVOLUTION OF A
STORY: Story frst
published online
at 6:48:59 a.m.,
July 20, 2012; and
updated 12 times
before appearing in
print (shown).
Story by
Sara Burnett, Jessica
Fender, Felisa Cardona
and Jeremy P. Meyer
A quiet man who authorities
say harbored a deadly plan
AURORA James Eagan Holmes now the subject of global head-
lines was never one to draw attention to himself.
In interviews with people who have known him throughout his life,
Holmes was described as a quiet and intelligent person who wouldnt
even acknowledge neighbors in his apartment hallway.
Holmes, 24, maintained that quiet demeanor even as police say he was
plotting a horrifc attack that killed 12 people and injured 58 others in an
Aurora movie theater early Friday.
He bought four guns and 6,000 rounds of ammunition, Aurora Police
Chief Dan Oates said.
He rigged his apartment with what authorities fear are deadly explo-
PA6f 2
James
was nice
and quiet.
He was
studious,
he cut the
grass, and
cleaned
the car. He
was very
bright.
Tom Mai, who
lived next door
to James Holmes,
above, in
suburban San
Diego.
PAGE 2
S10kY 5
sives and blared techno music from his stereo in whats believed to be an
attempt to invite more devastation when the door was opened.
From what little is known about the suspect, it appears that he was a
study in contrast a smart and quiet man who authorities say harbored
a deadly plan.
In high school the boy known as Jimmy quit the soccer team after his
sophomore year and focused mostly on his studies.
He earned a degree in neuroscience with highest honors from the Uni-
versity of California Riverside in 2010 but didnt walk in his commence-
ment ceremony.
Oates said Holmes, who did not resist when he was arrested outside the
theater minutes after the shooting, acted alone.
Oates declined to discuss what motive, if any, Holmes gave police.
One hint could be in what New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly
told reporters Friday, saying that Holmes had reportedly identifed him-
self as Batmans arch-enemy The Joker to authorities.
He had his hair painted red, he said he was The Joker, obviously the
enemy of Batman, Kelly said at a news conference, addressing the in-
creased security at New York City theaters.
Oates, who said he talked with Kelly early Friday, would not confrm
that report. But residents of Holmes apartment building said police who
came to their doors immediately after the shooting asked if they had seen
a man with his hair dyed red or pink.
Information compiled from multiple sources shows the planning for
the attack was methodical, went back months and coincided with Holmes
withdrawal from a graduate program in neuroscience at the University of
Colorado School of Medicine.
In May, he began buying guns and apparently stocking up on the body
armor that police said he wore during the shooting: a ballistic helmet and
vest, ballistic leggings, throat and groin protector, a gas mask and black
tactical gloves.
Before he left for the movie theater he booby-trapped his apartment, at-
taching several trip wires to 1-liter plastic bottles containing an unknown
substance in a manner so sophisticated Oates said it could take days to
disarm.
PAGE 3
S10kY 5
Its so vexing that by nightfall Friday offcers had still not risked en-
tering the apartment, instead using cameras to probe.
I personally have never seen anything like what the pictures show us
in there, Oates said.
Holmes parents, who live in San Diego, issued a statement saying the
family is cooperating with authorities. His father few to Denver Friday
afternoon. His mother remained at the family home, neighbors said.
Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the
families and friends of those involved, they said. We are still trying to pro-
cess this information and we appreciate that people will respect our privacy.
Holmes grew up in San Diego, graduating from Westview High School
in 2006. He then went on to the University of California Riverside, where
Chancellor Timothy White said Holmes distinguished himself, graduating
with highest honors.
Academically, he was the top of the top, White said.
The Mai family has lived next door to the Holmes family for abut 15
years on a middle-class street in suburban San Diego.
Christine Mai, 17, said she never saw Jimmy Holmes act out violently
or with a weapon, nor did she see him socializing with friends or bringing
girlfriends home.
The Holmes family had Christmas parties in their front yard and often
exchanged gifts with the Mais, she said. Last year, they shared hot apple
cider in the front yard with other neighbors.
He seemed like a nice guy, she said. His mother used to tell us he was
a good son.
After graduation from UCR, Holmes took a part-time job at a nearby
McDonalds.
I felt bad for him because he studied so hard, Mai said. My brother
said he looked kind of down; he seemed depressed.
Julie Adams said her son played soccer with Holmes at Westview High.
Holmes played his freshman and sophomore years, she said.
While most of the other kids her son Taylor included played
league soccer and continued the sport throughout high school, Holmes
wasnt as involved, she said.
I could tell you a lot about every single kid on that team except for
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PA6f 4
From what little is known about the
suspect, it appearsthat hewasastudyin
contrast a smart and quiet man who
authorities say harboreda deadly plan.
In high school the boy known as
Jimmy quit the soccer teamafter his
sophomore year and focused mostly
on his studies.
He earneda degree inneuroscience
with highest honors fromthe Univer-
sity of California Riverside in2010but
didnt walk inhis commencement cer-
emony.
Oates said Holmes, who did not re-
sist when he was arrested outside the
theater minutes after the shooting,
acted alone.
Oates declined to discuss what mo-
tive, if any, Holmes gave police.
One hint couldbe inwhat NewYork
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told
reporters Friday, saying that Holmes
had reportedly identified himself as
Batmans arch-enemy The Joker to
authorities.
He hadhis hair paintedred, he said
he was The Joker, obviously the ene-
my of Batman, Kelly said at a news
conference, addressing the increased
security at NewYork City theaters.
Oates, whosaidhe talkedwithKelly
early Friday, would not confirm that
report. But residents of Holmes
apartment building said police who
came to their doors immediately after
the shooting asked if they had seen a
man with his hair dyed red or pink.
Information compiled from multi-
ple sources shows the planning for the
attack was methodical, went back
months and coincided with Holmes
withdrawal from a graduate program
in neuroscience at the University of
In May, he began buying guns and
apparently stocking up on the body
armor that police said he wore during
the shooting: a ballistic helmet and
vest, ballistic leggings, throat and
groin protector, a gas mask and black
tactical gloves.
Before he left for the movie theater
he booby-trapped his apartment, at-
taching several trip wires to 1-liter
plastic bottles containing anunknown
substance in a manner so sophisticat-
ed Oates said it could take days to dis-
arm.
Its so vexing that by nightfall Fri-
day officers had still not risked enter-
ing the apartment, instead using cam-
eras to probe.
I personally have never seen any-
thing like what the pictures showus in
there, Oates said.
Holmes parents, wholive inSanDi-
ego, issued a statement saying the
family is cooperating withauthorities.
His father flewtoDenver Friday after-
noon. His mother remained at the
family home, neighbors said.
Our hearts go out to those who
were involved in this tragedy and to
the families and friends of those in-
volved, they said. We are still trying
toprocess this informationandwe ap-
preciate that people will respect our
privacy.
Holmes grewupinSanDiego, grad-
uating fromWestviewHigh School in
2006. He then went on to the Univer-
sity of California Riverside, where
Chancellor Timothy White said Hol-
mes distinguishedhimself, graduating
Academically, he was the top of the
top, White said.
The Mai family has lived next door
to the Holmes family for abut 15 years
on a middle-class street in suburban
San Diego.
Christine Mai, 17, saidshe never saw
Jimmy Holmes act out violently or
witha weapon, nor didshe see himso-
cializing with friends or bringing girl-
friends home.
The Holmes family had Christmas
parties in their front yard and often
exchanged gifts with the Mais, she
said. Last year, they shared hot apple
cider in the front yard with other
neighbors.
He seemed like a nice guy, she
said. His mother used to tell us he
was a good son.
After graduation fromUCR, Holm-
es took a part-time jobat a nearby Mc-
Donalds.
I felt bad for him because he stud-
ied so hard, Mai said. My brother
said he looked kind of down; he
seemed depressed.
Julie Adams saidher sonplayedsoc-
cer with Holmes at Westview High.
Holmes played his freshman and
sophomore years, she said.
While most of the other kids her
son Taylor included played league
soccer and continued the sport
throughout high school, Holmes
I could tell you a lot about every
single kid on that team except for
him, Adams said. He was more
aloof.
She was shocked to discover heli-
copters circling her San Diego neigh-
borhood because of Holmes alleged
rampage.
Taylor remembers playing soccer
SUSPECT
FROM 1A
withhim. Hesaidhewasquiet, reserved
anda respectful kid, Adams said.
According to her sons yearbook,
Holmes also ran cross country as a
freshman but did not continue the
sport.
Holmes came to Colorado in May
2011 and started in CUs neuroscience
program a month later. But by last
month, he was in the process of with-
drawing, university spokeswoman
Jacque Montgomery said Friday.
Inane-mail message to members of
the campus community, Doug Abra-
ham, chief of police for the university,
said Holmes access to campus build-
ings was terminated while his with-
drawal was being processed.
He said officials do not believe Hol-
mes has been on campus since then,
but authorities evacuated several re-
search buildings as a precautionary
measure while they waited for bomb-
sniffing dogs to search buildings Fri-
day afternoon.
InanapplicationHolmes submitted
for a different apartment early last
year, he described himself as a quiet
and easy-going student. Other ten-
ants in his building which is re-
served for students, faculty and staff
of the medical campus described
himas a recluse.
KaitlynFonzi, a 20-year-oldbiology
student at University of Colorado
Denver who lives in an apartment be-
low Holmes said she heard techno
music blasting from Holmes apart-
ment around midnight.
Another tenant said residents
called 9-1-1 about the racket.
Fonzi went upstairs andknockedon
the door. When no one answered, she
put her handonthe knob andrealized
the door was unlocked.
Fonzi decided not to go inside the
apartment.
At almost exactly 1 a.m., Fonzi said,
the music stopped.
Denver Post writers Kieran Nichol-
son, Monte Whaley and Jordan Stef-
fen and the Associated Press contrib-
uted.
By David Olinger The Denver Post
aurora The killer brought four
guns twosemi-automatic pistols, an
assault-style rifle and a shotgun to
the movie theater, where 70 people
were shot or injured, of whom12 died.
He also came dressed for battle,
wearing a gas mask, a combat helmet, a
ballistic vest and armor protecting his
legs, throat and groin.
Law enforcement officials said Fri-
day that they are investigating whether
James Eagan Holmes, the 24-year-old
suspect, was legally eligible to own all
those weapons and combat gear. But
they had found no evidence of a crimi-
nal history that wouldhave prohibited
him from buying the weapons used to
massacre moviegoers at a midnight
Batman premiere in Aurora.
His only run-inwithpolice: anOcto-
ber 2011 speeding ticket.
Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates
said Holmes brought a pair of .40-cali-
ber Glock pistols, an AR-15 military-
style rifle and a Remington shotgun to
the Century Aurora 16 complex, but it
was unclear whether he used them all
as he strode throughthe theater, shoot-
ing people apparently at random. One
Glock pistol was found in his white
Hyundai whenpolicearrestedhimout-
side the car, he said. Oates saidHolmes
purchased6,000rounds of ammunition
and multiple magazines, including a
drum magazine able to hold 100 car-
tridges, fromstores andontheInternet.
Oates also said investigators have
not yet determined how many shots
were fired or how many gun maga-
zines were brought to the theater to
carry out the midnight massacre.
But many, many rounds were fired,
he said.
According to one law enforcement
source, the gunman could easily have
shot police officers as they ap-
proached because of all his combat
gear but sat calmly by his car instead.
The AR-15 is a semi-automatic ver-
sion of the military M-16 rifle, first
marketed for civilian sales in 1963.
Glock, an Austrian gunmaker, has
become the leading seller of semi-au-
tomatic pistols to U.S. law enforce-
ment agencies and offers a variety of
.40-caliber pistols to civilians as well.
The Remington Model 870 is a
U.S.-made pump-action shotgun used
by the public for sport shooting and
hunting and is oftencarried by lawen-
forcement and military personnel.
Convicted felons, people convicted
of domestic violence and people who
have been adjudicated as mentally de-
fective or committed to a mental insti-
tution are among those prohibited
frombuying guns inthe United States.
Though Holmes apparently pur-
chasedhis legally, There is a huge gun
issue here, said Kristen Rand, legisla-
tive director for the Violence Policy
Center, a gun-control group.
From Columbine High to Virginia
TechtoFort Hoodtothe Aurora movie
theater, mass murderers have brought
high-capacity magazines used either
in pistols or assault rifles, she said.
That is the common thread.
Holmes wieldedavariant of theAR-15
manufactured by Smith and Wesson
that comes with a 30-round magazine,
she said, and Glock really drove the
switchover fromrevolvers tosemi-auto-
matic pistols in the American market.
On its website, Gun Owners of
America, a group opposed to stricter
gun laws, blamed Holmes ability to
shoot so many people on the absence
of guns in the audience.
The gunmanuseda movie gunfight
to cover his actions and further sur-
prise the innocent patrons. Worse, the
theater in Aurora reportedly has a no
guns policy, the group stated. De-
spite gun controls obvious failure, the
calls for more restrictions have al-
ready begun.
RandandBradBeyersdorf, a spokes-
man for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobac-
co, Firearms andExplosives inDenver,
said they think people who have not
been convicted of violent felonies can
legally purchase the ballistic gear Hol-
mes wore.
One of the pistols and the rifle were
purchased at Gander Mountain in
Thornton. The second pistol was
bought at the Gander Mountain in
Denver and the shotgun at the Denver
Bass Pro Shop, according to TomMan-
gan, a Phoenix-based agent with the
ATF.
MI LI TARY- STYLE ARSENAL
Gunman came
to theater with
four weapons
The firearms usedin
the shootings were
likely purchasedlegally.
Agents fromthe FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives investigate the scene behind the Century Aurora 16 theater
where 12 people were killed and 58 injured in a shooting during a mid-
night screening of The Dark Knight Rises. AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
SMITH & WESSON M&P15
REMINGTON 870 12- GAUGE SHOTGUN
SHOOTERS
GEAR
Ballistic helmet
Gas mask
Tactical vest
Ballistic
leggings
Metal shin guards
Armored boots
GLOCK .40- CALIBER PISTOL
Weapons in possession
James Eagan Holmes legally purchased all four
firearms at local stores within 60 days of the
shooting at the Century Aurora 16. The ammo for
each weapon was legally purchased from online
vendors.
Holmes first shot into the crowd
with a shotgun, aiming toward
the back of the theater.
One handgun was found inside
Theater 9. A second handgun
was found in the shooters car
behind the building.
The rifle, a civilian version of the
U.S. militarys M-16, was
strapped to the shooters back
and could hold 100 rounds.
Danielle Kees, The Denver Post
Sources: McClatchy Tribune; Remington; Smith & Wesson; Glock
Purchased at Bass Pro Shop
Ammo: 2.75-inch, 12-gauge shells
Purchased at Gander Mountain in Thornton
Ammo: .223-caliber rounds
One purchased each at Gander Mountain
stores in Thornton and Denver
4A
NEWS saturday, july 21, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 66

PAGE 5
S10kY 5
him, Adams said. He was more aloof.
She was shocked to discover helicopters circling her San Diego neigh-
borhood because of Holmes alleged rampage.
Taylor remembers playing soccer with him. He said he was quiet, re-
served and a respectful kid, Adams said.
According to her sons yearbook, Holmes also ran cross country as a
freshman but did not continue the sport.
Holmes came to Colorado in May 2011 and started in CUs neuroscience
program a month later. But by last month, he was in the process of withdraw-
ing, university spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery said Friday.
In an e-mail message to members of the campus community, Doug
Abraham, chief of police for the university, said Holmes access to campus
buildings was terminated while his withdrawal was being processed.
He said offcials do not believe Holmes has been on campus since then,
but authorities evacuated several research buildings as a precautionary
measure while they waited for bomb-sniffng dogs to search buildings Fri-
day afternoon.
In an application Holmes submitted for a different apartment early last
year, he described himself as a quiet and easy-going student. Other ten-
ants in his building which is reserved for students, faculty and staff of
the medical campus described him as a recluse.
Kaitlyn Fonzi, a 20-year-old biology student at University of Colorado
Denver who lives in an apartment below Holmes said she heard techno
music blasting from Holmes apartment around midnight.
Another tenant said residents called 9-1-1 about the racket.
Fonzi went upstairs and knocked on the door. When no one answered,
she put her hand on the knob and realized the door was unlocked.
Fonzi decided not to go inside the apartment.
At almost exactly 1 a.m., Fonzi said, the music stopped.
Denver Post writers Kieran Nicholson, Monte Whaley and Jordan Steffen
and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
S10kY 6
PA6f 1
AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. INSIDE THE THEATER
AURORA The lone fgure who appeared suddenly at the
front of the theater looked, to moviegoers engrossed in early
scenes of The Dark Knight Rises, like a live-action twist on
a fun midnight show already populated with costumed fans.
Several minutes into the much-anticipated new Batman
flm, he entered through an exit door near the screen, clothed
entirely in black. He carried multiple weapons some long-
barreled, some short and wore what appeared to be body armor, gloves
and a gas mask.
He tossed two canisters that burst into billowing clouds.
In the second row, Corbin Dates and Jennifer Seeger realized this wasnt
done for theatrical effect only when they began to choke on the fumes
and the dark fgure fred a single shot into the ceiling.
Far from a comic-book villain, the gunman methodically set about turn-
ing a packed movie premiere into a chaotic scene of random carnage that
left 12 dead and dozens injured. The weapons were all too real: an AR-15
semiautomatic rife, a shotgun and a .40-caliber Glock handgun.
The assailant then pointed the rife directly at Seegers face yet
didnt immediately pull the trigger. Instead, he fred into the row behind
her while Seeger and Dates dived into the aisle and crawled to seek cover
behind nearby seats. They felt hot shell casings burning their legs as the
gunman fred multiple shots toward the back of the theater.
I have no idea why he didnt shoot me, recounted Seeger, 22. He shot
the person right behind me.
From his second-row vantage point, James Wilburn could make out a rife
slung over the gunmans back. Amid the noxious fumes from the canister, he
Published
July 21, 2012
Story by
Michael Booth
and Kevin Simpson
What rst seemed part
of show turned to
horric, chaotic scene
S10kY 6
PA6f 2
saw the assailant raise the shotgun and repeatedly fre toward the back of the
theater.
Ducking behind the seat backs in front of him, Wilburn fgured the man
couldnt have been more than 5 to 6 feet away. Many in the audience took fight.
Everyone was screaming.
The flm played on
Emma Goos, a 19-year-old college student home for the summer, sat
with a friend in the third row the only seats left when they got there
when the fgure entered the theater.
It took seven shots for me to realize it wasnt a joke and realize it was
a real gun, Goos said. I very much wanted to believe it was a prank. By
that point, everyone was screaming to get down and our whole row col-
lapsed on each other.
She wondered later if she escaped the gunmans feld of vision because of
his gas mask: His face was completely covered. He looked like a monster.
After exhausting the shotgun rounds, the gunman calmly dropped the
weapon and resumed fring with the rife as he made his way up the aisle.
Twenty to 30 rapid-fre shots struck patrons in their stadium-style seats or
scrambling up the steps, witnesses said.
The dim light, combined with spreading smoke, obscured emergency
exits as the passing time became impossible to reckon in the pandemo-
nium. Seeger and a few others hushed one another as they moved away
from the sound of the gunshots, hugging the foor and hoping the shooter
would ignore them if he couldnt hear them.
She saw bodies lying around her.
I was trying to stay out of his sight, she said. I was pretending I was
dead.
Elsewhere in the theater, 28-year-old Robert Jones also initially took the
smoke to be an elaborate special effect. When gunshots ripped the semi-
darkness, he knew it was something else, something horrifc.
I thought it was pretty much the end of the world, he said.
Chris Ramos initially took the fying canisters for fake bats, in the spirit
of the flm. But the sharp explosion and the hissing cloud of fumes changed
his mind.
S10kY 6
PA6f 3
PAGE 4
S10kY 6
Then he saw the gunman, standing in a corner of the theater, shoot a
man sitting next to him in the chest. The violence had only begun, but
Ramos, 20, would continue to be haunted by the sight of the killer blasting
away, choosing peoples fate with each bullet.
No care for peoples ages, or male or female, or anything, Ramos said.
He was heartless. I panicked. I thought at that moment I was going to die.
For Mora and Rita Silalahi and their teenage son Patrick, the gunmans
frst shot into the theater ceiling prompted Mora to turn to his wife and
say: This is not right. Wed better duck.
Their friend, 42-year-old Jerry Sahertian, relayed their account of seek-
ing cover beneath a ladder at the front of the theater. Then, during a brief
silence after the initial fusillade, the three of them tried to fee to safety.
He saw my friends move, and he shot, said Sahertian.
Patrick took a round in the back, with the bullet lodging in his stomach.
Rita was struck in the shoulder, elbow and left side. Both were later trans-
ported to area hospitals, where Rita underwent surgery.
Naya Thompson, 21, and her 22-year-old boyfriend, Derrick Poage, also
made a break for safety, with Thompson coughing and choking from the
smoke. When they emerged, Poage noticed blood splashed on his pants.
His shoes had come off in the chaos.
Violence struck others who never saw it coming.
In the adjacent theater in the multiplex, which also was showing the
Batman feature, 23-year-old Eric Hunter heard three pops and saw holes
appear in the wall to his right.
Smoke wafted through them.
It happened just as a gunfght broke out on screen, and like so many
others, Hunter assumed this diversion was just another means of amping
up the entertainment.
And then I thought, Oh, its just frecrackers, or stupid kids, Hunter
said. Seconds later, he heard several more pops and saw more holes in the
wall and realized something was seriously wrong.
Nearby, Joel Wheelersburg also heard shots coming from the theater on
the right and fgured them for new sound effects. But then he noticed the
smoke drifting through the holes.
I thought, why smoke? Why ash? said Wheelersburg, 27.
WORST
SHOOTINGS
IN THE U.S.
April 16, 2007: At Virginia
Tech University in
Blacksburg, Va., 59 people
were shot by Seung-Hui
Cho; 32 were killed and 27
wounded.
Aug. 1, 1966: Charles
Whitman shot 47 people
from the clock tower at the
University of Texas at
Austin; 16 were killed and
31 wounded.
Oct. 16, 1991: In Killeen,
Texas, 45 people were shot,
23 fatally and 22 wounded,
by George Hennard at a
Lubys Cafeteria.
July 18, 1984: At a
McDonalds restaurant in
San Ysidro, Calif., 40 people
were shot, 21 fatally and 19
wounded, by James Oliver
Huberty.
April 20, 1999: At
Columbine High School in
unincorporated Jefferson
County, 39 people were
shot, 13 fatally and 26
wounded, by students Eric
Harris and Dylan Klebold.
Nov. 5, 2009: Army
psychiatrist Maj. Nidal
Hasan shot 37 people, 13
fatally and 24 wounded,
at the Soldier Readiness
Processing Center at Fort
Hood, Texas.
May 21, 1998: Kipland
Kinkel shot 25 people,
four fatally, including his
parents, and wounded 21 in
Springfeld, Ore.
The Denver Post Research
Library
S10kY 6
PA6f 5
Then he noticed something even more disturbing people hunched
over in the seats near the holes. They looked hurt.
Some were. Meghan Walton, 20, was sitting next to 18-year-old Gage
Hankins when one of the bullets ripped through the wall and struck her
friend in the arm.
Walton ran outside with him, holding his arm, and remembers that it
felt hot. Her vision blurry from the smoke, she counted a dozen people
bleeding as ambulances arrived. She could hear hysterical crying.
As Hunter rose to leave the theater, the violent reality of the situation
began to dawn on him. Blood pooled on the stairs. He and others yelled a
warning: There was a shooter.
He came upon two teenage girls who appeared to be in shock one looked
to have been shot in the jaw. Blood ran from her face and down her shirt.
Hunter said he grabbed their hands and began to lead the girls outside but
then saw the gunman walking down the hallway from the adjacent theater.
The quick glimpse all-black clothing, mask, body armor, multiple weap-
ons told Hunter that the assailant didnt plan on making it out of there.
He pulled the girls back inside, slammed the door and held it shut. He
said someone, presumably the shooter, pounded on it for a few seconds.
Then nothing
Unsure whether anyone had notifed authorities, he told another patron
to hit the fre alarm. Once the shooting stopped, and the threat appeared to
pass, he helped walk the girls out through the lobby, past others who were
wounded, past cops rushing in and ambulance workers brushing past.
Outside, huddled with a terrifed group of patrons, Hunter looked back
at the doors and watched a large man pace back and forth, in apparent ag-
ony, then scream and fall over. He appeared to have been shot in the back.
He saw a little girl carried out limp in a mans arms.
Time crawled. Jennifer Seeger, the young woman who had looked down
the barrel of the assailants rife, estimates the ordeal lasted perhaps 10 or
15 minutes. Once outside, she phoned her anxious father.
My dad is not a sentimental guy, Seeger said, but he was crying on
the phone.
S10kY 7
AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. INTERACTIVE TIMELINE
In less than 11 hours after the shooting, two members of The Denver Post digital team
built this interactive timeline so readers could follow along with major developments.
Using open source code, Google spreadsheets and cascading style sheets, Daniel J. Sch-
neider and Charles Minshew uploaded images, audio fles, social media elements, docu-
ments and Post coverage items to build the timeline. Readers are now able to follow every
element of the case, whether its reading offcial releases, listening to police scanner traf-
fc, reading the court documents or watching video.
The tool is live today and documenting the tragedy from beginning to end.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW
PA6f 1
S10kY 8
PA6f 1
Published
July 22, 2012
Introduction by Karen
Aug; profles by Karen
Aug, Lynn Bartels,
Karen E. Crummy,
Lindsay H. Jones, Patrick
Saunders, Jordan Steffen
and Erin Udell
AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. THE VICTIMS
All across the country Thursday night, thousands of people put on capes
and costumes, rounded up friends and family and raced off to experience a
celluloid fantasy about a tortured hero who devotes his life to fghting evil.
Inside an Aurora theater, though, the greatest evil wasnt on the screen.
It came instead in the form of a man who swaddled himself in a co-
coon of armor before taking aim at a theater full of unprotected teenagers,
moms and dads, and little kids.
When the shooting in theater 9 early Friday stopped, 24-year-old James
Eagan Holmes was in handcuffs, and 70 people were wounded.
Twelve of them died.
As their names trickled out over the past two days, in friends social
media tributes, in anguished families pleas for information and, fnally,
Saturday afternoon, in an offcial list, portraits emerged of the lives they
had lived, and would have lived.
Veronica
Moser-
Sullivan
Jesse
Childress
Gordon
Cowden
John
Larimer
Jessica
Ghawi
AJ
Boik
Jon
Blunk
Rebecca Ann
Wingo
Alexander
Teves
Alex
Sullivan
Matt
McQuinn
Micayla
Medek
THE VICTIMS
the police officers, just everyone who
hadtodeal directlywiththis sadevent.
The vigil featuredspeeches by Auro-
ra Mayor Steve Hogan and Gov. John
Hickenlooper, as well as several reli-
gious leaders.
Hogan spoke of refusing to allowthe
tragedy to define the city. Hickenloop-
er told stories of heroism amid the at-
tack: of an Aurora police officer who
drove six wounded victims to the hos-
pital in his patrol car, of a woman out-
side the theater who used a belt to ap-
plya tourniquet toa strangers wounds.
The outpouring of light and love,
Hickenlooper saidone shooting survi-
vor told him, is so much more power-
ful than any darkness.
VIGIL
FROM 1A
As Hickenlooper read the names of
the 12 killed in the shooting, the crowd
shouted, We will remember after
each one.
AnneMarie Rossi of Denver came to
the vigil with her daughter Malia, 12,
and 9 year-old son Kaden. All three
carriedsigns that read, One Love Col-
orado. Share the Love.
I wantedmy kids to come so I could
teach them that the only way to fight
evil is to do good, Rossi said.
Whichis just what Mary Lenhart did
as she enteredthe lawnwhere the vigil
was taking place. She stopped to say
thanks to a group of eight Aurora po-
lice officers standing nearby.
They put their lives on the line ev-
ery day. And what they had to see at
that theater is just too much to com-
prehend, Lenhart said, her voice
cracking with emotion. I just had to
let themknowhowmuchthey meanto
everyone. Imso grateful for them.
Sgt. Steve White, one of the officers
Lenhart thanked and who was
among the officers called to the the-
ater Friday after the shooting said
he appreciated the support.
Its just a senseless act, White said.
These past few days have just been
overwhelming.
Kronda Seibert wore a T-shirt with a
Batman logo on it. At her feet was a
homemade sign depicting a silhouette
of Batman, bowing with sunkenshoul-
ders infront of a remembrance ribbon.
Theres a little bit of Batman in all
of us, saidSeibert, whois fromAurora
and knows friends of friends affected
by the tragedy. We all have the ability
to rise above what has happened to us
and become heroes.
Then there was 11-year-old Byron
Allen, whohelda signsaying, Real he-
roes dont wear capes. His mother,
Jennifer Allen, said she and Byron go
to the movies at the Century Aurora 16
theater at least twice a month.
Im here, Byron said, because
theres this little 6-year-old girl, and I
feel bad this person killed her. Imalso
giving her a puppy, a stuffed dog.
The vigil closed as the sun slipped
frombeneath a cloud and dropped be-
low the mountains with the crowd
singing Amazing Grace in unison.
After a vigil of tears andhugs, cheers
andharmony, it seemedonly one thing
remained unsaid: the name of the
shooting suspect.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068,
jingold@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/john_ingold
We can all understand what it
would be like to have someone that
we love taken from us in this fash-
ion, he said.
Obama didnt mention the alleged
gunman, James Eagan Holmes, by
name, saying that thoughthere was a
lot of attention on him now, eventu-
ally that notoriety will fade.
Inthe end, after he has felt the full
force of our justice system, what will
be remembered are the good people
who were impacted by this tragedy,
Obama said.
Jordan Ghawi, brother of victim
Jessica Ghawi, tweeted after the
meeting: Sat down with President
Obama. He has been incredible. He
too has agreed not to mention the
shooters name.
The victims families gathered at
the hospital, and Obama reportedly
OBAMA
FROM 1A
moved fromcluster to cluster, speak-
ingtothemmostlyabout happymem-
ories of those killed. His visit ran
about an hour longer than planned.
The staff kept trying to drag him
out, and he wouldnt be dragged
out, Gov. John Hickenlooper said.
Sundays trip was the second time
Obama has traveledto Colorado this
summer because of tragedy. He visit-
ed Colorado Springs at the end of
June to thank volunteers and fire-
fighters who fought the devastating
Waldo Canyon fire.
Thepresident, whoisinatoughrace
with GOP presidential hopeful Mitt
Romney, will continue to suspend
election politics, including television
ads, inColorado through this week.
RomneyonSundaypraisedObamas
handlingof thetragedy, sayingvisiting
families was the right thing.
Obama told a story of Allie Young,
19, who was shot inthe neck, andher
friend Stephanie Davies, whose
quick thinking, he said, likely saved
Youngs life.
After Young was shot, Davies
pulled her out of harms way and
held her fingers to her friends neck
to slowthe bleeding, Obama said.
Young apparently told Davies to
flee, but she refused, staying with
Young and pulling her out of the
aisle until the shooting stopped.
Aurora Police Chief Oates, who
was with the president during his
three-hour trip, appeared to choke
up at that detail.
Because of Stephanies timely ac-
tions, I just had a conversation with
Allie downstairs, and she is going to
be fine, Obama said. As heart-
breaking as it is for the families, its
worth us spending most of our time
reflecting on young Americans like
Allie and Stephanie, because they
represent whats best in us, and they
assure us that out of this darkness a
brighter day is going to come.
Allison Sherry: 202-662-8907,
asherry@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/allisonsherry
Goodafternoon, everybody. I want to
beginby just thanking all the state, local
andfederal officials who have respond-
edmagnificently to this tragedy.
Governor Hickenlooper, who has
already been dealing with a range of
natural disasters here in the state, has
been an extraordinary example of
strength. The Mayor, who has only
been on the job seven months, and
obviously has responded with great
strength and leadership. The Police
Chief, who we had an opportunity
to speak over the phone Chief
Oates has been dealing with as diffi-
cult a set of circumstances as any law
enforcement officer deals with, and
he and his officers have done every-
thing right, by the book, with great
courage and great determination. And
so we are very proud of them. And I
think I speak for the entire congres-
sional delegation who is here as well.
Scripture says that He will wipe
away every tear fromtheir eyes, and
death shall be no more. Neither shall
there be mourning, nor crying, nor
pain anymore, for the former things
have passed away. And when you
have an opportunity to visit with
families who have lost their loved
ones as I described to them, I
come to themnot so much as Presi-
dent as I do as a father and as a hus-
band. And I think that the reason
stories like this have such an impact
on us is because we can all under-
stand what it would be to have some-
body that we love taken fromus in
this fashion what it would be like
and howit would impact us.
I had a chance to visit with each
family, and most of the conversation
was filled with memory. It was an op-
portunity for families to describe how
wonderful their brother, or their son,
or daughter was, and the lives that
they have touched, and the dreams
that they held for the future. I con-
fessed to themthat words are always
inadequate in these kinds of situations,
but that my main task was to serve as a
representative of the entire country
and let themknowthat we are think-
ing about themat this moment and
will continue to think about themeach
and every day, and that the awareness
that not only all of America but much
of the world is thinking about them
might serve as some comfort.
I also tried to assure themthat al-
though the perpetrator of this evil act
has received a lot of attention over
the last couple of days, that attention
will fade away. And in the end, after
he has felt the full force of our justice
system, what will be remembered are
the good people who were impacted
by this tragedy.
And I also had a chance to give folks
some hugs and to shed some tears, but
also to share some laughs as they re-
membered the wonderful lives that
these men and women represented.
I also had a chance, fortunately, to
visit some folks who are going to be
OK, thanks to the extraordinary ef-
forts of the staff at this hospital. And I
just want to thank everybody whos
worked tirelessly here to deal with
this tragedy.
Some of the stories are remarkable.
You see young people whove come
in and just two days ago, or 36 hours
ago, or even 24 hours ago, it wasnt
certain whether theyd make it. And
nowsuddenly, their eyes are open,
theyre alert and theyre talking. And
it reminds you that even in the dark-
est of days, life continues, and people
are strong and people bounce back
and people are resilient. And particu-
larly, given the fact that so many of
the victims were young, it is a great
blessing to see howrapidly theyre
able to recover fromsome pretty
devastating injuries.
Theres one particular story I want
to tell because this was the last visit
that I had and I think its representa-
tive of everything that I sawand heard
today. I had a chance, just now, about
five minutes ago, to visit with Allie
Young Allie is 19 years old and I
also had a chance to visit with Allies
best friend, Stephanie Davies, whos
21. Stephanie was actually downstairs
with Allie as well as Allies parents
when I walked into the room.
And I dont think this story has been
heard at least I hadnt read it yet
but I wanted to share it with you.
When the gunman initially came in
and threwthe canisters, he threw
themonly a fewfeet away fromAllie
and Stephanie, who were sitting there
watching the film. Allie stood up, see-
ing that she might need to do some-
thing or at least warn the other people
who were there. And she was immedi-
ately shot. And she was shot in the
neck, and it punctured a vein, and im-
mediately she started spurting blood.
And apparently, as she dropped
down on the floor, Stephanie 21
years old had the presence of mind
to drop down on the ground with her,
pull her out of the aisle, place her
fingers over where she where Allie
had been wounded, and applied pres-
sure the entire time while the gun-
man was still shooting. Allie told
Stephanie she needed to run. Stepha-
nie refused to go instead, actually,
with her other hand, called 911 on her
cell phone.
Once the SWATteamcame in, they
were still trying to clear the theater.
Stephanie then, with the help of sev-
eral others, carries Allie across two
parking lots to where the ambulance
is waiting. And because of Stepha-
nies timely actions, I just had a con-
versation with Allie downstairs, and
she is going to be fine.
I dont knowhowmany people at
any age would have the presence of
mind that Stephanie did, or the cour-
age that Allie showed. And so, as
tragic as the circumstances of what
weve seen today are, as heartbreak-
ing as it is for the families, its worth
us spending most of our time reflect-
ing on young Americans like Allie
and Stephanie, because they repre-
sent whats best in us, and they assure
us that out of this darkness a brighter
day is going to come.
To the entire community of Aurora,
the country is thinking of you. I know
that theres going to be a vigil and an
opportunity for everybody to come
together. And I hope that all those
who are in attendance understand
that the entire country will be there
in prayer and reflection today.
So thank you. God bless you. God
bless all who helped to respond to
this tragedy. And I hope that over the
next several days, next several weeks,
and next several months, we all re-
flect on howwe can do something
about some of the senseless violence
that ends up marring this country, but
also reflect on all the wonderful peo-
ple who make this the greatest coun-
try on Earth.
Thank you very much, everybody.
It was almost like God picked
some of the most vibrant and alive
people and took themaway from
us. To the families, we remain
here for you. Colorado is here for
you and always will be.
Gov. John Hickenlooper

This horrific incident touches
all of Aurora. This is one of those
moments that test us as a commu-
nity, a state and a country. For Au-
rora, this is also one of those mo-
ments that brings out the best in
our community and us as individu-
als. We will reclaimour city in
the name of goodness, kindness
and compassion.
Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan

I just wanted to come and pay
my respects. I think this is the start
of the healing.
Greg Durfee of Denver, who con-
siders Aurora to be his hometown

The way Aurora, Colorado and
the nation have come together in
the wake of this tragedy is a testa-
ment to our strength and our re-
solve to not let one act of terror
define us. Todays vigil is a tribute
to what makes Colorado and our
nation great: its people. The vic-
tims of this terrible crime, and their
families, continue to be in my
thoughts and prayers. I hope all
Americans will be as inspired by
tonights vigil as I am.
Sen. Mark Udall, in a statement
after the vigil
After meeting with several shooting victims at the University of Colorado Hospital Sunday, President
Barack Obama thanked Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates for his work. RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
We all have the ability to rise above what

has happened to us and become heroes.
Kronda Seibert of Aurora
President Obamas remarks
Condolences fromthe Aurora tragedy memorial vigil
6A
Midnight massacre monday, july 23, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 66
JON BLUNK AJ BOIK JESSE CHILDRESS GORDON COWDEN JESSICA GHAWI JOHN LARIMER
Veronica
Moser-
Sullivan
Jesse
Childress
Gordon
Cowden
John
Larimer
Jessica
Ghawi
AJ
Boik
Jon
Blunk
Rebecca Ann
Wingo
Alexander
Teves
Alex
Sullivan
Matt
McQuinn
Micayla
Medek
THE VICTIMS
gious leaders.
VIGIL
FROM 1A
each one.
overwhelming.
and become heroes.
shooting suspect.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068,
ion, he said.
Obama said.
shooters name.
OBAMA
FROM 1A
Waldo Canyon fire.
Youngs life.
up at that detail.
by this tragedy.
this tragedy.
cell phone.
try on Earth.

and compassion.

of the healing.

after the vigil

6A
Midnight massacre monday, july 23, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 66
MICAYLA MEDEK MATT McQUINN VERONICA MOSER-
SULLIVAN
ALEX SULLIVAN ALEXANDER TEVES REBECCA ANN
WINGO
EVERYBODY
IS HURTING
S10kY 8
PA6f 2
Of the 12, the youngest was 6, the oldest 51.
Nearly all those in between were young adults, old enough to be craft-
ing careers, serving in the military, raising families but young enough to
get a thrill out of being frst to see the summer blockbuster and ener-
getic enough to do it at midnight.
One was two days shy of his frst anniversary, one a single mother.
One of them had just earned his masters degree and wanted to be a
counselor. They had all gone out for a night of fun, but more than one died
trying to save someone else.
The greatest heroes werent on the screen.
JON BLUNK: Shielded girlfriend, saved her life
For Jansen Young, 21, the two constants during the movie-theater mas-
sacre that ended 12 lives were the sound of gunshots and the feeling of her
boyfriend, Jon Blunks, hands on her back.
Blunk, 26, was shot to death while protecting Young, according to NBC News.
Young declined to discuss details of the shooting with The Denver Post,
saying she was trying to work through it.
Young told NBC News that when the shooter started his attack, Blunk
knew to throw her to the foor.
On the movie-theater foor, Blunk kept pushing her with his arms as she
heard shots being fred.
She eventually noticed that he had stopped pushing her under the seat,
but she didnt think he had been killed.
I guess I didnt really know he had passed, up until I started shaking
him and saying, Jon, Jon, we have to go. Its time for us to get out of
here, she said, her voice trembling.
Young said she tried to get up and lift Blunk by the shoulder but he
PAGE 3
S10kY 8
didnt move. The couple had been dating since October, she told NBC.
Blunks estranged wife, Chantel Blunk, who lives in Reno, Nev., with
their two children a 4-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy told NBC
News that she was notifed of his death by the FBI.
He always talked about if he were going to die, he wanted to die a
hero, she said.
He probably imagined that would happen in the military and not in a
suburban movie theater.
Jon Blunk went to Proctor Hug High School in Reno, where he and Ch-
antel met. After his 2004 high school graduation, he enlisted in the Navy
and served aboard the USS Nimitz in San Diego.
Blunk left the Navy, separated from his wife and moved to Colorado in 2009.
He had been working at a hardware store at the time of the theater shooting.
Blunks funeral will be at 1 p.m., Friday, August 3 at the Mountain View
Mortuary in Reno. He will receive a full military funeral and burial.
A Wells Fargo account Jonathan Blunk Memorial Fund has been
set up for contributions, which will be used for his funeral and two daughters.
ALEXANDER AJ BOIK: A warm and loving heart
His name was Alexander Boik, but to the hundreds who stood on the
Gateway High School football feld to remember him, he was AJ.
His family called Boik a young man with a warm and loving heart.
On the day after he was killed in the Aurora theater shootings, friends
recalled a guy who made people laugh, who loved softball and who loved
movies so much he never missed a premiere.
He was the life of the party. AJ could bring a smile to anybodys face,
said one of a dozen speakers who paid tribute to their friend outside the
high school Boik graduated from just two months ago.
PAGE 4
S10kY 8
The young man, who declined to give his name, said he had known Boik
since they were freshmen at Gateway.
His girlfriend, identifed by friends as Lasamoa Cross, surprised every-
one by saying she and AJ were secretly engaged.
We were crazy in love. We had big plans. We were going to have ev-
erything, she said. We are still going to have everything because hes still
here. AJ lives (in everyone who knew and loved him), she said.
Boiks plans included attending Rocky Mountain College of Art and De-
sign in the fall. His family said his dream was to become an art teacher and
open his own studio.
A memorial Facebook page was created for A.J., a site now bursting
with messages of condolence, photos of hand-drawn messages etched in
sandy beaches, and memories of the young man whose vivacious life was
abruptly ended.
AJ was loved by all that knew him, his family said. We want to try
and focus on the beautiful lives that were ended and not the evil that is
responsible. This is a time for us to remember our loved ones and cherish
the memories we have of them.
The family asked that their privacy be respected.
We are trying to move through this horrible ordeal, the family said.
Our thoughts, prayers and love go out to the other families of the victims
and all those who have been touched by this senseless tragedy.
A memorial fund has been set up for AJ, with the money going directly
to his family.
Boiks funeral is being held at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 27. The service will
be at the Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Aurora, and the family has
requested that media not attend.
JESSE CHILDRESS:
A great man to his Air Force colleagues
Nearly every day of the week, Jesse Childress spent his evenings playing
sports with friends. Monday it was softball. Tuesday it was bowling. Another
night, it was fag football.
He trained for a Tough Mudder race, which he completed last month
with nearly 30 other Air Force airmen from Buckley Air Force Base. Chil-
PAGE 5
S10kY 8
dress, who served in the Army before joining the Air Force Reserves, loved
the obstacles, but hated the running.
Jesse was really big into sports, said Alejando Sanchez, a friend and
fellow member of the Air Force Reserves stationed at Buckley Air Force
Base in Aurora.
In the fall, Childress, 29, spent his Sundays cheering for the Broncos he
had season tickets, and would wear his No. 92 Elvis Dumervil jersey and
throughout the winter and spring, he watched his beloved Los Angeles Kings
and Los Angeles Clippers. Childress, whose parents live in Palmdale, Calif.,
dreamed of visiting every Division I football stadium.
But Childress was also a big nerd, his friend Kevin Thao said, in the
most endearing way possible, because of Childress love of comics and
superhero movies. Childress had recently purchased a new black Scion, a
car he nicknamed the Batmobile.
Thao and Sanchez had tickets to The Dark Knight Rises in theater 8,
and tried to convince Childress to sneak in from theater 9 to join them.
Childress declined in order to stay with another friend.
Thao said Childress was fatally wounded when he dived in front of the
friend, a female Air Force member from Buckley.
He would have done that, Thao said Saturday evening at the make-
shift memorial erected across the street from the Century 16 theater.
Sanchez and Thao gave their witness statements to the police, and then spent
nearly 90 minutes wandering around the parking lot looking for Childress.
We were all calling the hospitals, the police department, Sanchez
said. Almost every hour, to every hospital in this area.
Three other Air Force colleagues traveled from the Air Force base Sat-
urday to honor Childress. Two women and a man, all in their Air Force
PAGE 6
S10kY 8
uniforms, placed fowers at the memorial and then straightened the Air
Force fag that was already in place.
The male airman, who declined to give his name, then turned to face
the crowd of mourners.
We lost a great man, you guys, he said.
Childress lived in Thornton, and was one of two military members sta-
tioned at Buckley killed in the shooting. The other was John Larimer, a
sailor in the U.S. Navy. Another airman and another sailor were injured.
According to the Air Force Reserve Command, Childress worked as a
cyber systems operator and was on active duty orders in the 310th Force
Support Squadron. His friends said Childress worked with the bases com-
puter systems.
He was a huge part of our unit, and this is a terrible loss. The person
that did this was an incredible coward, Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Schwald
said Saturday at the memorial site. She declined to give her frst name.
GORDON COWDEN: Slain father loved life
Gordon W. Cowden, 51, of Aurora was the oldest of the victims killed in
the theater.
His family released this statement:
Loving father, outdoorsman and small business owner, Cowden was a
true Texas gentleman that loved life and his family. A quick witted world
traveler with a keen sense of humor, he will be remembered for his devo-
tion to his children and for always trying his best to do the right thing, no
matter the obstacle.
Cowden had taken his two teenage children to the theater the night of the
shooting. The teenagers escaped unharmed.
A spokeswoman said the family wishes to express appreciation for the
S10kY 8
PA6f 7
concern and prayers offered us during this very diffcult time. Our hearts
go out to everyone that has been harmed by this senseless tragedy.
Cowden is the son of former Texas State Representative George M.
Cowden, according to the Austin Statesman.
The family respectively requests privacy as we cope with the loss of
our loved one. Thank you for understanding that we will not be granting
interviews or speaking to members of the media. Again, our thoughts and
prayers are with all who are suffering due to this tragic event.
His funeral will be on Wednesday, July 25, at Pathways Church, which is
located at 1595 Pearl Street, Denver.
JESSICA GHAWI: She wanted to help
Jessica Ghawi grew up a hockey fan in football-crazed Texas.
She followed that passion to Colorado to forge a career in sports journal-
ism. It probably took her to Toronto, where just weeks ago, she walked out
of a shopping-mall food court moments before a gunman shot seven people.
Writing as Jessica Redfeld in a June 5 blog entry, the 24-year-old de-
scribed how the experience reminded her how blessed I am for each sec-
ond I am given.
Early Friday in Aurora, Ghawi did not escape the gunfre.
Jessica Ghawi paid the bills by working as a waitress until she was laid
off recently, said Adrian Dater, who covers the Colorado Avalanche for
The Denver Post. But her goal was to earn a living as a sports journalist.
When fre destroyed the homes of so many in Colorado last month,
Ghawi decided to start collecting donated hockey equipment for kids.
She wanted to help. Thats the type of heart she had, her brother, Jor-
dan Ghawi, told 9News.
According to a tweet sent on Monday by her brother Jordan, her memo-
PAGE 8
S10kY 8
rial service will be held at 10 a.m., Saturday, July 28, at Community Bible
Church in San Antonio, Texas.
The family has set up the Jessica Redfeld Ghawi Foundation and are
directing donations to a scholarship fund, which they have established for
aspiring sports broadcasters. So far, nearly $23,000 has been donated in her
memory.
Late Thursday night, as Ghawi waited for the show to start in sold-out
theater 9, she tweeted her excitement and impatience, and ribbed friends
who werent there.
MOVIE DOESNT START FOR 20 MINUTES, she tweeted before
midnight.
It was her last message.
JOHN THOMAS LARIMER:
Sailor was an outstanding shipmate
John Thomas Larimers last act was a heroic act. It was not, however,
an act of bravery performed in his role as a Navy sailor it was an act of
love and sacrifce performed as a boyfriend.
Navy Petty Offcer 3rd Class Larimer was killed early Friday in the Au-
rora movie theater massacre while protecting his girlfriend, Kelley Vojt-
sek, from the barrage of bullets.
John and I were seated in the middle area. When the violence oc-
curred, John immediately and instinctively covered me and brought me
to the ground in order to protect me from any danger, Vojtsek said in a
written statement provided to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Moments later, John knowingly shielded me from a spray of gunshots.
It was then, I believe, John was hit with a bullet that would have very pos-
sibly struck me. I feel very strongly that I was saved by John and his ulti-
S10kY 8
PA6f 9
mate kindness.
Larimer, 27, joined the Navy in June 2011 and was a cryptologic techni-
cian 3rd class. For the past year, he had been stationed at the U.S. Fleet
Cyber Command station at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora.
I am incredibly saddened by the loss of Petty Offcer John Larimer,
Cmdr. Jeffrey Jakuboski, Larimers commanding offcer, said in a state-
ment. He was an outstanding shipmate. A valued member of our Navy
team, he will be missed by all who knew him.
Larimer was from Crystal Lake, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.
A family member told the Daily Herald newspaper that Larimer was
the youngest of fve siblings. He was a 2003 graduate of Crystal Lake South
High School and trained at the Great Lakes Naval Academy.
Julie Gates, a neighbor in Crystal Lake, described Larimer as a man
with a good sense of humor who took time to stop and buy lemonade from
her daughters lemonade stand.
Vojtsek, in her statement to the Chicago Sun-Times, said that she and
Larimer had a conversation about his military advancement just weeks
before the shooting.
He wanted to be deployed for two simple reasons: He wanted to pro-
tect his country, and he wanted to save others from danger and harm,
Vojtsek said in the Sun-Times statement.
His funeral and burial will be private.
MICAYLA MEDEK:
Hinkley grad was trying to get life together
Everyone knew her as Cayla.
Micayla Medek, 23, worked as a Subway sandwich artist. I do every-
thing lol, she said on her Facebook page.
PAGE 10
S10kY 8
A graduate of William C. Hinkley High School in Aurora, Medek took
classes at Community College of Aurora through last fall.
Im a simple independent girl whos just trying to get her life together
while still having fun, she wrote on Facebook.
She attended the midnight showing of the new Batman movie with friends
and was wounded, family members told the Los Angeles Times. Nearly 20
hours passed before authorities confrmed to the family that she was one of
the 12 killed in the shooting.
The Micayla Medek Memorial Fund is accessed through Fitzsimons
Credit Union. Contributions can also be routed through local credit unions
by calling 800-919-2872.
A visitation for Medek will be held Wednesday, July 25, from 2 p.m. to
9 p.m. at Newcomer Funeral Home & Crematory, 190 N. Potomac, Aurora.
The funeral is at 11 a.m. on Thursday, July, 26, at New Hope Baptist Church,
3701 Colorado Blvd., Denver.
MATT McQUINN: Ohio native protected his girlfriend
Matt McQuinn died protecting his girlfriend.
As a gunman calmly walked up the aisle of an Aurora movie theater
Friday fring at moviegoers, the 27-year-old Ohio native dived on top of Sa-
mantha Yowler. Her brother Nick, 32, also tried to shield her, said Robert
L. Scott, attorney for the McQuinn and Yowler families.
Samantha Yowler, 27, was shot in the knee. Her brother escaped with-
out injury. But McQuinn, from St. Paris, Ohio, was not as fortunate.
McQuinns mother, Jeri Jackson, few to Colorado on Friday as family
members in Springfeld tried to get information about what happened to
McQuinn, according to the Dayton Daily News.
S10kY 8
PA6f 11
McQuinns stepmother, Stacie McQuinn, said the hospital would not
tell Yowler, who underwent surgery Friday, about her boyfriends condi-
tion because the two were not related.
Matt McQuinn graduated from Vandalia-Butler High School in 2004.
He met Yowler while the two were working at a Target store in Spring-
feld, the Dayton Daily News reported. In November, the couple trans-
ferred to a Target store in Denver, joining Yowlers brother, who had lived
in Colorado for the past few years.
Co-workers spoke warmly of McQuinn on Friday when the news began
circulating among the staff. Diane Behling worked with both McQuinn
and Sammy and said they were all a close-knit team. She said McQuinn
was just a really good person and that she loved having his company
and laughter at work.
McQuinns funeral is set for 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 28 at Maiden Lane
Church in Springfeld, Ohio. His burial will be at Lawrenceville Cemetery
in Clark County.
VERONICA MOSER-SULLIVAN: 6-year-old just learned
to swim, loved to dress up and read
Veronica Moser-Sullivan will always be 6 years old.
The vibrant, excitable, blond-haired, blue-eyed little girl, who was brag-
ging fve days ago about learning how to swim, was one of the 12 people killed
in the Aurora theater shooting Friday, said her great-aunt Annie Dalton.
She loved to dress up and read and was doing well at school. She was
beautiful and innocent, Dalton said of Veronica, who attended Holly
Ridge Elementary School in Denver. Its a nightmare right now.
PAGE 12
S10kY 8
Veronicas mother, Ashley Moser, remains in critical condition at Aurora
Medical Center. The 25-year-old was shot in the neck, and doctors have been
unable to remove the bullet. She also suffered a gunshot wound in the abdomen.
Moser passes in and out of consciousness, asking about her daughter,
Dalton said, and does not yet know that Veronica died.
Moser, who was recently accepted to medical school, might recover
with some use of her hands.
They expect her to have some paralysis but dont know how extensive
it will be, Dalton said.
Veronica was a comfort to her grandfather, who died two months ago
after suffering from a terminal illness over the previous year.
We were just rebuilding our family, Dalton said.
ALEX SULLIVAN:
First wedding anniversary would have been Sunday
Sometime late Thursday, Alex Sullivan posted on his Facebook page:
#TheDarkKnightRises OMG COUNTING down till it start cant wait go-
ing to be the best birthday ever.
Sullivan died on his 27th birthday. He and co-workers from a Red Robin
restaurant had gone to the premiere. Sullivan was killed, and seven co-
workers were injured.
Sunday would have been Sullivans one-year wedding anniversary. Re-
cently, he wrote on his Facebook page: Just took the wife to DIA going to
be gone for 3 and a half weeks going to miss her a lot. I love you cassie.
Cassandra Sullivan returned home Wednesday.
The morning of the shooting, Alex Sullivans father, Tom, showed his
picture around and asked if anybody had seen his son, an image that re-
minded some of 9/11 and grieving people amid that tragedy.
PAGE 13
S10kY 8
Friends on Saturday talked about the big-hearted, good-humored guy
they knew.
Derek Smith, who worked with Sullivan at Red Robin on South Havana
Street, said the two were movie buffs.
In Animal House, theres a part when they go to the bar and one of the
guys screams across the bar, Hey, Otis! Smith said. When I walked in,
it was always, Hey, Otis! No one knew what it meant, but because were
both into movies we got a kick out of it.
Ah, man, Im going to miss that dude, I really am, Smith said, his eyes
welling with tears.
Bryan Beard frst met Sullivan during their freshman year at Grandview
High School.
We just clicked, Beard said. Were both big guys, and big guys stick
together.
Beard said Sullivan stood 6 feet 4 inches and weighed about 280 pounds.
He played football and wrestled before graduating from high school in
2003 and later going to culinary school, Beard said.
Maneka Singh, another high school friend, said Sullivan was always
smiling and the type of guy who had too many friends and loved them all.
Im just trying in a way to make sense of all of this. I dont know that
you can really even do that, she said. Why a movie theater? Why so
many innocent people?
ALEXANDER TEVES:
Recent masters graduate a fan of Arizona, Spider-Man
Shooting victim Alexander Teves recently earned his masters degree
in counseling psychology from the University of Denver.
S10kY 8
PA6f 14
Friends of Teves, 24, began posting on social media Friday night after
learning Teves was among the 12 people killed in the Aurora movie theater
shootings.
A friend, identifed only as Caitlin on Twitter, posted messages on the
social media network early Friday from the Century Aurora 16 theater,
and wrote on Twitter early Saturday that Teves was, One of the best men
I ever knew. The world isnt as good a place without him. She also de-
scribed Teves as a fan of the University of Arizona and Spider-Man.
Teves aunt, Barbara Slivinske, told ABC15 in Phoenix that he had also
attended college in Arizona and had wanted to pursue further schooling
in order to become a physical therapist.
According to his father, Tom Teves, the 24-year-old blocked his girl-
friend, Amanda, from the very bullet that ended up killing him.
He always put everybody else ahead of himself and that was typical of
his behavior yesterday. He was a hero, Slivinske told ABC15. He was a
wonderful nephew. He was a wonderful person. Loving, caring, intelligent,
and had a good sense of humor. Everybody loved him who met him.
Slivinske told ABC15 that he would wear the same outft to high school
everyday clean blue jeans and a crisp white T-shirt.
It became such a trademark joke among his classmates that they would
have Alex Teves Day where everyone would show up to school in the
same outft, reports ABC15.
A University of Denver spokeswoman said Teves, from Phoenix, gradu-
ated in June. The university offcially notifed its students and faculty of
Teves death Saturday afternoon.
The University released the following statement:
The University extends its deepest condolences to his family and
friends, including the many current students and faculty who knew and
worked with Alex.
Teves personal Facebook page lists him as a 2010 graduate of the Univer-
sity of Arizona, and a 2006 graduate of Desert Vista High School in Phoenix.
Funeral arrangements are still being made.
S10kY 8
PA6f 15
REBECCA WINGO: Mom of two lost to a mad man
The father of Rebecca Wingo, 32, confrmed that his daughter died in
the Aurora theater shootings in a post on his Facebook page.
Steve Hernandez wrote, I lost my daughter yesterday to a mad man,
my grief right now is inconsolable, I hear she died instantly, without pain,
however the pain is unbearable.
Friends said Saturday that Wingos parents also posted a message about
her death on Wingos Facebook page. That page shows a picture of two
young girls.
A friend, Gail Riffe, brought two teddy bears, one pink and one white,
to the memorial site near the CenturyAurora 16 theater for Wingos daugh-
ters, as well as roses for Wingos parents.
Everybody is hurting right now, Riffe said. She was a gentle, sweet,
beautiful soul.
Wingo listed Joes Crab Shack as her employer on Facebook, and a man-
ager at the restaurant in Aurora confrmed that Wingo worked there. He
deferred comment to the restaurants corporate offce, which was closed
Saturday.
Wingo had been enrolled at the Community College of Aurora since
fall 2009 and had been working toward an associate of arts degree.
S10kY 9
PA6f 1
AURORA Gathered shoulder-to-shoulder, leaning forward on tiptoes,
overfowing onto sidewalks and into parking lots, a crowd of thousands con-
verged Sunday evening at the Aurora Municipal Center to stand as one.
At a vigil to honor the victims of the Century Aurora 16 theater shoot-
ings, the scenes in the crowd spoke to the respect of the moment.
Little girls carried bouquets of fowers. Small boys in scout uniforms
stood self-consciously upright. Adults applauded when Aurora police of-
fcers walked by. Most had no personal reason to be there, other than to
prove that Aurora sprawling, diverse, complicated Aurora is a com-
A BRIGHTER DAY
IS GOING TO COME
The families, bottom center, arrive at the prayer vigil for the victims of the Century Aurora 16 theater shootings at the Aurora Municipal Center
campus in Aurora on Sunday. Joe Amon, The Denver Post
Online version
published 9:12:05
p.m. on July 22,
2012; print version
(shown) published
July 23, 2012
Story by
John Ingold, Kurtis A. Lee
and Yesenia Robles
AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. THE MEMORIAL
S10kY 9
PA6f 2
munity united following the tragedy.
I just wanted to come and pay my respects,
said Greg Durfee, who said he lives in Denver
but considers Aurora to be his hometown. I
think this is the start of the healing.
When something tragic and horrifc like
this happens, said Bill Stanley, who, along
with his wife, Colleen, traveled from Wheat
Ridge for the vigil, it hurts the whole metro-
area region. I just wanted to pay respects to
the victims, the families, the police offcers,
just everyone who had to deal directly with
this sad event.
The vigil featured speeches by Aurora May-
or Steve Hogan and Gov. John Hickenlooper, as
well as several religious leaders.
Hogan spoke of refusing to allow the trage-
dy to defne the city. Hickenlooper told stories
of heroism amid the attack: of an Aurora police
offcer who drove six wounded victims to the
hospital in his patrol car, of a woman outside
the theater who used a belt to apply a tourni-
quet to a strangers wounds.
The outpouring of light and love, Hicken-
looper said one shooting survivor told him, is so much more powerful
than any darkness.
As Hickenlooper read the names of the 12 killed in the shooting, the
crowd shouted, We will remember after each one.
AnneMarie Rossi of Denver came to the vigil with her daughter Malia,
12, and 9 year-old son Kaden. All three carried signs that read, One Love
Colorado. Share the Love.
I wanted my kids to come so I could teach them that the only way to
fght evil is to do good, Rossi said.
Which is just what Mary Lenhart did as she entered the lawn where the
vigil was taking place. She stopped to say thanks to a group of eight Aurora
PA6f 2
Voice of the Rocky Mountain Empire
MONDAY, JULY 23, 2012 hot; isolated storms E97 F66 22A B the denver post B $1 price may vary outside metro denver 66
Aurora theater shooting: The latest news, photo galleries, video, maps and more denverpost.com dp
I NSI DE Comics 5-7C | Lottery 2A | Movies 4C | Obituaries 20A | Opinion 21A | Puzzles 5-6C| Tech Know 8C
DUKINGIT OUT
AT MILE-HIGH
Bandimere Speedway sizzles with showdowns
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ROAD WORK
BEGINS
ON U.S. 36 14A
Poverty rates in U.S. may rise
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nation&world, 18A
ABRIGHTERDAY
IS GOINGTOCOME
MIDNIGHT MASSACRE | ADAY OF MOURNING
The families, bottomcenter, arrive at the prayer vigil for the victims of the Century Aurora 16 theater shootings at the Aurora Municipal Center campus in Aurora on Sunday. Joe Amon, The Denver Post
By John Ingold, Kurtis Lee
and Yesenia Robles The Denver Post
aurora
G
athered shoulder-to-shoulder, lean-
ing forward on tiptoes, overflowing
onto sidewalks and into parking
lots, a crowd of thousands con-
verged Sunday evening at the Auro-
ra Municipal Center to stand as one.
At a vigil to honor the victims of the Century
Aurora 16 theater shootings, the scenes in the
crowd spoke to the respect of the moment.
Little girls carried bouquets of flowers. Small
boys inscout uniforms stoodself-consciously up-
right. Adults applaudedwhenAurora police offi-
cers walked by. Most had no personal reason to
be there, other than to prove that Aurora
sprawling, diverse, complicated Aurora is a
community united following the tragedy.
saidGreg Durfee, who saidhe lives inDenver but
considers Aurora to be his hometown. I think
this is the start of the healing.
When something tragic and horrific like this
happens, said Bill Stanley, who, along with his
wife, Colleen, traveled from Wheat Ridge for the
vigil, it hurts the whole metro-area region. I just
wantedtopayrespects tothevictims, thefamilies,
VIGIL 6A
By Allison Sherry The Denver Post
aurora President Barack Obama spent
more than two private hours with injured vic-
tims andfamilies at University of ColoradoHos-
pital on Sunday evening before saying in a tele-
vised address that it will be the good people
and the heroic acts that will be remembered in
the theater shootings not the allegedgunman.
Solemn, flankedby ashen-facedColoradopol-
iticians and Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates,
Obama spoke to reporters at the hospital for
about nine minutes before taking off for a series
of campaign events on the West Coast.
He quoted a passage from the Bibles book of
Revelationthat says, inpart, that Godwill wipe
away every tear fromtheir eyes and death shall
be no more.
Obama said he came to the victims and the
families not somuchas president as I doas a fa-
ther and as a husband.
The nightmarish, surreal story of what took
place inCentury Aurora 16s theater 9resonates,
Obama said, because people can easily imagine
themselves in the families shoes.
OBAMA6A
Obama: Good people, not
shooter, will be remembered
Complete coverage
Pursuing justice. Prosecutors
will most likely seek the death
penalty 10A
Suspects behavior. Weird
phone greeting a clue 2A
Crosses. Aurora, Ill., man
returns to Colorado to build
another memorial 9A
Murphy. What if his name
were Mohammed? 9A
Police force. Aurora Police
Chief Oates a strong leader
during crisis 8A
Advisement hearing
James Eagan Holmes, 24,
suspected of killing 12 people
and wounding 58 others in an
Aurora movie theater, is to be
advised of charges against him
in Arapahoe County court in
Centennial at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
At a speech Sunday, President Obama shows
howStephanie Davies saved her friend Allie
Youngs life by holding pressure on her neck
after she was shot. RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
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PAGE 3
S10kY 9
Family members of
Micayla Medek, one
of the Aurora theater
shooting victims,
comfort one another
at the community vigil
Sunday at the Aurora
Municipal Center. A
crowd of thousands
paid their respects at
the vigil, some carrying
homemade signs
decorated with prayers
and inspirational
messages. AAron
Ontiveroz, The Denver
Post
police offcers standing nearby.
They put their lives on the line every day. And what they had to see
at that theater is just too much to comprehend, Lenhart said, her voice
cracking with emotion. I just had to let them know how much they mean
to everyone. Im so grateful for them.
Sgt. Steve White, one of the offcers Lenhart thanked and who was
among the offcers called to the theater Friday after the shooting said
Its just a senseless act, White said. These past few days have just
been overwhelming.
Kronda Seibert wore a T-shirt with a Batman logo on it. At her feet was
a homemade sign depicting a silhouette of Batman, bowing with sunken
shoulders in front of a remembrance ribbon.
Theres a little bit of Batman in all of us, said Seibert, who is from Au-
rora and knows friends of friends affected by the tragedy. We all have the
ability to rise above what has happened to us and become heroes.
PAGE 4
S10kY 9
People overcome with
emotion comfort each
other Sunday at a
memorial for the 12
people who died after
a gunman opened
fre inside a movie
theater in Aurora on
Friday. The memorial
is at the corner of East
Centrepointe Drive and
South Sable Boulevard
in Aurora. Hyoung
Chang, The Denver Post
Then there was 11-year-old Byron Allen, who held a sign saying, Real
heroes dont wear capes. His mother, Jennifer Allen, said she and Byron
go to the movies at the Century Aurora 16 theater at least twice a month.
Im here, Byron said, because theres this little 6-year-old girl, and I
feel bad this person killed her. Im also giving her a puppy, a stuffed dog.
The vigil closed as the sun slipped from beneath a cloud and dropped
below the mountains with the crowd singing Amazing Grace in unison.
After a vigil of tears and hugs, cheers and harmony, it seemed only one
thing remained unsaid: the name of the shooting suspect.
S10kY 10
PA6f 1
AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. SUSPECT IN COURT
CENTENNIAL With a tangle of orangish-red hair atop his head like
a bizarre costume wig, James Eagan Holmes slouched into a courtroom
Monday to learn he is being held on suspicion of committing one of the
worst mass murders in American history.
Shackled at the wrists and ankles, Holmes jingled as he walked into his
frst court appearance since the Friday shootings at the Century Aurora 16
that killed 12 and injured 58 more. Surrounded by one of his public defend-
ers and two Arapahoe County Sheriffs deputies, Holmes appeared barely
to pay attention as 18th Judicial District Chief Judge William Sylvester
Published
July 24, 2012
Story by
John Ingold, Jessica
Fender and Jeremy P.
Meyer
AT FIRST HEARING,
SUSPECT SILENT
Theater shooting suspect James Eagan Holmes appears in Arapahoe County District Court on July 23, 2012. Holmes is being held on suspicion of
frst-degree murder and could face additional counts of aggravated assault and weapons violations stemming from a mass shooting. As the public
got its frst glimpse of Holmes, one expert is warning people to not read too much into whats behind his eyes. RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
PAGE 2
S10kY 10
advised him of his rights. He spoke not one word.
In the gallery, the father of Alex Teves, who was killed in the shootings,
crossed his arms and glared at Holmes. Others shooting survivors and
victims relatives leaned forward with their elbows resting on their knees.
Boxes of tissues were placed on the seats armrests for those struck by
tears. But the most pervasive sounds in the courtroom were the steady,
practiced voices of the judge and the attorneys ticking through routine
procedural matters.
For all the emotion and commotion surrounding the moment, it was a
hearing that lasted only 12 minutes.
We need to be here to heal, said Anggaiat Situmeang, who described
himself as a relative of a shooting victim, as he approached the courthouse
Monday morning. Its hard, physically and mentally.
The hearing ended with Sylvester ordering Holmes, 24, held without bond.
He is scheduled to return to court July 30, when he will be formally charged.
After the hearing, Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers
declined to say whether her offce would seek the death penalty in the
case, noting the fact that a signifcant fact-gathering process and specifc
legal procedures must be completed before such a momentous decision
can be made.
Chief among the evaluative process facing the four-member prosecu-
tion team which has the ultimate discretion to pursue such a penalty
is the fact that families will have a say in whether they wish to pursue a
death penalty, and the long-lasting effects of such a decision.
To that point, Chambers noted that the theater massacre has direct and
indirect impact on hundreds of people, from victims to family members of
victims, both living and dead.
I dont think thats a (decision) that can be made in the abstract,
Chambers said. Its something we defnitely want to get their input on.
Meanwhile, prosecutors are seeking input from victims, issuing sub-
poenas and search warrants. Sylvester has ordered the case fle and all
connected search warrants be sealed. On Monday, he issued a gag order
preventing the lawyers involved from discussing details of the case.
This is a very active, ongoing investigation, Chambers said.
Holmes attorneys, Daniel King and Tamara Brady, declined comment
LEGAL TEAMS
IN HOLMES CASE
PROSECUTION
Carol Chambers
District attorney for the
18th Judicial District,
which includes Arapahoe,
Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln
counties. Elected in 2004,
she is term-limited and
will be out of offce in
January. Over her tenure,
Chambers offce has
prosecuted several high-
profle cases, including the
convictions of Robert Ray
and Sir Mario Owens in
the shooting of a witness
to another killing and the
mans fance. Ray and
Owens are on death row.
Karen Pearson
Chief prosecutor, she has
been with the DAs offce
since 1996 and has been
a deputy district attorney
since 2007. High-profle
cases that Pearson has
handled include the 2005
road-rage case that left two
dead and the 2008 car crash
into a Baskin-Robbins ice
cream store in which three
people died, including a 3-
year-old boy. She graduated
from the University of
Denver law school.
Jacob Edson
Senior deputy district
attorney, he has been with
the offce for seven years.
High-profle cases he has
handled include the Marcus
Hightower conviction for
murder and the Anthony
Gillespie murder trial.
He graduated from the
University of Denver.
Andrew Steers
Senior deputy district
attorney, he has been
with the offce since
2007. He became felony
deputy in September 2011.
He graduated from the
University of Denver.
PAGE 3
S10kY 10
after the hearing. King and Brady are members of the state public de-
fenders capital cases team, the group of attorneys who represent clients
in death penalty cases.
Advisement hearings such as Holmes hearing Monday are the
frst step in a criminal case and are typically legal formalities. Once the
district attorney fles formal charges, the next major step for Holmes will
be a preliminary hearing, at which a judge will listen to testimony to de-
termine whether Holmes should be bound over for trial.
But legal experts said that could be some ways off because Holmes
attorneys may ask that Holmes receive a mental-health evaluation to de-
termine whether he is ft to stand trial. To face trial, a defendant must
understand the charges against him and be able to help his lawyers in his
defense.
I think (an evaluation) is going to happen early in this case because
part of the defendants claims is maybe that hes incompetent to stand
trial, said University of Denver law professor Sam Kamin.
Such evaluations can signifcantly prolong a case. In the instance of Na-
than Dunlap, who was convicted of killing four people in an Aurora Chuck
E. Cheese restaurant and sentenced to death, the mental-health evaluation
lasted fve months.
In the meantime, all the victims of the shooting can do is wait both
for answers and for justice.
He just looks like a pathetic freak, McKayla Hicks, who was wounded
in the shooting and attended Mondays hearing, told CNN. I just want
him put away forever.
LEGAL TEAMS IN
HOLMES CASE
PUBLIC DEFENDERS
Daniel B. King
Chief trial deputy with
the Colorado State Public
Defenders Offce. King
represented Sir Mario
Owens in the witness-
murder trial.
Tamara A. Brady
Chief trial deputy with
the Colorado State Public
Defenders Offce.
Brady represented Jose Luis
Rubi-Nava in the dragging-
murder trial.
James OConnor
Head of the Arapahoe
County division of the
Colorado State Public
Defenders Offce.
AURORA
SHOOTING
For a distinguished example of BREAKING NEWS REPORTING
THE DENVER POST STAFF
Supplemental material
Below is a table of contents to the Supplemental entry offerings.
Click on the item to go directly to the page.
Story 1: Activity log: Timeline of notable digital
offerings from the frst 3 days
Story 2: Print version of main news story
Story 3: Ambulance response stymied
Story 4: Gun sales up since tragedy
Story 5: PDFs of four days of newspaper coverage
Story 6: Link to gallery of denverpost.com
homepages through the frst three days of coverage
Story 7: PDFs of Heroes special section,
published July 29
Story 8: Link to Heroes video
Story 9: Stories from the Heroes special section
S10kY MfhU
AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. SUPPLEMENTAL ENTRIES
PA6f t
Aurora Theater Shooting
Breaking News: A log of major pieces of content
over the frst four days of the shooting. More than 200 pieces
were published on multiple platforms.
1:47 a.m. Twitter FLASH: Aurora PD is investigating reports of a multiple shooting near
the Century 16 theater. More details when available.
2:24 a.m. Photo gallery Photos: 12 dead, 58 injured in Aurora, Colorado, theater shooting
2:42 a.m. Article Unknown number shot and killed at Aurora, Colorado movie theater
2:46 a.m. Twitter FLASH: #Colorado shooting: Unknown number of people shot at Aurora movie theater:
http://dpo.st/NLXysP #theatershooting
2:59 a.m. Live blog Live blog: Social media coverage of the Aurora theater shooting
3:01 a.m. News alert Colorado shooting: Unknown number of people shot at Aurora movie theater
3:09 a.m. Google+ Shooting at Aurora, Colorado, movie theater at Batman movie premiere
3:12 a.m. Tumblr blog Unknown number of people shot, killed at Aurora, Colorado, movie theater
3:14 a.m. Twitter Were you at the the Aurora #theatershooting? We need to talk to you. Please reply, email
newsroom@denverpost.com or call 303-954-1300.
3:25 a.m. Twitter RT @kurtisalee: APD Dan Oates: A gunman opened fre. About 50 ppl hit by bullets.
14 dead. @denverpost #theatershooting.
3:27 a.m. Twitter UPDATE: 14 killed, 50 wounded at Aurora movie theater #shooting
3:41 a.m. Facebook UPDATE: Fourteen people were killed and about 50 were injured early Friday
3:45 a.m. Twitter RT @kurtisalee: Suspects #Aurora apt. is evacuated for possible explosives. No word on
where the apartment is located. @denverpost
3:54 a.m. Twitter RT @ryanparkerdp: Working #theatershooting. Aurora offcer just told me he rushed 5 to
hospital in patrol car
4:10 a.m. Facebook Photos: Shooting at Aurora Theater
4:12 a.m. Twitter A 24-year-old suspect is in custody in connection with the Aurora #theatershooting.
More updates: http://dpo.st/NLXysP
4:35 a.m. Twitter UPDATE: No evidence of second suspect, but man in custody made statement about
explosives: http://dpo.st/NLXysP
5:42 a.m. Article Gunman in black entered, opened fre
5:42 a.m. Twitter Witness to @kurtisalee: Gunman entered #theatershooting via emergency exit. Threw tear
July 20, 2012
SUPPlfMfh1Al S10kY 1
PA6f 1
gas bomb, opened fre
5:50 a.m. Blog Obama: We are committed to bringing justice to whoever was responsible
5:54 a.m. Video RAW VIDEO: Aurora Theater Shooting
6:03 a.m. Twitter ALERT: Aurora police revise #theatershooting death toll to 12 from 14 reported earlier
http://dpo.st/NLXysP
6:08 a.m. Facebook He was dressed in black, James Wilburn said, Wearing a fack
jacket and a gas mask.
6:10 a.m. Google+ Witness says Aurora theater shooting gunman entered and opened fre
6:22 a.m. Tumblr blog Aurora theater gunman in black entered and opened fre + video
6:23 a.m. News alert Breaking news: Sources identify Aurora theater gunman
6:25 a.m. Video Video: 12 dead at Aurora movie theatre shooting
6:29 a.m. Twitter @NBCNews sources identify #theatershooting gunman as 24-year-old James Holmes
http://dpo.st/NLXysP
6:30 a.m. Blog Rep. Coffman compares Aurora shooting to Iraq, other Colorado Congressional
members weigh in
6:48 a.m. Article Aurora shooting suspect left apartment booby trapped, music blaring
6:53 a.m. Video Video: Eyewitness account from inside Aurora movie theater
6:57 a.m. Map Map: Aurora theater shooting, suspects apartment, hospitals
7:05 a.m. Facebook UPDATE: Police are searching an apartment building in north Aurora after following a
shooting at a movie theater left 12 people dead.
7:46: a.m. Blog Obama cuts short Florida campaign trip because of Aurora shootings
8:26 a.m. Twitter RT @kurtisalee: Alex Sullivan, 27. Dad cant get hold of him. Has anyone seen him?
#theatershooting http://yfrog.com/oeahpecj
8:39 a.m. Blog Obama, Romney campaigns to pull ads in Colorado
8:56 a.m. Blog Movie exhibitor organization issues statement on Colorado theater shooting
8:57 a.m. News alert Breaking news: Police: Aurora theater shooting suspects apartment booby trapped
9:16 a.m. Article Aurora theater shooting: Aspiring sportscaster among victims
9:37 a.m. Blog To my friend Jessica Redfeld, killed in Aurora theater shooting
10:12 a.m. Blog Media coverage of Colorado movie massacre
10:14 a.m. Blog Aurora theater shooting aftermath: tips for helping children cope
10:25 a.m. Letters Reactions to Aurora movie theater shooting (18 letters)
10:59 a.m. Video Video: Neighbor of Aurora shooting suspect James Holmes speaks with reporters
11:09 a.m. Timeline Interactive Timeline: Shooting at Aurora theater
11:42 a.m. Article Aurora theater shooting: Political reaction
11:43 a.m. Video Video: Police Search for Evidence in Aurora Shooting
11:53 a.m. Blog New father reacts to Aurora tragedy
11:54 a.m. Audio Police and fre department scanner traffc audio archive
11:56 a.m. Twitter Police chief confrms suspects name is James E. Holmes; had 1 traffc summons for
speeding in Oct. 2011. #theatershooting
PA6f 2
12:07 p.m. Twitter Police chief: Time from the frst call to suspects apprehension was a minute to
a minute-and-a-half http://dpo.st/LwVe37
12:39 p.m. Photo blog Mass Shooting at Aurora, Colorado Movie Theater
1:14 p.m. Blog Calm under pressure during the Aurora theater shootings
1:33 p.m. Article Aurora theater shooting: Friends, family of missing seek information
1:48 p.m. Blog Crowdsourced tools provide real-time victim accounts of Dark Knight rampage
2:00 p.m. Blog Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper faces challenges after shooting, says predecessor
2:06 p.m. Blog Obama orders fags at half-mast
2:11 p.m. Blog Take a moment today to remember those we vowed not to forget
2:16 p.m. Article Trauma rooms scrambled to save lives
2:35 p.m. Article Villain in comic that inspired new Batman flm brings gun to theater
2:36 p.m. Section Launched special section on website/mobile
2:40 p.m. Article Flat tire may have saved family
2:48 p.m. Facebook Friends and family of people missing after a shooting at an Aurora theater this morning
are seeking information
2:52 p.m. Video Video: Aurora Police Chief update on Aurora Theater Shooting
2:53 p.m. Resource list How to help; Where to get help
3:35 p.m. Article Aurora theater shooting has parallels to Columbine
3:50 p.m. Blog Days worst: Aurora theater shootings
3:54 p.m. Blog Obama: My prayers are with Aurora law enforcement
4:02 p.m. Article Security guards hired, costumes banned after Denver theater shootings
4:24 p.m. Blog No excuse for ABC reporters incorrectly linking shooter to Colorado Tea Party
4:24 p.m. Video Video: Gov. Hickenlooper on Aurora Theater Shooting
4:24 p.m. Blog No excuse for ABC reporters incorrectly linking shooter to Colorado Tea Party
4:24 p.m. Blog Days best: Quick law enforcement response to shootings
4:29 p.m. Facebook WATCH: In case you missed it, Aurora police chief Dan Oates update at 11:30 a.m.
4:54 p.m. Blog Tweets about the Aurora theater shootings
5:00 p.m. Blog Thousands share Colorado Springs graphic artists tribute to theater shooting victims
5:08 p.m. Blog Aurora Gateway High football coach visible and active in shooting aftermath
5:50 p.m. Article Suspected Aurora shooter to appear in court Monday
6:39 p.m. Editorial Editorial: Grieving another horrifying act of terror
7:21 p.m. Timeline Interactive timeline: Worst mass shootings in United States history
7:22 p.m. Article Cops swarm of theater after shooting signals change in tactics
7:43 p.m. Article Booby-trapped apartment where alleged Aurora theater shooter lived vexes cops
8:25 p.m. Video Video: Aurora Shooting Witnesses Speak
8:30 p.m. Blog In the face of hate displayed in Aurora theater shootings love back
8:46 p.m. Video Video: Aurora Theater Shooting Victim Zack Golditch
9:03 p.m. Twitter RT @KristenPainter: Night falls on the #TheaterShooting vigil. pic.twitter.com/W2imMP3y
9:13 p.m. Photo gallery Photos: Vigil for the 12 killed, 58 injured in Aurora, Colorado, theater shooting
PA6f 3
9:48 p.m. Twitter RT @Lin_Shapley: @gregmooreDP the 1A sneak peek #theatershooting
pic. twitter.com/kEETWN33
10:47 p.m. Twitter UPDATE: Family of Alex Sullivan, 27, confrms he was one of the 12 killed in
#theatershooting: http://dpo.st/NLXysP
10:53 p.m. Blog What Theyre Saying: National opinion on Aurora theater shootings
10:56 p.m. Article Friends create #RIPJessica to honor victim who loved social media
11:02 p.m. Audio Soundcloud: Aurora Theater shooting dispatch calls
11:34 p.m. Article Wounded teen helped another badly hurt man out of Aurora theater
12:41 a.m. Article Real life shooting imitates training exercise at Parker medical school
12:55 a.m. Article Colorado sports teams honor victims of Aurora theater slayings
1:00 a.m. Article What frst seemed part of show turns to horrifc, chaotic scene
1:00 a.m. Article Aurora shooting unlikely to impact presidential race
1:00 a.m. Article Aurora gunman carried semi-automatic arsenal to theater
1:00 a.m. Commentary Aurora shooting suspect is tragic reminder of a big problem
1:00 a.m. Article Theater shooting suspect: A quiet man who authorities say harbored a deadly plan
1:00 a.m. Article Panicked families search for loved ones in wake of shooting
1:00 a.m. Article Anguish among family, friends of the dead, missing runs deep
1:00 a.m. Article Young family survives Aurora theater shooting
1:00 a.m. Article Several hundred gather in Aurora to mourn the victims of theater shooting
1:00 a.m. Article Columbine principal comments on parallels with Aurora shooting
1:00 a.m. Article Tapes reveal chaos, horror at theater shooting
1:23 a.m. Video Video: Prayer Vigil for Aurora, Colorado theater shooting victims
1:57 a.m Graphic Graphic of the shooting scene
7:19 a.m. Twitter @KirkMitchellDP reports bomb experts are staging a breach of
#theatershooting suspects apartment pic.twitter.com/pw7wdo7B
8:24 a.m. Article Small blast disables trip wire to 30 IEDs inside Holmes apartment
9:59 a.m. Tumblr quote We hope to get in within the next hour, Sgt. Cassidee Carlson of the Aurora Police
Department said.
10:19 a.m. Article All victims IDd, police notifying families
10:28 a.m. Article Stories of victims killed emerge
11:24 a.m. Twitter UPDATE: First trip wire disabled at suspects apartment http://dpo.st/NE6oq8
by @KristenPainter
11:41 a.m. Twitter UPDATE: RT @KristenPainter: Boom!! Two warning horns and the controlled detonation
has happened. #TheaterShooting
11:45 a.m. Google+ Live updates from the apartment scene
11:46 a.m. Facebook LIVE: Updates on the operation to breach the apartment of Aurora
theater shooting suspect
July 21, 2012
PA6f 4
12:15 p.m. Twitter UPDATE: Floor of #theatershooting suspects apartment littered with about
30 softball-sized IEDs: http://dpo.st/NE6oq8
12:18 p.m. Google+ Live update: Detonation successful at apartment scene
12:23 p.m. Victim profle Shooting victim John Larimer: Illinois sailor was youngest of fve children
12:25 p.m. Tumblr blog Running updates on the operation to breach the apartment of Aurora theater shooting
suspect James Eagan Holmes
12:41 p.m. Victim profle Veronica Moser, 6, victim of theater shooting
1:07 p.m. Article Hickenlooper raises cash for Aurora victims; other ways to help
1:49 p.m. Blog Social media plays a growing role in reporting tragedy
2:05 p.m. Victim profle Wife and son both shot, Indonesian family shocked, jumpy
2:06 p.m. Video Video: Friend talks about Aurora theater shooting victim Alex Sullivan
2:24 p.m. Victim profle Father of victim Rebecca Wingo is inconsolable
2:28 p.m. Article Aurora theater shooting suspect acted alone, police chief says
2:38 p.m. Article Booby-traps in apartment deadly
2:43 p.m. Video Video: Aurora theatre shooting: Apartment booby traps neutralized
3:08 p.m. Blog Will Aurora killings break the silence on guns?
3:09 p.m. Victim profle Alex Sullivan remembered for the many friends he loved
3:52 p.m. Victim profle Recent Gateway grad AJ Boik dreamed of teaching art
4:05 p.m. Victim profle Alex Teves: One of the best men I ever knew, friend says
4:07 p.m. Victim profle Hinckley grad Micayla Medek was just trying to get life together
4:09 p.m. Article Blood donation centers booked solid
4:18 p.m. Victim profle Matt McQuinn, 27, died protecting girlfriend in Aurora theater shooting
4:18 p.m. Article Theater shooting suspect James Holmes held in segregation in Arapahoe County Jail
5:19 p.m. Victim profle Air Force colleagues mourn loss of Jesse Childress
6:30 p.m. Article President Obama to visit theater shooting victims families Sunday
6:37 p.m. Facebook EXCLUSIVE: President Barack Obama will be in Colorado Sunday to visit with victims
6:37 p.m. Victim profle Jon Blunk, 26, tried to protect his girlfriend
6:47 a.m. Article Most evacuated residents allowed home after explosives removed
8:09 p.m. Blog What They are Saying
8:22 p.m. Commentary Guest Commentary: In the face of hate, love back
9:04 p.m. Article Excitement turns to grief for workers at Red Robin restaurant
9:06 p.m. Article Aurora police chief: Gunman acted with calculation and deliberation
11:18 p.m. Twitter RT @Lin_Shapley: @denverpost sneak peek at Sunday 1A: #theatershooting
pic.twitter.com/zeVs6nev
11:45 p.m. Photo gallery Photos: Police Investigate Theater Shooter Suspects Apartment
PA6f 5
12:01 a.m. Photo gallery Photos: Theater shooting victims remembered
1:00 a.m. Commentary Woody Paige: Five friends fortunate to still be together
July 22, 2012
PA6f 6
1:00 a.m. Article Lives that ended in an Aurora theater shooting were full of promise
1:00 a.m. Commentary Murphy: After Colorado theater massacre, the grieving begins
1:00 a.m. Article Social and mainstream media cover Aurora shooting from all sides
1:00 a.m. Article Police guard details that may point to motive of suspected killer
1:00 a.m. Commentary In the wake of another mass shooting, a question: Why Colorado?
8:18 a.m. Article Police interviewed Holmes associate
9:12 p.m. Article Obama: Good people, not shooter, will be remembered
10:39 a.m. Facebook Three massacres in a 13-year span raise unsettling thoughts about why the shooting
in an Aurora movie theater has happened here.
10:41 a.m. Article Cops retrieve items for residents, gunmans home still a crime scene
10:57 a.m. Article Hickenlooper: Tougher gun laws would not have stopped shooter
12:02 p.m. Article Suspects rife jammed in Aurora theater shooting, source says
12:09 p.m. Blog GivingFirst.org helps you donate to Aurora theater shooting victims without worry
12:39 p.m. Article At 51, Gordon Cowden was oldest of those slain in theater shooting
12:48 p.m. Article 12 crosses built as tribute to those killed in Aurora theater shooting
1:38 p.m. Article Texas man recovering from Aurora theater shooting, dad says
2:41 p.m. Tumblr blog This weekends front pages in the wake of the Batman midnight movie massacre in Aurora,
Colorado
3:02 p.m. Blog Cartoons of the day: Aurora theater shooting
4:20 p.m. Blog Theater shooting victim with the soft smile likely waited on suspected gunman
5:22 p.m. Letters Reactions to Fridays shootings at Aurora theater (2 letters)
5:31 p.m. Editorial Editorial: Lives cut down as they began
5:43 p.m. Facebook President Obama is in Colorado visiting victims of the Aurora theater shooting
5:46 p.m. Twitter Live video stream of President Obamas speech after visiting Aurora #theatershooting
victims is here, starting soon: http://dpo.st/QduP2b
6:06 p.m. Blog Eric Decker, Brian Dawkins and fve other Broncos visit Aurora theater shooting survivors
6:41 p.m. Article GivingFirst.org reports $32,000 in donations for Aurora shooting aid
6:47 p.m. Twitter RT @allisonsherry: POTUS: The perpetrator of this evil act will fade away.
#theatershooting #copolitics
7:16 p.m. Facebook LIVE VIDEO: Watch streaming video of the prayer vigil remembering victims of Fridays
Aurora theater shooting.
7:23 p.m. Article Bizarre behavior kept gun club owner from letting alleged shooter James Holmes in
7:23 p.m. Twitter RT @john_ingold: Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan at #RememberAurora vigil: We are a family
in Aurora.
8:04 p.m. Twitter RT @kurtisalee: Everyone is now singing Amazing Grace as #theatershooting vigil
comes to a close. #rememberaurora
9:12 p.m. Article Vigil for Aurora shooting victims draws crowd of thousands
9:21 p.m. Article NASCAR race pays tribute to victims of Aurora theater tragedy
10:04 p.m. Article Dispatchers recount night of horror
10:59 p.m. Photo gallery Photos: Church Services Honor Aurora Shooting Victims
PA6f 7
11:11 p.m. Photo gallery Photos: Memorial Site For Aurora Shooting Victims
July 23, 2012
1:00 a.m. Article Colorado churches remember, refect on Aurora theater shooting
1:00 a.m. Article First responders to tragedy like Aurora face horrifc memories
1:00 a.m. Article James Eagan Holmes defense will be complex, diffcult
1:00 a.m. Commentary Murphy: Colorado Muslims wonder if theater shooter might have been noticed
1:00 a.m. Article Aurora Police chief Dan Oates doing all the right things
2:14 a.m. Photo gallery Photos: Prayer Vigil For Aurora Shooting Victims
2:53 a.m. Photo gallery Photos: Obama Visits Aurora Shooting Victims
4:00 a.m. Facebook As heartbreaking as it is for the families, its worth us spending most of our time refecting
6:31 a.m. Article Aurora movie theater shooting suspect makes frst court appearance
9:33 a.m. Twitter ALERT: #Theatershooting suspect James Holmes is appearing before an Arapahoe County
judge at this time http://dpo.st/LHSvEm
9:43 a.m. News alert Breaking news: Aurora move theater shooting suspect appears in court
9:50 a.m. Twitter Hearing for #theatershooting suspect has ended. @Oh_Fender reports DA Carol Chambers
to speak soon http://dpo.st/LHSvEm
11:32 a.m. Article Man at court to honor his pregnant daughter, wounded son-in-law
12:09 p.m. Facebook WATCH: Reporter John Ingold discusses the scene inside an Arapahoe County courtroom
2:03 p.m. Blog James Holmes will not control our lives
2:36 p.m. Blog Aurora massacre informs us that a diet of violence kills
2:56 p.m. Article Alleged shooters mom: Reports she knew son was troubled were wrong
3:47 p.m. Article Suspicious packages deemed no threat at Anschutz Medical campus
3:54 p.m. Article Holmes Match profle verifed, cites prison
4:05 p.m. Blog Mischaracterization or backtracking?
4:08 p.m. Article Some shooting victims released from area hospitals
4:21 p.m. Photo gallery Photos: Aurora movie theater shooting suspect makes frst court appearance
4:41 p.m. Blog Days best: Cops catch armed man, potential movie shooting copycat?
4:55 p.m. Blog Recognizing the Aurora Police Departments excellence
5:02 p.m. Letters Grateful to police and other offcials for response to Aurora theater shooting (5 letters)
6:56 p.m. Video Video: Prosecutors in Aurora theater shooting case explain death penalty
7:52 p.m. Video Video: Vigil for Aurora shooting victims draws crowd of thousands
9:03 p.m. Photo gallery Photos: The victims of the Aurora theater shooting
10:17 p.m. Article Warner Bros. donation part of nearly $2M raised for shooting victims
10:52 p.m. Article Gun sales up since tragedy
LABEL
PA6f 8
Published
July 21, 2012
Story by
Jennifer Brown, Joey
Bunch, Jordan Steffen
and Eric Gorski
AURORA A gunman slipped into a midnight premiere of the new
Batman movie through an emergency exit early Friday, tossed two hissing
gas canisters and then methodically, calmly walked up the aisle fring, kill-
ing 12 people and wounding 58.
It was among the worst mass shootings in American history.
Terrorized moviegoers, some dragging bloodied bodies, spilled out of
the Century Aurora 16 complex at Aurora Town Center trying to escape
shortly after 12:30 a.m.
Tom Sullivan embraces his wife, Terry, left, and daughter Megan outside Gateway High School in Aurora on Friday. At the time, the family hadnt
heard any news about the fate of son Alex,who was at the movie theater where dozens of people were shot during a midnight screening of The
Dark Knight Rises. Friday night, the family learned that Alex, who turned 27 that day, was one of the 12 who died. RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
OUR HEARTS
ARE BROKEN
PAGE 9 PAGE 9
Coloradans woke up Friday to news of the
tragedy, an eerie echo of a similar massacre 13
years ago in a different Denver suburb, at Col-
umbine High School. Once again, a mass shoot-
ing in Colorado was recounted around the world.
Our hearts are broken, Gov. John Hick-
enlooper said.
It is beyond the power of words to fully
express our sorrow this morning. Coloradans
have a remarkable ability to support one anoth-
er in times of crisis. This is one of those times.
President Barack Obama spoke from Flor-
ida, saying he instantly thought about his
daughters going to the movies. We never
understand what leads someone to terrorize
their fellow human beings like this, Obama
said. Life is very fragile, and it is precious.
James Eagan Holmes, 24, bought a ticket
to the show, The Dark Knight Rises, then
left theater 9, propping the emergency exit
open for his return, investigators said. About
15 minutes into the flm, he appeared beside
the screen with three guns, dressed in black
and wearing a ballistic helmet, gas mask and
body shields.
Holmes surrendered to authorities, who found his north Aurora apart-
ment booby-trapped with explosives, techno music blasting from his ste-
reo. His building and fve buildings around it were evacuated.
The names of the victims were not released, but they include aspir-
ing sports journalist Jessica Ghawi; Alex Sullivan, who was celebrating his
27th birthday at the movie; 23-year-old Micayla Medek; Matt McQuinn, at
the theater with his girlfriend and her brother; a U.S. Navy sailor; and a
child. Families and friends of those unaccounted for gathered at Gateway
High School in Aurora, holding up photos and awaiting news from the six
hospitals that cared for victims.
SATURDAY, JULY 21, 2012 HOT E100 F68 30A B the denver post B $1 price may vary outside metro denver 666
Latest updates: Photos, videos and a timeline of the theater attack and the police response. denverpost.com dp
The scene.
Witnesses
describe terror.
2A
Chuck Murphy.
Tragic reminder of
a big problem. 6A
911 dispatch.
Recordings reveal
the chaos. 7A
Woody Paige. The
reaction
throughout
Colorado, and the
nation was: Oh, no,
not again.
8A
I NSI DE Business 17-21A | Comics 7-9C | Lottery 2A | Markets 18A | Movies 4C | Obituaries 27A | Puzzles 7-8C
OURHEARTS
ARE BROKEN
MIDNIGHT MASSACRE | AURORATHEATER SHOOTING
THE VICTIMS
On his birthday, Alex
Sullivan was one of 12
killed; 58 were injured
THE SUSPECT
James Holmes allegedly
threwtear gas, then fired
on the movie audience
TomSullivan embraces his wife, Terry, left, and daughter Megan outside Gateway High School in Aurora on Friday. At the time, the family hadnt
heard any news about the fate of son Alex, who was at the movie theater where dozens of people were shot during a midnight screening of The
By Jennifer Brown, Joey Bunch,
Jordan Steffen and Eric Gorski
The Denver Post
aurora A gunman slipped into a
midnight premiere of the newBatman
movie through an emergency exit ear-
ly Friday, tossed two hissing gas canis-
ters and then methodically, calmly
walked up the aisle firing, killing 12
people and wounding 58.
It was among the worst mass shoot-
ings in American history.
Terrorized moviegoers, some drag-
ging bloodiedbodies, spilledout of the
Century Aurora 16 complex at Aurora
Town Center trying to escape shortly
after 12:30 a.m.
Coloradans woke up Friday to news
of the tragedy, an eerie echo of a simi-
lar massacre 13 years ago in a different
Denver suburb, at Columbine High
School. Once again, a mass shooting in
Colorado was recounted around the
world.
Our hearts are broken, Gov. John
Hickenlooper said.
It is beyond the power of words to
fully express our sorrowthis morning.
Coloradans have a remarkable ability
to support one another in times of cri-
sis. This is one of those times.
President Barack Obama spoke from
Florida, saying he instantly thought
about his daughters going to the mov-
ies. We never understand what leads
someone to terrorize their fellow hu-
man beings like this, Obama said.
Life is very fragile, and it is precious.
James Eagan Holmes, 24, bought a
ticket to the show, The Dark Knight
Rises, thenleft theater 9, propping the
emergency exit openfor his return, in-
vestigators said. About 15 minutes into
the film, he appearedbeside the screen
with three guns, dressed in black and
wearing a ballistic helmet, gas mask
and body shields.
Holmes surrendered to authorities,
whofoundhis northAurora apartment
SHOOTING3A
THE VI CTI MS
Anguish among family, friends
of the dead, missing runs deep
By Karen Aug The Denver Post
Jessica Ghawi grewup a hockey fan in football-crazed Texas.
The 24-year-old followed that passion to Colorado to forge a
career in sports journalism. It probably took her to Toronto,
where she walked out of a shopping-mall food court moments
before a gunman shot seven people.
Writing as Jessica Redfield in a June 5 blog entry, she de-
scribedhowthe experience remindedher howblessedI amfor
each second I amgiven.
Early Friday in Aurora, Ghawi did not escape the gunfire.
She was among the 12 people killed when James Eagan Holm-
es allegedly openedfire at a midnight showing of the latest Bat-
man film, The Dark Knight Rises.
VICTIMS 6A
THE SUSPECT
Aquiet man who authorities
By Sara Burnett, Jessica Fender,
Felisa Cardona
and Jeremy P. Meyer
The Denver Post
aurora James Eagan Holmes
nowthe subject of global headlines
was never one to draw attention to
himself.
In interviews with people who have
known himthroughout his life, Holm-
es was describedas a quiet andintelli-
gent person who wouldnt even ac-
knowledge neighbors inhis apartment
hallway.
Holmes, 24, maintained that quiet
demeanor even as police say he was
plotting a horrific attack that killed 12
people and injured 58 others in an Au-
rora movie theater early Friday.
He bought four guns and 6,000
rounds of ammunition, Aurora Police
He rigged his apartment with what
authorities fear are deadly explosives
and blared techno music fromhis ste-
reo inwhats believedto be anattempt
to invite more devastation when the
door was opened.
SUSPECT 4A
Jessica
Ghawi was
an up-and-
coming
sportscaster
who loved
hockey.
LABEL
PA6f 10
James Holmess car was
found in the back of the
theater. Police found a
combat helmet, duffel
bag, an ammunition
magazine, a vest and a
Glock handgun. Helen
H. Richardson, The
Denver Post
Aurora police spent 90 minutes Friday afternoon with about 70 family
members who had not heard from their loved ones since the shooting. Au-
rora Police Chief Dan Oates said he expected families of the dead would
learn their fate Friday night.
The bodies of the 10 people who died in the theater were left there un-
til about 5 p.m. as hundreds of police offcers and FBI agents investigated
the crime scene. Two other people died at hospitals, which were slammed
with gun-wound surgeries. Most of the 58 injured had gunshot wounds,
but a handful had other injuries resulting from the mayhem inside the
dimly lit theater.
Of the injured, 30 were still in the hospital Friday evening, 11 in critical
condition.
Diffculty coping
It was like something out of a movie, said Jacob King, who was stand-
ing in the lobby when someone carried out a motionless little girl, covered
PAGE 11 PAGE 11
in blood. You dont want to believe its real, but it is.
A police offcer took the girl and set her in the back of his squad car,
then sped away.
Oates, his voice choked with emotion during an evening news conference,
said his offcers will need help coping in the aftermath of the shootings.
Our cops went through a lot, he said. They were taking people out of
that theater and into their own police cars.
Aurora police began receiving a swath of calls at 12:39 a.m. and were at
the theater within 90 seconds. Holmes was taken into custody behind the
theater, near a white Hyundai.
Investigators found a 12-gauge shotgun, an AR-15 assault-style weapon
and a .40-caliber Glock handgun. A second Glock was found in Holmes
car, and authorities also removed a combat helmet, duffel bag, an ammuni-
tion magazine and a vest.
The guns were purchased legally from local stores, and Holmes bought
more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition online, legally, the police chief said.
A gas mask, a bloody jacket, popcorn and drinks were strewn on the
pavement outside the theater. A reporter in a news helicopter saw bloody
footprints.
Many of the nearly 200 offcers at the theater drove victims to hospitals,
as ambulances were doubled up with casualties.
The Department of Defense confrmed a U.S. Navy sailor who was at the
theater was unaccounted for. One other Navy sailor and two U.S. Air Force
airmen were injured in the attack, according to the statement. The shooting
suspect was never was a member of the military, federal offcials said.
One of the victims died at Childrens Hospital in Aurora, but offcials
there would not say whether it was a child or an adult. The most seriously
injured of the other fve patients there had buckshot injuries to the back.
Two of the victims at Childrens were hit with a high-velocity rife, perhaps
from 60 to 80 feet away, emergency-room physician Dr. Guy Upshaw said.
Theater flled with smoke
Josh Kelly, 28, was watching the movie with his girlfriend of about four
Josh called his father, Robert Kelly, from the theater and said: I cant
LABEL
PA6f 12
fnd my girl. In the darkness and the
smoke, and people panicking and tram-
pling one another, he just lost track,
and he couldnt see, the elder Kelly
said. My son is freaked out.
The dark theater quickly flled with
smoke that stung peoples eyes and
throats after the gunman tossed gas
canisters, witnesses said. Moviegoers
dropped to the foor and crawled over
one another to get out. Some dragged
bloodied bodies to the lobby.
I ran. I pushed. I did whatever I had
to do to get out, said Resharee Goodlo,
whose friend didnt make it out of the
theater and is feared dead.
Emma Goos, 19, was separated from
her friend, but they both made it out alive.
She described 15 seconds of fre, fre, fre.
He let off 20 rounds in 30 seconds.
Goos tried to go home and sleep, but
her thoughts were too haunting:
A man with soft tissue on his head,
blood gushing down his arms, holding
his head and asking, Is there a hole? Is there a hole? Children walking
out, clutching people they had never met. A girl with shrapnel in her hips
being trampled at the door. And the gunman himself standing there with
his feet spread apart as if he were the king of the world, like a video game
or a movie scene, Goos said.
Gunman calm
Jordan Crofter, 19, sneaked into theater 9 even though he had a ticket
for the showing in the theater next door. He wanted to sit with his friends.
Crofter said the gunman appeared lackadaisical, as calm as can be,
and didnt say a word. He was sitting there like target practice. He was
Amanda Medek, who
was looking for her
sister Micayla, is
overcome with
emotion outside
Gateway High School
on Friday in Aurora.
Late Friday, it was
confrmed that Micayla
Medek was among the
12 people who lost
their lives in the mass
shooting at a movie
theater. RJ Sangosti,
The Denver Post
PA6f 13
PA6f 13
trying to shoot as many people as he could.
Crofter ran for his life and was the frst to the lobby. He found out later
that a friend in the frst row had been shot and collapsed. He didnt know
Friday whether he lived.
One of the shots blasted through the wall into theater 8, hitting a per-
son there.
The University of Colorado said Holmes was withdrawing from the
universitys graduate program in neurosciences, after enrolling at the uni-
versity in June 2011. Holmes graduated from the University of California,
Riverside in 2010 with a degree in neuroscience, the university said.
Authorities saw jars of liquid and ammunition in Holmes apartment
and said they would return Saturday with federal agents to clean it up.
Neighbors were allowed to go home one at a time to collect medicines or
other necessities but not stay the night.
Jackie Mitchell said he had drinks and talked football with Holmes
a few nights ago at the Zephyr Lounge. Holmes was geeky and had a
swagger to him, Mitchell said.
He just didnt seem the type to go into a movie theater and shoot it
up, Mitchell said. He seemed like a real smart dude.
Witnesses said police came running into the theater shouting at them
to run out. Some of the offcers carried or dragged victims to safety.
Tammi Stevens, whose 18-year-old son Jacob was inside theater 9, wait-
ed for him at Gateway High School.
You let your kids go to a late-night movie ... you never think something
like this would happen, she said.
Aurora police provide security at the theater on weekends, but because
the movie premiere was playing Friday just after midnight, they were not
there. The police chief said his offcers would provide extra security this
weekend at four other Aurora theaters showing the Batman movie, as a
precaution.
Sometime around 1 a.m., patients began arriving at the Medical Center
of Aurora. A total of 15 patients ranging from 16 to 31 years old were
sent to the medical center, 12 of them with gunshot wounds. An additional
three patients arrived at the hospital Friday afternoon, the hospital said.
Two patients in critical condition were at Swedish Medical Center.
PAGE 14 PAGE 14
Denver Health Medical Center treated six victims; three were released
and three listed in fair condition, hospital offcials said. The University of
Colorado Hospital had 23 victims, nine in critical condition.
More than 100 FBI and 25 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives agents were deployed to Colorado to help local authorities in
Aurora, U.S. Department of Justice offcials said.
The president ordered all fags fown at half-staff in honor of the victims.
The Town Center Mall in Aurora was closed Friday but was to reopen
Saturday. A prayer vigil was planned in Aurora for 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Warner Bros. studio canceled the red-carpet premiere event of The
Dark Knight Rises in Paris, and the studio released a statement saying
the company is deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident.
Lines from previous Batman movies were quoted online Friday as news
of the shooting spread, including: Some men arent looking for anything
logical, like money. They cant be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated
with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
AURORA While Aurora police charged into a multiplex theater within
three minutes of the frst report of a shooting there, more than 20 addi-
tional minutes passed before medical personnel arrived at the epicenter,
a period when at least one victim was still alive but in desperate need of
medical attention, dispatch tapes from that night show.
Aurora fre offcials say they did the best they could. They had a truck on
scene within fve minutes of the shooting, and emergency medical workers
treated every victim they came across outside in a parking lot. But, they
AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. AMBULANCE RESPONSE
Congestion, chaos slowed medical help to epicenter
Published
July 25, 2012
Story by
Chuck Murphy
and Karen E. Crummy
Responders stymied
PA6f 1
PA6f 2
said, the scope of the incident, unprecedented in Aurora, overwhelmed re-
sources, and they were unable to immediately get closer to the theater be-
cause the lot was packed with cars from patrons and police.
They were overwhelmed with patients, Aurora Fire Capt. Al Robnett
said of the frst responders, who arrived 4 minutes and 59 seconds after they
were dispatched. Patients were running towards them. They were covered
with blood. We cannot move past a patient to get to another patient.
What resulted was a medical response that worked from the outside in
allowing the less seriously injured to get to help frst while critically injured
patients who couldnt be moved waited as minutes ticked by to be assessed,
treated and transported. When medical help fnally did reach them, accord-
ing to the dispatch recordings, ambulances werent available, and police
cars neither equipped nor staffed for lifesaving took them to hospitals.
Twelve were killed and an additional 58 injured in the shooting at 12:39
a.m. Friday.
Eight minutes and 13 seconds into the crisis, police began asking dis-
patchers to send emergency medical help to behind theater 9 in the Cen-
tury Aurora 16, where the shooting had occurred and some of the most
critically injured were awaiting help. Previous requests had already been
made for help in parking lots and outside the theater as patrons with vari-
ous wounds ran or walked in every direction out of the multiplex.
Ive got a child victim, an offcer calls. I need rescue at the back door
(of) theater 9. Now.
But while that request was relayed immediately, neither ambulances
nor trained medical responders approached they remained in the near-
by parking lot treating others. When the medical responders announced
they had arrived at the back of the theater 15 minutes and 49 seconds
after the call for help from theater 9 police had already moved nine or
10 patients into the parking lot outside and the child patient apparently
remained inside.
When rescuers from the fre department fnally arrived at the back of
the theater to help some of the most critical patients, they were thwarted
again by the lack of ambulances for transport.
FYI, right now were loading patients into back of PD cars to get them
transported, the frst fre department responder to reach the theater said.
PA6f 3
Any ambos we could get would be nice.
By then, it had been about 24 minutes since the
shooting. None of the 25 ambulances that had re-
sponded from several area hospitals were available
or able to get where they were immediately needed.
Gov. John Hickenlooper praised the willingness
of police to do whatever it took to get medical aid
to the wounded.
I couldnt believe how many people got to the
hospital by police cars and not by ambulance,
Hickenlooper told The Denver Post. Several peo-
ple (he had spoken with from other jurisdictions)
said, You know, where I am, the police wont touch
injured people for fear they will hurt their back or
whatever. These police looked at us, blood every-
where and said, there are not ambulances here, we
have to start taking people.
The child inside theater 9 who so concerned
police is believed to be Veronica Moser-Sullivan,
6, who did not survive. An autopsy report on her
death has not been released, so it is impossible to
tell whether she might have been saved by a more
rapid response.
This is not the frst time questions have been
raised about Auroras emergency medical response. After a 2010 shooting,
Aurora medical rescuers waited to enter an apartment scene because of
the chance that a shooter was still at large, so police carried a wounded
victim to a cruiser, then drove him to an ambulance.
At the time, fre department policy required medical help to wait until
they heard the phrase scene safe from police. After that incident, Aurora
fre offcials said they would change their policy to leave the response
decision up to commanders at a crime scene, allowing them to send help
even if police were unable to declare a scene safe.
Robnett said safety was never a consideration Friday morning and that
policy never came into play. Instead, it was simply the volume of patients,
Her legacyis the
friends andfamilythat
are inspiredbythe way
she livedandloved.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 2012 NOT AS HOT E90 F61 26A B the denver post B $1 price may vary outside metro denver 6
Update profiles: The victims who lost their lives in the Aurora theater massacre denverpost.com/theatershooting dp
Olympics 1B
ROWINGIN
HER HONOR
COLORADOS TAYLOR RITZEL
CARRIES MOMS MEMORY
RTD VOTES TO EXPAND
FASTRACKS SOUTH,
IRKING SOME 10A
Customers may see lower Xcel bill as cheap
fuel leads to cheaper electricity. 15A
Responders stymied
Congestion,
chaos slowed
medical help
to epicenter
THE LI GHT I N THE ROOM
By Lindsay H. Jones The Denver Post
aurora On one of their first nights without her, Rebecca Ann Wingos family gathered
on the patio, swapping memories of a woman who for 32 years had been the center of
their world.
They remembered a woman who always sat in the first row at church, who devoured
books in a single sitting and always seemed to be juggling multiple projects.
As they talked, her former husband, the father of her two daughters, wiped away tears.
Ive been loving and fighting with that girl for 15 years, Robert Wingo said.
A few moments passed. The family was silent.
And then my oldest son said,
Yeah, she sure was good for the
loving and the fighting, recalled
Rebeccas mother Shirley Wygal.
And then the family smiled.
Her legacy is the friends and
family that are inspired by the way
she lived, and loved, Wygal said.
Id like for her death to not be in
vain and maybe, in some way, help
protect some people at some point
in the future.
The picture that emerged about
Wingo in the days immediately
following her death in the Aurora
movie theater mass shooting was
only a glimpse into her life.
Wygal and Robert Wingo share
By Chuck Murphy
and Karen E. Crummy
The Denver Post
aurora While Aurora police
charged into a multiplex theater
within three minutes of the first
report of a shooting there, more
than20additional minutes passed
before medical personnel arrived
at the epicenter, a period when at
least one victimwas still alive but
in desperate need of medical at-
tention, dispatch tapes from that
night show.
Aurora fire officials say they
did the best they could. They had
a truck on scene within five min-
utes of the shooting, and emer-
gency medical workers treated
every victim they came across
outside in a parking lot. But, they
said, the scope of the incident, un-
precedented in Aurora, over-
whelmed resources, and they
were unable to immediately get
closer to the theater because the
lot was packed with cars frompa-
trons and police.
They were overwhelmed with
patients, Aurora Fire Capt. Al
Robnett said of the first respond-
ers, who arrived 4 minutes and 59
seconds after they were dis-
patched. Patients were running
towards them. Theywere covered
with blood. We cannot move past
a patient toget toanother patient.
What resultedwas a medical re-
sponse that worked fromthe out-
side in allowing the less seri-
ously injured to get to help first
while critically injured patients
who couldnt be moved waited as
minutes ticked by to be assessed,
treated and transported. When
medical help finally did reach
them, according to the dispatch
recordings, ambulances werent
available, and police cars nei-
ther equipped nor staffed for life-
saving took them to hospitals.
Twelve were killedandanaddi-
tional 58 injuredinthe shooting at
12:39 a.m. Friday.
Eight minutes and 13 seconds
into the crisis, police began ask-
ing dispatchers to send emergen-
cy medical help to behind theater
9 inthe Century Aurora 16, where
the shooting had occurred and
some of the most critically in-
jured were awaiting help. Previ-
ous requests had already been
made for help in parking lots and
outside the theater as patrons
RESPONSE 4A
LI ABI LI TY LAWSUI TS
Hurdles
high for
claims
Legal experts say
survivors, the injured
and families have
little chance in cases.
By Tim Hoover The Denver Post
Survivors of the Aurora movie
theater shootings andthe families
of those killed will have a high
hurdle to clear if they try to sue
the theater or others, legal ex-
perts say.
The only obvious civil defen-
dant is the shooter himself, and I
doubt that he has anything in the
way of assets or insurance, said
TomRussell, a professor of lawat
the University of Denver and a
personal injury lawyer.
That hasnt stopped specula-
tion about whether there will be
lawsuits against the Cinemark
Holdings-owned theater where
James Eagan Holmes is alleged to
have shot or wounded 70 people,
leaving 12 dead.
Russell andothers say plaintiffs
would have to show that the the-
ater shouldhave foreseenthat the
shootings could have taken place.
Did the movie theater know or
havereasontoknowthat somekind
of violent crime might affect their
patrons? Russell said. Its beyond
belief that they would know this
kind of attack was coming.
He said that in cases where
LIABILITY 8A
Shirley Wygal speaks about her daughter Rebecca Wingo, who was killed. Aaron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Moving on. Survivors
balance joy in being alive
with guilt that they made it
out of the theater. 7A
Explosives IDd. Gasoline
and gunpowder found
booby-trapping Holmes
apartment. 2A
Surprise visitor. Batman
actor Christian Bale visits
hospitals, memorial 6A
Some good news. Baby
Hugo born as dad remains
hospitalized. 9A
stories of a woman who had lived
in three states and two countries
by the time she was 12; who
showed so much aptitude for for-
eign languages that by the time she
was 20, she was fluent in Mandarin
and working for the U.S. Air Force
as a translator; and who was raising
two daughters while putting her-
self back through school with a
dreamof becoming a social worker
who would help teens transition
out of the foster-care system.
A lot of people say, Oh this per-
son was amazing. It wasnt that, it
was that Rebecca was a catalyst.
She was the person who walked
WINGO6A
Transcript: Read the
exchanges between the
police, fire and crisis
command centers during
the aftermath of the
shooting. 4A Rebecca Ann Wingo
Mesquite Grill
Steak, Seafood & Drinks
for only $19 ($40 value)
or $15 ($30 value)
up to 53% off
Please register at
every morning.
PA6f 4
the lack of available resources for a crisis that large and the logistics of mov-
ing large trucks through the parking lot that made the response diffcult.
Absolutely not, Robnett said. The safety issue was treating patients.
They were not waiting in a safe area. They were treating patients from the
moment they arrived on the scene.
But the dispatch recordings indicate there remained an information dis-
connect between the fre commander on scene outside and police in the
theater. By the approximately 21-minute mark after the shooting, police
knew they had several bodies in the theater and scores of patients across
the property who needed transport to hospitals or were already on their
way in police cars. They repeatedly asked for every available ambulance
and medical worker in the area.
But a fre commander on the scene estimated at the same time there were
just 20 patients throughout the scene who would need hospitalization.
Im just trying to sort it out right, the unidentifed commander said. I
hear 10 here, four here. Im going to go with 20 right now. Lets just go with
20 people until we get this verifed.
Dr. Bruce Wapen, a board-certifed emergency physician who works in
a California hospital emergency department and occasionally serves as an
expert witness, said minutes are critical for gunshot victims.
Minutes count, Wapen said. With chest and great vessel injuries, and
organ injuries, speed is very important.
PA6f 5
July 25, 2012
C
470
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470
85
285
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225
E. Colfax Ave.
D E N V E R
A R A PA H O E
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Aurora
Medical
Center
Childrens Hospital
Colorado
Detail
area
Denver Health
Medical Center
Swedish
Medical Center
Parker Adventist Hospital
S
.
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2 miles
Aurora Medical Center 2.3 miles
Childrens Hospital Colorado 3.2 miles
University Hospital 3.5 miles
Denver Health Medical Center 10.3 miles
Parker Adventist Hospital 12.5 miles
Swedish Medical Center 13.4 miles
Distance to medical facilities
Facility Distance
Medical facilities
where victims were taken
University Hospital
Source: Denver Post research The Denver Post
Medical response delayed at theater 9
Twenty minutes passed between the time police arrived inside the theater (the shooting scene) and when medical personnel arrived at
the epicenter. Aurora fire officials had a truck on the scene within five minutes of the shooting, and emergency medical workers treated
every victim outside the theater. But the medical response worked from the outside in, delaying care to some of the critically injured.
E. Exposition Ave.
Town Center
at Aurora
mall
Dillards
JC
Penney
Sears
Macys
Century
Aurora 16,
theater 9
Emergency
vehicle
staging area
Emergency
vehicle
staging area
Sports
Authority
S
.

S
a
b
l
e

B
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v
d
.
Seriously injured
victims behind
the theater
What follows is a partial transcript of the dispatch
tapes fromthe Aurora fire and police departments
regarding emergency medical response after Fri-
days movie theater shooting. The times in paren-
thesis represent the amount of time passed after
the shooting was first reported.
Abbreviations: PO(police officer); FDD(fire
department dispatch); Command (fire department
command).
PO: I have a party shot here. I need rescue hot.
(3:07)
FDD: Medic They need you in front of the
theater.
FDD: Engine 8, we may have a second victim.
FDD: Starting third ambulance. (3:50)
Command: Were going to have staging away
fromthe scene.
PD: Peoplewhoareshot runningout of thetheaters.
FDD: Multiple victims probably three plus.
PO: I need rescue at least three to four ambu-
lances, everyone can stage in the west parking lot.
(5:43)
Command: Lets set up ambulance staging at
Expo and Sable. Is that where they want us to
stage in the first place?
FDD: Nowtheyre saying west parking lot. Let
me clarify with PDsomewhere where we wont
necessarily be coming into their scene.
Command: They need to set us up a staging
area.
FDD: They want the staging area in the west
part of the theater.
MEDIC: We are on scene with APD. (6:56)
Engine 8: Were on the scene. Were getting re-
ports of multiple victims and an active shooter.
(7:14)
PO: I have two victims. I need an ambulance
here quick.
PO: We need to start putting theminto cars and
start shuttling themout to the west end.
PO: (inaudible) shot twice in the back.
PO: I need one ambulance.
PO: We need rescue inside the auditorium. Mul-
tiple victims. (8:13)
FDD: Theyre saying they have a party on the
east side of the theater they cant get to. They need
an ambulance. Hes shot in the back. And multiple
parties inside the theater.
PO: I need as many ambulances as we can to the
Dillards lot.
FDD: Looks like you have four ambulances
started. PDrequesting as many ambulances as
possible to Dillards. Howmany ambulances do
you want?
PO: Imtaking one male to the hospital in my car.
PO: Seven down in theater 9.
PO: I got a child victim. I need rescue at the
back door of theater 9 now. (9:52)
MEDIC: Imdown here north of the Century
theater. I have a GSW to the leg.
PO: Dispatch, give me some ambulances on Sa-
ble. I want ambulances on Dillards lot.
FDDto Command: Sir, (inaudible) metro sent
all available ambulances.
PO: Were bringing out bodies now. (11:44)
PO: Ive got one ambulance here. Where my
ambulances at?
Tower 8 to Command: We need an ambulance
for GSWto abdomen, arms and legs if you have
anyone to spare.
PO: I need a medical crew. ... Ive got one victim
eviscerated.
FDD: PDwants as many medical personnel as
possible. Two additional engines in route.
Engine 8: I need two ambulances over here
right away.
PO: Get me some ambulances in the back of the
theater or Sports Authority parking lot. (13:21)
FDD: PDis requesting as many medical person-
nel as possible to the Dillards. We also have a
child down.
PO: Do I have permission to take some of these
victims via car? I have a whole bunch of people
shot out here and no rescue. (14:00)
PDcommand: Yes. Load themup and get them
in cars and get themout of here.
PO: We have one we cannot move in theater 9.
Get us an ambulance here as soon as theyre avail-
able. (14:51)
FDD: Engine 2, truck 2, engine 4, engine 5 in
route.
FDD: PDis requesting medical personnel in
theater 9. Have a child down and cannot evacuate.
(16:19)
Command: Were going to set up Fire Depart-
ment that arent on scene to stage at Exhibition
and Sable.
PO: We need rescue or we need more patrol
cars. Were just gonna take these people.
FDD: DP advising there are 10 people down
behind theater 9.
PO: Cruiser 6 is taking two more victims.
PO: (Inaudible) shot in the neck.
Command: I need all ambulances that theyre
sending to stage at Exposition.
FDD: PDis again requesting emergent medical
to the back of the theater. (18:36)
Command: I copy that. Imjust trying to get
things under control here.
FDD: I copy, and again they are still asking for
additional medical in theater 9.
PO: Moving (inaudible) by police cars. I still
need some ambulances over here.
Truck 2: We can take the theater.
PO: Let Aurora South knowcruiser 6 is in route.
One critical, one semi-critical.
Command: I need you to come up here.
Dispatch Police: Truck 2 in route to theater 9.
(19:10)
PO: We need rescue to move up to the rear of
the theater. We have officers there requesting they
come immediately for multiple victims. (19:27)
PO: Advise rescue that officers will be there for
security. Thats the best thing we can do at this point.
FDD: Sir, I apologize again, but PDis asking for
emergent medical to the back of the theater. They
are on scene to provide security.
Command: Copy. I have truck 2 to help engine
8.
FDD: I believe they have another party inside
theater 9 that they cant evacuate, which is the
child, but they have 10 parties down behind the
theater.
PO: Were evacuating victims. (20:45)
Command: Go ahead and activate the EMsys-
tem. Were going to need to knowexactly how
many beds these hospitals can take.
FDD: Dowe have anapproximate patient count?
PO: Come back for more. I have two here that
need treatment right away.
PO: All right. Imgetting there.
Command: Imjust trying to sort it out right. I
hear 10 here, four here. Imgoing to go with 20
right now. Lets just go with 20 people until we get
this verified. (21:06)
FIRE Dillard Division: I have Medic 102 over
here. Can I have themto transport my two red
patients?
Command: Copy. All divisions set up a extrica-
tion, triage, treatment, transport within your divi-
sion. (21:28)
Engine 5: Command, were right by the theater.
We just had a police officer run up to us that has
nine patients behind the theater here. This would
be on the east side of the theater. Do you want us
to stay here or go with the police officer? (21:49)
FDD: Command, did you copy engine 5? (22:56)
Command: Copy.
FDD: I need to knowif you want themto stay
there or continue onto Dillards.
Police dispatch: I still have a lot of people shot
on the east side. I need cars there.
Engine 5: Were on the east side of the theater
on Sable. Do you want us to attend to the patients
on the east side?
Command: You only have one patient there,
correct?
Engine 5: Police officer told us said there are
nine patients.
Truck 2:We are in the rear of the theater. We
have nine shot. If we can get any ambulances in
stage on Sable, we can get themover to the ambos.
(24:02)
Command: OK, just stand by. Let me get this
sorted out. I will be with you in a minute.
Command: Dowe knowif the chief is responding?
FDD: Thats negative, sir. Do you want me to
start (inaudible) chief?
Command: Yeah, I need chief (inaudible) here.
Command: Truck 2, I want you to join up with
Engine 5. Imjust going to make you Sable divi-
sion. Were going to start there until we get
more resources. (25:06)
Police dispatch: We need another car for trans-
port behind theater 9.
FDD: The lieutenant with the police depart-
ment is requesting to meet you face to face in front
of the theater.
Dillards Division: Were sending two pa-
tients off.
Command: Were waiting to hear fromthe EM
systemwhat beds are available.
Truck 2 to command: FYI, right nowwere
loading patients into back of PDcars to get them
transported. Any ambos we could get would be
nice. (26:47)
Command to FDD: Howmany ambulances
do I have? I need to have themall go to staging
cause we have people jumping in and out. Imnot
sure anybody even is.
FDD: Tobe honest, sir, I dont knowanexact count
of ambulances. They didjust advise me that theyre
sending twomore from(inaudible ) andwe have
every unit thats available inthe city of Aurora.
Command: I need themto go to Sable. Can they
send a supervisor, to be in charge of the trans-
port area over there at Expo and Sable so we can
get a handle on ambulances, have themstage and
then I can send theminto each division.
Command: Make sure that all these ambulances
knowtoreturntostaging area over at ExpoandSable.
East division to command: We have transport-
ed seven patients. Were on our eighth patient.
Also talked to police officer who said we may have
a number of people dead inside the theater. (29:46)
Command: OK, if theyre dead, leave them.
Were in a mass casualty situation at this time.
FDD: They do have ambulances returning to the
staging area.
Command: Anybody else thats in the area that
we can contact? Somebody we can get a hold of
anybody?
FDD: Were working on finding additional
transport rigs.
walked in every direction out of the
multiplex.
Ive got a child victim, an officer
calls. I need rescue at the back door
(of) theater 9. Now.
But while that request was relayed
immediately, neither ambulances nor
trained medical responders ap-
proached they remained in the
nearby parking lot treating others.
When the medical responders an-
nounced they had arrived at the back
of the theater 15 minutes and49 sec-
onds after the call for help from the-
ater 9 police had already moved
nine or 10 patients into the parking lot
outside andthe childpatient apparent-
ly remained inside.
When rescuers fromthe fire depart-
ment finally arrived at the back of the
theater to help some of the most criti-
cal patients, they were thwarted again
by the lack of ambulances for trans-
port.
FYI, right now were loading pa-
tients into back of PD cars to get them
transported, the first fire department
responder to reach the theater said.
Any ambos we could get would be
nice.
By then, it had been about 24 min-
utes since the shooting. None of the 25
ambulances that had responded from
several area hospitals were available
or able to get where they were imme-
diately needed.
Gov. John Hickenlooper praised the
willingness of police to do whatever it
tooktoget medical aidtothe wounded.
I couldnt believe howmany people
got to the hospital by police cars and
not by ambulance, Hickenlooper told
The Denver Post. Several people (he
had spoken with from other jurisdic-
tions) said, You know, where I am, the
police wont touch injured people for
fear they will hurt their back or what-
ever. These police looked at us, blood
RESPONSE
FROM 1A
everywhere andsaid, there are not am-
bulances here, we have to start taking
people.
The child inside theater 9 who so
concerned police is believed to be Ve-
ronica Moser-Sullivan, 6, who did not
survive. An autopsy report on her
deathhas not beenreleased, soit is im-
possible totell whether she might have
been saved by a more rapid response.
This is not the first time questions
have beenraisedabout Auroras emer-
gency medical response. After a 2010
shooting, Aurora medical rescuers
waitedtoenter anapartment scene be-
cause of the chance that a shooter was
still at large, so police carried a
wounded victim to a cruiser, then
drove himto an ambulance.
At the time, fire department policy
required medical help to wait until
they heard the phrase scene safe
frompolice. After that incident, Auro-
ra fire officials saidthey wouldchange
their policy toleave the response deci-
sion up to commanders at a crime
scene, allowing themtosendhelpeven
if police were unable to declare a
scene safe.
Robnett said safety was never a con-
sideration Friday morning and that
policy never came into play. Instead, it
was simply the volume of patients, the
lack of available resources for a crisis
that large and the logistics of moving
large trucks through the parking lot
that made the response difficult.
Absolutely not, Robnett said. The
safety issue was treating patients.
They were not waiting in a safe area.
They were treating patients from the
moment they arrived on the scene.
But the dispatch recordings indicate
there remainedaninformationdiscon-
nect between the fire commander on
scene outside andpolice inthe theater.
By the approximately 21-minute mark
after the shooting, police knew they
had several bodies in the theater and
scores of patients across the property
who needed transport to hospitals or
were already on their way in police
cars. They repeatedly asked for every
available ambulance and medical
worker in the area.
But a fire commander on the scene
estimated at the same time there were
just 20 patients throughout the scene
who would need hospitalization.
Im just trying to sort it out right,
the unidentified commander said. I
hear 10 here, four here. Imgoing to go
with 20 right now. Lets just go with 20
people until we get this verified.
Dr. Bruce Wapen, a board-certified
emergency physician who works in a
California hospital emergency depart-
ment andoccasionally serves as anex-
pert witness, said minutes are critical
for gunshot victims.
Minutes count, Wapensaid. With
chest and great vessel injuries, and or-
gan injuries, speed is very important.
Chuck Murphy: 303-954-1829,
cmurphy@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/cmurphydenpost
Staff writer Lynn Bartels contributed to
this report
Frantic minutes for emergency personnel
12:42 a.m.
12:46
12:49
12:54
12:59
1:03
1:09
4A Midnight massacre wednesday, july 25, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 6
AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. TRANSCRIPT OF TAPES
SUPPlfMfh1Al S10kY 4: 0AI lY PA6fS
July 21, 2012
PA6f 1
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Copyright 2012 / Vol. 119 / No. 335
I NSI DE THE THEATER
What rst seemed part of show
turned to horric, chaotic scene
By Michael Booth
and Kevin Simpson
The Denver Post
aurora The lone figure who ap-
pearedsuddenly at the front of the the-
ater looked, to moviegoers engrossed
in early scenes of The Dark Knight
Rises, like a live-action twist on a fun
midnight showalready populatedwith
costumed fans.
Several minutes into the much-an-
ticipated newBatman film, he entered
through an exit door near the screen,
clothed entirely in black. He carried
multiple weapons some long-bar-
reled, some short andwore what ap-
peared to be body armor, gloves and a
gas mask.
He tossed two canisters that burst
into billowing clouds.
In the second row, Corbin Dates and
Jennifer Seeger realized this wasnt
done for theatrical effect only when
they began to choke on the fumes
and the dark figure fired a single shot
into the ceiling.
Far from a comic-book villain, the
gunman methodically set about turn-
ing a packed movie premiere into a
chaotic scene of random carnage that
left 12 dead and dozens injured. The
weapons were all too real: an AR-15
semiautomatic rifle, a shotgun and a
.40-caliber Glock handgun.
The assailant then pointed the rifle
directly at Seegers face yet didnt
immediately pull the trigger. Instead,
he fired into the rowbehind her while
Seeger and Dates dived into the aisle
and crawled to seek cover behind
nearby seats. They felt hot shell cas-
ings burning their legs as the gunman
firedmultiple shots towardthe back of
the theater.
I have no idea why he didnt shoot
me, recountedSeeger, 22. He shot the
person right behind me.
Fromhis second-rowvantage point,
James Wilburn could make out a rifle
slung over the gunmans back. Amid
the noxious fumes from the canister,
he saw the assailant raise the shotgun
and repeatedly fire toward the back of
the theater.
Ducking behind the seat backs in
front of him, Wilburn figured the man
couldnt have been more than 5 to 6
feet away. Many in the audience took
flight.
Everyone was screaming
The film played on
Emma Goos, a 19-year-old college
student home for the summer, sat with
a friend in the third row the only
seats left when they got there when
the figure entered the theater.
It took sevenshots for me to realize
it wasnt a joke and realize it was a real
gun, Goos said. I very much wanted
to believe it was a prank. By that point,
everyone was screaming to get down
and our whole row collapsed on each
other.
She wondered later if she escaped
the gunmans fieldof visionbecause of
his gas mask: His face was completely
covered. He looked like a monster.
After exhausting the shotgun
rounds, the gunman calmly dropped
the weapon and resumed firing with
the rifle as he made his way up the
aisle. Twenty to 30 rapid-fire shots
struck patrons in their stadium-style
seats or scrambling up the steps, wit-
nesses said.
The dim light, combined with
spreading smoke, obscured emergen-
cy exits as the passing time became
impossible to reckon in the pandemo-
nium. Seeger and a few others hushed
one another as they moved away from
the soundof the gunshots, hugging the
floor andhoping the shooter wouldig-
nore them if he couldnt hear them.
She saw bodies lying around her.
I was trying to stay out of his sight,
she said. I was pretending I was
dead.
Elsewhere inthe theater, 28-year-old
Robert Jones also initially took the
smoke tobe anelaborate special effect.
When gunshots ripped the semi-dark-
ness, he knew it was something else,
something horrific.
I thought it was pretty much the
end of the world, he said.
Chris Ramos initially took the flying
canisters for fake bats, in the spirit of
the film. But the sharp explosion and
the hissing cloudof fumes changedhis
mind.
Then he saw the gunman, standing
in a corner of the theater, shoot a man
sitting next to himinthe chest. The vi-
olence had only begun, but Ramos, 20,
would continue to be haunted by the
sight of the killer blasting away, choos-
ing peoples fate with each bullet.
Nocare for peoples ages, or male or
female, or anything, Ramos said. He
was heartless. I panicked. I thought at
that moment I was going to die.
For Mora and Rita Silalahi and their
teenage sonPatrick, the gunmans first
shot into the theater ceiling prompted
Mora to turn to his wife and say: This
is not right. Wed better duck.
Their friend, 42-year-old Jerry Sa-
hertian, relayed their account of seek-
ing cover beneath a ladder at the front
of the theater. Then, during a brief si-
lence after the initial fusillade, the
three of them tried to flee to safety.
He saw my friends move, and he
shot, said Sahertian.
Patrick took a round in the back,
with the bullet lodging in his stomach.
Rita was struck in the shoulder, elbow
and left side. Both were later trans-
ported to area hospitals, where Rita
underwent surgery.
Naya Thompson, 21, andher 22-year-
old boyfriend, Derrick Poage, also
made a break for safety, with Thomp-
son coughing and choking from the
smoke. Whenthey emerged, Poage no-
ticed blood splashed on his pants.
His shoes had come off in the chaos.
Violence struck others who never
saw it coming.
In the adjacent theater in the multi-
plex, which also was showing the Bat-
man feature, 23-year-old Eric Hunter
heard three pops and saw holes ap-
pear in the wall to his right.
Smoke wafted through them.
It happened just as a gunfight broke
out onscreen, andlike so many others,
Hunter assumed this diversion was
just another means of amping up the
entertainment.
And then I thought, Oh, its just
firecrackers, or stupid kids, Hunter
said. Seconds later, he heard several
more pops and saw more holes in the
wall andrealizedsomething was se-
riously wrong.
Nearby, Joel Wheelersburg also
heard shots coming from the theater
onthe right andfiguredthemfor new
soundeffects. But thenhe noticedthe
smoke drifting through the holes.
I thought, why smoke? Why ash?
said Wheelersburg, 27.
Then he noticed something even
more disturbing people hunched
over in the seats near the holes. They
looked hurt.
Some were. MeghanWalton, 20, was
sitting next to 18-year-old Gage Han-
kins when one of the bullets ripped
through the wall and struck her friend
in the arm.
Walton ran outside with him, hold-
ing his arm, and remembers that it felt
hot. Her visionblurry fromthe smoke,
she counted a dozen people bleeding
as ambulances arrived. She could hear
hysterical crying.
As Hunter rose to leave the theater,
the violent reality of the situation be-
gan to dawn on him. Blood pooled on
the stairs. He andothers yelleda warn-
ing: There was a shooter.
He came upontwoteenage girls who
appeared to be in shock one looked
to have been shot in the jaw. Blood ran
from her face and down her shirt.
Hunter said he grabbed their hands
and began to lead the girls outside but
then saw the gunman walking down
the hallway from the adjacent theater.
The quick glimpse all-black cloth-
ing, mask, body armor, multiple weap-
ons told Hunter that the assailant
didnt plan on making it out of there.
He pulled the girls back inside,
slammed the door and held it shut. He
saidsomeone, presumably the shooter,
pounded on it for a few seconds.
Then nothing
Unsure whether anyone had notifed
authorities, he told another patron to
hit the fire alarm. Once the shooting
stopped, and the threat appeared to
pass, he helped walk the girls out
through the lobby, past others who
were wounded, past cops rushing in
andambulance workers brushing past.
Outside, huddled with a terrified
group of patrons, Hunter looked back
at the doors and watched a large man
pace back andforth, inapparent agony,
thenscreamandfall over. He appeared
to have been shot in the back.
He sawa little girl carriedout limpin
a mans arms.
Time crawled. Jennifer Seeger, the
young woman who had looked down
the barrel of the assailants rifle, esti-
mates the ordeal lastedperhaps 10or 15
minutes. Once outside, she phonedher
anxious father.
My dad is not a sentimental guy,
Seeger said, but he was crying on the
phone.
Tom McGhee and Kurtis Lee
contributed to this report.
Kevin Simpson: 303-954-1739,
ksimpson@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/ksimpsondp
Worst shootings in the U.S.
April 16, 2007: At Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va., 59 people were
shot by Seung-Hui Cho; 32 were killed and 27 wounded.
Aug. 1, 1966: Charles Whitman shot 47 people from the clock tower at the
University of Texas at Austin; 16 were killed and 31 wounded.
Oct. 16, 1991: In Killeen, Texas, 45 people were shot, 23 fatally and 22 wound-
ed, by George Hennard at a Lubys Cafeteria.
July 18, 1984: At a McDonalds restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif., 40 people were
shot, 21 fatally and 19 wounded, by James Oliver Huberty.
April 20, 1999: At Columbine High School in unincorporated Jefferson County,
39 people were shot, 13 fatally and 26 wounded, by students Eric Harris and
Dylan Klebold.
Nov. 5, 2009: Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan shot 37 people, 13 fatally and
24 wounded, at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood, Texas.
May 21, 1998: Kipland Kinkel shot 25 people, four fatally, including his par-
ents, and wounded 21 in Springfield, Ore.
The Denver Post Research Library
Theater 9
Century Aurora 16
Theater 8
Sources: Eyewitness accounts; Google
N
225
12 mile
Suspects car
parked behind
theater
Rear exit
Thomas McKay and Severiano Galvn, The Denver Post
Exit SCREEN
Drawing is schematic
Chris
Ramos
Jennifer Seeger
Jordan Crofter
The gunman was seen
standing at the exit door in
front of the theater. He left
momentarily, then came back
inside.
The shooter threw two
chemical canisters into the
audience, one on either side
of the theater.
Moments later, he opened
fire into the crowd as he
moved up and down the right
exit corridor. A man sitting on
Ramos right was shot in the
chest.
Eyewitness accounts
According to Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates, a suspect wearing ballistic equipment including a helmet, gas mask, vest, leggings, throat
and groin protectors and gloves and armed with an AR-15 rifle, Remington 12-gauge shotgun and at least one handgun went on a
shooting spree inside theater 9 at the Century Aurora 16 early Friday morning. People inside the theater provided accounts of the
massacre:
1
2
2
3
1
2
3
E. Colfax Ave.
E. Sixth Ave.
E. Alameda Ave.
Suspects apartment
Site of shooting,
Century Aurora 16
E. Mississippi Ave.
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t.
Chris Ramos
Jordan Crofter, 19,
sneaked into theater
9 even though he
had a ticket for the
showing in the
theater next door.
He wanted to sit
with his friends. One
of those friends,
who had been
sitting in the first
row was shot and
collapsed.
Jordan Crofter
The gunman moved
through the crowd
and stopped in front
of Seeger. He pointed
a long rifle at her face
and said nothing.
He shot at the person
sitting behind her.
Jennifer Seeger
Suspect
worked at
research labs
at University
Hospital
Witnesses
were
interviewed
by police at
Gateway
High School
Jamie Rohrs, 4-month-old Ethan Rohrs,
Patricia and Azariah Lagarreta
The family is separated in the confusion
but reunites afterward. Patricia is
treated for shrapnel wounds.
2A NEWS saturday, july 21, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 66
SATURDAY, JULY 21, 2012 HOT E100 F68 30A B the denver post B $1 price may vary outside metro denver 666
Latest updates: Photos, videos and a timeline of the theater attack and the police response. denverpost.com dp
The scene.
Witnesses
describe terror.
2A
Chuck Murphy.
Tragic reminder of
a big problem. 6A
911 dispatch.
Recordings reveal
the chaos. 7A
Woody Paige. The
reaction
throughout
Colorado, and the
nation was: Oh, no,
not again.
8A
OURHEARTS
ARE BROKEN
THE VICTIMS
On his birthday, Alex
Sullivan was one of 12
killed; 58 were injured
THE SUSPECT
James Holmes allegedly
threwtear gas, then fired
on the movie audience
TomSullivan embraces his wife, Terry, left, and daughter Megan outside Gateway High School in Aurora on Friday. At the time, the family hadnt
heard any news about the fate of son Alex, who was at the movie theater where dozens of people were shot during a midnight screening of The
By Jennifer Brown, Joey Bunch,
Jordan Steffen and Eric Gorski
The Denver Post
aurora A gunman slipped into a
midnight premiere of the newBatman
movie through an emergency exit ear-
ly Friday, tossed two hissing gas canis-
ters and then methodically, calmly
walked up the aisle firing, killing 12
people and wounding 58.
It was among the worst mass shoot-
ings in American history.
Terrorized moviegoers, some drag-
ging bloodiedbodies, spilledout of the
Century Aurora 16 complex at Aurora
Town Center trying to escape shortly
after 12:30 a.m.
Coloradans woke up Friday to news
of the tragedy, an eerie echo of a simi-
lar massacre 13 years ago in a different
Denver suburb, at Columbine High
School. Once again, a mass shooting in
Colorado was recounted around the
world.
Our hearts are broken, Gov. John
Hickenlooper said.
It is beyond the power of words to
fully express our sorrowthis morning.
Coloradans have a remarkable ability
to support one another in times of cri-
sis. This is one of those times.
President Barack Obama spoke from
Florida, saying he instantly thought
about his daughters going to the mov-
ies. We never understand what leads
someone to terrorize their fellow hu-
man beings like this, Obama said.
Life is very fragile, and it is precious.
James Eagan Holmes, 24, bought a
ticket to the show, The Dark Knight
Rises, thenleft theater 9, propping the
emergency exit openfor his return, in-
vestigators said. About 15 minutes into
the film, he appearedbeside the screen
with three guns, dressed in black and
and body shields.
Holmes surrendered to authorities,
whofoundhis northAurora apartment
SHOOTING3A
THE VI CTI MS
Anguish among family, friends
of the dead, missing runs deep
The 24-year-old followed that passion to Colorado to forge a
career in sports journalism. It probably took her to Toronto,
where she walked out of a shopping-mall food court moments
before a gunman shot seven people.
Writing as Jessica Redfield in a June 5 blog entry, she de-
scribedhowthe experience remindedher howblessedI amfor
Early Friday in Aurora, Ghawi did not escape the gunfire.
She was among the 12 people killed when James Eagan Holm-
es allegedly openedfire at a midnight showing of the latest Bat-
man film, The Dark Knight Rises.
VICTIMS 6A
THE SUSPECT
Aquiet man who authorities
By Sara Burnett, Jessica Fender,
Felisa Cardona
and Jeremy P. Meyer
The Denver Post
aurora James Eagan Holmes
nowthe subject of global headlines
was never one to draw attention to
himself.
In interviews with people who have
known himthroughout his life, Holm-
es was describedas a quiet andintelli-
gent person who wouldnt even ac-
knowledge neighbors inhis apartment
hallway.
Holmes, 24, maintained that quiet
demeanor even as police say he was
plotting a horrific attack that killed 12
people and injured 58 others in an Au-
rora movie theater early Friday.
He bought four guns and 6,000
rounds of ammunition, Aurora Police
He rigged his apartment with what
authorities fear are deadly explosives
and blared techno music fromhis ste-
reo inwhats believedto be anattempt
to invite more devastation when the
door was opened.
SUSPECT 4A
Jessica
Ghawi was
an up-and-
coming
sportscaster
who loved
hockey.
booby-trapped with explosives, tech-
no music blasting from his stereo. His
building and five buildings around it
were evacuated.
The names of the victims were not
released, but they include aspiring
sports journalist Jessica Ghawi; Alex
Sullivan, who was celebrating his 27th
birthday at the movie; 23-year-old Mi-
cayla Medek; Matt McQuinn, at the
theater with his girlfriend and her
brother; a U.S. Navy sailor; anda child.
Families and friends of those unac-
counted for gathered at Gateway High
School in Aurora, holding up photos
and awaiting news fromthe six hospi-
tals that cared for victims.
Aurora police spent 90 minutes Fri-
day afternoon with about 70 family
members who had not heard from
their loved ones since the shooting.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said he
expected families of the dead would
learn their fate Friday night.
The bodies of the 10 people who
diedinthe theater were left there until
about 5 p.m. as hundreds of police offi-
cers and FBI agents investigated the
crime scene. Two other people died at
hospitals, which were slammed with
gun-wound surgeries. Most of the 58
injured had gunshot wounds, but a
handful had other injuries resulting
from the mayhem inside the dimly lit
theater.
Of the injured, 30 were still in the
hospital Friday evening, 11 in critical
condition.
Difficulty coping
It was like something out of a mov-
ie, said Jacob King, who was standing
inthe lobbywhensomeone carriedout
a motionless little girl, covered in
blood. You dont want to believe its
real, but it is.
Apolice officer took the girl and set
her in the back of his squad car, then
sped away.
Oates, his voice choked with emo-
tion during an evening news confer-
ence, said his officers will need help
coping in the aftermath of the shoot-
ings.
Our cops went through a lot, he
said. They were taking people out of
that theater and into their own police
cars.
Aurora police began receiving a
swath of calls at 12:39 a.m. and were at
the theater within90seconds. Holmes
was takeninto custody behindthe the-
ater, near a white Hyundai.
Investigators found a 12-gauge shot-
gun, an AR-15 assault-style weapon
and a .40-caliber Glock handgun. A
second Glock was found in Holmes
car, and authorities also removed a
combat helmet, duffel bag, anammuni-
tion magazine and a vest.
The guns were purchased legally
from local stores, and Holmes bought
more than 6,000 rounds of ammuni-
SHOOTING
FROM 1A
tion online, legally, the police chief
said.
Agas mask, a bloody jacket, popcorn
and drinks were strewn on the pave-
ment outside the theater. Areporter in
a news helicopter saw bloody foot-
prints.
Many of the nearly 200 officers at
the theater drove victims to hospitals,
as ambulances were doubled up with
casualties.
The Department of Defense con-
firmed a U.S. Navy sailor who was at
the theater was unaccounted for. One
other Navy sailor and two U.S. Air
Force airmen were injured in the at-
tack, according to the statement. The
shooting suspect was never was a
member of the military, federal offi-
cials said.
One of the victims diedat Childrens
Hospital in Aurora, but officials there
wouldnot say whether it was a childor
anadult. The most seriously injuredof
the other five patients there had buck-
shot injuries to the back.
Two of the victims at Childrens
were hit witha high-velocity rifle, per-
haps from60to80feet away, emergen-
cy-room physician Dr. Guy Upshaw
said.
Theater filled with smoke
Josh Kelly, 28, was watching the
movie with his girlfriend of about four
Josh called his father, Robert Kelly,
fromthe theater and said: I cant find
my girl. In the darkness and the
smoke, and people panicking and
trampling one another, he just lost
track, and he couldnt see, the elder
Kelly said. My son is freaked out.
The dark theater quickly filled with
smoke that stung peoples eyes and
throats after the gunman tossed gas
canisters, witnesses said. Moviegoers
dropped to the floor and crawled over
one another to get out. Some dragged
bloodied bodies to the lobby.
I ran. I pushed. I did whatever I had
to do to get out, said Resharee Good-
lo, whose friend didnt make it out of
the theater and is feared dead.
Emma Goos, 19, was separated from
her friend, but they both made it out
alive. She described15 seconds of fire,
fire, fire. He let off 20 rounds in 30 sec-
onds.
Goos triedto go home andsleep, but
her thoughts were too haunting:
A man with soft tissue on his head,
blood gushing down his arms, holding
his headandasking, Is there a hole? Is
there a hole? Children walking out,
clutching people they had never met.
A girl with shrapnel in her hips being
trampled at the door. And the gun-
man himself standing there with his
feet spread apart as if he were the king
of the world, like a video game or a
movie scene, Goos said.
Gunman calm
Jordan Crofter, 19, sneaked into the-
ater 9 even though he had a ticket for
the showing in the theater next door.
He wanted to sit with his friends.
Crofter said the gunman appeared
lackadaisical, as calm as can be, and
didnt say a word. He was sitting there
like target practice. He was trying to
shoot as many people as he could.
Crofter ran for his life and was the
first to the lobby. He found out later
that a friend in the first row had been
shot and collapsed. He didnt know
Friday whether he lived.
One of the shots blasted through the
wall intotheater 8, hittingapersonthere.
The University of Colorado said
Holmes was withdrawing from the
universitys graduate program in neu-
rosciences, after enrolling at the uni-
versity inJune 2011. Holmes graduated
fromthe University of California, Riv-
erside in 2010 with a degree in neuro-
science, the university said.
Authorities saw jars of liquid and
ammunitioninHolmes apartment and
said they would return Saturday with
federal agents tocleanit up. Neighbors
were allowed to go home one at a time
to collect medicines or other necessi-
ties but not stay the night.
Jackie Mitchell said he had drinks
and talked football with Holmes a few
nights ago at the Zephyr Lounge.
Holmes was geeky and had a swag-
ger to him, Mitchell said.
He just didnt seem the type to go
into a movie theater and shoot it up,
Mitchell said. He seemed like a real
smart dude.
Witnesses said police came running
into the theater shouting at them to
runout. Some of the officers carriedor
dragged victims to safety.
Tammi Stevens, whose 18-year-old
son Jacob was inside theater 9, waited
for himat Gateway High School.
You let your kids go to a late-night
movie ... you never think something
like this would happen, she said.
Aurora police provide security at the
theater on weekends, but because the
movie premiere was playing Friday
just after midnight, they were not
there. The police chief saidhis officers
would provide extra security this
weekendat four other Aurora theaters
showing the Batman movie, as a pre-
caution.
Sometime around1 a.m., patients be-
gan arriving at the Medical Center of
Aurora. Atotal of 15 patients ranging
from 16 to 31 years old were sent to
the medical center, 12 of them with
gunshot wounds. An additional three
patients arrived at the hospital Friday
afternoon, the hospital said.
Two patients in critical condition
were at Swedish Medical Center.
Denver HealthMedical Center treat-
edsix victims; three were releasedand
three listed in fair condition, hospital
officials said. The University of Colo-
rado Hospital had 23 victims, nine in
critical condition.
More than 100 FBI and 25 Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explo-
sives agents weredeployedtoColorado
to help local authorities in Aurora, U.S.
Department of Justice officials said.
The president ordered all flags flown
at half-staff inhonor of the victims.
The Town Center Mall in Aurora
was closed Friday but was to reopen
Saturday. Aprayer vigil was plannedin
Aurora for 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
Warner Bros. studio canceled the
red-carpet premiere event of The
Dark Knight Rises in Paris, and the
studio released a statement saying the
company is deeply saddened to learn
about this shocking incident.
Lines fromprevious Batman movies
were quoted online Friday as news of
the shooting spread, including: Some
men arent looking for anything logi-
cal, like money. They cant be bought,
bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with.
Some men just want to watch the
world burn.
Aurora police are asking anyone
with information about the shootings
to call Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.
Families looking for informationabout
loved ones should call 303-739-1862.
Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593,
jenbrown@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/jbrowndpost
James Holmess car was found in the back of the theater. Police found a combat helmet, duffel bag, an ammunition magazine, a vest and a Glock handgun. Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Amanda Medek, who was looking for her sister Micayla, is overcome with
emotion outside Gateway High School on Friday in Aurora. Late Friday, it
was confirmed that Micayla Medek was among the 12 people who lost
their lives in the mass shooting at a movie theater. RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
The following
staff writers contributed
to this report
Karen Aug, Michael Booth, Doug-
las Brown, Jennifer Brown, Su-
zanne Brown, Kristen Browning-
Blas, Joey Bunch, Sara Burnett,
Karen E. Crummy, Joanne David-
son, Jessica Fender, Eric Gorski,
Tegan Hanlon, Carlos Illescas,
John Ingold, Lindsay Jones, Lisa
Kennedy, Joey Kirchmer, Kurtis
Lee, Tom McGhee, Jeremy P. Mey-
er, Kirk Mitchell, Kieran Nichol-
son, Joe Nguyen, Colleen OCon-
nor, David Olinger, Joanne Ostrow,
Kristen Lee Painter, Ryan Parker,
William Porter, Allison Sherry,
Kevin Simpson, Jordan Steffen,
Erin Udell, Joe Vaccarelli, John
Wenzel, Monte Whaley
666 the denver post B denverpost.com B saturday, july 21, 2012 NEWS 3A
From what little is known about the
suspect, it appearsthat hewasastudyin
contrast a smart and quiet man who
authorities say harboreda deadly plan.
In high school the boy known as
Jimmy quit the soccer teamafter his
sophomore year and focused mostly
on his studies.
He earneda degree inneuroscience
with highest honors fromthe Univer-
sity of California Riverside in2010but
didnt walk inhis commencement cer-
emony.
Oates said Holmes, who did not re-
sist when he was arrested outside the
theater minutes after the shooting,
acted alone.
Oates declined to discuss what mo-
tive, if any, Holmes gave police.
One hint couldbe inwhat NewYork
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told
reporters Friday, saying that Holmes
had reportedly identified himself as
Batmans arch-enemy The Joker to
authorities.
He hadhis hair paintedred, he said
he was The Joker, obviously the ene-
my of Batman, Kelly said at a news
conference, addressing the increased
security at NewYork City theaters.
Oates, whosaidhe talkedwithKelly
early Friday, would not confirm that
report. But residents of Holmes
apartment building said police who
came to their doors immediately after
the shooting asked if they had seen a
man with his hair dyed red or pink.
Information compiled from multi-
ple sources shows the planning for the
attack was methodical, went back
months and coincided with Holmes
withdrawal from a graduate program
in neuroscience at the University of
In May, he began buying guns and
apparently stocking up on the body
armor that police said he wore during
the shooting: a ballistic helmet and
vest, ballistic leggings, throat and
groin protector, a gas mask and black
tactical gloves.
Before he left for the movie theater
he booby-trapped his apartment, at-
taching several trip wires to 1-liter
plastic bottles containing anunknown
substance in a manner so sophisticat-
ed Oates said it could take days to dis-
arm.
Its so vexing that by nightfall Fri-
day officers had still not risked enter-
ing the apartment, instead using cam-
eras to probe.
I personally have never seen any-
thing like what the pictures showus in
there, Oates said.
Holmes parents, wholive inSanDi-
ego, issued a statement saying the
family is cooperating withauthorities.
His father flewtoDenver Friday after-
noon. His mother remained at the
family home, neighbors said.
Our hearts go out to those who
were involved in this tragedy and to
the families and friends of those in-
volved, they said. We are still trying
toprocess this informationandwe ap-
preciate that people will respect our
privacy.
Holmes grewupinSanDiego, grad-
uating fromWestviewHigh School in
2006. He then went on to the Univer-
sity of California Riverside, where
Chancellor Timothy White said Hol-
mes distinguishedhimself, graduating
Academically, he was the top of the
top, White said.
The Mai family has lived next door
to the Holmes family for abut 15 years
on a middle-class street in suburban
San Diego.
Christine Mai, 17, saidshe never saw
Jimmy Holmes act out violently or
witha weapon, nor didshe see himso-
cializing with friends or bringing girl-
friends home.
The Holmes family had Christmas
parties in their front yard and often
exchanged gifts with the Mais, she
said. Last year, they shared hot apple
cider in the front yard with other
neighbors.
He seemed like a nice guy, she
said. His mother used to tell us he
was a good son.
After graduation fromUCR, Holm-
es took a part-time jobat a nearby Mc-
Donalds.
I felt bad for him because he stud-
ied so hard, Mai said. My brother
said he looked kind of down; he
seemed depressed.
Julie Adams saidher sonplayedsoc-
cer with Holmes at Westview High.
Holmes played his freshman and
sophomore years, she said.
While most of the other kids her
son Taylor included played league
soccer and continued the sport
throughout high school, Holmes
I could tell you a lot about every
single kid on that team except for
him, Adams said. He was more
aloof.
She was shocked to discover heli-
copters circling her San Diego neigh-
borhood because of Holmes alleged
rampage.
Taylor remembers playing soccer
SUSPECT
FROM 1A
withhim. Hesaidhewasquiet, reserved
anda respectful kid, Adams said.
According to her sons yearbook,
Holmes also ran cross country as a
freshman but did not continue the
sport.
Holmes came to Colorado in May
2011 and started in CUs neuroscience
program a month later. But by last
month, he was in the process of with-
drawing, university spokeswoman
Jacque Montgomery said Friday.
Inane-mail message to members of
the campus community, Doug Abra-
ham, chief of police for the university,
said Holmes access to campus build-
ings was terminated while his with-
drawal was being processed.
He said officials do not believe Hol-
mes has been on campus since then,
but authorities evacuated several re-
search buildings as a precautionary
measure while they waited for bomb-
sniffing dogs to search buildings Fri-
day afternoon.
InanapplicationHolmes submitted
for a different apartment early last
year, he described himself as a quiet
and easy-going student. Other ten-
ants in his building which is re-
served for students, faculty and staff
of the medical campus described
himas a recluse.
KaitlynFonzi, a 20-year-oldbiology
student at University of Colorado
Denver who lives in an apartment be-
low Holmes said she heard techno
music blasting from Holmes apart-
ment around midnight.
Another tenant said residents
called 9-1-1 about the racket.
Fonzi went upstairs andknockedon
the door. When no one answered, she
put her handonthe knob andrealized
the door was unlocked.
Fonzi decided not to go inside the
apartment.
At almost exactly 1 a.m., Fonzi said,
the music stopped.
Denver Post writers Kieran Nichol-
son, Monte Whaley and Jordan Stef-
fen and the Associated Press contrib-
uted.
By David Olinger The Denver Post
aurora The killer brought four
guns twosemi-automatic pistols, an
assault-style rifle and a shotgun to
the movie theater, where 70 people
were shot or injured, of whom12 died.
He also came dressed for battle,
wearing a gas mask, a combat helmet, a
ballistic vest and armor protecting his
legs, throat and groin.
Law enforcement officials said Fri-
day that they are investigating whether
James Eagan Holmes, the 24-year-old
suspect, was legally eligible to own all
those weapons and combat gear. But
they had found no evidence of a crimi-
nal history that wouldhave prohibited
him from buying the weapons used to
massacre moviegoers at a midnight
Batman premiere in Aurora.
His only run-inwithpolice: anOcto-
ber 2011 speeding ticket.
Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates
said Holmes brought a pair of .40-cali-
ber Glock pistols, an AR-15 military-
style rifle and a Remington shotgun to
the Century Aurora 16 complex, but it
was unclear whether he used them all
as he strode throughthe theater, shoot-
ing people apparently at random. One
Glock pistol was found in his white
Hyundai whenpolicearrestedhimout-
side the car, he said. Oates saidHolmes
purchased6,000rounds of ammunition
and multiple magazines, including a
drum magazine able to hold 100 car-
tridges, fromstores andontheInternet.
Oates also said investigators have
not yet determined how many shots
were fired or how many gun maga-
zines were brought to the theater to
carry out the midnight massacre.
But many, many rounds were fired,
he said.
According to one law enforcement
source, the gunman could easily have
shot police officers as they ap-
proached because of all his combat
gear but sat calmly by his car instead.
The AR-15 is a semi-automatic ver-
sion of the military M-16 rifle, first
marketed for civilian sales in 1963.
Glock, an Austrian gunmaker, has
become the leading seller of semi-au-
tomatic pistols to U.S. law enforce-
ment agencies and offers a variety of
.40-caliber pistols to civilians as well.
The Remington Model 870 is a
U.S.-made pump-action shotgun used
by the public for sport shooting and
hunting and is oftencarried by lawen-
forcement and military personnel.
Convicted felons, people convicted
of domestic violence and people who
have been adjudicated as mentally de-
fective or committed to a mental insti-
tution are among those prohibited
frombuying guns inthe United States.
Though Holmes apparently pur-
chasedhis legally, There is a huge gun
issue here, said Kristen Rand, legisla-
tive director for the Violence Policy
Center, a gun-control group.
From Columbine High to Virginia
TechtoFort Hoodtothe Aurora movie
theater, mass murderers have brought
high-capacity magazines used either
in pistols or assault rifles, she said.
That is the common thread.
Holmes wieldedavariant of theAR-15
manufactured by Smith and Wesson
that comes with a 30-round magazine,
she said, and Glock really drove the
switchover fromrevolvers tosemi-auto-
matic pistols in the American market.
On its website, Gun Owners of
America, a group opposed to stricter
gun laws, blamed Holmes ability to
shoot so many people on the absence
of guns in the audience.
The gunmanuseda movie gunfight
to cover his actions and further sur-
prise the innocent patrons. Worse, the
theater in Aurora reportedly has a no
guns policy, the group stated. De-
spite gun controls obvious failure, the
calls for more restrictions have al-
ready begun.
RandandBradBeyersdorf, a spokes-
man for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobac-
co, Firearms andExplosives inDenver,
said they think people who have not
been convicted of violent felonies can
legally purchase the ballistic gear Hol-
mes wore.
One of the pistols and the rifle were
purchased at Gander Mountain in
Thornton. The second pistol was
bought at the Gander Mountain in
Denver and the shotgun at the Denver
Bass Pro Shop, according to TomMan-
gan, a Phoenix-based agent with the
ATF.
MI LI TARY- STYLE ARSENAL
Gunman came
to theater with
four weapons
The firearms usedin
the shootings were
likely purchasedlegally.
Agents fromthe FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives investigate the scene behind the Century Aurora 16 theater
where 12 people were killed and 58 injured in a shooting during a mid-
night screening of The Dark Knight Rises. AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
SMITH & WESSON M&P15
REMINGTON 870 12- GAUGE SHOTGUN
SHOOTERS
GEAR
Ballistic helmet
Gas mask
Tactical vest
Ballistic
leggings
Metal shin guards
Armored boots
GLOCK .40- CALIBER PISTOL
Weapons in possession
James Eagan Holmes legally purchased all four
firearms at local stores within 60 days of the
shooting at the Century Aurora 16. The ammo for
each weapon was legally purchased from online
vendors.
Holmes first shot into the crowd
with a shotgun, aiming toward
the back of the theater.
One handgun was found inside
Theater 9. A second handgun
was found in the shooters car
behind the building.
The rifle, a civilian version of the
U.S. militarys M-16, was
strapped to the shooters back
and could hold 100 rounds.
Danielle Kees, The Denver Post Sources: McClatchy Tribune; Remington; Smith & Wesson; Glock
Purchased at Bass Pro Shop
Ammo: 2.75-inch, 12-gauge shells
Purchased at Gander Mountain in Thornton
One purchased each at Gander Mountain
stores in Thornton and Denver
July 21, 2012
PA6f 2
Ghawi was one of four of the de-
ceased whose identities were known
at press time.
The family of Alex Sullivan said he
was one of the 10 people who died in-
side the theater (two others died at
area hospitals). He was attending the
film on his 27th birthday.
Alex was smart, funny and, above
all, loved dearly by his friends and
family, a release from the family said.
Late Friday, The Associated Press
confirmed the death of Micayla
Medek, 23.
And WHIOTVin Dayton, Ohio, cit-
ing Aurora police, identified a fourth
casualty as Matt McQuinn, of nearby
St. Paris, Ohio.
McQuinn was reportedly killed
while trying toshieldhis girlfriend, Sa-
mantha Yowler, from the gunfire. The
stationsaid the couple worked togeth-
er at a Target inOhio andtransferedto
a store in Denver last year.
For others, anguish over the fate of
missingfriendsandlovedonesremained.
Many family members of the miss-
ing spent the day at nearby Gateway
High School, waiting, while hints and
scraps of information trickled out to
the public.
Earlier Friday, Alex Sullivans dad,
Tom, paced the parking lot alternately
hugging friends and showing anyone
who would look at a photo of his then-
missing son.
By midday, the Department of De-
fense confirmed that one of those
missing was serving in the Navy and
was believed dead. Also, a distraught
man who wanted to remain anony-
mous told a reporter that his 6-year-
old daughter was gone.
At 6p.m., afriendof RebeccaWingo, a
singlemother of two, went ontelevision
pleading for information about the
woman he last sawin the theater as the
carnage unfolded.
For Ghawis family, word of her
death came in a middle-of-the-night
phone call froma friend who had gone
with her to the movie, her brother, Jor-
dan Ghawi, told 9News.
Peter Burns, a Denver sports-talk ra-
dio host who worked with Ghawi in
San Antonio and who encouraged her
to come to Colorado, said he wasnt
surprised his friend was at the movie
for the midnight premiere.
She was an experience person, he
said. If theres a game, she wanted to
be there. She even found a way to be at
the Stanley Cup finals. She just kind of
found a way.
He wasnt sure, but he said he be-
lieved she had gone to Toronto to be
with her boyfriend, a minor-league
hockey player.
Whenfire destroyedthe homes of so
many in Colorado last month, Ghawi
decided to start collecting donated
hockey equipment for kids.
Shewantedtohelp. Thats thetypeof
heart she had, Jordan Ghawi told
9News.
Jessica Ghawi paidthe bills by work-
ing as a waitress, until she was laid off
recently, said Adrian Dater, who cov-
ers the Colorado Avalanche for The
Denver Post. Dater met Ghawi in the
teams press box, where she was work-
ing for 104.3 The Fan. Her goal was to
earn a living as a sports journalist.
Thursday night, fromCentury Auro-
ra 16, she tweeted: Of course were
seeing Dark Knight. RedheadedTexan
spitfire. People should never argue
with me. Maybe I should get in on
those NHL talks.
Ghawi was in Toronto on June 2,
grabbing a bite to eat in a shopping
mall, when, she wrote on her blog, she
felt funny, left the food court and
walked outside.
Moments later, shots rang out in the
foodcourt Ghawi hadbeenstandingin.
The gunfire killed a 25-year-old man
and wounded six others, two critically.
In a blog post dated June 5, she de-
scribedwatchingasparamedicsrusheda
shirtless and badly wounded man from
the foodcourt, wheeling himpast her.
Its hard for me to wrap my mind
around how a weird feeling saved me
from being in the middle of a deadly
shooting, Ghawi wrote. I say all the
time that every moment we have to
live our life is a blessing. So often I
have found myself taking it for grant-
ed. Every hug from a family member.
Every laugh we share with friends.
Eventhe times of solitude are all bless-
ings. Every second of every day is a
gift. After Saturday evening, I know I
truly understand howblessed I amfor
each second I am given.
Late Thursday night, as she waited
for the showtostart insold-out theater
9, she tweeted her excitement and im-
patience, and ribbed friends who
werent there.
MOVIE DOESNT START FOR 20
MINUTES,shetweetedbeforemidnight.
To my friend: Read Adrian
Daters blog about Jessica Ghawi.
blogs.denverpost.com/avs
VICTIMS
FROM 1A
By Eric Gorski The Denver Post
aurora Jamie Rohrs cant recall
the exact moment he lost his son
how 4-month-old Ethan went from
resting in his arms to lying alone on
the theater stairs as smoke, gunfire
and screaming were all around.
His young family, new to Colorado,
had decided to attend the midnight
screening of The Dark Knight Rises
just hours before.
All wore Batman T-shirts 25-
year-old Rohrs; his fiance, Patricia
Legarreta; her 4-year-old daughter,
Azariah; and baby Ethan.
When a man with a gas mask and
guns entered theater No. 9 and started
shooting, Rohrs and Legarreta had to
decide in a matter of moments how to
best savethemselvesandtheir children.
Youre just thinking, Am I in a
dream? Rohrs said. Am I in a
nightmare? There are flashes. Every-
thing is so loud. I amthinking, Is this
the day I die? Will this be the bullet
that kills me?
Speaking to the media Friday, Rohrs
andLegarreta countedthemselves for-
tunate Ethan dozing in his fathers
arms, Legarreta hurting from the
shrapnel lodgedinher leg, their family
intact.
Rohrs, whohadnt beenfeeling well,
called his fiance at about 6:30 p.m.
Thursday and suggested they see the
new Batman movie.
The young couple recently relocat-
ed to Denver after Rohrs graduated
from the University of New Mexico
pharmacy school and took a job at a
local Walmart pharmacy.
After arriving at the theater at about
11:10p.m., the family foundthree seats
and the family settled in Azariah
occupying herself with Sour Patch
Kids and SpongeBob candy just pur-
chased from a 7-Eleven.
Legarreta scannedthe theater, look-
ing for the faces of other young chil-
dren, hoping they were not alone in
bringing theirs to a midnight movie,
mindful that some people might think
them horrible parents.
A few minutes before the lights
went down, she nudged Rohrs: Look,
she said, another infant. A 3-month-
old in a car carrier.
Thecrowdwasfestive, cheeringeven
at the preview of The Hobbit movie.
OnewomanwasdressedasCatwoman.
Then, the man in the gas mask
walked in through the exit door.
He tossed something a canister
of some sort over the audience and
onto a stairwell. A girl screamed.
Youthink, Is this a prank? Legar-
reta said. You hear about that some-
times at midnight movies.
Soonenough, it became clear it was
no prank.
Get down! shouted Rohrs, who
was holding a sleeping Ethan.
Legarreta grabbed her daughter,
who was sleeping on the seat next to
her, and pulled her to the floor.
Is this how I die? Legarreta
thought. Is this how it ends?
Rohrs has Ethan, she thought. OK.
She stood up. Then she felt a tingling
sensation in her leg. Her mistake had
been moving. Others in the theater
described the gunman shooting at
anyone who moved.
I think I got shot! Legarreta yelled.
Behind her, a voice froma man: So
did I.
In the smoke and dark and confu-
sion, she searched for Rohrs.
When the gunfire started, Rohrs
said, he tried to duck behind a seat. It
was chaos. People were falling, crawl-
ing, stumbling all around.
He wonderedwhat todo. If he stood
up, wouldhe be shot? WouldEthanbe
shot if he cried?
Rohrs still isnt sure how he lost
Ethan. One moment he was in his
arms; the next, he was gone. Rohrs
hurtled over some seats, found his
way to the stairway, and ran.
Im disoriented, he said. I dont
knowwhere my family is. Didthey get
out? ShouldI runback in? I cant leave
themthere to die. I amthinking, I lost
my family. Theyre dead.
What he did not know is that he
couldnot findEthanbecause Legarre-
ta had picked him up off the stairs.
Legarreta considered her options.
Should I play dead? My kids are not
going to die in here, she thought. She
had only a moment to decide, and in
that moment she grabbedher kids and
ran for the lobby.
Just let me get them through the
door, she thought.
All the while, she is thinking, Who
does this? Who goes into a movie the-
ater filled with teenagers and starts
shooting?
She had no phone, no purse. In the
parking lot, Rohrs was frantic. People
were running everywhere.
Then, he sees anunfamiliar Colora-
do number come up on his cellphone:
It is Legarreta, on a borrowed phone.
The kids were fine.
At University of Colorado Hospital,
Legarreta was treated for shrapnel
wounds from her ankle to the upper
thigh. Sitting at the hospital, she
couldnt shake the images of the other
children she had seen in the theater,
the faces she remembered, the 3-
month-old, someone elses baby.
Innocent people, kids, lost their
lives, Patricia said. I am so thankful
and blessed my family got out and my
kids are OK. I hurt for the families
that did not come out together the
way they came in.
Eric Gorski: 303-954-1971,
egorski@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/egorski
ONE FAMI LYS SURVI VAL
Disbelief, horror, worry and then, nally, relief
Newto Colorado, a
young family scrambled
to escape the gunman.
Patricia Legarreta and Jamie Rohrs, holding 4-month-old Ethan, talk to
the media Friday about the theater shootings in which 12 people were
killed and 58 others injured. Joe Amon, The Denver Post
M
arietta Perkins
prays Friday in
a field near
Century Aurora 16, the
movie theater complex
in Aurora where a gun-
man killed 12 and injured
dozens more during the
midnight screening of
the new Batman film
The Dark Knight
Rises. People gathered
in the field all day,
including Nathan
Mendonca, left, and his
girlfriend Melissa Clark,
both 18.
Photos by Hyoung Chang,
The Denver Post
FINDINGCOMFORTTOGETHER
Youre just thinking, AmI in a dream? AmI in a nightmare?

Jamie Rohrs, who survived the movie theater shooting along with his fiance and young children
By Tom McGhee
and Monte Whaley
The Denver Post
A tangle of wires, trip wires, jars
full of liquid and things resembling
mortar rounds looked like it would
keep bomb technicians out of the al-
leged Aurora theater shooters
apartment until Saturday.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates on
Friday night called the potentially
explosive mess vexing and said
that Saturday, bomb technicians
from Colorado would get help from
the federal government.
Hopefully, we will be able to ad-
dress and solve that problemtomor-
row, he said.
Until then, thebuildingat 1690Par-
is St., wherethegunmanwhoalleged-
ly killed 12 and injured 58 others dur-
ing an early-morning showing of the
newest Batmanmovie lived, remains
evacuated.
Residents evacuated from four
other buildings near it were being al-
lowed to return briefly to retrieve
necessities, such as medication,
Oates said.
Rumors flew around the complex
at Peoria and East 17th Avenue, as
residents mingled with medical stu-
dents fromthe nearby University of
Colorado Anschutz Medical Cam-
pus and others who came by to see
what hadbecome a macabre remind-
er of the mass shooting at the nearby
Century Aurora 16 movie theater.
It has been very confusing and
very frightening, saidKaitlynFonzi,
who lives with her boyfriend in the
apartment below James Eagan
Holmes, 24, who has been identified
as the alleged shooter.
Friday morning, police officers
and FBI agents rode a firetruck
bucket tothe thirdfloor of the three-
story building, smashed a window
with a long pole and took pictures
inside Holmes residence.
Aurora Deputy Fire Chief Chris
Henderson said they found a num-
ber of liter-sized soda bottles filled
with an unknown liquid connected
with wires inside.
Were not sure exactly where
they connect to, Henderson said.
Earlier plans to send in a robot
were scrapped for the moment.
Henderson said earlier Friday that
if a robot somehowdetonatedthe de-
vice, the situation would be worse.
Fire crews have been on hand to
fight any blaze, but engines have be-
gun to leave.
Henderson said he had never seen
a device like this before. He called
the situation fluid and said it
could change at any moment.
Jim Yacone, special agent in
charge of the Denver FBI, saidemer-
gency workers were working on
howto disarmthe flammable or ex-
plosive material.
Yellowpolice tape remains around
the run-down complex.
Fonzi, a University of Colorado
Denver biology major, said Holmes
apartment eruptedwithloudtechno
music around midnight Wednesday.
She went up to the apartment to
ask himto turnthe music down. The
door was ajar, and she placed her
hand on the doorknob but didnt
push it open. Something made her
think she shouldnt go in, she said.
She thought Holmes might have
wanted to lure someone inside.
There has never been music like
that playing in that apartment until
last night, she said.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671,
tmcghee@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/dpmcghee
DI SARMI NG A DANGEROUS SI TUATI ON
Booby-trapped apartment
vexing bomb technicians
Police investigate the suspects apartment near East 17th Avenue and
Peoria Street on Friday. Stephen Mitchell, The Denver Post
By Carlos Illescas The Denver Post
James Eagan Holmes, the suspected
shooter in the Aurora movie-theater
killings, is scheduled to appear in
Arapahoe County court Monday
morning for an initial advisement.
After that, it could be months until
he is tried in the shooting of 71 people,
12 of whomdied. In between, he could
face a competency evaluation and a
decision on whether the district attor-
ney will seek the death penalty.
But Monday starts the clock ticking
in his legal case.
District Attorney Carol Chambers
will likely decide sometime next week
on what and how many charges to file
against him. There will be at least 71
charges one for each victim and
probably more.
Once Holmes is charged, the defense
will then ask that a preliminary hearing
beset. Anarraignment wouldfollowand
then motions hearings before reaching
trial. Theprocesswill likelytakemonths.
For now, two of the biggest ques-
tions regarding Holmes legal case are
whether the district attorney will seek
the death penalty and whether his de-
fense team will ask the state to deter-
mine whether he is competent tostand
trial, legal observers say.
Chambers, who could not be
reached for comment, has not been
shy about seeking the death penalty
during her tenure. Two of the three
prisoners on death row, Robert Ray
and Sir Mario Owens, were put there
by her office. And she has sought the
death penalty six times.
Chambers is term-limited, and two
people are running in November to fill
her seat. Because of that, any decision
Chambers makes could be changed by
the newDA, said Denver attorney Phil
Cherner. Republicancandidate George
Brauchler and Democrat Ethan Feld-
man are running for the office.
The other issue is Holmes compe-
tency. He appeared to have a meticu-
lous planleading upto Fridays massa-
cre, police said.
But competency is about whether a
suspect understands the court pro-
ceedings, not about whether he knows
right fromwrong.
And Cherner said it might not al-
ways be wise to seek a court evalua-
tion. Holmes defense team will likely
do its own evaluation before deciding
on whether to ask the state to do so.
Ultimately, a judge would decide
whether Holmes is competent for trial.
If you raise the competency issue,
youlet thegovernment intoyour clients
head, Cherner said. Thats the one
thing they have that nobody else has.
COURT PROCEEDI NGS
Suspect to make rst
appearance Monday
By Chuck Murphy
The Denver Post
aurora
T
he AR-15 is a lightweight, ver-
satile rifle capable of firing a
.223-caliber round at 3,200 feet
per second. Thats fast enough to
travel fromone side of a 160-foot-
wide movie theater to the other in 50
milliseconds, and much faster than
the 300-millisecond blink of an eye.
Retail, the rifle will run you any-
where from$750 to $1,000. But, as a
weapon, it is all but worthless with-
out an operator.
Before the sun had risen Friday, the
deaths of 12 people in an Aurora mov-
ie theater had already become the
latest platformfor Americas cease-
less gun debate.
If formcontinues to hold true, one
side will use the massacre to argue that
rifles like the AR-15 have no civilian
purpose and are too easy to purchase,
making mass slayings inevitable.
The other side will argue that if just
one other patron had been armed at
the midnight movie, the tragedy might
have been averted by creating a death
toll of only one suspect James Eagan
Holmes.
Both sides are right. But neither will
ever compromise, and continuing to
entertain their debate distracts us from
a far more important, and perhaps
even solvable, question.
We dont yet knowif the accused
has been previously diagnosed as
mentally ill. We have ample evidence
that he is deranged.
And in the U.S. , we have scarce
resources for treating mental illness
and are even worse about monitoring
patients who suffer fromit. If we are
looking for solutions to horrifying
events such as Friday mornings mass
shooting, its a good place to start.
For the past 50 years, inpatient
treatment of the mentally ill has
moved fromhospitals to jails.
Arecent study published in the
Journal of the American Academy of
Psychiatry and the Lawnoted that
the number of beds available for in-
patient psychiatric treatment has
fallen from339 per 100,000 Ameri-
cans in 1955 to 22 per 100,000 in the
year 2000.
Either we have gotten a lot saner as
a nation or we have chosen to ignore
the real problem. Other evidence
suggests it is the latter.
Today, the percentage of our in-
mate population diagnosed as de-
pressed, schizophrenic, bipolar or
suffering fromother psychiatric con-
ditions stands between 16 and 24 per-
cent, according to that same study.
That is a minimumof 309,000 of our
nations 2 million inmates who have
an identified psychiatric disorder and
are receiving only the bare minimum
in treatment before being released at
the completion of their sentences.
This is not to excuse Holmes al-
leged actions or let himhide behind a
psychiatric condition to avoid punish-
ment. On the contrary, based on some
of the eyewitness accounts, the killer
seemed very much in control in the
theater, even making choices of vic-
tims, rather than firing indiscrimi-
nately. That, along with the booby-
trap wiring at his apartment, indicates
he is equal parts genius and madman.
Shouldnt someone have noticed?
Shouldnt he have gotten help long
before this? Aneuroscience faculty
member at the University of Colora-
do who spoke, anonymously (how
brave!), to The Washington Post said
Holmes was very quiet, strangely
quiet in class and socially off. That
same faculty member said he actually
wasnt surprised when he learned
that the James Holmes he knewwas
the accused gunman. Let that sink in.
The best research into the mindset
of mass killers has found that they
almost invariably had high expecta-
tions for themselves, fell short and
chose destruction as a means to im-
mortality.
The little we knowabout Holmes
tracks nicely along that path, but he
hasnt come close to achieving im-
mortality. Beyond the grieving fami-
lies making funeral arrangements and
flying the flags at half staff, his impact
didnt last one full day on the broader
community. By Friday afternoon, just
blocks fromhis apartment, yard sales
were underway, kids were on the play-
ground, the swimming pool at Del
Mar Park was packed to overflowing.
James Eagan Holmes is not immor-
tal. If convicted, he wont be remem-
bered any more than the killers at
Virginia Tech, Toronto or even Col-
umbine have survived in our minds
and howmany of those can you
name?
No, Holmes is nothing but the latest
horrifying reminder that we still have
some big problems lurking out there.
COMMENTARY
Immortal? No, but alleged gunman is tragic reminder of problem
An Aurora police officer on Friday carries a laundry basket of items
for a woman allowed to return to her residence near the apartments
where shooting suspect James Eagan Holmes lives. Police said Holm-
es, who is accused of killing 12 people at a movie theater early Friday,
had booby-trapped his apartment. Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post
Tammi Stevens is overcome with emotion as she picks up her son Jacob outside Gateway High School on Friday in Aurora. Jacob survived the
shootings at the Century 16 theater in Aurora in which 70 people were shot, 12 fatally. RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
EMERGENCY ROOMS MOBI LI ZE
Heroic eorts to save lives
A silver lining amid
horror: 3-month-old
survives on night that
tests hospitals mettle.
By Kirk Mitchell
The Denver Post
aurora In the early hours of
Friday, Childrens Hospital Colora-
do received word that an ambu-
lance was on its way with a female
patient infull cardiac andrespirato-
ry arrest.
She had three severe injuries to
her lower chest and abdomen.
A team of at least six attending
doctors and residents and five or
six nurses were ready in an operat-
ing roomto work on the woman.
The doctors tried to get her
breathing. They worked for more
than an hour to resuscitate and re-
pair her injuries, but despite heroic
efforts, the patient died, said Dr.
Guy Upshaw, emergency roomdoc-
tor at Childrens Hospital.
Its very sad, very sad, Upshaw
said. It was senseless.
But in all but two instances, pa-
tients who arrivedat hospitals with
wounds received at the Aurora the-
ater shootings survived.
Similar scenes were played out
across Aurora and Denver emer-
gency rooms as staffs geared up,
calling doctors, nurses andsecurity
staff. Even additional custodians
were called in when the chaos be-
gan after 12:30 a.m.
The injured streamed into six
metropolitan Denver emergency
rooms in police patrol cars, ambu-
lances and private cars.
They were literally just showing
up at emergency bay, said Dr. Co-
milla Sasson, emergency roomphy-
sician at University of Colorado
Hospital in Aurora.
Six went to Childrens Hospital;
23 toUniversity Hospital; 15 toMed-
ical Center of Aurora; four to Swed-
ish Medical Center; two to Parker
Adventist Hospital; and six to Den-
ver Health Medical Center. Offi-
cials at Emergency Medical Servic-
es Commandwere sending patients
to hospitals with available rooms
and staffs.
In each hospital, emergency
room doctors set up triage areas.
Patients had gunshot injuries from
a high-poweredrifle, buckshot inju-
ries from a shotgun, shrapnel inju-
ries fromflying metal and debris or
burns fromtear gas.
We were already having a very
busy night, Sasson said.
She andanother emergencyroom
doctor triagednearly twodozenpa-
tients. Patients had gun wounds to
the head, chest, abdomen and arms
and legs. Nine were in critical con-
dition. Six hours after the shoot-
ings, one patient was still onthe op-
erating table, Sasson said.
This has actually beenone of the
most horrific nights in my career,
said Sasson, who previously
worked on many gunshot cases in
Atlanta andAurora. This silver lin-
ing is that the baby is OK.
She was referring to a 3-month-
old injured baby. Sasson said the
babys parents took her home along
with two other patients.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206,
kmitchell@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/kmitchelldp
POLI CE ACTI ONS
Rapidresponse
Scores of ocers on scene within minutes of report
By Jeremy P. Meyer The Denver Post
At exactly 12:39Friday morning, anAurora dis-
patcher calmly put out a call to police units, tell-
ing them to head to Century Aurora 16 on a re-
port of a shooting.
They are saying someone is shooting in the
auditorium, the dispatcher said on recordings
that have been archived on the website Ra-
dioReference.com.
Seconds later, the gravity of the event became
clearer.
There is at least one person who has been
shot. But they say there are hundreds of people
running around, the dispatcher told officers
heading to the scene.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates at a news con-
ference saidofficers were inthe theater withina
minute to90seconds of that call andhadthe sus-
pect, 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes, in custo-
dy minutes later.
The quick action was yet another example of
the dramatic change in tactics since the Colum-
bine High School massacre.
Before the April 20, 1999, Columbine attack,
police departments across the country
wouldnt allow patrol officers to enter a build-
ing where there was an active shooter until
SWAT team members or at least backup offi-
cers arrived.
Today, many departments expect patrol offi-
cers to go after an active shooter immediately
even if they are alone.
The dispatch recordings fromFriday morning
describe the chaos as Aurora officers swarmed
the theater at Aurora Town Center.
Officers reported people with gunshot
wounds running out of theater 9 and victims ly-
ing in front of the cinema. Some of the wounded
were escaping in their cars, and others headed
into the street to plead for help fromroad crews.
Get us some gas masks, said one officer who
immediately smelled a chemical odor as he
walked into the theater.
I have a party here shot. I need rescue hot,
said another officer.
An officer yelled, I have seven down in the-
ater 9! Seven down!
Ambulances were ontheir way, andother offi-
cers were ordered to the theater. Ambulances
and police officers from around the region con-
verged.
An officer called for a marked car behind the
theater. We have a suspect in a gas mask.
At 12:45 a.m., an officer spoke into his radio:
That white car, in the rear of the lot, is that the
suspect?
Another officer responded: Yes, we have ri-
fles, a gas mask. Hes detained and an open door
going into the theater.
OK. Hold that position. Hold that suspect.
Chaos continued as officers tried to figure out
the best way to get ambulances to the scene as
victims sobbed in the background.
Officers carefully searched the theater, warn-
ing to look behind the screens and up in the bal-
cony.
One officer pleaded with someone to shut off
the filmas officers searched the auditorium.
Victims were being taken to the north side of
the theater. At least one officer drove a victimto
the hospital in his car. Another heading into the
theater screamed into his radio, I need as many
ambulances as we can to the Dillards lot.
And another said: Get me officers in so we
can get movable victims out.
Reports were coming of victims being eviscer-
ated, shot inthe neck, shot inthe face, shot inthe
back.
At 12:50a.m., anofficer reported: The suspect
is saying he is the only one, but I amgetting con-
flicting information fromwitnesses.
At about 1:06 a.m., the suspects name was
aired based on a search of records: It comes
back clear, listed to James Holmes.
Meanwhile, word of the shooting had spread.
I have parents showing up saying they have
kids involved who are being transported. Do we
have a list of what hospital they are being sent
to? one officer asked.
Sir, we are sending them to any hospital that
is available, the dispatcher said.
An ambulance driver said he had transferred
seven already to a hospital and heard there were
bodies in the theater.
If they are dead, just leave them, saidthe dis-
patcher. We are in a mass-casualty response.
Staff writer Kirk Mitchell contributed to this report.
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367, jpmeyer@
denverpost.com or twitter.com/jpmeyerdpost
Aurora police responded early Friday to the
Century 16 movie theater, where a gunman
shot moviegoers attending a Batman film
premiere. Karl Gehring, The Denver Post
EVENI NG PRAYER VI GI L
Several
hundred
gather
to mourn
Pastors beseech attendees
to come together and
help the community heal.
By Lindsay H. Jones
and Kristen Lee Painter
The Denver Post
aurora Pastors fromacross the Denver
metro area hada July 20prayer vigil planned
for weeks, a response to the summer full of
violence. They quickly decided to move Fri-
days vigil to the Kaiser Permanente parking
lot, across fromthe Century 16theater where
12 people were killed and 58 others were in-
jured as they watched a movie.
Three ministerial alliances brought their
pastors to pray at the vigil infront of a crowd
of several hundred people.
Since this happened, we said it is time to
come together, said Thomas Mayes, pastor
at the Living Water ChristianCenter Church
in northwest Aurora.
The crowd of mourners remained in the
parking lot until after sundown, lighting can-
dles, hugging, praying and singing songs.
The brazenness of this violence seems to
keep rising, said Patrick Demmer, pastor at
Graham Memorial Church of God and
Christ.
BrianRohrbough, the father of Columbine
shooting victim Daniel Rohrbough, told
mourners to reach out to the families and
friends of Fridays shooting victims in order
to help the community heal.
I encourage you to recognize God didnt
put us here on the Earth to be on the side-
lines, Rohrbough said. Tell them you are
praying for them.
Shortly after the prayers ended, a group of
teens, several wearing orange and black
Gateway Highattire, receiveda message that
a classmate had died. Girls broke into sobs,
and several boys exchanged long hugs.
Oliver Robinson, 18, was in theater 9 with
several of his Gateway High classmates. He
said they had been worried about the fate of
a missing friend all day.
Robinson said he was sitting near the top
of the theater. His missing friend was sitting
near the front.
We took cover till he stopped shooting,
said Robinson, who graduated in May. He
was loading another clip, andwe escapedout
the top.
The mood at Friday nights prayer vigil for
the shooting victims in Aurora was eerily
mirrored by the scenic background a set-
ting suntrying tocast out light frombehinda
dark cloud.
Several hundredlocal residents congregat-
ed across the road from the theater to pray,
reflect, light candles or just grieve together.
I feel like I should be here because I was
there, said Kristin Brushel, 16, who was
working the concession stand at the time of
the crime.
Brushel lingered near the back with Nic
van der Laan, 18, who was working the box
office when he heard shots ring through the
building.
It was terrifying. It sounded like fire-
works, van der Laan said.
The two teenagers had friends who were
in theater 9 but were not injured.
Theyre all really shaken. None of them
can sleep; most of them cant eat, van der
Laan said.
The theater staff was heldfor interviewing
all night long. Brushel didnt leave the scene
until 5 a.m., and she and van der Laan didnt
return until the 7 p.m. vigil.
I want to show my respects, and Ill be
here again in the morning, van der Laan
said.
Holding candles near the front, Chandler
Reed, 18, and Lexie Sigler, 18, stood silently.
Both were in the theater at the time of the
shooting andhave a friendwho was missing.
They were sitting in a different section
fromus, Reed said.
I think he was in the front row, Sigler
said.
Kristen Leigh Painter:
kpainter@denverpost.com, 303-954-1628 or
twitter.com/kristenpainter
I feel like I should be

here because I was
there.
Kristin Brushel, 16, who was
working the concession
stand at the time of the
shooting, on a prayer vigil
held Friday evening across
the street fromthe movie
theater.
T
here will have to be another
memorial.
Colorado sheds another tear
but cannot shed another bloodbath.
While hundreds of lawofficers and
investigators, international media, the
governor and other state and local
officials, lookie-loos, victims, families
and dead bodies were amassed at Au-
rora Town Center on Friday afternoon,
all was quiet on the western front 16
miles away where only a father and his
three children stood in bowed-head
respect at the Columbine Memorial.
After we heard President Obama
talk on the radio about the shootings,
it seemed an appropriate time to
come here and remember what hap-
pened before and think about what
happened today, Chris Conard said.
Exactly 13 years and three months
after the Columbine High School mas-
sacre on April 20, 1999, another mas-
sacre occurred at the Century Aurora
16 movie theater complex on July 20,
2012. The 20th day continues to live in
abomination in metro Denver.
The reaction throughout Colorado
and the nation was: Oh, no, not again.
In the separate tragedies that will
be forever linked, at least 25 inno-
cents died and 80 were injured by
mass murderers.
Both events were so horrific,
Conard said while he and his two
daughters and one son walked amid
the plaques that honor the 12 fallen
teenagers and a teacher from Col-
umbine. A torrid sun baked the im-
posing, spreading stone tribute on a
hill in Clement Park adjacent to the
high school.
On a much cooler afternoon 159
months ago, the authorities, the media
and the crowds were over on this side
of the suburbs crying and asking why.
Then, it was two disturbed, de-
structive high school boys who
turned guns on their fellowstudents
in classrooms and hallways and soon
turned the guns on themselves. Now,
it is one young man, recently in grad-
uate school, who is alleged to have
turned guns on babies, youngsters,
teenagers and adults in a movie the-
ater before surrendering to police.
Will there have to be metal detec-
tors at every building, and will they do
any good? Conard asked. What is
going on?
It goes on.
As a journalist, Ive covered Col-
umbine High School, the World
Trade Center in NewYork and Auro-
ra Town Center all deadly, ghastly
and deplorably wrong. You cant be
safe going into a school, an office
building or a movie theater. You cant
be safe in Colorado, Virginia, Texas
or NewYork.
On Thursday, my daughter texted
me to suggest we see the newBatman
movie together. We had watched the
first two in this series on screens in
Manhattan and Denver. We may just
wait until this one comes to home
TV. Or not at all. Villains beat heroes
too often in real life.
I found Aurora Town Center fre-
netic Friday. School was out at Col-
umbine. Afewconstruction workers
in hard hats and a runner in gym
shorts were crossing the empty park-
ing lot. Picnickers and bikers shared
Clement Park.
The nearby Columbine Memorial
was dedicated Sept. 21, 2007, as a
place of peace, comfort and reflec-
tion. It was that on Friday in Jeffer-
son County. Over in Aurora, there
was none of that.
Signed softballs had been left by a
teamrecently. Ablue wristband had
been deposited on teacher Dave
Sanders headstone, and T-shirts and
flowers were scattered about the
names MatthewKechter, Rachel
Scott, Cassie Bernall, Kyle Velasquez,
Daniel Rohrbough, John Tomlin,
Corey DePooter, Kelly Fleming, Isa-
iah Shoels, Lauren Townsend, Daniel
Mauser, Steven Curnowand Sanders.
The names of those who lost their
lives in Aurora we dont yet know.
On the memorial floor at Colum-
bine is engraved: Never forgotten.
I will never forget howa teacher
described to me the events in a study-
hall classroomwhen students fled
through a door as others hid under
desks, and shots were fired, murder-
ing several. We will never, ever forget
howthe prey in theater No. 9 ex-
plained the terror and fear they felt as
they tried to run away when the
shootings began, and several were
targeted and killed. The shock and
the sadness are shared.
Someday there must be another
memorial built.
But memorials are not enough for
the memories of Columbine and Au-
rora Town Center.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095,
wpaige@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/woodypaige
WOODY
PAIGE
Denver Post
Columnist
FI NDI NG RELI EF AND DEATH
Panickedfamilies searchfor
familiar faces after tragedy
Inthe wake of the
Aurora shootings,
people scour the area for
friends andlovedones.
By Michael Booth
The Denver Post
aurora Parents flung open the
bedroom doors of their teenagers in
the middle of the night. Relatives
drove by to see if a certain truck was
back in the driveway. Boyfriends
searchedfrantically for girlfriends lost
in a crowd stampede.
The Aurora theater shootings sent a
city in search of loved ones after the
midnight hour Friday. Couples sepa-
rated at the theater melee later found
relief and tragedy. Parents who had no
idea which theater their kids went to
woke others for help and called across
town.
I started screaming, said panicked
mother Bertha Larios, when her teen-
age daughter wasnt home at 6 Friday
morning. She soonarrived, tohugs and
reprimands, while Larios other chil-
dren searched for missing friends on
Facebook.
Acousinof a victimstoodbehindpo-
lice tape at the southeast corner of the
Town Center mall Friday afternoon,
waiting to see if bodies would be re-
moved from the theater. She had been
told her cousin would be among the
bodies.
Victims who had time and energy
reached out to family from inside hos-
pitals. Jerry Sahertian, 42, got a call
fromhis close friend Rita Silalahi, who
had been shot along with her son, Pat-
rick. Silalahis husband shielded them
up to a stage under the movie screen
and thought they were safe, until they
realized the gunman was reloading. In
thenext roundof bullets, Rita was hit in
the shoulder, elbow and left side. She
had surgery Friday and expected more
Saturday but called Sahertian to send
word. Son Patrick was struck in the
back, and the bullet had lodged in his
stomach, Sahertian said.
Sahertian had gone near the mall
with two children, all wearing black
out of solidarity with their friends.
Miguel Corral and Darius Jenarey
went to Gateway High School to look
for friends they heard were at the the-
ater. At 6:30 in the morning, they got
word that one of their friends who had
been there was OK, but the Aurora
Central students had more to look for.
We knew a lot of people there,
Corral said.
Dacia Meaux and friends went from
hospital to hospital Friday morning,
looking for people they knew at the
movies. They found bad news and
good news about one, Louis Duran, 18.
Duran had been shot in the chest with
a shotgun. They soon found another
friend of theirs, with Duran, who had
also been shot.
Duran tried to lighten the mood,
Meaux said. Duran told people in the
hospital that the pellets bounced off
his chest because hes Superman.
Staff writers Tom McGhee, Kurtis Lee
and Kirk Mitchell contributed to this
report.
Memorials not enoughfor victims
Where to find help
Need help processing the tragedy? Or do you wish to help out financially
but are not sure where a donation should go? Here are several resources:
GivingFirst.org, a safe and secure online vehicle of the Community First Founda-
tion, is helping those who wish to find nonprofits that are assisting the victims
and the families. This tragedy has touched us all, says Marla Williams, presi-
dent and chief executive of the Community First Foundation. GivingFirst.org
provides a quick, secure way to find nonprofits that are assisting the victims and
their families of this devastating occurrence and it allows people to donate
to multiple organizations at once. Gov. John Hickenlooper said Friday evening
that within three hours of the website being online, it had already raised
$125,000. The featured nonprofits include Aurora Mental Health Center, Arapa-
hoe/Douglas Mental Health Network, Mental Health America of Colorado,
Bonfils Blood Center Foundation, Metro Crisis Services Inc., Colorado Organiza-
tion for Victim Assistance and Denver Center for Crime Victims.
A prayer vigil will be held Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at the Aurora Municipal Center,
15151 E. Alameda Parkway.
On Sunday, the Thrive with Confidence Foundation is holding an open house at
the Thrive Community Recreation Center, 15528 E. Hampden Circle, Aurora.
Hours are from 1 to 5 p.m.
Childrens Hospital Colorado has opened a family support line, 720-777-2300.
Aurora Mental Health Center offers its support by having trained counselors
available by phone, 303-617-2300.
Joanne Davidson, The Denver Post
Slide shows: More images fromthe shooting
scene, hospitals and more denverpost.com/mediacenter
Live blog: Social media updates on the shootings
aftermath denverpost.com/theatershooting
dp
Aman who said his 6-year-old daughter was killed in the Aurora movie theater shooting is stricken with grief at Childrens Hospital in Aurora on Friday. Lawenforcement officials said 12
people were killed and 58 were injured when shots rang out during a premiere showing of the newBatman movie. Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post
July 21, 2012
PA6f 3
By Kevin Simpson
The Denver Post
It wasnt long after Frank DeAn-
gelis heard the news of the Aurora
theater shooting early Friday morn-
ing that sadly and predictably
his phone began to ring.
The principal of Columbine High
School, the site of what was the
deadliest school shooting in U.S.
history in 1999, has been a sought-
after source whenever similar vio-
lence has flared. OnFriday, he field-
ed calls fromaround the world.
Although there are differences in
the circumstances betweenthe Au-
rora tragedy and the rampage that
killed 12 students and a teacher at
Columbine, DeAngelis notedparal-
lels between the two incidents.
Both attacks appear to have been
the result of careful planning and
stockpiling of weapons, and pro-
duced similar death tolls. Both un-
folded in places where many young
people were likely to be victims
in places that are so much a part of
everyday life that, until something
horrible happens, people give little
thought to safety.
As a society, we were all violated
by what happened last night, just as
we were in Columbine , DeAngelis
saidandasAmericanswereviolat-
edafter other shootings andtheSept.
11, 2001, attacks. Everybody ques-
tioned, geez, is it safe toget onanair-
plane? Im sure now, many of these
theaters are going to question, What
dowedo? Dowecontinuewiththese
midnight screenings or premieres?
And as with Columbine, a issues
will emerge and prompt debate.
I think therell be a reaction on
what todo, DeAngelis said. Listen-
ingtosomeof thetalkshows already,
theyre talking about concealed
weapons, shouldpeopletakethelaw
into their own hands. Anytime a
shooting occurs, whether it be at a
school or church or a movie theater,
these questions come to the surface.
What it does, I think, is make mem-
bers of society realize how vulnera-
bleweareandhowprecious lifeis.
Hopefully, we come together.
On a personal level, DeAngelis
notedanother heart-wrenchingsim-
ilarity between the shootings.
Gateway High School in Aurora
became the gathering area and
clearinghouse for information on
victims and survivors fromthe the-
ater shootings. During the Colum-
bine attack, LeawoodElementary in
JeffersonCountyservedsucha role.
Thats one of the lasting memo-
ries I have on that evening, when
there were no longer buses bring-
ing kids to reunite with parents, he
said. There were several parents
left, but no buses arriving. They re-
alized there was a chance their
child did not survive.
SI MI LAR SHOOTI NGS
DeAngelis:
Tragedy has
parallels to
Columbine
By Suzanne S. Brown
The Denver Post
Talk to your kids, Aurora Mayor
Steve Hogan said at a press confer-
ence Friday following the movie the-
ater shootings in which a dozen peo-
ple were killed and many more were
injured. Let themknowthis is aniso-
lated incident. Its tragic, its horrible,
but its isolated.
As he points out, young people are
dealing with fears and confusion
about what happenedandhowtopro-
cess it.
Organizations such as Aurora Men-
tal Health Center are jumping in to
help. The groups administrative of-
fice will be staffed around the clock
through the weekend for people who
want to dropinandtalk withcounsel-
ors, and staffers are also available by
phone 24 hours a day.
Keeping the lines of communica-
tion open is essential, whether youre
a nonprofit or a parent, says Kathie
Snell, deputy director for family ser-
vices at the mental health center.
The most important thing is to en-
courage kids to talk, she says. Like
adults, kids have unique personalities
and styles of communication. Some
are likely to want to start talking, oth-
ers might be withdrawn.
If they dont bring up the topic and
you want to find out what theyre
thinking, ask what theyve heard and
seen on TV and what they might be
afraid of, she recommends.
Most kids wonder, Could this hap-
pen to me? Snell says.
What we want to do is reinforce to
kids that tragic incidents like this are
uncommon. It was randomandyoure
not able topredict it. Childrenintheir
home andschool ona daily basis need
to knowthat they are safe, she says.
Its also important to maintain a
routine and not dwell on bad news.
Limit their exposure to TV and pay
attention to what theyre watching
and what games theyre playing.
Also observe their sleeping habits
and appetite for changes, she says.
Response varies greatly by age and
developmental stages, according to
Snell. Be aware of new fears that
come up or seem more apparent in
young children. With younger kids
who have been potty-trained, there
might be loss of bladder control again
or they might be very clingy.
With teenagers it can be distancing
behavior. Theyll become withdrawn
or show more risk-taking behaviors,
Snell says.
At what point do you need to take a
child or teen to a professional for
counseling? Part of it is time, she
says. If those kind of symptoms con-
tinue andget inthe way of normal life,
its something to think about.
She admits that it can be scary for
people to ask for help, but just going
for an assessment or evaluation can
be reassuring. Theyll find what's a
normal reaction.
Indeed, feeling anxiety is typical
when an event such as a mass shoot-
ing occurs, says Dr. Marianne Z.
Wamboldt, chair of the psychiatry de-
partment at the University of Colora-
do Medical School. Most people will
get some acute stress, she says.
Parents shouldallowchildrentoex-
press feelings in their own ways and
not be judgmental about it, she says.
Its normal for kids to play out the in-
cident and reenact something like a
shooting. Thats how a child might
process what happened, she says.
Wamboldt also says not to pressure
a young person to talk about the inci-
dent if they dont want to. Let people
select what they want to do, she says.
Similarly, parents are allowedto ex-
press their feelings. They can say,
Im worried, or Im sad, but I can
handle it, she says.
Overall, a good coping and healing
strategy for families is to come up
with something positive they can do,
according to Wamboldt. It might be
to reach out to people in their neigh-
borhood or church, to support pro-
grams that are helping make their
community a safer place, totake more
action about gun control.
Just processing your feelings are
only going to get you so far, she says.
Assessing what your skill sets are and
what you can do will make your feel
much more in control.
Suzanne S. Brown: 303-954-1697,
sbrown@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/suzannebro
TALKI NG TO YOUR KI DS
Its tragic but its isolated
Aurora mayor urges parents to help their children deal with fears after shootings
Where to get help
Aurora Mental Health Center has
24-hour crisis lines open at 303-
617-2300. It is also staffing its
office around the clock at 11059
E. Bethany Drive, #200 through
the weekend for those who want
to meet with a counselor . Addi-
tional information on coping
with trauma is at aumhc.org
Gwenaviere Doherty, left, and Valerie Donalds pray outside Gateway High School in Aurora, where witnesses were being interviewed by authorities
Friday after 12 people were fatally shot at an Aurora movie theater during a premiere showing of the newBatman movie. Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post
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Statements on the Aurora
theater shooting
This is not only an act of extreme vio-
lence, it is also an act of depravity. It is
beyond the power of words to fully ex-
press our sorrowthis morning. Our
prayers and condolences go first to the
families of those killed, and we share the
grief of everyone affected by this sense-
less event. We appreciate the swift work
by local, state and federal lawenforce-
ment. Coloradans have a remarkable
ability to support one another in times
of crisis. This is one of those times.
Sadly, Colorado is once again the loca-
tion of a tragic and senseless act of vio-
lence that will be seared into our collec-
tive psyche for years to come. Lawen-
forcement in Colorado has learned
lessons fromprior tragedies and has
responded to this incident quickly, ef-
fectively and professionally. However, it
is virtually impossible to prevent inci-
dents of this nature. I amconfident Col-
orado lawenforcement is doing every-
thing and will do everything within its
power to properly investigate this mat-
ter and bring the perpetrator of this
tragedy to justice. On behalf of all law
enforcement in Colorado, our hearts go
out to the victims and families and ev-
eryone impacted by this horrible crime.
John Suthers, attorney general
This was a horrible, senseless and ab-
horrent act. My family and I are
shocked and deeply sad-
dened this morning, and
our hearts are with the vic-
tims and their families. My
staff and I are in contact
with and offering our support to law
enforcement and medical officials as
they respond to the shooting.
Sen. Michael Bennet
I amdeeply saddened and outraged by
these senseless and tragic shootings. My
thoughts go out to the families and
friends of those killed, and I ampraying
for a speedy recovery for those who were
wounded. My staff and I are in close con-
tact with officials on the ground and will
offer any federal resources needed to
investigate this terrible crime and bring
those responsible to justice.
Sen. Mark Udall
My thoughts and prayers go out to all
of the victims and their families in this
senseless act of violence. Ive lived in
Aurora almost all of my life,
and nothing like this has
ever happened here. This
was the type of violence
that I would have expected
when I served in Iraq with the U.S. Ma-
rine Corps, but never here at home.
Rep. Mike Coffman, Aurora
I amstunned and furious at the news
of the shooting at the Aurora Century 16
movie theater this morning. Our heart
and prayers are with the families and
loved ones of the victims of this tragedy.
Colorado is not a violent place, but we
have some violent people. We are a
strong and resilient community, and we
will lean on each other in the days,
weeks and months to come.
Rep. Ed Perlmutter, Jefferson County
This morning, our Colorado communi-
ty has been shaken by an inexplicable
and horrific act of violence against so
many innocent men, women and chil-
dren. We are all profoundly saddened
by this senseless attack. My family and I
join with all Coloradans and those
across the country today in praying for
the victims and their families and loved
ones. While we do not yet knowthe
identities of the victims, I knowthat
all of us in the Denver-area will offer
our support and assistance to those im-
pacted by this shocking tragedy.
Rep. Diana DeGette, Denver
The thoughts and prayers of all Colo-
radans are with the victims of this hor-
rific act of violence in Aurora. I know
that all of our neighbors will reach out
to offer assistance and condolences to
their families and loved ones. I appre-
ciate the work of local lawenforcement
officials who have acted swiftly to pro-
tect Coloradans fromfurther violence.
Rep. Jared Polis, Boulder
By Karen E. Crummy
The Denver Post
The presidential candidates of-
feredcompassionandcondolences
to the victims families, canceled
campaign events and pulled ads
from Colorado airwaves after the
shooting massacre of moviegoers
at an Aurora theater.
What they did not do was talk
about guns.
And despite the growing number
of mass shootings in the country,
and New York City Mayor Michael
Bloombergs plea Friday morning
for themtostandup ontheissue, it
is unlikely that Democratic Presi-
dent Barack Obama or presumptive
Republican nominee Mitt Romney
will risk taking on the issue of gun
control, political observers say.
They should, but they wont,
said Larry Sabato, a University of
Virginia political-science profes-
sor. They will assume their past
positions and continue to tell us
howsorry they are for the victims.
The debate over gun regulations
has taken a back seat to a host of
other issues inthe past decade. The
federal assault-weapons ban ex-
pired in 2004. Even as repeated
bouts of gun violence have swept
through such places as Columbine
High School, Virginia Tech and
Tucson in the past 13 years, there
have beenfewchanges to gunlaws.
Additionally, the publics support
for gun-control measures, including
handgunandassault-styleriflebans,
is at a historic low, a 2011 Galluppoll
found. Two decades ago, the poll
found, 78 percent of Americans fa-
vored stricter gun-control laws. In
2010, the number fell to 44 percent.
It hasnt beenanagenda itemfor
years, mainly because Democrats
have chosen not to make it one,
said Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli,
noting that gun-control issues hurt
the candidacy of Democratic presi-
dential candidates Al Gore and
John Kerry. Politically, it is an is-
sue that doesnt help them.
Obama White House spokesman
Jay Carney indicated Friday that
Obamas positiononguns remains,
and will remain, unchanged.
The president believes we need
to take common-sense measures
that protect the Second Amend-
ment rights of Americans while en-
suring that those who should not
have guns under existing laws do
not get them, he said.
Romney, like Obama, temporari-
ly pulled his ads in Colorado and
suspended campaigning Friday.
Neither he nor his campaign men-
tioned gun control.
Bloomberg, an outspoken sup-
porter of gun control, said on a
NewYork radioshowFriday morn-
ing that he was fedupwithgunvio-
lence and demanded that Obama
and Romney enter the discussion.
Soothing words are nice, but
maybe its time that the two people
who want to be president of the
United States stand up and tell us
what they are going to do about it
because this is obviously a problem
across thecountry, Bloombergsaid.
However, both candidates have
already irked many intheir respec-
tive party bases with their posi-
tions on gun control and have little
to gain by entering the fray.
As president, Obama has signed
a bill permitting guns in national
parks and has failed to push for
closing the gun-show loophole to
require buyers at weekend gun
shows to undergo the same back-
ground checks required of buyers
at federally registered gun shops.
While Romney recently told the
National Rifle Association that he
would not burden lawful gun own-
ers with more restrictions, he
raised gun-registration fees and
signed an assault-weapons ban in
2004 as governor of Massachusetts.
Karen E. Crummy: 303-954-1594,
kcrummy@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/karencrummy
GUN CONTROL
Presidential race unlikely to be affected by homicides
By Karen E. Crummy
The Denver Post
No sleep. Asteady streamof hos-
pital visits andfunerals. Aconstant
struggle to find the right words for
the victims families.
This is what Gov. John Hicken-
looper canexpect, says former Col-
orado Gov. Bill Owens, in office
only three months in 1999 when
two high-school gunmen killed 13
people at Columbine High School.
Its gut-wrenching. Theres no
training for this, he said. You
have a responsibility to steel your-
self, provide leadership and help
heal the wounds, but inwardly
youre crying.
Owens said he didnt want to dis-
cuss anyadvicehemaygivetoHick-
enlooper, if solicited, but saidonthe
day of the Columbine shootings, he
spoke to former Govs. Dick Lamm
and Roy Romer. Lamm, he said,
counseled himto remain focused.
He said, You are the father of
Colorado today.
One of the most difficult parts,
Owens added, was touring the
scene of the massacre.
Itssohard. Youreinadaze. Youre
hurtingfor the families, he said.
Hickenlooper said of the shoot-
ing on Friday: This is not only an
act of extreme violence, it is alsoan
act of depravity. Coloradans have a
remarkable ability to support one
another in times of crisis. This is
one of those times.
At the time of the Columbine
shooting, the state legislature was
insessionandhada number of bills
involving guns on its agenda, in-
cluding a proposal to allow more
concealed weapons. Additionally,
the National Rifle Associations an-
nual convention was scheduled for
the week after the shootings.
In light of the tragedy, the pro-
posed bills were tabled, and the
NRAscaled back its meeting.
Hi CKENLOOPERS CHALLENGE
Former gov.: Expect to struggle
Bill Owens, whowas in
officeduringtheshootings
at Columbine, talks about
leadingduringcrises.
President Barack Obama talks on the phone with Aurora Mayor
Steve Hogan during a motorcade Friday in PalmBeach, Fla. The
president called Hogan to offer his condolences and support to the
community. Pete Souza, The White House
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney makes a statement
on the Aurora shootings Friday in Bow, N.H. Both candidates scaled
back their campaigning in the wake of the news of the movie theater
shootings early Friday. Evan Vucci, The Associated Press
Gov. John Hickenlooper talks to Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates at Town Center at Aurora on Friday. For-
mer governor Bill Owens warns Colorados leader that tough days are ahead. Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post
Such violence, such evil is senseless.

Its beyond reason. But while we will
never knowfully what causes
somebody to take the life of another,
we do knowwhat makes life worth
living. The people we lost in Aurora
loved and they were loved.
President Barack Obama
Ann and I are deeply saddened by the

news of the senseless violence that
took the lives of (12) people in Colorado
and injured dozens more. We are
praying for the families and loved
ones of the victims during this time of
deep shock and immense grief.
Mitt Romney, in a statement
CANDIDATES CONDOLENCES
Issue is far out of sight
THEATER SECURI TY
Experts envision stricter measures
The movie industry
reviews procedures
and stirs debate.
By Douglas Brown
The Denver Post
Walking through metal de-
tectors, handing over bags for
inspection and offering identi-
ficationare not part of the mov-
iegoing experience.
Yet.
But in the wake of the movie-
theater shootings in Aurora
early Friday morning that killed
12 and injured 59, it is not hard
to imagine.
And it would be perfectly le-
gal, say experts.
If the theater required ev-
eryone to go through 14 differ-
ent X-ray machines, and there
was no evidence it was just for
men or for women or people of
color, that everyone had to go
through them, I cant think of a
reasonfor that toflunk a consti-
tutional base line, said Samuel
Rascoff, a lawprofessor at New
York University who specializ-
es in national-security law.
Private enterprises, such as
sporting arenas, stores, restau-
rants and theaters, have consti-
tutional rights to create rules
governing entry into, and be-
havior within, their establish-
ments.
If you want to fly American
Airlines, fine. Youcanpurchase
a ticket, and here are the rules,
saidRascoff. Youdont like the
rules, dont fly American Air-
lines. The first and fourth
amendments dont run against
private actors, and the theory
under which most of these
transactions operate is that
they are contracts. If you are in,
youaccept the rules andregula-
tions the private party you are
contracting with requires.
Within hours after the shoot-
ings during the midnight pre-
miere of The Dark Knight Ris-
es, the third and last install-
ment of a Batmanmovie trilogy,
theater companies began issu-
ing statements that, in addition
to expressing grief over the
shootings, saidthey are review-
ing security measures.
For the safety andsecurity of
our guests and associates, we
are actively working with local
law enforcement in communi-
ties throughout the nation and
under the circumstances we are
reaching out to all of our the-
atres to review our safety and
security procedures, said
AMC Theatres, in a statement.
The movie chain Friday also
banned costume-wearing dur-
ing movies.
In another statement, Regal
Cinemas said, The security
and safety of our guests and
staff is always our number one
priority. As is our custom, we
will continue tomonitor the sit-
uation and adjust our security
needs as necessary.
Andthe National Association
of Theatre Owners said, in a
statement: NATO members
are working closely with local
law enforcement agencies and
reviewing security proce-
dures.
Gun expert and Michigan
lawyer Steven Howard predict-
ed theaters will have to start
beefing up fast, because they
are ideal targets for people who
want to do a lot of damage.
You are stuck. There is a
clog at the exits, there is a natu-
ral choke point, and you have
all of these people packed in
like sardines andall youhave to
do is fire into the crowd, he
said. The next step is to use
some sort of firebomb.
Metal detectors, he said,
shouldbe the first step. But that
wouldnt have stopped the sus-
pect, James Holmes, who had
been pursuing a doctorate in
neuroscience at the University
of Colorado Anschutz Medical
Campus before the shooting.
According to accounts, Holmes
first entered the theater with-
out his weapons. During the
movie, however, he left through
the emergency exit, which he
propped open, covered himself
in body armor, donned a gas
mask, armedhimself withthree
firearms and a gas dispenser,
and returned.
How do you make a theater
that people can get out of in a
hurry, that somebody cant easi-
ly get into? said Howard. We
can lock those doors shut, but
what happens if there is a fire
and people need to get out in a
hurry? It starts getting really
complicated. Its a mess.
Withnothing stopping movie
theaters and other businesses
from buttressing security, its
not difficult to imagine a
world in which private entities
undertake some pretty perva-
sive security measures. That
would be a real sea change for
us, one we would really have to
think about, said Margo Sch-
langer, a law professor at the
University of Michigan who
specializes in national security
and civil rights. Do we really
want to go there?
There could be a place like
Israel, where you cant go
through a cafe or movie theater
without going througha securi-
ty check, said Rascoff. You
cant go into a supermarket in
Israel without being checked.
Douglas Brown: 303-954-1395,
djbrown@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/douglasjbrown
dp
Video: Raw video
of theatergoers
escaping, witness
interviews,
investigators in
action and more.
Map: Detailing
key locations
the theater, the
hospital and the
suspects
apartment.
denverpost.com/
theatershootings
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MEDI A REACTI ON
Outlets compete for speed, accuracy
Reports via social
media and ABC
turned out to be
premature and wrong.
By Joanne Ostrow
Denver Post Television Critic
National andlocal media con-
verged on Aurora on Friday to
bring the latest national horror
into focus: Relegated to pic-
tures of a theater exterior, re-
porters scrambled to piece to-
gether eyewitness accounts of a
mass shooting. By midmorning,
FBI and police officials told re-
porters of the suspects booby-
trapped apartment, which
looks pretty sophisticated.
Word of an impending deto-
nation, and live pictures of fire-
men bashing in the third-floor
windows of the suspects apart-
ment, filled the screen. One
among the many lingering im-
ages: an overturned popcorn
container, replayed endlessly
on Fox31.
Network news teams scram-
bledtoreport fromDenver. The
evening newscasts, Today,
48 Hours, Dateline, Ander-
sonCooper andothers immedi-
ately mobilized to be on the
scene Friday evening.
E-mail, Twitter andFacebook
playedanincreasedrole, as vic-
tims bypassed traditional me-
dia to tell their own stories.
Broadcasters at times read the
latest information off the Inter-
net.
The prevalence of uncon-
firmed reports in cyberspace
prompted Aurora Police Chief
Dan Oates to issue a caution
about social media. He asked
journalists to be responsible.
I can tell you, we are already
finding there are a lot of
pranks and misinformation
online, Oates said.
Speaking in Florida, Presi-
dent Barack Obama shared the
feeling going through many
Americans minds: My two
daughters go to the movies.
The media went through
their too-familiar paces, from
the front lawn of the suspects
parents SanDiegohome toreg-
ular briefings from officials,
who dutifully spelled their
names on camera.
Heartbreaking calls fromdis-
traught parents to local TVsta-
tions, unable to locate their
children, were broadcast onthe
air.
Information trickled out
slowly regarding the suspects
mention of the Joker and simi-
larities to a Batman comic (a
topic on KHOWRadio).
Measured tones and careful
framing of visuals marked the
media reporting, with only rare
glimpses of a trail of blood on
the ground. After overnight im-
ages of bloodied victims were
broadcast and uploaded to so-
cial media, the morning gave
way to exterior shots of the
crime scene, hospitals and the
police command center.
For the most part, Denver an-
chors left it to eyewitnesses to
express the emotionally
charged despair, anger and be-
wilderment many felt.
Much information regarding
the gunman surfaced first on
Twitter and only later on TV.
Kyle Clark of 9News was
among the best at explaining
the ground rules of TV cover-
age to viewers.
This is not a foot race, he
said.
The station would broadcast
details such as names of those
injured only when they were
adequately confirmed to avoid
having to walk it back.
The days worst media over-
reach: ABC News Brian Ross
suggested that the suspect,
James Eagan Holmes, might be
affiliatedwiththe ColoradoTea
Party, based on a mention on
that groups website of anAuro-
ra man with the name Jim
Holmes.
Nowwe dont knowif this is
the same Jim Holmes, Ross
said, but it is a Jim Holmes of
Aurora, CO. ABC News later
issued a clarification: Different
JimHolmes.
KMGH-Channel 7 broke the
news that Holmes allegedly had
planned the act meticulously
andeventook a seat inthe audi-
ence. He allegedly bought a
ticket, sat in the theater for 15
minutes, got up, propped open
the emergency door, brought
his car around and commenced
shooting.
ABC News broke the story
that the suspect toldauthorities
after the shootings that he was
the Joker.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830,
jostrow@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/ostrowdp
CELEBRI TY REACTI ON
Big names
tweet, post
condolences
By Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post Film Critic
Those in the entertainment
business weighedinonFridays
shootings at the Century 16the-
ater in Aurora, which was
screening the premiere of The
Dark Knight Rises.
Many of them seized social
media to express their condo-
lences, among themJustin Tim-
berlake, Alyssa Milano and
Rihanna. Former Denver Nugget
Carmelo Anthony tweeted Just
got toBarcelonaandheardabout
whats going on in Colorado.
Praying for all those families.
No stranger to the midnight-
moviephenomenon, HarryPot-
ter actor Alan Rickman tweet-
ed, Sometimes, this world can
truly be a horrifying place. They
just wanted to see a movie.
Later Rickmanadded, Its im-
portant to recognize that there
are evils in this world. But there
is alsogood, andgoodalways tri-
umphs over evil in the end.
On his website, documentary
filmmaker Michael Moore
posted this statement: Having
spent muchtime inthe Aurora/
Denver/Littleton area over the
years, I am too sad about this
most recent tragedy to com-
ment at the moment, other than
to say this: I fear anthropolo-
gists and historians will look
back on us and simply say we
were a violent nation, at home
and abroad, but in due time hu-
man decency won out and the
violence ceased, but not before
many, many more died and the
world had had its fill of us.
Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567,
lkennedy@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/bylisakennedy
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PA6f 4
THEVICTIMS
J OHN THOMAS LARI MER
Sailor was an
outstanding
shipmate
Navy officials confirmed Saturday
that Petty Officer 3rd Class John
Thomas Larimer was among those
killed in the attack at an Aurora movie
theater early Friday.
Larimer, 27, joined the Navy in June
2011 and was a cryptologic technician
3rdclass. For the past year, he hadbeen
stationedat the U.S. Fleet Cyber Com-
mand station at Buckley Air Force
Base in Aurora.
I am incredibly saddened by the
loss of Petty Officer John Larimer,
Cmdr. Jeffrey Jakuboski, Larimers
commanding officer, said in a state-
ment. He was an outstanding ship-
mate. A valued member of our Navy
team, he will be missed by all who
knew him.
My heart goes out to Johns family,
friends andlovedones, as well as to all
victims of this horrible tragedy.
Larimer was fromCrystal Lake, Ill., a
suburb of Chicago. His parents re-
leased a statement saying Navy offi-
cials notified them that their son was
one of the 12 killed in the shootings at
the Century Aurora 16.
At this point our other son, Noel, is
in Denver working with the Navy and
the family here in Illinois to make ar-
rangements to bring John home, the
statement said. We respectfully ask
that the family and friends of John be
allowed time and privacy to grieve for
John, and we send our thoughts and
prayers out to the families of the other
victims and those still recovering in
the hospital. We love you, John, andwe
will miss you always.
According to the Navy, another sail-
or was treated and released after suf-
fering injuries at the theater.
Afamily member toldthe Daily Her-
ald newspaper that Larimer was the
youngest of five siblings. He was a
2003 graduate of Crystal Lake South
High School and trained at the Great
Lakes Naval Academy.
Julie Gates, a neighbor in Crystal
Lake, describedLarimer as a manwith
a good sense of humor who took time
to stop and buy lemonade from her
daughters lemonade stand.
VERONI CA MOSER- SULLI VAN
6-year-old just learned to swim,
loved to dress up and read
Veronica Moser-Sullivanwill always
be 6 years old.
The vibrant, excitable, blond-
haired, blue-eyed little girl, who was
bragging five days ago about learning
how to swim, was one of the 12 people
killed in the Aurora theater shooting
Friday, said her great-aunt Annie Dal-
ton.
She loved to dress up and read and
was doing well at school. She was
beautiful andinnocent, Daltonsaidof
Veronica, who attended Holly Ridge
Elementary School in Denver. Its a
nightmare right now.
Veronicas mother, Ashley Moser,
remains incritical conditionat Aurora
Medical Center. The 25-year-old was
shot in the neck, and doctors have
been unable to remove the bullet. She
also suffered a gunshot wound in the
abdomen.
Moser passes in and out of con-
sciousness, asking about her daughter,
Dalton said, and does not yet know
that Veronica died.
Moser, whowas recently acceptedto
medical school, might recover with
some use of her hands.
They expect her to have some pa-
ralysis but dont knowhowextensive it
will be, Dalton said.
Veronica was a comfort to her
grandfather, who diedtwo months ago
after suffering from a terminal illness
over the previous year.
We were just rebuilding our family,
Dalton said.
MATT McQUI NN
Ohio native protected his girlfriend
Matt McQuinndiedprotecting his
girlfriend.
As a gunman calmly walked up the
aisle of an Aurora movie theater Fri-
day firing at moviegoers, the 27-year-
old Ohio native dived on top of Sa-
mantha Yowler. Her brother Nick, 32,
also tried to shield her, said Robert L.
Scott, attorney for the McQuinn and
Yowler families.
Samantha Yowler, 27, was shot in
the knee. Her brother escaped with-
out injury. But McQuinn, from St.
Paris, Ohio, was not as fortunate.
McQuinns mother, Jeri Jackson,
flewto Colorado on Friday as family
members in Springfield tried to get
informationabout what happenedto
McQuinn, according to the Dayton
Daily News.
McQuinns stepmother, Stacie Mc-
Quinn, said the hospital would not
tell Yowler, who underwent surgery
Friday, about her boyfriends condi-
tion because the two were not relat-
ed.
Matt McQuinn graduated from
Vandalia-Butler High School in
2004. He met Yowler while the two
were working at a Target store in
Springfield, the Dayton Daily News
reported. In November, the couple
transferred to a Target store in Den-
ver, joining Yowlers brother, who
had lived in Colorado for the past
few years.
ALEX SULLI VAN
First wedding anniversary
wouldhave beenSunday
Sometime late Thursday, Alex
Sullivan posted on his Facebook
page: #TheDarkKnightRises OMG
COUNTING down till it start cant
wait going to be the best birthday
ever.
Sullivan died on his 27th birthday.
He and co-workers froma Red Rob-
in restaurant had gone to the pre-
miere. Sullivan was killed, and sev-
en co-workers were injured.
Sunday would have been Sulli-
vans one-year wedding anniversa-
ry. Recently, he wrote on his Face-
book page: Just took the wife to
DIAgoing to be gone for 3 anda half
weeks going to miss her a lot. I love
you cassie.
Cassandra Sullivan returned
home Wednesday.
The morning of the shooting,
Alex Sullivans father, Tom, showed
his picture around and asked if any-
body hadseenhis son, animage that
reminded some of 9/11 and grieving
people amid that tragedy.
Friends on Saturday talked about
the big-hearted, good-humored guy
they knew.
DerekSmith, whoworkedwithSul-
livan at Red Robin on South Havana
Street, saidthe twowere movie buffs.
In Animal House, theres a part
when they go to the bar and one of
the guys screams across the bar,
Hey, Otis! Smith said. When I
walked in, it was always, Hey, Otis!
No one knewwhat it meant, but be-
cause were bothintomovies we got
a kick out of it.
Ah, man, Im going to miss that
dude, I really am, Smith said, his
eyes welling with tears.
Bryan Beard first met Sullivan
during their freshman year at
Grandview High School.
We just clicked, Beard said.
Were both big guys, and big guys
stick together.
Beard said Sullivan stood 6 feet 4
inches and weighed about 280
pounds. He played football and
wrestled before graduating from
high school in 2003 and later going
to culinary school, Beard said.
Maneka Singh, another high
school friend, said Sullivan was al-
ways smiling and the type of guy
whohadtoomany friends andloved
them all.
Im just trying in a way to make
sense of all of this. I dont knowthat
you can really even do that, she
said. Why a movie theater? Why so
many innocent people?
ALEXANDER AJ BOI K
Awarmand loving heart
His name was Alexander Boik,
but to the hundreds who stood on
the Gateway High School football
field to remember him Saturday, he
was AJ.
Ina statement issuedearlier Satur-
day, his family called Boik a young
man with a warmand loving heart.
In the twilight on Saturday, sur-
rounded by people holding purple
balloons, friends recalled a guy who
made people laugh, who loved soft-
ball and who loved movies so much
he never missed a premiere.
He was the life of the party. AJ
could bring a smile to anybodys
face, said one of a dozen speakers
who paid tribute to their friend out-
side the high school Boik graduated
from just two months ago.
The young man, who declined to
give his name, said he had known
Boik since they were freshmen at
Gateway.
His girlfriend, whom friends iden-
tified as Lasamoa Cross, surprised
everyone by saying she and AJ were
secretly engaged.
We were crazy inlove. We hadbig
plans. We were going to have every-
thing, she said. We are still going to
have everything because hes still
here. AJ lives (in everyone who
knew and loved him), she said.
Boiks plans included attending
Rocky Mountain College of Art and
Design in the fall. His family said his
dream was to become an art teacher
and open his own studio.
AJ was loved by all that knew
him, his family said. We want to try
and focus on the beautiful lives that
were endedandnot the evil that is re-
sponsible. This is a time for us to re-
member our loved ones and cherish
the memories we have of them.
The family askedthat their privacy
be respected.
We are trying to move through
this horrible ordeal, the family
said. Our thoughts, prayers and
love go out to the other families of
the victims and all those who have
been touched by this senseless
tragedy.
14A Midnight massacre sunday, july 22, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 66
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EVERYBODY
IS HURTING
MULTI PLE MASS KI LLI NGS
After another
gun rampage:
Why Colorado?
By Karen E. Crummy and Jordan Steffen
The Denver Post
Suspected gunman James Eagan Holmes
planned an Aurora movie-theater massacre with
calculation and deliberation, Auroras police
chief said Saturday, arming himself with ammu-
nition delivered to his home and school over a
period of months.
That ammunition, was used to kill and injure
70people andbooby-traphis apartment so as to
kill anyone whoenteredit, Chief DanOates said.
As the names were released of the 12 people
whodiedafter being blindedby gas andmethodi-
cally gunned down Friday, President Barack
Obama announced he would visit Colorado on
Sunday to speak to families of the victims. He
vowed to bring whoevers responsible for this
heinous crime to justice.
Authorities, using a robot toset off a controlled
detonation in Holmes apartment, disabled the
most threatening of 30 softball-size improvised
explosive devices, riggedinsuchanintricate net-
work that a veteran FBI special agent character-
ized it as sophisticated and complex.
Oates said the explosives found in the north
Aurora apartment were directly aimedat his offi-
cers, who were likely to walk through the door
first.
SHOOTING18A
A
ll across the country
Thursday night, thou-
sands of people put
on capes and cos-
tumes, rounded up
friends and family and raced off to
experience a celluloid fantasy
about a tortured hero who devotes
his life to fighting evil.
Inside an Aurora theater, though,
the greatest evil wasnt on the
screen.
It came instead in the form of a
man who swaddled himself in a
cocoon of armor before taking aim
at a theater full of unprotected
teenagers, moms and dads, and
little kids.
When the shooting in theater 9
early Friday stopped, 24-year-old
James Eagan Holmes was in hand-
cuffs, and 70 people were wounded.
Twelve of them died.
As their names trickled out over
the past two days, in friends social
media tributes, in anguished fami-
lies pleas for information and, fi-
nally, Saturday afternoon, in an
official list, portraits emerged of
the lives they had lived, and would
have lived.
Of the 12, the youngest was 6, the
oldest 51.
Nearly all those in between were
young adults, old enough to be
crafting careers, serving in the mil-
itary, raising families but young
enough to get a thrill out of being
first to see the summer blockbust-
er and energetic enough to do it
at midnight.
One was two days shy of his first
anniversary, one a single mother.
One of them had just earned his
masters degree and wanted to be a
counselor.
They had all gone out for a night
of fun, but more than one died try-
ing to save someone else.
The greatest heroes werent on
the screen.
By William Porter The Denver Post
The mass shooting at an Aurora movie theater
that killed 12 people and wounded dozens early
Friday has a sickening familiarity.
Inthewakeof other murderous outbursts inthis
state, fromthe Columbine massacre in1999tothe
NewLifeChurchshootings in2007, peopleareleft
asking here and nationally why Colorado?
It is a compelling questionwithnoeasy answer.
Our state does not seemburdened with oner-
ous national stereotypes that have saddled other
states suchas Arizona (reactionaries), California
(weirdness) and New Jersey (corruption).
If anything, there is an image of Colorado as a
haven for chilled-out mellowness amid sunshine
and gorgeous scenery.
Gov. John Hickenlooper went before the cam-
eras Saturday to call the shootings the act of an
unspeakably troubled individual.
Theres no way we can turn the clock back, but
we can take this abhorrent, inconceivable event
anddoeverythingwecantomakeit better, hesaid.
But threemassacres ina13-year spanraiseunset-
tling thoughts about why this has happened here.
WHY 24A
FRIGHTENED MAN
PUT FEAR ASIDE
TO HELP OTHERS
Ayoung woman seemed in
shock down on the floor in one
row. She was incoherent and
screaming. I stopped, picked her
up and took her out the door.
Later on, she came over and
hugged me. Imno hero. I was
just trying to help somebody.
17A
Politics. The rampage injects
a newtone into the presidential
campaign as Obama and
Romney take a break. 27A
Complete coverage 14-27A
Additional profiles of Jesse Childress 16A | Gordon Cowden 16A
President to visit
President Barack Obama will be in Colorado today
to visit with the families of the victims of Fridays
shooting, a White House official said. Obama also
will meet with Aurora and state officials.
JON BLUNK
Was fatally shot after pushing his
girlfriend out of harms way. 15A
26, NAVY VETERAN
JESSICA GHAWI
24, SPORTS JOURNALIST
Aredhead through and through,
she was a ball of energy and fire. 15A
27, U.S. NAVY SAILOR
JOHN LARIMER
We love you, John, and we will miss
you always, the family said. 14A
MATT McQUINN
27, WORKED AT TARGET
Killed shielding his girlfriend,
Samantha Yowler, fromgunfire. 14A
MICAYLA MEDEK
Ima simple, independent girl whos
just trying to get her life together. 15A
23, SUBWAY SANDWICH ARTIST
VERONICAMOSER-SULLIVAN
6, GRADE-SCHOOLER
She loved to dress up and read
and was doing well in school. 14A
ALEX SULLIVAN
27, BARTENDER
Alex was smart, funny
and above all loved dearly. 14A
ALEXANDER TEVES
The world isnt as good
a place without him. 15A
24, RECENTLY EARNED MASTERS DEGREE
REBECCA WINGO
Mother of two was a gentle,
sweet, beautiful soul. 16A
32, WORKED AT JOES CRAB SHACK
AJ BOIK
18, STUDENT
Aloving 18-year-old young man
with a warmand loving heart. 14A
A CALCULATED PLAN
Apartment
rigged with
deadly traps
WHOTHEYWERE
For Jansen Young, 21, the two con-
stants during the movie-theatre mas-
sacre that ended 12 lives were the
sound of gunshots and the feeling of
her boyfriendJonBlunks hands onher
back.
Blunk, 26, was shot to death while
protecting Young, according to NBC
News.
Young declined to discuss details of
the shooting with The Denver Post,
saying she was trying towork through
it.
When asked whether Blunk had
shielded her fromgunfire, she replied:
Yes, he did.
Young toldNBCNews that whenthe
shooter started his attack, Blunk knew
to throwher to the floor.
On the movie-theater floor, Blunk
kept pushing her with his arms as she
heard shots being fired.
She eventually noticed that he had
stoppedpushingher under theseat, but
she didnt think he had been killed.
I guess I didnt really know he had
passed, up until I started shaking him
and saying, Jon, Jon, we have to go.
Its time for us to get out of here, she
said, her voice trembling.
Young saidshe triedtoget upandlift
Blunk by the shoulder but he didnt
move. The couple had been dating
since October, she told NBC.
Blunks estranged wife, Chantel
Blunk, who lives in Reno, Nev., with
their two children a 4-year-old girl
anda 2-year-oldboy toldNBCNews
that she was notified of his death by
the FBI.
He always talked about if he were
going to die, he wanted to die a hero,
she said.
Jon Blunk went to Proctor Hug High
School in Reno, where he and Chantel
met.
After his 2004 high school gradua-
tion, he enlisted in the Navy and
served aboard the USS Nimitz in San
Diego.
Blunk left the Navy, separated from
his wife and moved to Colorado in
2009. He had been working at a hard-
ware store at the time of the theater
shooting.
Chantel Blunk told NBC that she
plans to bury her husband with mili-
tary honors inReno. She set upa Wells
Fargo account to raise funds for his fu-
neral.
J ON BLUNK
Shielded girlfriend, saved her life
Shooting victim Alexander Teves
recently earned his masters degree in
counseling psychology from the Uni-
versity of Denver.
TomTeves, Alexanders father, con-
firmedhis sons death to ABCNews. A
message left for Tom Teves by the
Denver Post has not been returned.
Friends of Teves, 24, began posting
on social media Friday night after
learning Teves was among the 12 peo-
ple killed in the Aurora movie theater
shootings.
Afriend, identified only as Caitlin on
Twitter, posted messages on the social
media network early Friday from the
CenturyAurora16theater, andwroteon
Twitter early Saturday that Teves was,
One of the best men I ever knew. The
worldisnt as goodaplacewithout him.
She also described Teves as a fan of the
University of Arizona and Spider-Man.
Ane-mail message to Caitlinhas not
been returned.
AUniversity of Denver spokeswom-
an said Teves, from Phoenix, graduat-
ed in June. The University officially
notified its students and faculty of
Teves death Saturday afternoon.
The University released the follow-
ing statement:
The University extends its deepest
condolences to his family and friends,
including the many current students
and faculty who knew and worked
with Alex.
Teves personal Facebook page lists
himas a 2010graduate of the Universi-
ty of Arizona, and a 2006 graduate of
Desert Vista High School in Phoenix.
ALEXANDER TEVES
Recent masters graduate a
fanof Arizona, Spider-Man Jessica Ghawi grew up a hockey fan in
football-crazed Texas.
She followed that passion to Colorado to
forgeacareer insports journalism. It probably
tookher toToronto, wherejust weeks ago, she
walked out of a shopping-mall food court mo-
ments before a gunman shot seven people.
Writing as Jessica Redfield in a June 5 blog
entry, the 24-year-old described howthe ex-
perience remindedher howblessedI amfor
Early Friday in Aurora, Ghawi did not es-
cape the gunfire.
Jessica Ghawi paid the bills by working as a
waitress until she was laid off recently, said
Adrian Dater, who covers the Colorado Ava-
lanche for The Denver Post. But her goal was
to earn a living as a sports journalist.
Whenfiredestroyedthehomesof somanyin
Colorado last month, Ghawi decided to start
collectingdonatedhockeyequipment for kids.
She wanted to help. Thats the type of heart
shehad,herbrother, JordanGhawi, told9News.
Late Thursday night, as she waited for the
showtostart insold-out theater 9, she tweet-
ed her excitement and impatience, and
ribbed friends who werent there.
MOVIE DOESNT START FOR 20 MIN-
UTES, shetweetedbeforemidnight.
J ESSI CA GHAWI
She wanted to help
Everyone knewher as Cayla.
Micayla Medek, 23, worked as a
Subway sandwich artist I do
everything lol, she saidonher Face-
book page. Agraduate of WilliamC.
Hinkley High School in Aurora,
Medek took classes at Community
College of Aurora through last fall.
Im a simple independent girl
whos just trying to get her life to-
gether while still having fun, she
wrote on Facebook.
She attended the midnight show-
ing of the new Batman movie with
friends and was wounded, family
members told the Los Angeles
Times. Nearly20hours passedbefore
authorities confirmed to the family
that she was one of the 12 killedinthe
shooting.
MI CAYLA MEDEK
Hinkley grad was trying to get life together
The following staff writers contributed to this report
Karen Aug, Lynn Bartels, Karen E. Crummy, Lindsay H. Jones, Patrick Saunders, Jordan Steffen, Erin Udell
66 the denver post B denverpost.com B sunday, july 22, 2012 Midnight massacre 15A
July 22, 2012
PA6f 5
Lyndsey Ammon and her three children; fromleft, Caleb Ammon, 9, Devon Fallis, 3, Blake Fallis, 5, head to the memorial for shooting victims with flowers at the corner of East Centrepoint
Drive and South Sable Boulevard in Aurora on Saturday. Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post
Awoman visits a memorial at the corner of East Centrepoint Drive and South Sable Boulevard in Aurora on Sat-
urday. The memorial was created to honor the 12 killed and 58 wounded in Fridays theater massacre in Aurora.
Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post
This apartment was designed to
kill. If you think were mad, were sure
as hell angry, Oates said during an af-
ternoon press conference.
He would not comment on whether
Holmes, whois inpolice custody, is co-
operating withauthorities. Authorities
have not revealed Holmes possible
motives.
FBI Special Agent James Yacone said
evidence taken out of Holmes apart-
ment will be sent to Quantico and that
while the area is believed to be gener-
ally safe, the threat has not beencom-
pletely eliminated.
Throughout Saturday, Aurora resi-
dents flooded the street corner adja-
cent to the theater, laying flowers,
cards and photos, lighting candles and
in some instances, sobbing. Strangers
hugged each other and exchanged
phone numbers. Many whostoppedby
didnt knowanyone in the theater that
night. One card, attached to flowers,
read: with love fromDubuque, Iowa.
Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan tried to
provide a unified voice for those who
are suffering in his city.
Were still reeling, he said. We
will do whatever it takes for as long as
it takes to try and help (the victims).
Witnesses at the Century Aurora 16
complex said Holmes, 24, slipped into
the midnight premier of The Dark
Knight Rises through an emergency
exit door, armed with three guns and
and body shields. He tossed two hiss-
ing gas canisters andcalmly walkedup
the aisle firing at movie-goers, killing
12 and wounding 58.
Afterwards, police found Holmes,
who until recently was a graduate stu-
dent in neuroscience at the University
of Colorado School of Medicine, calm-
ly waiting for themin the parking lot.
His first court appearance will be at
9:30 a.m. Monday at the Arapahoe
County Courts.
Oates said Holmes had received
multiple deliveries at home andschool
over the past four months, which po-
lice believe included ammunition and
possibly bomb-making materials. In-
side the apartment, police found mul-
tiple booby traps, along with IEDs,
trip wires and accelerants with trigger
mechanisms.
What were seeing here is evidence
of some calculation and deliberation,
he said.
Officials estimate that 30 aerial
shells were alsoinside the 800-square-
foot apartment. Liquid inside of jars
placed throughout the room is as-
sumed to be liquid accelerants, but of-
ficials could not provide further de-
SHOOTING
FROM 1A
tails.
There are still unknowns, said Sgt.
Cassidee Carlsonof Aurora Police De-
partment. Keep in mind that we are
not exactly sure of everything thats in
there,
Details about the 12 people who died
started to emerge Saturday. The vic-
tims included an aspiring sports jour-
nalist, a sailor and a Target employee
who dove on his girlfriend to protect
her fromgunfire.
The oldest victimwas 51. The young-
est, Veronica Moser, was only 6 years
old. Astudent at Holly Ridge Elemen-
tary School in Denver, the blond-
haired, blue-eyedgirls mother, Ashley
Moser, suffered two gunshot wounds
in the abdomen and the neck, and may
be partially paralyzed. The 25-year-old
womanpasses inandout of conscious-
ness, asking about her daughter, said
her aunt, Annie Dalton. She doesnt
knowyet that Veronica has died.
Its a nightmare right now, Dalton
said.
A prayer vigil will be held 6:30 p.m.
Sunday at the Aurora Municipal Cen-
ter, 15151 E. Alameda ParkwayinAurora.
Those who attend are asked to gather
on the westside steps of the building.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper
stopped by several hospitals Saturday
to visit the injured, and said he heard
amazing stories of people acting self-
lessly.
I talkedtoa family this morning and
they were right in the front row. It was
a girlfriend and her boyfriend and the
boyfriends father. The father of the
boyfriend lay down on her after she
was shot, Hickenlooper said. The
doctor feels the fathers action saved
her life.
Inanother case, a manshot inthe leg
managed to flee the theater. A woman
who took off her belt and made a tour-
niquet for his leg might have saved his
life, Hickenlooper said.
Christian Bale, the star of the Bat-
manfilm, issueda statement saying his
heart goes out to the victims and their
families.
Words cannot express the horror
that I feel, Bale said.
Warner Bros., the distributor of the
Batmanmovie, decidedto withholdits
box-office numbers for the weekend.
Sony, Fox, Disney, Universal Para-
mount and Lionsgate also decided to
wait on reporting revenue reports.
twitter.com/karencrummyan
Staff writers Lynn Bartels, Jessica
Fender and Kristen Leigh Painter, and
the Associated Press contributed to this
report.
SALES LEGAL
Ammunition
cache not
unusual, say
gun experts
By Joey Bunch The Denver Post
James Eagan Holmes was
equipped with enough ammo to
kill a small town, a stockpile of
more than 6,000 rounds he had
assembled since May.
Authorities say Holmes as-
sault-style rifle, shotgunandtwo
pistols were bought from local
stores, while the ammunition
was bought online all of it le-
gal and unremarkable.
Four guns is hardly unusual in
a state such as Colorado where
many people love guns, but the
stockpile of ammunition seems
surprising, if not staggering for a
24-year-old college student.
I dont know, Police Chief
Dan Oates told reporters who
asked about the stockpile. Im
not much of a gun person.
To buy ammunition online re-
quires buyers to fax a copy of
their drivers license andsignfor
the deliveries. Federal law pro-
hibits the possession of ammu-
nition by convicted felons, con-
trolled-substance users andany-
one under a domestic-violence
restraining order, preclusions
that did not include Holmes.
Judging fromprices onseveral
ammunition websites, his cache
cost between $3,000 and $3,400,
a cost that couldhave climbedto
more than $5,000 fromstores.
Dave Kopel, research director
of the Golden-based Indepen-
dence Institute who has taught
law school classes on firearms
regulation, said the size of the
cache is a matter of perspective.
Its all relative. Whats a lot of
ammunition? he said. A6,000-
roundpurchase is not abnormal.
There are competitive target
shooters who can go through
6,000 rounds in a month.
Because ammunition is ex-
pensive at the per-box rate, indi-
viduals and clubs for skeet
shooters and hunters often buy
in bulk to save money. Such pur-
chases are mostly unregulated.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174,
jbunch@denverpost.com
or twitter.com/joeybunch
By Tom McGhee The Denver Post
Anggiat Mora came toAmerica fromIn-
donesia expecting to finda landof honey
and milk, he said Saturday as his wife un-
derwent surgery for gunshot wounds suf-
fered in the Aurora massacre that rocked
the country.
Even though his wife, Rita Paulina, and
their 14-year-old son were injured in the
Century Aurora 16 theater shooting,
which left a dozen people dead, he re-
mains convinced that moving here was
the right thing to do.
At least we are working, we have some
money, at least enough for our family, he
said, and I can take my son to a good
school.
But Mora, who was not hurt, is badly
shaken. At Denver HealthonFriday, when
someone dropped something in the room
where Paulina, 45, lay withher armandleg
covered in medical dressing, he jumped.
Before that, as Paulina was still being
treated in the emergency room, a loud
noise caused her to jump. We are so
scared right now, he said.
Paulina, who serves meals at a nursing
home, was shot inches above and below
her elbowand in her lower leg. Their son,
Prodeo Patria, a student at Overland High
being treated at University Hospital, was
shot in the lower back as he ran for the
theater exit.
Both are expected to recover.
In his hospital roomFriday, Prodeo said
that after escaping theater 9, he returned
to assist his mother and father, and he
helped another wounded man escape.
His father, who hoisted Paulina onto his
back and carried her out as the shooting
continued, didnt know his son was
wounded until they were about 30 feet
fromthe exit and had stopped running.
He said, Look at my back, Dad, and I
looked and see a hole, Mora said.
By then, police were arriving. Anofficer
told Prodeo to sit on the floor near his
mother before they were taken from the
theater.
Doctors plan to leave the bullet thats
lodged in Prodeos back alone, at least for
a while.
A fan of comic-book superheroes, Pro-
deo was excited to go to the midnight
screening of the newBatmanmovie, The
Dark Knight Rises.
I will watchit again, he said, but I will
wait until it goes on video.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671,
PHYSI CAL AND EMOTI ONAL SCARS
Soscaredright now
Immigrant family fromIndonesia on edge after wife, son wounded
Rita Paulina, one of dozens shot during the Aurora theater massacre, is surrounded by visitors Friday at Denver Health. Joining her in the roomare,
fromleft, her husband, Anggiat Mora, and friends Yuyun Hornbuckle, Greety Marbun, Marbuns son, Evans Tampubolon, and Jerry Sahertian. Pauli-
na was shot inches above and belowher elbowand in her lower leg. Twelve were killed in the Friday shooting. Photos by Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
D
evon Suits eagerly anticipated
seeing The Dark Knight Rises
for a year. Now, I never want to
see it again. No, no, never. I dont ever
want to go back to a movie theater. Its
not that Imafraid. I dont want to re-
live the horror in my mind.
Instead, the 6-foot-4, 200-pound
Suits will look forward to reporting
next month, as a freshman, to West-
ern State to play college football on
scholarship and enjoy that Imalive.
My best friend since fourth grade,
Ryan (Lumba), and God saved my
life, so Imgoing to cherish every day.
Thats enough for me.
Five young men who are friends
bought their tickets at 3:30 Thursday
afternoon for the 12:05 a.m. showing
in the Century 16 theater complex at
Aurora Town Center. We wanted to
go to the 12:01 movie, but it was sold
out, and all that was left was the next
one in theater 9. Bad luck.
When he left home that evening,
Devons mother, Eileen, warned: You
be careful at that movie theater.
The smart, sharp, thoughtful De-
von, 18, hadnt talked the first day
about the tragic event. But, Saturday
afternoon, he agreed that a conversa-
tion would be cathartic.
The five friends arrived about 9:30
p.m. Thursday and stood in line until
the theater opened its doors at 10.
Devon, Ryan, Louis Duran, Nick
Droege and Phil Hargrove quickly
grabbed prime seats about halfway
up on the right side. Most of the tick-
et-holders were young, and there
were a fewfamilies, a typical crowd
for this kind of movie, Devon said.
As the previews began, everybody
got kind of rowdy. I heard later that
the shooter bought a ticket and was
sitting in the theater, but I dont re-
member seeing him. If he had on that
(protective) clothing, nobody would
notice. Alot of people were wearing
Batman and Catwoman gear. Its
not usual at midnight shows.
When the movie started, the
whole place became very quiet. No
cellphones or talking. About five
minutes into the movie, what looked
like a balloon with escaping air float-
ed across in front of the screen. I
thought somebody was playing a joke
that wasnt funny.
That was the tear gas (canisters.)
My eyes began burning. There was
smoke, and the flashes and bullets
flying, screaming, and it was surreal.
Everybody was freaking out. I didnt
even knowthat the movie kept play-
ing. I thought there were two gunmen
the one throwing the gas and the
other shooting. I lost it. I just sat there
not knowing what to do. Ive played
hundreds of (action) video games,
and this was no comparison. There
was a gunfight early in the movie, but
the real noise was a lot louder and the
flashes so much brighter.
Ryan grabbed me and threwme
down under the seat. That saved me. I
could look through the crack between
the seats at someone in glasses with
flashes going off. Then I felt like some-
body punched me really, really hard in
the left arm, and there was blood. At
the same time, Ryan screamed.
We still didnt knowwhat was go-
ing on. There was a pause in the fir-
ing. Then he started shooting again,
and the sound was much louder, so he
must have changed guns. After a
while, there was another pause, and
thats when Phil told me we had to get
out. I started down the steps on the
right side, but people going that way
were getting shot. We turned around
and headed to the top of the theater
toward the emergency exit.
Ayoung woman seemed in shock
down on the floor in one row. She
was incoherent and screaming. I
stopped, picked her up and took her
out the door. Later on, she came over
and hugged me. Imno hero. I was
just trying to help somebody.
It was chaotic in the halls because
of the alarms and everybody running
out of all the theaters, and the manag-
ers couldnt control it. I was trying to
get back in to find Ryan and Louis.
Why hadnt anybody rushed the
shooter? I was terrified. We didnt
knowhowmany (gunmen) there
were. We didnt have time to think.
We reacted. I just wanted to get away
with my friends and not die.
Not one of the five friends died.
Shrapnel grazed and cut Devons
arm; Phil, who ran out of his shoes
during the escape, suffered shrapnel
wounds in his legs and feet; Louis was
struck by a spewof shotgun pellets in
his head, arm, chest and leg, and was
treated at a hospital and released;
Nick suffered a couple of minor
wounds; and Ryans lung was bruised
by one bullet, and another hit himin
the stomach. He had 12 small holes in
his lower intestines, underwent sur-
gery and will remain in the hospital
for two weeks.
We were fortunate, Devon said. A
policeman was holding a baby cov-
ered in blood, and she wasnt moving.
The recent graduate of Cherokee
Trail High School in Aurora, a sec-
ond-teamall-conference football se-
lection and an impressive track ath-
lete, stood tall above the others in the
theater concourse and cried openly.
The specific images keeping com-
ing back, Devon said. I still dont
quite understand. Psychologically,
the experience will always be with
me.
Devon Suits will major in college in
psychology.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095,
paige@denverpost.com
or twitter.com/woodypaige
Five friends fortunate tostill be together
WOODY
PAIGE
Denver Post
Columnist
By Kurtis Lee and Lynn Bartels
The Denver Post
Their shift almost over, workers at
the RedRobinrestaurant were excited
to head to the midnight screening of
The Dark Knight Rises.
They were all talking about going
out to the movie and just trying to fig-
ure out who was going and who
wasnt, saidMillardTate, a member of
the night cleaning crew, recalling the
scene at the restaurant around 11:30
p.m. Thursday.
Theywere excitedabout goingout.
But the excitement gave way to hor-
ror and tears.
A gunman shooting up the Century
Aurora 16 theater hit eight employees
of the Red Robin store at 1491 Havana
St. who were watching the movie.
Alex Sullivan died. It was Sullys
27th birthday.
Two restaurant workers were treat-
edandreleased, while five workers re-
main hospitalized, said Red Robin
spokesman Kevin Caulfield. Some un-
derwent surgery.
Tragic is an understatement, he
said. Its extremely sad. Our team
members are like family.
Tate said the staff at the Havana
store is very close and rallied around
him in April when his 18-year-old son
died in a car accident.
They gave me plenty of time off and
just gave me time to grieve, he said.
When I heard about what had hap-
penedat the movies, I just broke down
in tears. It just brought back all the
emotions of what I hadwent through a
fewmonths ago.
Its normal for the staff to be togeth-
er outside the store, Havana manager
Matt Loften said.
Whether its celebrating a birthday
or whatever, we dothings together, he
said.
Derek Smith, whohas workedat Red
Robin for four years, was across town
watching the Batman premiere at the
Regal River Point theater.
If I was working that night, I proba-
bly wouldhave beenthere with them,
he said. They called me to see if I was
going to come; I just didnt feel like
driving all the way across town. It was
just normal for us to go to that theater
and always see a movie.
Smith worked Saturday. He said he
wantedtobetheretogreet theregulars.
This is all so shocking and hard to
comprehend, he said.
Red Robin restaurants fromCalifor-
nia to Pennsylvania are organizing
fundraisers for victims, Caulfieldsaid.
Workers at other Red Robin restau-
rants in the metro area and even those
inthe executive office are helping staff
the Havana store, Caulfield said.
Several miles away fromRed Robin,
the Aurora Movie Tavern was closed.
Signs placed on the entrance doors
said that due to the tragic loss of Sulli-
van the tavern would be closed for the
weekend. An employee said Sullivan
had worked there about five years.
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327,
lbartels@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/lynn_bartels
1 DEAD, 7 I NJ URED
Excitement
turns to grief
for workers
at Red Robin
Prodeo Patria, 14, sits in his bed at Uni-
versity Hospital on Friday. He suffered
a gunshot wound to his lower back.
THE SUSPECT
Muddy facets of his life emerge
Aperson representing
himself as James Holmes
was on an adult site in
search of a sex gal.
By Kristen Leigh Painter
and Joey Bunch
The Denver Post
Just before noon Saturday, a bomb
squad robot trundled into the heavily
armed apartment of alleged Aurora
theater shooter James Eagan Holmes
Inside, the living room of the 800-
square-foot apartment was strewn
with about 30 softball-sized impro-
vised explosive devices, said a bomb
technician at the scene.
The robot dropped a device similar
to a water bottle, then retreated. With
traffic blocked off and human lives
safely blocks away, the apartment at
1690Paris St. emitteda boominfini-
tesimal compared with the one the
delicate operation was designed to
prevent.
Aurora police toldreporters tostand
behindtheir vehicles two blocks away,
just in case. Gov. John Hickenlooper
was among those who waited nearby
during the controlled detonation.
Bomb technicians deactivated a trip
wire as they worked to breach the
apartment, booby-trapped with the
improvised explosive devices.
We have been successful in defeat-
ing our first threat, Sgt. Cassidee
Carlson of the Aurora Police Depart-
ment said afterward. This is some se-
rious stuff theyre dealing with.
The water bottle device disabled a
9Dtripdevice andmanagedto avoid
setting off any of the other explosives
nearby.
Aurora Deputy Fire Chief Chris
Henderson said they found a number
of liter-sized soda bottles filled with
an unknown liquid and connected
with wires
Carlson said police hoped to pre-
serve as much of Holmes living space
to aid the investigation.
Anything thats inthere, were going
to be using as evidence, Carlson said.
So were going to be very cautious
with how we deal with things, with
howwe take things out.
Saturday afternoon, the explosives
were movedtoanopenfieldeast of Au-
rora in a dump truck packed with sand.
At the disposal site, the explosives
were moved to a trench and doused in
diesel fuel, before they were ignited,
finally neutralizing their threat.
The three-story red brick building,
populated mostly by college students
and young professionals, has been
evacuated since Friday morning, after
Holmes was arrested in the shooting
rampage that left 12 dead and 58
wounded.
Police hoped to make the building
safe, but as of Saturday afternoonit ap-
peared only residents in four other
nearby apartment buildings might be
allowed to return home that day.
Police officers andFBI agents useda
fire-truck bucket Friday morning to
ride to the top floor of the three-story
building. They smashed a window
witha long pole andthentook pictures
of the inside of Holmes apartment,
showing the magnificently planned
and constructed trap, presumably left
to kill police officers who responded
after the theater attack.
Kristen Leigh Painter:
kpainter@denverpost.com, 303-954-
1628 or twitter.com/kristenpainter
the movie without stopping to think
once This is a horrible idea? Baker
asked, wiping away tears. I cant wrap
my mindaroundthis. None of it seems
real.
Law enforcement sources say that a
team of investigators are looking into
the social media footprint Holmes may
have left behind, including a perverse
profile on an adult-themed social net-
work site for people with nontradi-
tional sexual preferences.
The AdultFriendFinder.comprofile,
under the handle ClassicJimbo, was
launched July 5 and features an undat-
ed photograph of a smirking Holmes
with the beginning of a beard and fire-
orange hair. Jail officials say Holmes
hair was dyedredwhenhe was booked.
Police arent yet certainwhether the
profile was created by Holmes, a law
enforcement source said. The profile
had been removed by Saturday after-
noon.
Looking for a fling or casual sex
gal, the profiles author wrote. Am a
nice guy. Well, as nice enough of a guy
who does these sorts of shenanigans.
Another sectionasks, Will youvisit
me in jail?
It identifies ClassicJimbo as a 24-
year-old male living in Aurora whos
interested in women and group sex.
The profiles author also joined a
group called Aurora Meet and Greet
Gang about a week ago. The groupor-
ganizes social events for people inter-
ested indating, relationships and non-
traditional sexual activities.
A website moderator told The Den-
ver Post that Holmes had not interact-
ed with members of the group.
Beyondthat, digital traces of the sus-
pected shooter are few. He appears to
have shunned traditional social media
platforms suchas Facebook or Twitter.
A Monster.com rsum first report-
edbyInlandEmpires Press-Enterprise
inCalifornia, matches Holmes former
address, cellphone number and aca-
demic record, although it has not been
authenticated by authorities.
In the rsum, Holmes seeks a posi-
tion as a laboratory technician and
touts his work as a summer camp
counselor for the Jewish Big Brothers
Big Sisters of Los Angeles, where he
assisted children in achieving their
potential.
Bomb technicians video shot inside
Holmes apartment showed a bicycle
and a couch, but nothing that would
suggest he was a comic book fanatic,
although the camera angle was mostly
tilteddownwardtowardthe suspected
explosive devices, said a source who
had watched them.
Speculation that Holmes may be an
obsessed fan have persisted thanks to
his brightly dyedredhair, his dramatic
garbat the time of the shooting andthe
New York City police commissioners
assertion that Holmes told authorities
he was Batman arch villain the Joker
upon his arrest.
Holmes will be represented by Dan-
iel King and Tamara Brady, chief trial
attorneys for the state public defend-
ers office.
Staff reporters Jordan Steffen, Lindsay
Jones and Lynn Bartels contributed to
this report. Jessica Fender:
303-954-1244, jfender@denverpost.com
or twitter.com/oh_fender
THE SUSPECTS APARTMENT
Police defuse booby-traps
Robot disables trip device so bombs could be removed
Firefighters examine evidence brought out of the apartment of James Eagan Holmes, the suspect in the Aurora shoot-
ings, on Saturday. The apartment was booby-trapped with homemade explosives. Stephen Mitchell, The Denver Post
1
7
T
H
S
T
R
E
E
T
Explosive ordnance
disposal (EOD) suits
Before entering the suspects apartment to
remove the remaining explosive devices, specially
trained officers put on a special suit to help protect
them if a device from the apartment exploded.
EOD robot
A robot, similar to the one shown, was sent into
the apartment after the initial assessment of the
space. It was controlled through an electronic
transmitter to safely detonate the trigger.
Authorities used a
firetruck bucket initially to
break a third-floor window in
order to assess the potenital
danger of entering the
apartment.
30 softball-sized explosive
devices were found
throughout the living area.
Disarming the apartment
Federal and local authorities were able to successfully disarm James Eagan Holmes
apartment on Paris Street in Aurora early Saturday afternoon.
Blast plate
Collar
Helmet
Trousers
Overboots
Hand mitt
Zoom camera
Camera
Camera
Pan and tilt
Gripper
Anntena
Protective cover
Suit weight: 65+ pounds
Sources: Security Pro USA; U.S. Navy Danielle Kees, The Denver Post
Suspects
apartment
PARIS STREET
Aphoto taken froman Adult Friend
Finder profile might belong to
James Eagan Holmes, 24, police say.
By Jessica Fender
and Sara Burnett The Denver Post
Scraps of information about the life
of suspected killer James Holmes con-
tinued to emerge Saturday as police
closely guarded details that might
point to the motive behind the worst
mass shooting in state history.
On an adult-themed dating site cre-
atedearlier this month, a personrepre-
senting himself as Holmes sought a
casual sex gal who would visit
(him) in prison.
A rsum that Holmes apparently
penned portrayed him as an aspiring
scientist whohadprovidedguidance
to underprivileged children at a Cali-
fornia summer camp.
And a peek inside his bomb-rigged
apartment seems to contradict suspi-
cions that Holmes was a comic book
fanatic, a theory fueled by assertions
that he toldpolice that he was the Jok-
er upon his arrest.
But the biggest question about the
Friday morning attack at Auroras Cen-
tury 16 movie theater why a young
man would turn an arsenal on a room
full of strangers, killing 12 and wound-
ing dozens remains unanswered.
And if the Aurora Police Depart-
ment has its way, those answers will be
revealed only in a courtroom, said
Chief Dan Oates.
As much as there is this passion on
your part to get information, there is a
passion on our part to ultimately do
justice for the victims, andthe way you
do that is you present this evidence in
court, when the time comes, Oates
told reporters. Not to you folks.
He saidthe FBIs behavioral analysis
unit is fully pluggedin to the investi-
gation, but determining Holmes mo-
tive could take weeks or months.
Police believe that Holmes, an un-
employed neuroscience graduate stu-
dent, garbed himself head-to-toe in
bullet-resistant armor andopenedfire
around 12:30 a.m. on a crowd of the-
atergoers gathered to watch the pre-
miere of The Dark Night Rises.
His apartment was rigged with at
least 30incendiary or explosive devic-
es set to ignite when wires were
tripped, police say.
Sheila Baker of Aurora brought her
daughter to lay flowers at the memori-
al outside the theater Saturday. She
asked the question on the minds of
many across Colorado and the coun-
try: Why did this happen?
How does someone stand in line,
buy a ticket, sit downandwatchpart of
NEUROSCI ENCE PH. D.
College
program
exclusive
Only 6 accepted
for grant at CU
By Sara Burnett
The Denver Post
James Eagan Holmes had
made it into an exclusive aca-
demic program and was facing
high stakes when police say he
began buying the weapons and
ammunitionhe later usedinFri-
days movie-theater shooting.
Holmes, 24, was one of six
people accepted into the neuro-
science program at the Univer-
sity of Colorado Anschutz Med-
ical Campus graduate school
for the 2011-12 academic year. He
was there on a Neuroscience
Training Grant fromthe Nation-
al Institutes of Health a pro-
gram focused on training out-
standing neuroscientists andac-
ademicians who will make
significant contributions to
neurobiology, university
spokeswoman Jacque Mont-
gomery said.
The grant funds just six pre-
thesis Ph.D. students at CU per
year.
At the end of the programs
first year, students take prelimi-
nary oral exams, knownas pre-
lims. Students who do well
continue on for the next year;
those who have trouble talk
with the training committee
about possible options, includ-
ing taking the exam again,
Montgomery said.
The university would not dis-
close how Holmes did on his
test.
But around the same time, he
began purchasing weapons. In
June, he decided to withdraw
fromthe program.
He gave no reason for his
withdrawal, Montgomery said.
She also said campus police
had no contact with Holmes.
CUs neuroscience program
focuses on how the brain func-
tions, with an emphasis on be-
havior, processing of informa-
tion, learning and memory. A
professor said Holmes was in
the physiology subprogram,
which specifically studies the
physical mechanics of the brain.
Students take classes andcon-
duct research during their first
year. In subsequent years, the
full-time focus is research.
The program typically takes
five to seven years to complete.
Sara Burnett: 303-954-1661,
sburnett@denverpost.com
or twitter.com/sara_burnett
PA6f 4
Gordon W. Cowden, 51, of Aurora
was the oldest of the victims killed in
the theater.
His family released this statement:
Loving father, outdoorsman and
small business owner, Cowden was a
true Texas gentleman that loved life
and his family. A quick witted world
traveler with a keen sense of humor,
he will be remembered for his devo-
tion to his children and for always
trying his best to do the right thing,
no matter the obstacle.
Cowden had taken his two teenage
children to the theater the night of
the shooting. The teenagers escaped
unharmed.
A spokeswoman said the family
wishes to express appreciation for
the concern and prayers offered us
during this very difficult time. Our
hearts go out to everyone that has
beenharmedbythis senseless tragedy.
The family respectively requests
privacy as we cope with the loss of
our loved one. Thank you for under-
standing that we will not be granting
interviews or speaking to members
of the media. Again, our thoughts and
prayers are withall who are suffering
due to this tragic event.
GORDON COWDEN
Slainfather lovedlife
J ESSE CHI LDRESS
Agreat man to his Air Force colleagues
Nearly every day of the week, Jesse
Childress spent his evenings playing
sports with friends. Monday it was
softball. Tuesday it was bowling. An-
other night, it was flag football. He
trained for a Tough Mudder race,
which he completed last month with
nearly 30 other Air Force airmen
from Buckley Air Force Base. Chil-
dress, whoservedinthe Army before
joining the Air Force Reserves, loved
the obstacles, but hated the running.
Jesse was really big into sports,
said Alejando Sanchez, a friend and
fellow member of the Air Force Re-
serves stationedat Buckley Air Force
Base in Aurora.
In the fall, Childress, 29, spent his
Sundays cheering for the Broncos
he had season tickets, and would
wear his No. 92 Elvis Dumervil jersey
and throughout the winter and
spring, he watched his beloved Los
Angeles Kings andLos Angeles Clip-
pers. Childress, whose parents live in
Palmdale, Calif., dreamed of visiting
every Division I football stadium.
But Childress was alsoa big nerd,
his friend Kevin Thao said, in the
most endearing way possible, be-
cause of Childress love of comics
andsuperheromovies. Childress had
recently purchased a new black Sci-
on, a car he nicknamed the
Batmobile.
Thao and Sanchez had tickets to
The Dark Knight Rises intheater 8,
and tried to convince Childress to
sneak in fromtheater 9 to join them.
Childress declined in order to stay
with another friend.
Thao said Childress was fatally
wounded when he dove in front of
the friend, a female Air Force mem-
ber fromBuckley.
He would have done that, Thao
said Saturday evening at the make-
shift memorial erected across the
street fromthe Century 16 theater.
Sanchez and Thao gave their wit-
ness statements to the police, and
then spent nearly 90 minutes wan-
dering around the parking lot look-
ing for Childress.
We were all calling the hospitals,
the police department, Sanchez
said. Almost every hour, to every
hospital in this area.
Three other Air Force colleagues
traveled fromthe Air Force Base ear-
lier in the afternoon to honor Chil-
dress. Two women and a man, all in
their Air Force uniforms, placed
flowers at the memorial and then
straightened the Air Force flag that
was already in place.
The male Airman, who declined to
give his name, thenturnedtoface the
crowd of mourners.
We lost a great man, you guys, he
said.
Childress lived in Thornton, and
was one of twomilitary members sta-
tioned at Buckley killed in the shoot-
ing. The other was John Larimer, a
sailor in the U.S. Navy. Another air-
manandanother sailor were injured.
According tothe Air Force Reserve
Command, Childress workedas a cy-
ber systems operator and was on ac-
tive duty orders in the 310th Force
Support Squadron. His friends said
Childress worked with the bases
computer systems.
He was a huge part of our unit,
and this is a terrible loss. The person
that did this was an incredible cow-
ard, Air Force Chief Master Sgt.
Schwald said Saturday at the memo-
rial site. She declinedto give her first
name.
The father of Rebecca Wingo, 32,
confirmed that his daughter died in
the Aurora theater shootings in a post
on his Facebook page.
Steve Hernandez wrote, I lost my
daughter yesterday to a mad man, my
grief right now is inconsolable, I hear
she died instantly, without pain, how-
ever the pain is unbearable.
Friends said Saturday that Wingos
parents also posted a message about
her death on Wingos Facebook page.
That page shows a picture of two
young girls.
A friend, Gail Riffle, brought two
teddy bears, one pink andone white, to
the memorial site near the CenturyAu-
rora 16 theater for Wingos daughters,
as well as roses for Wingos parents.
Everybody is hurting right now,
Riffle said. She was a gentle, sweet,
beautiful soul.
Wingo listed Joes Crab Shack as her
employer onFacebook, and a manager
at the restaurant in Aurora confirmed
that Wingo worked there. He deferred
comment to the restaurants corporate
office, which was closed Saturday.
Wingo had been enrolled at the
Community College of Aurora since
fall 2009andhadbeenworking toward
an associate of arts degree.
REBECCA WI NGO
Mom of two
lost to a
mad man
Slide shows:
Additional images
from the shooting
scene, hospitals and
more.
denverpost.com/
mediacenter
Video: Raw video
of theatergoers
escaping, witness
interviews,
investigators in
action and more.
denverpost.com/
theatershooting
Map: Detailing key
locations the
theater, hospitals
and the suspects
apartment.
denverpost.com/
theatershootings
Prayer vigil on
Sunday. There will
be prayer vigil
beginning at 6:30
p.m. at the Aurora
Municipal Center,
15151 E. Alameda
Parkway in Aurora.
Those who attend
are asked to gather
on the western steps
of the building.
P
eople honoring
Alexander AJ Boik com-
fort one another Saturday
evening at Gateway High School
before a vigil in his name. At-
tendees dressed in his favorite
color and released purple bal-
loons. Boik, who graduated from
Gateway this year, was one of the
12 people killed in the Aurora
theater massacre.
Heather Rousseau, The Denver Post
RECENTGRADREMEMBERED
Where to find help
Need help processing the tragedy? Or do
you wish to help out financially but are
not sure where a donation should go?
Here are several resources:
GivingFirst.org, a safe and secure online
vehicle of the Community First Foundation,
is helping those who wish to find nonprofits
that are assisting the victims and the fami-
lies. The featured nonprofits include Aurora
Mental Health Center, Arapahoe/Douglas
Mental Health Network, Mental Health
America of Colorado, Bonfils Blood Center
Foundation, Metro Crisis Services Inc., Colo-
rado Organization for Victim Assistance and
Denver Center for Crime Victims.
On Sunday, the Thrive with Confidence
Foundation is holding an open house at the
Thrive Community Recreation Center, 15528
E. Hampden Circle, Aurora. Hours are from 1
to 5 p.m.
Childrens Hospital Colorado has opened a
family support line, 720-777-2300.
Aurora Mental Health Center offers its sup-
port by having trained counselors available
by phone, 303-617-2300.
At 12:41 a.m. Friday, a man authorities say was
James Eagan Holmes opened fire inside theater 9 at
the Century Aurora 16 at the TownCenter of Aurora
mall. He was armedwitha handgun, anassault-style
rifle and a shotgun, and was dressed in black with
body armor and a gas mask.
Bullets and shrapnel hit nearly all of the 70 people,
killing12. Policearrivedwithin90seconds, and5 min-
utes after the shooting, they arrested Holmes on the
south side of the theater.
At 1:40 a.m., police called for bomb-sniffing dogs
after confirming Holmes apartment at 1590Paris St.
was booby-trapped to explode.
Saturday, bomb crews disabled a trip device and
relocated 30 improvised explosive devices to a field
east of Aurora, where they burnedthe material with
diesel fuel. Joey Bunch, The Denver Post
Howthe shooting saga unfolded
Memorial for shooting victims at the corner of East Centrepoint Drive and
South Sable Boulevard in Aurora on Saturday. Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post
16A News sunday, july 22, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 666
July 22, 2012
PA6f 6
By Michael Johnston
O
n Friday, 4 million Coloradans
went to work and played foot-
ball in their front yard; strang-
ers opened doors for each other; and
people gave blood, offered shelter,
served hot meals, held grandkids,
played pick-up basketball and com-
mitted unnumbered acts of kindness
and gentleness.
One Coloradan dressed up like a
villain and believed that by showing
up at the site of Americas mythical
hero, he could slay our actual heroes.
Its true there was no Batman sit-
ting in the theater to fly down and
tackle James Holmes, as he hoped
there might be. He had tactical as-
sault gear covering his whole body,
ready for America to fight back.
But love is more organized than
that. Love has cellphones and ambu-
lances, nurses and doctors, complete
strangers and policemen and emer-
gency responders always at the ready.
Love has nurses who will jump out of
bed in the middle of the night and get
family members to watch their chil-
dren so they can rush to the hospital
and save the life of someone theyve
never met. Love has first responders
who will walk into a booby-trapped
building to save the lives of neighbors
they will never meet.
It must be lonely being James Hol-
mes, spending too much of the first
part of your life planning alone for an
act that will leave you sitting alone
for the rest of your life. For the rest of
us, life is crowded. Love is always one
movie seat away.
We are a team that loves each other
and will fight for each other, and if
you punch us in the mouth, we will
fight back.
Yet Americas awesome strength to
fight is overwhelmed by its irrepress-
ible strength to love. James Holmes
took 12 lives Friday. Love saved 58 lives.
Policemen on the scene in minutes,
strangers carrying strangers, nurses
and doctors activated all over the city.
But we didnt stop there. Love
saved the hundreds of other people
who walked out of the Aurora movie
theater unhurt. Love saved the 5,000
who went to see Batman all over Col-
orado, and the 1.2 million who saw it
all over the country, who walked in
and out safely with their friends, arm
in arm. Love guided the 4 million
other Coloradans who went to bed
peacefully Friday night, and who
woke up this morning committed to
loving each other a little deeper.
The awe of last night is not that a
man full of hate can take 12 peoples
lives; it is that a nation full of love can
save 300 million lives every day.
I sat this morning wondering what I
could do to help: give blood, support
victims, raise money, stop violence.
Howcould we start to fight back?
My friends texted that they had
plans to take their kids to Batman to-
night but were nowafraid to go. Others
who were going to play pick-up basket-
ball or go out to dinner were afraid to
leave home. They thought they would
hunker down in their home and won-
der, Howdo we fight back?
The answer is we love back. We
deepen our commitments to all the
unnumbered acts of kindness that
make America an unrendable fabric.
We will serve more meals, play more
games, eat more food, listen to more
jazz, go to more movies, give more
hugs, and say more thank yous and
I love yous than ever before.
So while James Holmes settles into a
jail cell, wondering what we will do to
fight back, we will love back. We will
go to a park and play soccer, we will go
to the playground and restaurants and
movie theaters of our city all year.
He should know not only that he
failed in his demented attempt to be
the villain, but that Batman didnt
have to leap off the screen to stop
him, because we had a far more orga-
nized and powerful force than any
superhero could ever have.
In a movie theater in Aurora 50
years from now, one of last nights
survivors will be waiting in the pop-
corn line and mention that he was in
Theater 9 on that terrible summer
night in 2012. And, inexplicably, with
an armful of popcorn, a total stranger
will reach out and give that old man a
huge hug and say, Im so glad you
made it.
Love back.
Weve already won.
Michael Johnston is a
Democratic state senator
from northeast Denver.
Guest commentary
In the face
of hate, love
back
After Dark Knight tragedy,
keep going to the movies
Y
ou are in a dark room with
dozens of strangers. You are
all looking at the same thing.
There is that strange semi-synthet-
ic smell of butter in the air.
You are laughing. You are crying.
A voice shouts something, and ev-
eryone shushes or chuckles. You
whisper to your friends in the next
seat. You spill your popcorn be-
tween the rows.
And you feel safe. The worst
thing that can happen is that Fred
Willard may become overexcited
by the film.
There is something both frivo-
lous and luminous about the mov-
ies. There is danger, excitement,
the dilation of time. In the course
of two hours, you grow an extra life
or get new eyes, or maybe you only
laugh once and Jason Statham ex-
plodes something. It varies. It is
supposed to vary. And afterwards
there is a magical solidarity be-
tween you and the others who
came on that voyage to a place that
did not exist.
You exit the theater with the
same lines on your lips, and hours
later dozens of strangers in bars on
different sides of the city are still
making the same indignant ges-
tures. What did you think of that
trailer? Prometheus was a let-
down! Why did they bother reboot-
ing Spiderman so soon?
And all of this is a small miracle.
But when a miracle happens every
day you cease to notice, until the
one day it doesnt.
Early Friday in a movie theater in
Aurora, a 24-year-old shooter alleg-
edly opened fire on a crowd of peo-
ple there to see The Dark Knight
Rises, killing 12. And now there is
the usual mad, sickening dash to
shout the loudest and keen the
most ostentatiously and tar the
people with whom you disagree. To
talk about gun restrictions and
safeguards and drag in ideologies
and posit dark theories about the
malign influence of film and un-
leash the shadowy winged things
that sleep inside the box.
That there were thousands of
theaters where this did not happen
does not make this news less horri-
ble. But one of the reasons it is so
startling is because it is the excep-
tion, not the rule.
Sometimes when awful news
hits, when places you expect will
be safe become scenes of terror,
when the person sitting next to you
in the darkness acquires a face in
the saddest possible circumstances,
this is easy to forget. No, people are
dangerous. Stay home. The world is
dark and cold and nowhere is com-
pletely safe.
These acts of terror make the one
horrible person stand out in relief
and blur the faces of everyone else.
Suddenly we all know the name
James Holmes. For weeks we will
pry at his head and forget how
many good, civilized people there
are. There are so many. There were
so many in the theater that night.
Civilization is not an imper-
sonal clockwork. It is the con-
stant accretion of small polite-
nesses. It abounds in these won-
derful, small things that we do
together. We buy tickets and walk
into the room with the giant screen
and say, Excuse me, is this seat
taken? and sometimes we even
pick up our trash on the way out.
We sit together in the dark and tell
each other stories, secure in the
knowledge that the only horrible
things that will happen will be on
the other side of the screen.
Now AMC is already banning
people from wearing any kind of
masks. Fear creeps in.
That is the most horrible side
effect of terror, to make us afraid to
take part in these daily miracles. To
make us scared to get on the bus or
the train. To set a nervous stutter-
step in the pit of our stom-
ach every time there is a
loud noise in the theater.
And it would be awful if
we let that happen.
ALEXANDRA PETRI
The Washington Post
By JimMerlino Politico
I
served as Democratic policy di-
rector for the Colorado Senate
minority in 2003 when the state
legislature passed the gun law pack-
age that is now the law in Colorado.
These bills had been delayed since
the 1999 Columbine shootings. But
that notorious high school massacre
had not really altered the laws provi-
sions. The heart of the package was a
concealed-weapons bill that requires
that sheriffs issue a concealed weap-
ons permit to any applicant certified
to not be a habitual drug or alcohol
abuser, insane or a felon. The law
eliminated a sheriffs personal discre-
tion based on local custom or com-
munity safety concerns.
In Colorado, the National Rifle
Association is considered a left-wing
Washington-based organization. In-
stead, gun owners look to the Rocky
Mountain Gun Owners as their voice
in the legislature and Congress.
[Editors note: Dudley Brown, exec-
utive director of RMGO, on Saturday
posted a statement on the groups
website, saying the alleged shooter
was not affiliated with the group. I
know that our members are of the
highest character, and examples of
Colorados finest law-abiding citi-
zens, Brown said. Furthermore, the
blatant attempt by New York Mayor
Michael Bloomberg to use the blood
of these innocents to advance his
radical political agenda is disgusting.
Mayor Bloombergs campaign suc-
ceeded in disarming not just these
movie-goers, but has created millions
of gun-free criminal-safezones across
the county.]
In Colorado, our gun laws were
written to work for the RMGO and
given the force of law by the Republi-
can Party. Colorados 2003 gun bills
passed because the Republicans con-
trolled both houses of the General
Assembly and the governors office.
But if you now think that meaning-
ful gun control can emerge in Colora-
do, youre dreaming. In a state where
large mammals occasionally make a
meal out of their smaller, two-legged
brethren, gun control discussions
take on a more primitive and decid-
edly less academic turn.
In fact, if you think reasonable gun
control is the entire solution to the
now too-familiar occurrences of mass
shootings, you are naive.
But does this mean we should sur-
render discussions about gun control,
funding for mental health treatment,
and the role of government to radical
activists and others who insist that
government is playing an outsize role
in our lives?
After the 2003 laws were passed,
the courts weighed in and blunted
some of the more objectionable parts.
Most important, the courts limited
the state pre-emption portion al-
lowing local governments to pass gun
regulations more in keeping with
local practice.
Notably, this meant the limitation
of open carry provisions. Under the
2003 laws, any person could openly
carry any legal firearm anywhere he
or she could legally go except
schools and colleges, or if a property
owner posted a notice prohibiting it.
But after the court revisions, Den-
ver and other cities could pass ordi-
nances with a blanket prohibition of
the open carry of firearms, in keeping
with urban density and local custom.
But the question remains: What is
reasonable legislation that would
help stem the rising tide of mass
shootings? And why is this discussion
always propelled by the fringes rath-
er than the middle?
To begin with, mass shootings can
be as much about mental illness and
the lack of a community as they are
about unrestricted access to weap-
ons. We can see that spending on
treatment and screening for mental
illness is finally becoming a biparti-
san goal.
So why not reach a bipartisan con-
sensus on reasonable gun laws aimed
at curtailing gun violence? Would
limitations on access to automatic,
high-powered weapons and automat-
ic hand guns make mass shootings
less likely?
On a day of sorrow, when the lead-
ers of both parties talk about prayers,
I am full of emotion and short on
solutions. But it is time to try framing
solutions from the middle out and
not from the fringe in.
JimMerlino of Broomfield
is a strategic-business and
communications
consultant.
Dont
expect new
gun laws
The country needs laws
that allowgun ownership,
but laws that also control
their sale and use in careful
ways. Instead, we have been
seeing a rash of stand your
ground self-defense laws,
other laws that recklessly
encourage the carrying of
concealed weapons and
efforts to force every state
to knuckle under to those
laws. Assault rifles like the
one used by the killer in
Colorado are too readily
available, as are high-capac-
ity ammunition clips.
From an editorial
in The New York Times
What will happen is a chance for political figures to find
their best healing words. Presidents generally excel at this:
Bush at the National Cathedral after 9/11, Clinton after the
Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. The moment and the plat-
form, sad though it is, delivers an opportunity for a politician to
look bigger than the usual cacophony of TVads and YouTube
jabs. There will undoubtedly be a large service in Colorado in
the coming days. The president will go. He will mourn. We will,
too. But there wont be (gun control) legislation.
Matthew Cooper, National Journal
Those who argue that
tighter gun control would
have prevented this tragedy
should consider the possibil-
ity that gun control made it
as deadly as it was. The Au-
rora mass murder and simi-
lar tragedies prove that su-
per villains exist, but there is
no real-life Batman who will
swoop to the rescue with a
fancy gadget and ensure a
happy ending. In a culture
that increasingly glorifies
violence, citizens need to
have the means to exercise
their right to self-defense.
From an editorial in
The Washington Times
There is no constitutional right to buy sub-
machine guns or silencers or uniquely haz-
ardous bullets without background checks
or at all. It is time to ban all military-style
semi-automatic assault weapons, ban assault
clips holding more than 10 rounds, and re-
quire that newguns have micro-stamping
technology so bullets left at crime scenes can
be traced. These are simple, moderate steps.
This tragedy is not shocking it is a stark
reminder of our inability to do what so many
other nations have done: Put in place mean-
ingful gun control.
Eliot Spitzer, on slate.com
This crime was ultimately about people.
We would do well to avoid breathlessly pro-
posing radical changes to our constitutional
order because a man abused his liberty.
Those with evil in their hearts are prone to
do evil things, and those willing to violate
strict prohibitions against murder do not
care much about regulation of firearms or
much else. As such, unless the shooter was
part of a bigger conspiracy or was systemati-
cally failed by an institution, our attentions
might be better focused on Aurora, and not
on any particular group, or even worse
the whole citizenry of the United States.
Charles C.W. Cooke, National Review
What They are Saying About the shootings in Aurora and gun control
OPINION
Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Idea Log is The Denver Posts blog for opinion coverage. To read it and to join
discussions on the issues of the day, scan the code at left with your phone or go to
blogs.denverpost.com/opinion
On The Idea Log: Christine Harms, director of the Colorado School Safety Resource
Center, on how to help your kids cope with the horror of the Aurora theater massacre.
Three helicopters make a flyover
of the Century Aurora 16 on Sat-
urday. Barry Gutierrez, Associated Press
22A MIDNIGHT MASSACRE sunday, july 22, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 6
OLYMPI AN MI SSY FRANKLI N
Swimmer thinks of victims
Centennial resident hoping to shine a little bit of light
By John Henderson
The Denver Post
vichy, france The head-
line at the top of the national
daily Liberation screamed,
Lenfer a Denver (Hell in
Denver). Roaring across a
page-and-a-half spread on Pag-
es 8 and 9, the headline read,
Colorado: Ce nest pas du cine-
ma (Colorado: This is not a
movie).
Fridays Aurora theater
shooting that left 12 dead was
huge news in France, particu-
larly here in Vichy, where the
U.S. swim team has its pre-
Olympic swimming camp. Mis-
sy Franklin, entered in seven
Olympic events, goes to school
at Regis Jesuit High in Aurora
and lives about 15 minutes away
in Centennial.
Her coach, Todd Schmitz,
lives in Aurora.
Its about 3 miles from my
house, Schmitz said of the the-
ater during Saturdays media
day. I drive by there about ev-
ery day going to the Lowry
pool. (Friday) we were finish-
ing breakfast, andI was reading
my Twitter feed and I saw that.
It was pretty scary. You do a lot
of thinking when something
like that happens. Both Missy
and I had that moment.
Neither Schmitz nor Franklin
knew any of the victims, but
their opinions on the tragedy
were valued even out here.
I was getting information
that all my friends and family
were OK, so that was good,
but the fact that so many peo-
ple were hurt and so many
families were affected, its just
heartbreaking, Franklin said.
Unfortunately, theres noth-
ing I can do about it. The only
thing I can do is go to the
Olympics and hopefully make
Colorado proud and shine a
little bit of light there.
Schmitz said the theater is
north of where all of the swim-
mers onhis ColoradoStars club
live, and one swimmer told him
they were all OK.
Like what Missy and I both
said, when things like that hap-
pen, you dont take things for
granted, Schmitz said. Live
every day like its your last.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299,
jhenderson@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/johnhendersondp
U.S. Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin talks at a news confer-
ence Saturday in Vichy, France. She lives in Centennial and at-
tends Regis Jesuit High in Aurora. Thierry Zoccolan, AFP/GettyImages
By Jessica Fender
The Denver Post
aurora Theater-shooting
suspect James Holmes is being
held in segregation for his own
protection at the Arapahoe
County Jail, officials say.
A female inmate who was re-
leased Saturday said 12 women
had been placed in one cell so
jail officials can concentrate on
Holmes.
Theyre not worried about
anyone else, she said. Theyre
worried about him.
She said the inmates are say-
ing the crime was crazy.
A lot of the girls are saying
he wants to be the Joker, she
said.
Sheriff Grayson Robinson de-
nied a NewYork Daily News re-
port that further special mea-
sures had been made to protect
Holmes, suchas blackingout the
windows to his cell. Robinson
also said he had not been noti-
fiedabout anyoutbursts byHol-
mes, includingspittingat guards
as reported by the Daily News.
I would have been told,
Robinson said.
Jail officials said there have
been no direct threats against
Holmes but he had been re-
movedfromthe general popula-
tion because of the high-profile
nature of the case. He is not on
suicide watch and has not had
any visitors, 9News reported.
The suspect has declined all
interviews on the advice of his
attorneys.
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244,
jfender@denverpost.com
or twitter.com/oh_fender
PROTECTI NG THE SUSPECT
Holmes held in segregation in county jail
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66 the denver post B denverpost.com B sunday, july 22, 2012 MIDNIGHT MASSACRE 21A
I think its a tough but valid ques-
tion, said Del Elliott, founding direc-
tor of theCenter for theStudyandPre-
vention of Violence at the University
of Coloradoat Boulder. Theseevents
aredisturbingtome, but theylooklike
an anomaly terrible but within the
realmof randomevents.
Elliott saidthat nationwide, Colora-
do is in the bottom third statistically
for gun violence.
But the particular formof this vio-
lence shooting with massive
amounts of death we do seem to
have more of that, he added.
Elliott noted that the state narrow-
ly avoided a similar disaster in 2006,
when lawofficers killed Duane Mor-
rison, who had taken students hos-
tage at Platte Canyon High School.
One student, Emily Keyes, was killed
by the gunman.
Ive heard arguments about the
number of guns in Colorado and the
perspective we have on them, Elliott
said. But these events seem very
carefullyplanned, sothat theavailabil-
ity of guns is almost irrelevant. Any-
onewiththat level of intent is goingto
find weapons, legally or illegally.
Jennifer Harman, a professor at
Colorado State University specializ-
ing in social psychology and vio-
lence, said there could be cultural
and social differences in the West
about using violence as a way to deal
with stress or provocation.
WHY
FROM 1A
There is even a theory that there
are regional differences in when its
acceptable to use violence, she said.
The thinking is that its more ac-
ceptable in the South or West.
Harman cited a study called Cul-
tureof Honor: ThePsychologyof Vio-
lence inthe South, authoredbyRich-
ardNisbett andDovCohen, that made
thecasefor regional differences inthe
use of violence to settle grievances.
Still, Harman said that theory gets
complicated in Colorado, where so
many residents arrive from else-
where. (James EaganHolmes, the 24-
year-old man accused in the shoot-
ings, grew up in California.) Thou-
sands of native Midwesterners live
here. Ditto for East Coasters, Texans
and Californians.
The OldWest mythandthe New
West one too, for that matter holds
that people can pull up roots and re-
invent themselves. But such tran-
sience can lead to emotional isola-
tion. And Harman noted that people
who are social misfits and feel ostra-
cized tend to lash out, not withdraw.
It does seem this state has an im-
age that people are happy here, said
Patricia Limerick, a CU history pro-
fessor who chairs the Center of the
AmericanWest. But if youre unhap-
py and wildly so, thats a way to con-
trast yourself with the rest of the
world and withdraw.
Limerick saidshe couldsee noCol-
orado connection.
In these cases, it just seems the
terrible strangeness of the individual
is so much more of a factor that I
cant put it in relationship to the
state, she said.
On Friday, Hickenlooper assured
people that this is a safe city, in a
safe state, in a safe country.
Former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer,
in a telephone interview, said the
shooting was just happenstance.
I dont think theres anything
unique to Colorado that causedthis,
Romer said. In our search for an-
swers, we reach for connections that
arent there.
Romer, governor from1987 to1999,
pointed to the general availability of
guns as the driver in such incidents.
Aurora police said Holmes brought
anAR-15 rifle, a 12-gauge shotgunand
two .40-caliber Glock handguns to
the Century Aurora 16.
When I woke up and heard this
story, the first thing that occurred to
me as the cause is the widespread
possession of guns in our society,
Romer said. We have to understand
as a society that the proliferation of
guns will lead to their use. Its just
common sense.
Elliott, the CU professor, con-
curred up to a point.
When we moved here from Cali-
fornia in 1967, one of the reasons we
came was because Colorado seemed
a much safer place to live and raise a
family, Elliott said.
Liketherest of us, hewas still trying
to wrap his head around what hap-
penedandwhy, onceagain, mass mur-
der had found its way to Colorado.
William Porter: 303-954-1877,
wporter@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/williamporterdp
Pastor Mary Lu Saddoris, left, comforts Isaac Pacheco and Courtney McGregor, friends of shooting victimAlex Sullivan, on Saturday as they visit a
memorial near the movie theater in Aurora. Twelve people were killed and 58 were injured in the attack early Friday. The Denver Post, Hyoung Chang
By Erin Udell The Denver Post
In the wake of Fridays early morn-
ing massacre at an Aurora movie the-
ater, many Coloradans are asking how
they can help a lot more than Dian-
na Hemphill has ever seen.
Hemphill, spokeswoman for the
Bonfils BloodCenter, saidthe commu-
nitys reaction to the tragedy has been
overwhelming.
Bonfils blood donation centers
including six inthe Denver metro area
have filled all of their appointment
slots for the rest of the month. Poten-
tial donors are encouraged to call the
appointment hotline to donate when
more spots open up, however.
Weve never, ever booked out,
Hemphill said. This is veryunusual for
us. It just shows that Coloradans want to
givebackwhentheyseesomethingreal-
lyhorriblehappenintheir community.
While she said the outpouring of
support is great, she added that she
hopes to see this streak continue into
August so Bonfils can try to replenish
supplies depletedby treating shooting
victims.
The(recent) support is tremendous,
but we really have to credit our donors
who come in on a regular basis, she
said. Its really the days and weeks fol-
lowing that well need support.
JayConnors, managerof theChildrens
Hospital Colorado Blood Donor Center,
echoed Hemphill, saying that its truly
thebloodontheshelves that saves lives
andkeeps upprepared.
As a smaller operation in Childrens
Colorado, the blood donor center ex-
ists to serve the needs of the hospital
and uses Bonfils as a backup.
We just want to send an enormous
thank you to the donors, Connors
said, adding that the center is booked
through next week.
The Childrens donation center is in
the hospital and is open Monday
through Friday. Most of Bonfils loca-
tions are open Monday through Satur-
day, but the Westminster center also
accepts donors on Sundays, as do
some of the 10 mobile drives that visit
local churches.
The centers hope for more O nega-
tive, Anegative andplatelet donations,
Hemphill said. For more information
on making an appointment, call the
Bonfils appointment line at 303-363-
2300 or visit bonfils.org or children-
scolorado.org/give/blood.
Erin Udell: 303-954-1223,
eudell@denverpost.com
HOW TO HELP
Colorado
gives back
with flow
of blood
Donation centers are
booked through the end
of the month.
Maneka Singh, 28, is comforted by
her boyfriend, Martin Vance, 29,
at a shrine for victims across from
the parking lot at the Century Au-
rora 16 theater in Aurora. Heather
Rousseau, The Denver Post
2012 PAA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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denture will come loose
Speak with confidence
Eat what you want without
pain or embbarrassment
By Chuck Murphy
The Denver Post
aurora
F
ar fromthe camp occu-
pied by the worlds me-
dia, and the line of fidget-
ing shoppers waiting for
10 a.m. to come so they could
enter the reopening Aurora
Town Center mall, Alexandria
Mosley pulled her car into a
space in the mostly empty lot.
She got out, faced the Centu-
ry Aurora 16 multiplex, spread
her arms wide, bowed her
head and began to pray.
Through great pain is also
great glory, Mosley, 20, said
when she was done. I just
prayed that his glory be felt by
all who suffered here.
In front of her, local and
federal agents could be seen
continuing their grisly task of
cataloguing the crime scene in
theaters 8 and 9.
As the shock of Friday morn-
ings massacre wore off, Satur-
day became the day to remem-
ber and grieve the 58 victims
whose lives will never be the
same, and the 12 whose lives
ended when they were attacked
during a midnight screening of
the newBatman film.
Portraits of the dead began
to emerge. They were, as you
might expect froma midnight
movie crowd, young, bright
individuals with limitless po-
tential and most of their lives
ahead of them.
Almost all were, in age and
ambition, just like the man
police say killed them, with an
important distinction: They
were not at the theater alone
they had friends.
One of those friends is Isaac
Pacheco, 22, who drewa media
scrumwhen he arrived at the
impromptu memorial across
fromthe multiplex clad in a
Batman T-shirt and cap. In the
shirts bat logo, he had written
We (heart) Alex.
Alex was Alex Sullivan,
Pachecos friend fromAuroras
Movie Tavern. They once
worked together there.
Pacheco brought a votive
candle, the 84th added to the
growing display at the inter-
section of Centrepoint Drive
and Sable Boulevard. He also
signed a card for Sullivan, who
was celebrating his birthday
by taking in The Dark Knight
Rises early Friday.
I hadnt really seen him
lately. We had kind of lost
touch, Pacheco said, more
than a hint of regret in his
voice. But every time I did,
every time I sawhimat Movie
Tavern, it was good. He was a
great friend.
Pacheco is a big fan of the
Batman franchise. But he was
not there for the movies pre-
miere, and he probably wont
see it for weeks or months.
Maybe years.
Batman used to be my all-
time favorite, but nowI cant
even watch it, Pacheco said.
Maybe someday. Maybe when
it is on DVDor something.
Maybe not even then.
I asked whether he was giv-
ing additional power to the
killer by changing his life as a
result of Fridays massacre. He
thought for a fewseconds.
Maybe. Maybe I am. I still
dont knowwhat to think.
None of us do.
COMMENTARY
Aday togrieve for
those whowere lost
By Sheba Wheeler
Special to The Denver Post
aurora Certified nurse
midwife Tanya Tanner was on
duty Friday about midnight at
the Medical Center of Aurora,
thinking about taking a quick
nap while her labor and deliv-
ery patients slept. But a random
thought to check in with the
nursing staff in the emergency
roomdramatically changed the
course of her night.
It was strange because I dont
usually do that, but something
told me to call out to the desk,
Tanner said. When I asked the
nurses if theywereOK, theysaid
actually no we are not. Theres
been a major trauma.
Tanner headed to the ER.
Im a nurse. I take care of
people, thats what I do, she
said. I might not be able totake
away the pain, but I was going
to do what I could to alleviate
some of the suffering.
While ER staff managed the
controlled chaos of triage, Tan-
ner walked fromroomto room,
speaking to victims.
I heard the person who was
screaming the loudest and gave
them as much attention as I
could, Tanner said. Its about
human connection, and the pa-
tients wantedtobe connected. I
wanted them to know that
while we were doing every-
thing we could to treat their in-
juries, we also cared about
themas people.
Tanner asked about their
work and family. She also
helped patients and family
members reconnect, finding
themreliable sources for infor-
mation that cut through the din
of rumor, innuendo and mis-
truths. One of her favorite say-
ings to make a victim smile:
Redbox is going to be your
best friend in the weeks to
come, when the shock wears
off and the healing begins.
Some victims confessed that
their belief intheir ownperson-
al safety was forever shaken.
They wanted to know why
this happened, if they could
ever be safe in a public place
again, she said. Some wanted
to know why they lived when
others died. I told them, We
live in a random world. You
have to believe you are safe in
order to live your life. You
didnt do this. You are not to
blame. People die every day.
This didnt have anything to do
with God. God is who we will
turn to nowto offer healing.
Gov. JohnHickenlooper visit-
ed the hospital Saturday after-
noon, shaking hands with staff
members and getting updates
onpatients. He visitedwithvic-
tims and their family members
to offer support.
Seven shooting victims, ages
16 to 31, are receiving treatment
for serious wounds to the head,
torso and leg, said Linda Kana-
mine, spokeswoman for the
Medical Center. Of those seven
at the hospital, six had surgery,
four are in ICU and three have
been taken to normal medical
floors.
I N THE EMERGENCY ROOM
Nurse steps up amid trauma
Midwife Tanya Tanner
helpedto relieve patients
anxiety at the hospital.
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PA6f 7
By Ken Thomas
The Associated Press
washington The movie
theater shooting in Aurora has
briefly silenced the presiden-
tial campaign, prompting both
President Barack Obama and
Republican challenger Mitt
Romney to cut short their
schedules and pull advertising
in Colorado out of respect for
the victims and their families.
Obama said Saturday, in his
weekly radio and Internet ad-
dress, that he hopes everyone
takes time this weekend for
prayer andreflectionfor the
victims of this terrible tragedy,
for the people who knewthem
and loved them, for those who
are still struggling to recover.
He said Americans should
also think about all the vic-
tims of the less-publicizedacts
of violence that plague our
communities on a daily basis.
Let us keep all these Ameri-
cans in our prayers.
Aides said Obama received
updates Saturday from his
homeland security adviser,
JohnBrennan, onthe investiga-
tion into the shooting and the
attempts by authorities to gain
access to the suspects booby-
trapped apartment.
Obama and Romney used
campaign appearances Friday
to focus attention on the need
for national unity in the after-
math of the shooting. Their
campaign teams rescheduled
Sunday show appearances by
top aides and surrogates, es-
sentially providing a break in
what has been an increasingly
testy campaign.
The rampage injected a new
tone into the campaign after
Obama and Romney had
clashed over the economy,
Medicare and tax returns.
Other prominent lawmakers
called the shooting a time for
unity. House Speaker John
Boehner, R-Ohio, said in the
Republican address Saturday
that lawmakers joined Obama
in offering condolences and
prayers to the loved ones of
those who were killed and
wounded.
I knowthat when confront-
ed with evil we cannot com-
prehend, Americans pull to-
gether and embrace our na-
tional family more tightly,
Boehner said.
Yet, beyond the calls for a
higher purpose, the shooting
could raise the profile of gun
rights in the presidential cam-
paign, an issue that has played
a minor role so far.
The president believes that
we need to take common-
sense measures that protect
Second Amendment rights of
Americans, while ensuring
that those whoshouldnot have
guns under existing lawdo not
get them, said White House
press secretary Jay Carney.
Romney spokeswoman An-
drea Saul said the Republican
candidate thinks that the best
way to prevent gun violence is
tovigorouslyenforceour laws.
New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, in a radio inter-
view, urged the president and
his challenger to address gun
violence forcefully.
You know, soothing words
are nice, Bloomberg said, but
maybe its time that the two
people who want to be presi-
dent of the United States stand
upandtell us what they are go-
ing to do about it because this
is obviously a problem across
the country.
We will do whatever
it takes for as long as it
takes to try to help
(the victims). Every-
one has come together
as a teamto try to do
what needs to be done
in this community.
Steve Hogan, Aurora mayor
I think that overall
the community is very,
very shaken, and I
think were in shock,
and I think were still
trying to get our arms
around howdid such a
tragedy happen to us.
Theres a lot of hurt.
Theres a lot of uncer-
tainty.
State Rep. Rhonda Fields,
D-Aurora
If you think were an-
gry, we sure as hell are
angry about what has
happened to our city,
what has happened to
these wonderful peo-
ple who live here, and
also what he threat-
ened to do to one of
our police officers.
Dan Oates,
Aurora police chief
Our hearts go out to
those who were in-
volved in this tragedy
and to the families and
friends of those in-
volved. We are still
trying to process this
information.
James Holmes parents,
in a statement
It went very, very
well. The threat has
not been completely
eliminated; it has been
significantly reduced.
James Yacone,
FBI special agent, about
booby-trapped apartment
CANDI DATES SHOW OF RESPECT
Campaigns take a break, pull ads
Obama, Romney silence rhetoric in wake of tragedy
President Barack Obama Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney
News Shows
Lineups and broadcast
times may change.
STATE OF THE UNION 7
a.m. Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz.; former Sen. George
Allen, R-Va.; former Gov.
TimKaine, D-Va. CNN
FAREED ZAKARIA GPS 8
a.m. Topics: the truth about
private equity; what a Gr-
exit would look like; the
unlikely case for municipal
bankruptcies. CNN
THIS WEEK 8 a.m.
Gov. John Hickenlooper. C
KMGH-Channel 7, ABC
MEET THE PRESS 9 a.m.
Hickenlooper; Michael
Chertoff, former secretary
of Homeland Security De-
partment; WilliamBratton,
former Los Angeles chief of
police; and Rep. Carolyn
McCarthy, D-N.Y.
KUSA-Channel 9, NBC
FOX NEWS SUNDAY 9
a.m. Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu; Sen.
Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.;
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.
KDVR-Channel 31, Fox
FACE THE NATION
9:30 a.m. Netanyahu;
NewYork Mayor
Michael
Bloomberg;
coverage of
the Aurora
theater
shooting.
KCNC-
Channel
4,CBS
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By Jake Coyle
The Associated Press
new york The Dark
Knight Rises star Christian
Bale saidSaturday that his heart
goes out to the victims of the
Colorado shootings, a tragedy
that brought Hollywood stu-
dios together in a rare show of
solidarity as they opted to give
the weekend box office a rest.
Words cannot express the
horror that I feel, said Bale,
who plays the Caped Crusader
in the film, in a statement. I
cannot begin to truly under-
stand the pain and grief of the
victims and their loved ones,
but my heart goes out to them.
Meanwhile, Sony, Fox, Dis-
ney, Universal, Fox, Paramount
and Lionsgate said Saturday
that they are joining Dark
Knight Rises distributor War-
ner Bros. in withholding their
box-office numbers for the
weekend.
Warner Bros. announced Fri-
day that it would forgo the usu-
al revenue reports until Mon-
day out of respect for the vic-
tims and their families in the
Aurora shootings that killed
12 and wounded 58 at the mid-
night showof The Dark Knight
Rises earlier in the day.
Other studios followed suit,
and box-office tracking service
Rentrak, too, said it would not
report figures this weekend.
Sunday box-office estimates
are a weekly routine for Holly-
wood, with studios jostling for
bragging rights as the No. 1
movie and always aiming to
break revenue records.
The box-office performance
of The Dark Knight Rises had
been eagerly anticipated. The
film is expected to be among
the most lucrative movie open-
ings ever and possibly contend
with the record $207.4 million
brought in by The Avengers.
But that now appears unlike-
ly, even though The Dark
Knight Rises earned$30.6 mil-
lion from midnight screenings
alone. The figure had already
been reported from ticket pre-
sales.
Hollywood trade publica-
tions Variety and Hollywood
Reporter reported estimates of
$75 millionto$77 millionfor the
filmFriday, basedonbox-office
insiders.
That wouldput it ontrack for
somewhere around$165 million
for the weekend. Such a total
would be the second-highest
weekend opening ever.
Any projections, though, are
bound to be rough estimates
given the nature of the situa-
tion.
Moviegoers making their way
to theaters also faced increased
security and, in some places,
bag checks. AMCTheaters, the
countrys second-largest movie
chain, said it would not allow
costumedfans or face-covering
masks into its theaters.
Warner Bros. rushed to react
to the tragedy, immediately
canceling a Friday-night pre-
miere in Paris. On Saturday, it
canceled the other remaining
red-carpet extravaganzas in
Mexico City and Tokyo.
The studio, a subsidiary of
Time Warner Inc., also moved
to pull trailers from its upcom-
ing filmGangster Squad from
theaters. The trailer of the film,
which stars Sean Penn and
Ryan Gosling in a ruthless war
between Los Angeles police
and the mob, includes a scene
of mobsters firing into a crowd-
ed movie theater from behind
the screen.
Christopher Nolan, director
of The Dark Knight Rises,
earlier responded to the trage-
dy, expressing his sorrow for
The movie theater is my
home, and the idea that some-
one wouldviolate that innocent
and hopeful place in such an
unbearably savage way is dev-
astating to me, Nolan said.
CORPORATE CONDOLENCES
Studios withhold
box-oce reports
Warner Bros. is
delaying numbers
after the tragedy.
I cannot begin
to truly
understand the
pain and grief
of the victims
and their loved
ones, but my
heart goes out
to them.
Christian Bale, who
plays Batman in The
Dark Knight Rises
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Almost every type of vehicle and
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cars to basic transportation and
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Many are still under factory war-
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to liquidate these vehicles immedi-
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First time buyers are welcome. Lo-
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urday at Skyline Mit-
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Any questions can be directed to
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PA6f 6
By Joanne Davidson
The Denver Post
A stop at The Denver Posts
Cheyenne Frontier Days Train
bound for Cheyenne on Satur-
day morning wasnt just a wel-
comerespitefor Gov. JohnHick-
enlooper. He used the time to
muster financial support for
thoseaffectedbythetragicevent
at theCenturyAurora16theater.
The money he collects will be
offered as a match to donations
received through Giving
First.org.
His goal is to raise as much
as he can, says Cheryl
Haggstrom, executive vice
president of GivingFirst.orgs
parent organization, the Com-
munity First Foundation. At
the time that he boarded the
train, he had close to $200,000
in hand. We are thrilled that we
can partner with him on this; it
is going to make a tremendous
difference.
Hickenlooper did not make
the trip to Cheyenne.
Haggstrom says those visit-
ing GivingFirst.org will find a
list of nonprofit organizations
that will be providing aid and
that donors canselect the agen-
cy or agencies to which they
want to direct their funds.
They include Aurora Mental
Health Center, Mental Health
Americaof Colorado, MetroCri-
sis Services and Colorado Orga-
nization for VictimAssistance.
Project Linus, meanwhile, is
hosting a Blanket Blitz for Au-
rora on Sunday. There will be
two locations where volunteers
will be making blankets to be
distributed to children affected
by the shooting: Parker Library,
10851 S. Crossroads Drive in
Parker, and5605 S. Lee St. inLit-
tleton. Sessions run from 1 to 4
p.m., andattendees are askedto
bring lengths of polar fleece
and sharp sewing scissors.
The Thrive With Confidence
Foundation is hosting an after-
noon of healing from 1 to 5 p.m.
Sunday at 15528 E. Hampden
Circle in Aurora. It is free and
open to the public, although
contributions of bottled water,
juice and other refreshments
are encouraged.
Aurora Mental HealthCenter
has crisis counselors on duty
aroundthe clock to helppeople
cope; they can be reached at
303-617-2300. Childrens Hospi-
tal Colorado also has a family
support line: 720-777-2300.
Other support-service pro-
viders include Aurora therapist
Bethany Jones, whois offering a
free initial counseling session
to children and families; the
Trauma Treatment Center of
Colorados Dr. Lee Baker (303-
790-5585); and the Heartlight
Center, where a coalition of
caregiving organizations will
be holding a series of open-
door support groups, starting at
6:30 p.m. Monday. Heartlight
Center is at 11150 E. Dartmouth
Ave. in Aurora.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314,
jdavidson@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/getitwrite
COMMUNI TY OUTREACH
Hickenloopers train stop
raises money for victims
The governor joins
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bargain, youll most often find it
on the road less traveled. Today,
that road leads to Suss Buick
GMC, and the bargain is on a
used 2011 Buick Lucerne, priced
from $22,981 with NO added
dealer handling fees, thousands
back from the original MSRP of
$33,895. If youre in the market
for a full-size premium sedan,
go see the Lucerne and take it
out for a test drive. Youll want
one not only because you like
the price, but because you like
the car.
Its understandable how this
beautiful sedan had slipped
through the cracks. Havi ng
limited production numbers,
and with the last to roll off the
assembly line on June 15,
2011, it had minimal buyer
exposure. Although Buick has
long remained near the top of
the charts in terms of quality
and durability, it seems few
have paid attention. Stuck with
the impression of being poorly
built by younger Americans,
Buick has put forth great effort
creating a brand that is worthy
of praise. Even the Chinese
have embraced the brand,
marking Buick as a luxury line
and making it one of the most
sought after vehicles in their
culture. However, Buick still
has a hill to climb, pegged with
the image of an old persons
car, fewer shoppers are visiting
Buick showrooms these days,
unaware that Buick is now in
a new era and on a quest to
reclaim a spot as the premium
brand.
Visually seductive, this stately
Buick beats all other large sedan
offerings hands down in terms
of styling, quality and value, for
under the Lucernes beautiful
wrappi ngs l i es t he same
solid platform as Cadillacs
magnificent DTS. But from
there up its every-inch-a-Buick,
looking distinctively different
than any other GM product.
And many will tell you that the
Lucerne is a better driving car
than the Cadillac, which is a
result of Buicks relentless
pursuit to isolate the passenger
cabin from the outside world
by blocking noise paths at
their source through the use
of extensive dampening and
insulation. Even the
windshield and front
side glass have a
special layer of
laminate to help
absorb road
noise. Buick
touts this as
t hei r excl usi ve
Quiet Tuning, which
sounds like just another
marketing hype, but you
havetoexperienceit toappreciate
it. Its a drive in the clouds.
The Lucerne glistens with a
level of quality that will blow you
away, from its close-tolerance
body panels and interior trim
pieces to its buttery, finely-
stitched leather. Although the
Lucerne is a big car, theres
nothing big about the way it
drives. The handling is crisp and
nimble, the braking sure. Its
an absolute delight to drive as
it graciously accepts all orders
from its captain.
With a change from the 3.8-
liter V6 on the 2008 model, the
2011 is powered by GMs highly
acclaimed 3.9-liter V6. Pumping
out a desirable 227 horsepower,
it delivers acceleration and
performance that will satisfy
most drivers and earns a
respectable 27 mpg highway
economy rating under the more
stringent and conservative EPA
guidelines.
These CXL models come well
equipped with heated leather
front
bucket seats, and a console
shift. Standard features include,
4-wheel disc brakes with ABS,
Traction Control, driver and
passenger head-curtain side-
impact airbags, a tire pressure
monitoring system, a leather-
wrapped steering wheel with
audio and cruise controls,
Home-link, and GMs OnStar, a
comforting travel companion to
have aboard on long trips and
the most user-friendly navigation
system on the planet. Push the
Blue button and simply speak
your destination, even if youre
lost. A satellite pinpoints your
location and a friendly voice
guides you with turn-by-turn
directions until you get there.
Buyers will also enjoy the lions
share remainder of a 4yr/50,000-
mile bumper-to-bumper warranty
that extends to 5 years and
100,000miles onthepower train.
This comprehensive warranty
is the best out there amongst
premium brands. With vehicles
l a s t i n g
m u c h l onger
than they did in the past,
folks tend to get their moneys
worth with this war r ant y,
expl ai ns Fred Jadidian, a 20
year veteran at Suss. When
you compare other luxury
models and the warranty they
offer, people will definitely see
the savings.
Now is the time to re-introduce
yourself to the wont-let-you-
down Buick And leave all
preconceptions you may have
at the door. A little wheel time
in this premium luxury liner will
convince you that maybe you
really would rather drive a Buick.
Where to find: Suss Buick
GMC i n Aur or a of f er s a
nice selection of Pre-owned
2011 Lucernes in a variety
of colors at a starting price
of $22,981 with NO dealer
handling fees. And trades are
always welcomed. Suss Buick
GMC is located at 1301 South
Havana in Aurora. Sales may
be reached 303-306-4001
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PA6f 8
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The Post Editorial:
Saying goodbye to the promise
and the prospects of those
who were killed in Fridays
theater massacre. 21A
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By Ryan Parker The Denver Post
James Eagan Holmes behavior and
activities in the weeks before the Au-
rora theater shooting made neighbors
and others take notice.
Holmes attempted to join a gun club
intheeasternArapahoeCountytownof
Byers on June 25, but his behavior was
deemed too bizarre for membership.
It wasnt Holmes club application
that raised a red flag for Lead Valley
Range owner Glenn Rotkovich but
rather the outgoing message onhis an-
swering machine.
It was this deep, guttural voice,
rambling something incoherent, Rot-
kovich said. I thought, What is this
idiot trying to be?
Rotkovich said he told his employ-
ees Holmes was not allowed on the
premises, he said.
Had Holmes been allowed on the
range, he could have practiced with
the guns found in his possession when
he was arrested inthe back of the Cen-
tury Aurora 16 movie theater Friday
morning. Police say he had an assault-
style rifle, a shotgun and two .40- cali-
ber handguns.
Holmes allegedly set off canisters of
noxious gas and then opened fire on a
crowd watching the midnight pre-
miere of The Dark Knight Rises, kill-
ing 12 and wounding 58 others before
surrendering to police and telling
them there were explosives in his
apartment.
A federal law enforcement official
told The Associated Press that the
gunmans semiautomatic rifle jammed
during the attack, forcing him to
switch to another gun. That malfunc-
tion and weapons switch may have
saved some lives.
Since the shooting, police, FBI and
ATF agents have been methodically
retracing Holmes steps as they assem-
ble evidence in one of the worst mass
murders in U.S. history.
On Sunday, the door to Holmes
apartment at 1690 Paris St. in Aurora
remained screwed shut as local police
awaited special investigators fromthe
FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobac-
co, Firearms and Explosives.
Residents of the three-story build-
ing, where Holmes apartment was
riggedwithexplosives that Aurora Po-
lice Chief Dan Oates said were meant
to kill anyone who walked through the
door, were not allowedtoreturnhome.
But police did retrieve whatever be-
longings people evacuated since Fri-
day needed from inside their homes.
Dmitry Shchekochikhin, 27, a stu-
dent at the Anschutz Medical Campus
fromMoscow, returned home Sunday
at 8 a.m. to retrieve belongings includ-
ing his laptop, cellphone, passport and
medical text books.
Shchekochikhinhas hada first-floor
apartment in the building since No-
vember andsaidhe oftenencountered
Holmes.
Whenever I said hello or greeted
him, he would never say anything
back, said Shchekochikhin. He said
that Holmes wore casual clothing,
nothing special.
Amanwholives across the hall from
Holmes was not comfortable giving his
name for publication, but said Holmes
recently dyed his hair red.
As police retrieved his belongings,
that same neighbor said Holmes had
male and female visitors from time to
time, but never anyone who drew at-
tention. He alsosaidHolmes was a qui-
et neighbor, never playing his TV or
stereo too loudly.
That was true until Thursday night,
when Holmes left the stereo turned up
loud, with a song playing on repeat.
Downstairs neighbor Kaitlyn Fonzi
went up to ask him to turn the music
down and found the door slightly ajar.
ShesaidFridaythat shehadreachedfor
the doorknob, but decided not to go in.
OnSaturday, police andbomb squad
personnel removed 30 softball-sized
improvised explosive devices in the
living room of Holmes 800-square-
foot apartment.
Although Holmes unit had been
cleared of explosives, there still may
be hazardous materials inside. Police
said residents may have to wait until
Tuesday to return home.
Those dangerous materials, along
with magazines for firearms and am-
munition, are believed to have been
purchased through the mail, not taken
from the University of Colorado An-
schutz Medical Campus where Holm-
es was a graduate student.
Police evacuatedtworesearchbuild-
ings that Holmes had key-card access
towhile he was a student ina neurosci-
ences programonthe Anschutz Medi-
cal Campus on Friday. The buildings
were searched by bomb-detection
dogs, Oates said.
We did a thorough search of those
facilities, and, as wed hoped, there
were no hazards found, he said.
Oates would not specify what mate-
rials Holmes haddeliveredtohis home
but said they indicated a level of pre-
meditation.
There is some evidence here, I
think, of some calculationanddeliber-
ation, Oates said.
Ryan Parker: 303-954-2409,
rparker@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/ryanparkerdp
Corrections
The Denver Post will
correct all errors occurring
in its news columns. If you
find a problemwith a story
an error of fact or a point
requiring clarification
please call the city desk at
303-954-1201.
Because of a reporters
error, a tweet attributed to
actor Alan Rickman that
appeared in a story on Page
16A Saturday came from a
nonverified Twitter account.
SUSPECTS BEHAVI OR AND ACTI VI TI ES
Too bizarre for gun club
Owner says Holmes not allowed on premises because of incoherent voice-mail greeting
People overcome with emotion comfort each other Sunday at a memorial for the 12 people who died after a gunman open fired inside a movie theater in Aurora on Friday. The memorial is at
the corner of East Centrepointe Drive and South Sable Boulevard in Aurora. Photos by Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post
Apartment resident Ben Leung, a University of Colorado medical student,
picks up his clothes froman Aurora police officer Sunday. The apartment
building where shooting suspect James Holmes lived remains evacuated.
2A Midnight massacre monday, july 23, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 66
MONDAY, JULY 23, 2012 hot; isolated storms E97 F66 22A B the denver post B $1 price may vary outside metro denver 66
Aurora theater shooting: The latest news, photo galleries, video, maps and more denverpost.com dp
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ABRIGHTERDAY
IS GOINGTOCOME
MIDNIGHT MASSACRE | ADAY OF MOURNING
The families, bottomcenter, arrive at the prayer vigil for the victims of the Century Aurora 16 theater shootings at the Aurora Municipal Center campus in Aurora on Sunday. Joe Amon, The Denver Post
By John Ingold, Kurtis Lee
and Yesenia Robles The Denver Post
aurora
G
athered shoulder-to-shoulder, lean-
ing forward on tiptoes, overflowing
onto sidewalks and into parking
lots, a crowd of thousands con-
verged Sunday evening at the Auro-
ra Municipal Center to stand as one.
At a vigil to honor the victims of the Century
Aurora 16 theater shootings, the scenes in the
crowd spoke to the respect of the moment.
Little girls carried bouquets of flowers. Small
boys inscout uniforms stoodself-consciously up-
right. Adults applaudedwhenAurora police offi-
cers walked by. Most had no personal reason to
be there, other than to prove that Aurora
sprawling, diverse, complicated Aurora is a
community united following the tragedy.
saidGreg Durfee, who saidhe lives inDenver but
considers Aurora to be his hometown. I think
this is the start of the healing.
When something tragic and horrific like this
happens, said Bill Stanley, who, along with his
wife, Colleen, traveled from Wheat Ridge for the
vigil, it hurts the whole metro-area region. I just
wantedtopayrespects tothevictims, thefamilies,
VIGIL 6A
By Allison Sherry The Denver Post
aurora President Barack Obama spent
more than two private hours with injured vic-
tims andfamilies at University of ColoradoHos-
pital on Sunday evening before saying in a tele-
vised address that it will be the good people
and the heroic acts that will be remembered in
the theater shootings not the allegedgunman.
Solemn, flankedby ashen-facedColoradopol-
iticians and Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates,
Obama spoke to reporters at the hospital for
about nine minutes before taking off for a series
of campaign events on the West Coast.
He quoted a passage from the Bibles book of
Revelationthat says, inpart, that Godwill wipe
away every tear fromtheir eyes and death shall
be no more.
Obama said he came to the victims and the
families not somuchas president as I doas a fa-
ther and as a husband.
The nightmarish, surreal story of what took
place inCentury Aurora 16s theater 9resonates,
Obama said, because people can easily imagine
themselves in the families shoes.
OBAMA6A
Obama: Good people, not
shooter, will be remembered
Complete coverage
Pursuing justice. Prosecutors
will most likely seek the death
penalty 10A
Suspects behavior. Weird
phone greeting a clue 2A
Crosses. Aurora, Ill., man
returns to Colorado to build
another memorial 9A
Murphy. What if his name
were Mohammed? 9A
Police force. Aurora Police
Chief Oates a strong leader
during crisis 8A
Advisement hearing
James Eagan Holmes, 24,
suspected of killing 12 people
and wounding 58 others in an
Aurora movie theater, is to be
advised of charges against him
in Arapahoe County court in
Centennial at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
At a speech Sunday, President Obama shows
howStephanie Davies saved her friend Allie
Youngs life by holding pressure on her neck
after she was shot. RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
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GGrreeaatteesstt
Hick: No lawcould stop him
Prayer helps
faithful heal
By Elana Ashanti Jefferson, Kurtis
Lee and Kristen Browning-Blas
The Denver Post
Fewthings soothe like the familiar.
For parishioners in and around Au-
rora on Sunday, that meant coming to-
gether for worship and perspective in
the aftermath of a far-reaching act of
public violence.
Church leaders rose to the occasion.
You cant just not mention it, Elea-
nor VanDeusen, religious education
director for childrenandyouthat Foot-
hills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins,
saidof Fridays movie-theater shooting
that left 12 dead and dozens more in-
jured. When these horrific events
happen, we really come back to that
idea of community and connection.
Sierra Graves, 20, Derrick Poage, 22,
andNaya Thompson, 22, went together
Friday to see The Dark Knight Rises
at the Century Aurora 16 theater. After
an anxious, sleepless weekend and
several national media interviews, the
friends were together again Sunday,
calmand composed, for an uplifting 11
a.m. service at Restoration Christian
Fellowship, about 2 miles from the
shooting site. The service began with
20 minutes of prayer and reflection
around the massacre.
In spite of the circumstances and
tragedy, God, you are good all the
time, saidMagnificationPastor Tracy
Herrera to the roughly 300 in atten-
dance. We pray for the families, Fa-
ther, that you send them comfort,
peace and love.
Fellow church elder Derrick Wash-
ingtonaddedthat it was hardto ignore
thoughts of his own family when he
heard about the shooting.
But (the devil) will not have the vic-
tory over our community, Washing-
ton said. So we pray for our city, and
pray for those who are hurting this
morning. We pray for those who are in
fear, and those who are questioning
their faith.
Those words, along withgospel rock
and spirituals delivered by an impres-
sive choir andthree-piece jazz band
usually larger, but several players
sneaked off to the weekends Winter
Park Jazz Festival gave solace to the
trio of young people present who had
witnessed the shooting firsthand.
The prayer helped a lot, said
Poage, a junior and track-team mem-
ber at WesternState College of Colora-
do. It gave me strength.
Although he had no personal con-
nection to the shooting, Clarence Hol-
limon, 40, was unable to hold back
tears during the service.
Life is precious, he said. This was
just sad.
Tears also flowed at Auroras Colo-
rado Community Church, where
shooting victim Gordon Cowden, 51,
regularly attended services. This
megachurchof about 2,300members is
less than 3 miles from the theater. It is
where Cowdens funeral will be held
this week, lead pastor Robert Gelinas
said.
All the victims had moms and dads,
brothers and sisters. We need to lift
themall up, Gelinas toldthemorethan
600 who attended the service. The at-
tendees were young and old, black,
white andLatino. Some wore suits, oth-
ers jeans.
During prayer, as the choir sang the
hymn Lord Have Mercy, many peo-
ple leaned on one another and dabbed
at damp faces with tissues. Hugs were
plentiful.
Gelinas noted that the alleged gun-
man, James EaganHolmes, 24, also has
a momand dad.
We must pray for them, he said.
Andhe acknowledgedthe congrega-
tions shared loss.
(Gordon Cowden) loved to come
here with his two daughters, Gelinas
said over amplified sobbing.
At Auroras Queenof Peace Catholic
Church, just less than 2 miles fromthe
Century Aurora 16 theater, the Rev.
Mauricio Bermudez gave his homily
before a line of news cameras.
The tears you are crying now are
the tears of Jesus, because when those
people were murdered, he was with
them, Bermudez said. When those
people were hurt, Jesus was hurt.
Bermudez is a movie lover who had
planned to attend The Dark Knight
Rises premiere along with his youth
ministry at the theater. But the shows
soldout before he was able to buy tick-
ets. The group ended up at another
theater.
I think the Lord has protected us
because we didnt get a ticket to that
place, but many others werent that
lucky, he said.
At the multidenominational Path-
ways Church Denver, the median age
of the congregation is between 24 and
28 years old around the same age as
many of the victims of the shooting.
Our lead pastor will definitely
speak about howto deal withsuffering
and loss, said Worship Pastor Ken El-
sner. And absolutely we will pray for
Emergency personnel were includ-
ed in those prayers at Christ the Ser-
vant Lutheran Church in Louisville.
We pray for all the victims andtheir
families of the shooting in Aurora, as-
sisting minister Maureen Kanwischer
said. We pray for the police, firefight-
ers andmedical caregivers. We prayfor
the shooter and his family. We pray for
peace andanendtosenseless violence,
and for your love to wrap all of us in
your arms during this difficult time.
As he prepared for the three Sunday
services at Timberline Church in Fort
Collins, Executive Pastor Rob Cowles
knewhe wouldneedtoaddress the fear
surrounding the shooting in Aurora.
I think that any time something like
this happens, people look for why
what could possibly possess someone
todosomething sohorrific? he asked.
... I dont know why, but I know our
world is broken. So I try to point peo-
ple toward hope.
Cowles said he struggled with
whether to bring the gunman into his
prayer.
You pray that God can somehow
penetrate that wall of darkness in this
person, he concluded.
Statewide, religious services reflect-
ed Colorados communal shock over
the shooting.
We light a candle to remember the
lives blownout by this senseless vio-
lence, Senior Pastor Chris Hill said as
he lit 12 candles during the service at
the Potters House Church of Denver,
about 5 miles from the shooting site.
In Jesus name, we light a candle and
curse the darkness.
Melissa Johnson, 33, of Denver, felt
the power of Sundays Potters House
sermon.
We have powerful services a lot,
Johnsonsaid. But today was different.
Today felt different.
Staff writers Joseph Nguyen, Sarah
Simmons and Torin Berge contributed
to this report.
To reach the writers : 303-954-1957,
ejefferson@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/elanaashanti,
or 303-954-1655, klee@denverpost.com
or twitter.com/kurtisalee
By Karen E. Crummy
The Denver Post
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper
expressed skepticism Sunday that
tougher gun laws would have stopped
suspected gunman James Eagan
Holmes from unleashing terrorist
acts against 70 people in an Aurora
movie theater.
This person, if there were no as-
sault weapons available, if there were
no this or no that, this guys going to
find something, right? Hes going to
know how to create a bomb. Who
knows where his mind would have
gone? Clearly a very intelligent indi-
vidual, however twisted, Hickenloop-
er said during an interview on CNNs
State of the Union.
The governor, who appeared on at
least three Sunday-morning talk
shows, saidhis administrationwill try
to create some checks andbalances on
these things, but it is an act of evil.
If it was not one weapon, it would
have beenanother, andhe was diaboli-
cal, he said.
Hickenlooper, who referred to the
alleged gunman as warped, a crea-
ture and a twisted, really delusional
individual, said Holmes was not co-
operating with police.
Hickenlooper also saidhe hadno in-
sight into the motive of the alleged
gunman who killed 12 and wounded 58
at the midnight premiere of The Dark
Knight Rises early Friday.
So far, nothing that Ive heard. Not
an iota, nothing, the governor said on
NBCs Meet the Press.
When the governor visited victims
in area hospitals Saturday, he said he
found many exhibiting buoyancy and
resilience.
They arent going to let this de-
fine his life, he said of one victims
family on Meet the Press. Theres
anger, and you want to strangle this
guy, but at some point this has to
translate to helping the community
rise up.
Hickenlooper said his chief of staffs
daughter took 20 kids to the new Bat-
man movie Saturday night.
The shooter wanted to put fear in
peoples lives. And for so many of us,
youknow, movies are one of the places
that we find solace and get away from
life, the governor said on State of the
Union. We cant let him take that
away fromus.
twitter.com/karencrummy
AN ACT OF EVI L
Gov. JohnHickenlooper
says tougher gun
restrictions wouldnot
have deterredHolmes.
WE MUST PRAY FOR THEM
In the wake of the shooting,
church services provide
comfort to Coloradans.
Erika Castano, left, holds hands with Potters House Church of Denver parishioners Crystal Vessels back left, holding up the hand of April Berney Berneys son Desmond, 10, and Christi-
na LeDoux. The shooting victims were remembered during a powerful sermon by the churchs pastor, Chris Hill. Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Joyce Young hugs her grandson Justin Haynes 13, after prayers were said
for the shooting victims during Sunday services at the Restoration Chris-
tian Fellowship Church in Aurora. Joe Amon, The Denver Post
Slide shows: More images fromchurch services honoring
the Aurora shooting victims denverpost.com/mediacenter
dp
Veronica
Moser-
Sullivan
Jesse
Childress
Gordon
Cowden
John
Larimer
Jessica
Ghawi
AJ
Boik
Jon
Blunk
Rebecca Ann
Wingo
Alexander
Teves
Alex
Sullivan
Matt
McQuinn
Micayla
Medek
THE VICTIMS
gious leaders.
VIGIL
FROM 1A
each one.
overwhelming.
and become heroes.
shooting suspect.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068,
ion, he said.
Obama said.
shooters name.
OBAMA
FROM 1A
Waldo Canyon fire.
Youngs life.
up at that detail.
by this tragedy.
this tragedy.
cell phone.
try on Earth.

and compassion.

of the healing.

after the vigil

S10kY XX
PA6f 8
July 23, 2012
PA6f 9
By Tom McGhee The Denver Post
As news spread of the mass murder at anAu-
rora movie theater, Joe Tennants heart sank,
and memories of carnage at Columbine High
School in 1999 flooded back.
When the event started unfolding, it took
me right back to Columbine, it opened some
old wounds, the Denver police bomb squad
member said Sunday.
At Columbine I saw all the carnage first-
hand, he said, as two students, Eric Harris and
Dylan Klebold, went on a rampage that left 13
dead and 24 injured, before the two committed
suicide.
I knew what those officers were facing. I
knew going into the theater was going to be
horrific and I felt for themso much, said Ten-
nant.
But in short order Tenant, 56, was at the
apartment of the alleged shooter James Eagan
Holmes, 24, trying to dismantle a welter of ex-
plosive devices.
Holmes was arrested at the Century 16 the-
ater in Aurora early Friday morning after a
shooting at the premiere of The Dark Knight
Rises in which 12 people died and 58 were in-
jured.
When arrested, Holmes told police there
were explosives in his apartment, at 1690 Paris
St. in Aurora, and investigators found a com-
plex web of booby traps in the apartment.
Tennant on Friday worked as part of a team
to methodically unravel the explosive puzzle.
Whenpolice officers andother first respond-
ers confront slaughter their training kicks in
and they do their jobs, said retired Denver ho-
micide Detective Jon Priest.
They are trained to be effective responding
tothese critical incidents, saidPriest, whoaid-
ed in the Columbine investigation and was on
the scene when the shooting at the school in
Jefferson County ended.
In order for me to be effective I have to take
my emotions out of it right now, I candeal with
those emotions later, he said.
For the uniformed law enforcement officers
who must secure the scene, the events can be
especially difficult, Priest said.
When they arrive, they confront chaos, and
dont know if those responsible are lying in
wait for them.
Whether they are officers, paramedics or
firefighters, first responders dont have time to
prepare themselves for the things they must
witness, saidJohnNicoletti, a psychologist who
works with local police departments.
This type of situation is too much, too ugly,
too soon. The enormity of the situation over-
powers the brain, Nicoletti said. They dont
have the opportunity to prepare for this. They
are helping people while at the same time they
are overpowered with the enormity that is
where training takes over and resiliency.
Paramedics and others who wait until police
secure the scene may have time to prepare for
what they will witness, but the delay may not
prevent them from being haunted, Nicoletti
said.
Nightmares about Columbine troubled Ten-
nant for a time after he worked on the case.
They still surface occasionally, he said.
His wife, who watched as he listened to early
reports of the Aurora massacre, told him that
his demeanor changed drastically, he said.
It is something that cannever be wipedfrom
your mind, Tennant said. All I can do is en-
courage people to talk and try to get some help
and not be the tough guy and keep so many of
those emotions inside.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671,
CONFRONTI NG CHAOS
I felt for them
Columbine veteran: First responders may face lasting pain
An Aurora Police Department detective takes a witness statement early Friday morning after responding to a mass shooting at the Centu-
ry Aurora 16 movie theater. For first responders, training takes over when dealing with chaotic, tragic situations. Karl Gehring, The Denver Post
By Carlos Illescas
The Denver Post
aurora Youcouldsee the sadness
inhis eyes, the vulnerability of a veter-
an cop left to explain the acts of a mad
gunman who terrorized what should
have been a safe haven in his city.
Aurora Police Chief DanOates stood
at the podium at a Friday evening
briefing at the Aurora Municipal Cen-
ter and, maybe for the first time, re-
vealed the real Chief Oates.
He has spokentothe media before in
high-profile press conferences
whenanofficer diedinthe line of duty,
the disappearance and presumed
death of little Aarone Thompson, to
name a few.
But this time was different. He was
different.
Oates was more raw than he has
been in the past, more honest in show-
ing his feelings anger, sadness, defi-
ance about the horrific shooting at
an Aurora movie theater that killed 12
people andwounded58 others. He was
more real than the public has ever
seen.
Maybe it was the gravity of the situa-
tion, maybe a new City Council and
mayor have given the chief the feeling
of more freedom. Whatever the rea-
son, now the world is learning about
the man who has become one of the
faces of the theater shooting
Oates emotional press conference
came as no surprise to former Aurora
City Councilman Ryan Frazier. He
worked closely with the chief when
Frazier was chairmanof the citys pub-
lic safety committee.
What you guys saw ... Ive had a
chance tosee for some time the pas-
sion and how much he cares for the
work in the department, Frazier said.
It shows what kind of police chief he
is.
Oates isnt afraid of challenges.
He has anEnglishdegree fromBuck-
nell University and was the editor of
the schools newspaper and yearbook.
After graduation, he worked as a re-
porter and an editor and later took a
job as a beat cop in the New York Po-
lice Department.
He climbed his way to the top of the
department to become the executive
deputy chief in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Oates, now 57, retired from that job
to head the Ann Arbor, Mich. police
department.
Wanting the challenges of a big-city
police department, Oates came to the
Aurora Police Department in Novem-
ber 2005, a force that was ina bit of tur-
moil. There were racial tensions bub-
bling among the community about the
police department. The relationship
between the department and the dis-
trict attorneys office wasnt the best,
either. And he had to deal with the af-
termath of a botched investigation in-
volving serial rapist Brent Brents.
But Oates has helpedimprove confi-
dence in the department by reaching
out to minority communities. He has
streamlined operations while facing
dwindling revenue.
His work this week is evidence of his
growth as a police chief. He is a leader,
those who know him say, the one the
Aurora community needs right now.
This department and this police
chief are doing absolutely everything
the right way, Aurora Mayor Steve
Hogan said. Ive just been impressed
by his devotionto this city andthis de-
partment.
Oates is very decisive, say his
friends, andnot afraidof making tough
decisions for fear of criticism.
He doesnt always worry about
making friends, Hogansaid. He wor-
ries about what needs to be done and
howit needs to be done.
While Oates was still a cop, he grad-
uated from New York Law School in
1986. Despite long hours and his busy
schedule, Oates still keeps up to date
with that, too.
Oates is a regular at monthly Adams
Countys legal update sessions. Adams
County District Attorney Don Quick
recalled seeing Oates there recently.
There he was eating pizza, watch-
ing training instructionwiththe rest of
us, Quick said.
Oates was with the NewYork Police
Department whenthe 9/11 terrorist at-
tacks hit his community. Nowhe is fac-
ing another unthinkable tragedy.
But the right man is in place, say
those who knowhim.
DanOates is the type of police chief
you want in a crisis like this, Quick
said.
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175,
cillescas@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/cillescasdp
Staff writer Jeremy P. Meyer
contributed to this report.
WEATHERI NG A TRAGEDY
Aurora police chief shows strength during crisis
Dan Oates colleagues
say hes the best leader
to have in tough times.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates walks to a press conference in Town Center
at Aurora on Friday. Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post
By Chuck Murphy The Denver Post
aurora Listening tothe recordings fromFri-
day mornings massacre, you would think dis-
patcher Kathie Stauffer felt no emotion as she
calmly directed resources to the movie theater
where scores were injured and a dozen killed.
Her voice betrayednothing. Her demeanor was
calm. She was unruffled. On the outside.
Inside, she was roiling as officers pleaded for
additional resources gas masks, more help,
ambulances andcare for dying 6-year-oldVeron-
ica Moser-Sullivan.
Every call with a kid, Imthinking of my own,
Stauffer, mother of a 9-year-oldgirl anda 15-year-
old boy, said Sunday night in an interview with
The Denver Post. Thats really what Im strug-
gling with now to not think about my own
daughter every time.
Thursday night had been even less than rou-
tine. Stauffer, working channel 2 of three Aurora
dispatch channels, had seen little emergency
traffic in the area for which she was responsible.
My screen was very empty, she said.
All at once, around12:40a.m. Friday, it blewup.
From across the room, Stauffer could hear call
takers responding to wave upon wave of 911 calls
for help fromthe Century Aurora 16 multiplex.
Theyre saying somebody is shooting in the
auditorium, Stauffer calmly relayed over the ra-
dio to officers 315 and 314.
Five feet away, fellow dispatcher Cheri Brun-
gardt had a feeling.
SomethinginmesaidI shouldstart someof mine
(officers) that way, saidBrungardt, 32. SoI did.
Only a couple minutes passed before the call
was out for every officer in Aurora to head to the
theater near Aurora Town Center mall. For the
next five hours, Stauffer wouldbe responsible for
getting assets where theywere needed, andBrun-
gardt would be her constant voice of reassurance
andsupport andbackupindealingwiththe fire
andrescue dispatchers across anaisle fromthem.
But getting officers what they wanted was not
as easy as it normally is for Stauffer and Brun-
gardt. The scene was so vast, and so devastated,
that Aurora did not have enough gear to answer
all the calls, and other agencies just couldnt get
there fast enough.
Our jobis tosendhelp, andthe guys we sent to
help were calling for help, and we couldnt help
them, Stauffer, 39, said. Normally, they get on
the radio and the magic dispatcher gets them
what they need. This time, they kept calling.
They needed help and they couldnt get it.
Stauffer, Brungardt andothers inthe center are
now struggling with a form of survivors guilt.
They wonder if they did all they could. The city
brought counselors in Friday night for a debrief-
ing. Bothdispatchers nowsay they feel better, but
knowit will take time to get over the awful night.
Stauffer hasnt yet beenback ondispatchduty for
the police department, drawing fire duty instead,
but she knows the time will come. Soon.
Its just like anything youre scared of, she
said. You just have to face it and get through it.
AURORA SHOOTI NG
Radio dispatchers
struggled to keep
order during tragedy
Kathie Stauffer,
Aurora dispatch-
er, talks about
her experience
working during
Friday nights
massacre in the
Aurora dispatch
office Sunday.
Heather Rousseau,
The Denver Post
WEWILLREMEMBER
loved one is mourned. Family members of Micayla Medek, one of the Aurora theater shooting victims, comfort one another at the community vigil Sunday at the Aurora Municipal Cen-
ter. Acrowd of thousands paid their respects at the vigil, some carrying homemade signs decorated with prayers and inspirational messages. Aaron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
honoring a fellow soldier. Commanding Officer Jeffrey Jakubos-
ki, second fromright, and other servicemen pay their respects to John Lar-
imer at a memorial in his honor. Larimer was a petty officer 3rd class in the
Navy. His shipmates and commanding officers attended the prayer vigil
Sunday at the Aurora Municipal Center to honor those who died in Fri-
days shooting rampage. Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
a gesture of comfort. Awoman and her daughter leave flowers and American flags at a makeshift me-
morial for Fridays victims at Aurora Municipal Center on Sunday. Numerous elected officials and clergy
members spoke words of comfort and healing for the victims, their families and loved ones, and the Denver-
Aurora community at Sundays prayer vigil. Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
Scenes of the day. Photos of the thousands who gathered
to pay their respects and President Barack Obamas visit to
Aurora on Sunday. photos.denverpost.com
a crowd convenes. Thousands gather for a prayer vigil for the victims of the mass shooting at an Aurora
movie theater at the Aurora Municipal Center on Sunday. AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
66 the denver post B denverpost.com B monday, july 23, 2012 Midnight massacre 7A
By Chuck Murphy The Denver Post
aurora
I
n 2009, Najibullah Zazi sent three
e-mails fromhis Aurora apartment
to a suspected terrorist in Pakistan
asking about the ingredients necessary
to bake something for an upcoming
marriage.
Within hours, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation was on to him.
Agents monitored his calls. They fol-
lowedhimacross the country. Theybe-
came particularly alarmed when they
learned he had purchased large quanti-
ties of hydrogen peroxide, a hair dye.
Almost three years later and15 miles
away, James Eagan Holmes was filling
his home witharmament. He hadregu-
lar deliveries of ammunitionfor a mili-
tary-style AR-15 rifle, two handguns
and a shotgun he purchased over the
course of 60 days. There were about
6,000 rounds in all, another 300 shot-
gun shells and a high-capacity drum
for the rifle. Inall, it amountedtomore
than 200 pounds of ordnance.
All of it legal. None of it, apparently,
noticed by or reported to police. None
of it the slightest bit disconcerting to
ammunition suppliers, delivery driv-
ers or neighbors.
The contrast between the rapid re-
sponse andmonitoring of Zazi andthe
lack of citizeninterest inHolmes is not
lost on some in Colorados Islamic
community.
This guyliterallyarms himself tothe
teeth by mail order without anyone
pointinga finger andsaying, Whats go-
ingon? askedImamIbrahimKazeroo-
ni, a little incredulous. If my name is
IbrahimorMohammedandI orderagun
or that much ammunition on the Inter-
net, I think withina fewhours of the de-
livery, the FBI andCIAis at my house.
Important note: Kazerooni is not sug-
gestingtheFBI was wrongtoinvestigate
Zazi (nor amI). As it turned out, mar-
riage was terrorist-speak for suicide
bombing. I am glad the people who
monitor theinboxes andoutboxes of al-
Qaeda operatives in Pakistan are aware
of such linguistic deceptions.
But Kazerooni, an Iraqi by birth, a
former political prisoner of Saddam
Hussein and a thoughtful, eloquent
representative of Denvers Muslim
community, is advocating for investi-
gational parity for nosy neighbors
and police officers.
He is well aware that much of global
terrorismis led by those who have his
faith but not his approval. Still, as Fri-
day mornings theater massacre made
plain, terrorists take a lot of forms.
One of them, police believe, is the form
of a Ph.D. candidate fromthe Universi-
ty of Colorado Denver.
The fact that neighbors and delivery
drivers seemto have failed to notice as
Holmes amassed his weapons and am-
munition and booby-trapped his apart-
ment, while, for example, New York
Citypoliceactivelyloiter inMuslimcof-
fee shops to collect intelligence, is in-
dicativeof thegreater scrutinyMuslims
face in our society in the years since
Sept. 11, 2001, Kazerooni said.
There is the general feeling that ex-
ists inthe U.S. Muslimcommunity that
they are marginalized and treated dif-
ferently, Kazerooni said. The foun-
dationfor this is real. There are a num-
ber of examples in the country that
have led to this cynicism.
Now, knowing what police say he
did, it is easy to viewHolmes as a clear
threat to himself or others. His once-
promising future was suddenly cloudy
as he was struggling inschool. He shut
himself off frommuchof the world. He
began buying guns and ammo in large
quantities. He may have dyedhis hair a
color not found in nature.
Kazerooni is likely right. If Holmes
were Iranian-American, or Afghan-
American, his purchases, his apparent
withdrawal andhisplansprobablywould
have been noticed by neighbors, report-
edandinvestigated. Not fair. Just true.
But the lack of notice paid to Holmes
probably goes beyond ethnicity or reli-
gion. Hewasadoctoral student withlim-
itless potential. Like Unabomber Ted
Kaczynski or Virginia Tech shooter Se-
ung-Hui Cho, hejust doesnt fit our prej-
udicedsocietal criteria for suspicion.
And so we ask: Should there be a
shared database to flag authorities to
large ammunition purchases when
someone suddenly ramps up their ar-
senal? Would that serve as a backstop
for a society given to the bias that cer-
tain people just arent capable of mass
violence? Would it even be legal?
Would it be effective?
Creation of such a database would
only lead to other troubling questions,
the biggest of which would be: How
many bullets and shells are too many
bullets and shells?
For the Batmanfans intheaters 8 and
9 Friday morning, the answer is 70.
COMMENTARY
What if his name were Mohammed?
By The Associated Press
Broncos quarterback Peyton
Manning is calling hospitalized
victims of the Aurora theater
shooting to lift their spirits.
Aspokeswoman for the Medi-
cal Center of Aurora says that
Manning spoke one-on-one by
phone on Saturday afternoon
with several patients brought
there after the shooting.
On Sunday, six other players
Eric Decker, Ryan Clady,
Chris Kuper, Joe Mays, Jacob
Tamme and BenGarland plus
recently retired safety Brian
Dawkins, met with four survi-
vors and their families.
The players also talked with
emergency room and ICU staff,
thanking them for their re-
sponse and care.
Kuper, too, got into a laugh
with one of the survivors who is
a former college football player
who played against Kuper in a
college playoff game. Turns out,
Kupers North Dakota teamcol-
lege teamwon that matchup.
Fifty-eight people were
wounded after a gunman clad in
bulletproof gear opened fire in
the Century Aurora 16 theater
early Friday during a showing of
The DarkKnight Rises. Twelve
peoplediedinthemass shooting.
The four-time MVP Manning,
who signed with the Broncos
this year after missing the 2011
season because of injury, was
among the first Broncos players
to reach out to help.
CALLS OF SUPPORT
Manning
reaches out
to those hurt
in shooting
By Karen E. Crummy
The Denver Post
aurora It took Greg Zanis 16
hours to drive from Aurora, Ill., to a
dirt hill across the street from Aurora
Town Center and begin putting up
crosses in tribute to the 12 people
killed inside the Century 16 theater.
And as quickly as he anchored the 3-
foot-tall crosses in the dirt and wrote
the names of the dead in black marker,
people came to lay flowers and other
remembrances at their bases.
The cross for U.S. Navy veteran Jon
Blunk had a folded American flag.
Somebody placed a tiny pink bear at
the foot of the cross for 6-year-old Ve-
ronica Moser-Sullivan. Aredandblack
baseball cap was left for Alexander
AJ Boik.
Zanis began building memorial
crosses in 1997, after seeing his father-
in-law and best friend gunned down.
In 1999, he came to Colorado after the
Columbine HighSchool shootings and
erected 15 crosses for those who died.
On Sunday, he said he acted because
he was so disturbed by hearing the
name of the accused shooter, James
EaganHolmes, againandagain. Holm-
es is accused of entering a midnight
showing of The Dark Knight Rises,
tossing canisters of noxious gas and
opening fire with three weapons.
Twelve people died and 58 were in-
jured Friday morning.
Zanis said he made the crosses to el-
evate the names of the dead above the
name of the person who investigators
believe killed them.
All of our hearts are bleeding, Za-
nis said as he put up the crosses. He
has takenaway our security of going to
a public place.
Zanis said he hopes the families of
the victims will feel free to take the
crosses, nowstanding at the corner of
East Centrepoint Drive and South Sa-
ble Boulevard, anduse themto tempo-
rarily mark the graves of their loved
ones.
These crosses are for them, Zanis
saidof the families. We love them. We
are not going topretendwe knowwhat
you are going through, but we wanted
to represent your children.
After Zanis built crosses for Colum-
bine, they were taken down because
they were placed on public property,
and one of the victims father tore
downthe two dedicatedto the teenage
gunmen who killed themselves in the
massacre.
Zanis used to run an organization
called Crosses for Losses, but it was
unclear whether that was still intact
Sunday. He has put up crosses in other
places markedby tragedy over the past
10 years, including outside a Wiscon-
sin hotel in 2005 where a man killed
seven others at a church service.
Karen E. Crummy:
kcrummy@denverpost.com, 303-954-
1594, or twitter.com/karencrummy
Allison Sherry contributed to this report.
ELEVATI NG THEI R NAMES
Crosses honor dead
Illinois man builds temporary markers in memory of theater victims
Travis Hirko kneels at Alex Sullivans cross at a memorial for the victims of the Aurora shooting at the intersection of South Sable Boulevard and East Cen-
trepoint Drive on Sunday. The markers were built by a man who did something similar for the Columbine victims. Photos by AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
Greg Zanis, of Aurora, Ill., carries crosses he built in memory of the Aurora
shooting victims Sunday. Zanis has put up similar crosses in other places
marked by tragedy, including a Wisconsin hotel where seven people died.
Slide shows:
Additional images from
the shooting scene,
hospitals and more.
denverpost.com/
mediacenter
Video: Rawvideo of
theatergoers escaping,
witness interviews,
investigators in action
and more.
denverpost.com/
theatershooting
Map: Detailing key
locations the theater,
hospitals and the
suspects apartment.
denverpost.com/
theatershootings
Where to
find help
Need help processing
the tragedy? Or do you
wish to help out finan-
cially? Here are several
resources:
GivingFirst.org, a safe
and secure online vehicle
of the Community First
Foundation, is helping
those who wish to find
nonprofits that are as-
sisting the victims and
the families. The fea-
tured nonprofits include
Aurora Mental Health
Center, Arapahoe/Doug-
las Mental Health Net-
work, Mental Health
America of Colorado,
Bonfils Blood Center
Foundation, Metro Crisis
Services Inc., Colorado
Organization for Victim
Assistance and Denver
Center for Crime Victims.
Childrens Hospital
Colorado has opened
a family support line,
720-777-2300.
Aurora Mental Health
Center offers its support
by having trained
counselors available by
phone, 303-617-2300.
All of our hearts are bleeding. (James Holmes)

has taken away our security of going to a public place.
Greg Zanis, who installed memorial crosses for the victims of Columbine in 1999
and who has put up 12 crosses for those killed in the Aurora theater shooting
6 the denver post B denverpost.com B monday, july 23, 2012 Midnight massacre 9A
By Jennifer Brown
The Denver Post
The fate of the man who al-
legedly fired into a crowded
Aurora movie theater depends
mostly on this question: Was it
the act of a madman living in
his own reality or that of a cal-
culating, cold-blooded killer?
Prosecutors likely will seek
the death penalty for James Ea-
gan Holmes, 24, who is accused
of killing 12 people and wound-
ing 58 during a midnight show-
ing of the new Batman movie
Friday, numerous lawyers said
Sunday. And, they said, his at-
torneys are almost sure to pur-
sue an insanity defense.
Youjust have toimagine that
there is something in his psy-
chiatric makeupthat will be ex-
ploited by his defense team,
saidformer Adams County Dis-
trict Attorney Bob Grant. I
dont know what the hell else
they are going to say.
Defense attorneys typically
use misidentificationthe it-
wasnt-me defense or claim
a murder was justified in self-
defense.
Neither of those is going to
be available, to put it mildly,
said Peter Hedeen, who repre-
sented Colorado death- rowin-
mate Robert Ray.
It could take six months or
more before the Arapahoe
County district attorneys of-
fice announces a decision on
whether to seek death for
Holmes, accused of one of the
most horrific mass killings in
U.S. history.
If in fact he is sane, its a
hopeless case for the defense,
said Scott Robinson, a Denver
legal analyst. They caught him
literally gunpowder-handed
with his weapons, with his tac-
tical gear. They clearly have the
right man.
The public defenders as-
signed to Holmes case Dan-
iel King and Tamara Brady
are expected to seek a compe-
tency evaluation to determine
whether Holmes is capable of
assisting his defense team. If
not, a judge could send him to
the state mental hospital in
Pueblo.
If he is competent to stand
trial, Holmes lawyers will file a
plea of not guilty by reason of
insanity at his arraignment, ex-
perts predicted.
There are some crimes, the
nature of which just screamout
crazy. This is one of those cas-
es, said lawyer David Lane,
who has represented 25 people
charged with death-penalty
offenses.
Lane said that based on news
reports of Holmes behavior, in-
telligence, age and lack of a
criminal record, his defense
lawyers might construct a case
that he has schizophrenia, a
mental illness that makes it
hard to tell what is real.
This looks like the guy is
crazy, Lane said. If you are se-
riously mentally ill, the death
penalty is not going tobe onthe
table.
Insane, by the legal defini-
tion, means lacking the ability
toknowright fromwrong at the
time of the crime. Its not relat-
ed to intelligence. Its not the
same as evil, experts cautioned.
Holmes, a neuroscience stu-
dent, allegedly planned the
massacre for months, amassing
ammunition and weapons and
booby-trapping his apartment,
but its possible his mind resid-
ed in his own version of reality,
legal experts said.
Maybe he believed he was
Batman, said Phil Cherner, a
longtime Denver criminal-de-
fense attorney who represents
death-rowinmate NathanDun-
lap, convicted of killing four
people at an Aurora Chuck E.
Cheese restaurant in 1993.
Dothey have a case against a
defendant who is mentally ill,
or is this a cold-bloodedkiller?
Cherner asked.
The fact Holmes surrendered
to officers without incident
outside the movie theater
makes it seem he didnt see
anything wrong with what he
was doing, Cherner said, call-
ing the idea just a hunch.
Holmes lawyers will try as
hard as they can to keep the
case from going to trial, pursu-
ing instead a plea deal that
would ensure he spends life in
prison, said Denver defense at-
torney Dan Recht. But for pros-
ecutors to consider such a deal,
defense attorneys would need
evidence of mental illness or
serious emotional damage in
Holmes past, suchas a claimhe
was tortured as a child.
It will be very difficult to
persuade a jurythat he is insane,
because a jury will understand
thats a way of himescaping full
responsibility, Recht said. The
prosecution will be aware of
that and will think that increas-
es their odds significantly of
getting a death penalty.
If the state seeks death,
Holmes sentencing is two to
four years away, attorneys said.
Regardless of any possible
mental-health claims, the polit-
ical pressure to seek an execu-
tion will be massive, experts
said.
If youdont pursue the death
penalty in this case, you may as
well throw away the statute,
said Craig Silverman, former
Denver County chief deputy
district attorney.
STATE MAY SEEK DEATH PENALTY
Fewoptions for alleged
shooters defense team
Memory Pill Does for the BrainWhat Prescription Glasses
Do for the Eyes, Claims US Surgeon General Candidate
Remarkable changes observed, helps restore up to 15 years of lost memory power in as little as 30 days!
SPOKANE, WASHINGTON
Help is on the way for those who
routinely lose their car keys, forget to
call people back, or misplace their TV
remote control.
Just like a good pair of glasses can
make blurry vision, sharp and crystal-
clear, theres a new, doctor-recom-
mended memory pill that can do the
same thing for your brain, sharpening
your memory and mental powers,
and making that slow-thinking,
sluggish brain as sharp as a tack.
In controlled research studies, the
prescription-free formula, known as
Procera AVH has been shown to
increase memory, mood, and mental
clarity, but it does much more than
that.
TimeTravel
forYour Brain?
If you have ever dreamed of
traveling back in time, this drug-free
compound may be the next best thing.
During research trials at the
prestigious Brain Sciences Institute,
clinical researchers witnessed a
remarkable transformation in study
participants brains.
Over a period of a few weeks,
scientists observed the formula
biochemically coaxing aging brains
to function more youthfully, helping
restore the speed, memory abilities
and mental powers enjoyed as far
back as 15 birthdays ago.
Younger Brain
in 30 Days?
If the results of this randomized,
double-blind, placebo controlled
study, published in JANA, a leading
scientific journal, are to be believed,
it is entirely possible that you can get
your new, younger-functioning brain
in as little as 30 days.
This is old news for Robert
Heller, MD, Emeritus Professor
UCLAMedical School, who uses and
recommends the formula
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10A MIDNIGHT MASSACRE monday, july 23, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 6
July 24, 2012
PA6f 10
Legal teams in Holmes case
Prosecution
Carol Chambers
District attorney for the 18th Judicial District, which
includes Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln coun-
ties. Elected in 2004, she is term-limited and will be
out of office in January. Over her tenure, Chambers
office has prosecuted several high-profile cases, in-
cluding the convictions of Robert Ray and Sir Mario Owens in the
shooting of a witness to another killing and the mans fiance. Ray
and Owens are on death row.
Karen Pearson
Chief prosecutor, she has been with the DAs office
since 1996 and has been a deputy district attorney
since 2007. High-profile cases that Pearson has han-
dled include the 2005 Jason Reynolds road-rage case
that left two dead and the 2008 car crash into a Baskin-
Robbins ice cream store in which three people died, including a 3-
year-old boy. She graduated from the University of Denver law school.
Jacob Edson
Senior deputy district attorney, he has been with the DAs office for
seven years. High-profile cases Edson has handled include the convic-
tion of Marcus Hightower for murder and the Anthony Gillespie mur-
der trial. He graduated from the University of Denver.
Andrew Steers
Senior deputy district attorney, he has been with the DAs office since
2007. He was made a felony deputy in September 2011. He graduat-
ed from the University of Denver law school.
Richard Orman
Senior deputy district attorney, he has been with the DAs office since
2001. He graduated from Georgetowns law school.
Contact The Post
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SUSPECTS COURTROOM DEMEANOR
Behavior spurs speculation
Criminology professor
says interpreting any
expression is subjective
theshootings, crossedhis arms and
glared at Holmes. Others shoot-
ingsurvivors andvictims relatives
leaned forward with their el-
bows resting on their knees.
Boxes of tissues were placed on
the seats armrests for those struck
by tears. But the most pervasive
sounds in the courtroom were the
steady, practicedvoices of thejudge
and the attorneys ticking through
routine procedural matters.
For all the emotion and commo-
tion surrounding the moment, it
was a hearing that lasted only 12
minutes.
We need to be here to heal,
said Anggaiat Situmeang, who de-
scribed himself as a relative of a
shooting victim, as he approached
the courthouse Monday morning.
Its hard, physically and mental-
ly.
The hearing ended with Sylves-
ter ordering Holmes, 24, heldwith-
out bond. Heis scheduledtoreturn
tocourt July30, whenhewill befor-
mally charged.
After the hearing, Arapahoe
County District Attorney Carol
Chambers declined to say wheth-
er her office would seek the death
penalty in the case, noting the fact
that a significant fact-gathering
process and specific legal proce-
dures must be completed before
such a momentous decision can
be made.
Chief among the evaluative pro-
cess facing the four-member pros-
ecutionteamwhichhas the ulti-
mate discretion to pursue such a
penalty is the fact that families
will have a say in whether they
wish to pursue a death penalty,
and the long-lasting effects of
such a decision.
To that point, Chambers noted
that the theater massacre has di-
rect and indirect impact on hun-
dreds of people, from victims to
family members of victims, both
living and dead.
I dont think thats a (decision)
HEARING
FROM 1A
that can be made in the abstract,
Chambers said. Its something
we definitely want to get their in-
put on.
Meanwhile, prosecutors are
seeking input from victims, issu-
ing subpoenas and search war-
rants. Sylvester has ordered the
case file and all connected search
warrants be sealed. On Monday,
he issued a gag order preventing
the lawyers involved from dis-
cussing details of the case.
This is a very active, ongoing
investigation, Chambers said.
Holmes attorneys, Daniel King
and Tamara Brady, declined com-
ment after the hearing. King and
Bradyaremembersof thestatepub-
licdefenderscapital casesteam, the
group of attorneys who represent
clients indeath penalty cases.
Advisement hearings such as
Holmes hearing Monday are
the first stepina criminal case and
are typically legal formalities.
Once the district attorney files
formal charges, the next major
step for Holmes will be a prelimi-
nary hearing, at which a judge will
listen to testimony to determine
whether Holmes should be bound
over for trial.
But legal experts said that could
be some ways off because Holmes
attorneys may ask that Holmes re-
ceive a mental-health evaluation
to determine whether he is fit to
stand trial. To face trial, a defen-
dant must understand the charges
against himand be able to help his
lawyers in his defense.
I think (an evaluation) is going
tohappenearlyinthis casebecause
part of the defendants claims is
maybe that hes incompetent to
standtrial, saidUniversityof Den-
ver lawprofessor SamKamin.
Such evaluations can signifi-
cantly prolong a case. In the in-
stance of NathanDunlap, whowas
convicted of killing four people in
an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese res-
taurant and sentenced to death,
the mental-health evaluation last-
ed five months.
In the meantime, all the victims
of the shooting can do is wait
both for answers and for justice.
Amanda Medek, who lost her sister, was among the family members walking in to the hearing for shooting suspect James Eagan Holmes,
who appeared before Arapahoe County District Court Judge WilliamB. Sylvester on Monday. Joe Amon, The Denver Post
By Colleen OConnor The Denver Post
Inblog posts, at water coolers andonwebsites,
people are endlessly speculating about the de-
meanor of shooting suspect James EaganHolmes
in his first courtroom appearance Monday.
He looked confused, sad, lost or exhausted,
some said. Others thought he looked drugged,
and wondered how that might be possible.
Still others thought he was faking it, a method
of self-protection as carefully planned as the his
full-body riot gear he was wearing Friday when
he was arrestedafter 12 people were killedand58
others injured in an Aurora movie theater.
His appearance today was like a Rohrschach
test, said Jack Levin, the Brud-
nick Professor of Sociology and
Criminology at Northeastern
University inBoston. Youcould
impose almost anything
thoughts and feelings you have
about him to interpret his ex-
pressions. He went from dozing
to being oblivious to looking
pained all within a couple min-
utes.
The discussion divides into
two camps: those who think hes
psychotic, or disconnected from
reality, and those who believe
hes psychopathic andfully understands the con-
sequences of his alleged crime.
The range of Holmes expressions in court are
very difficult to interpret, Levinsaid, because ev-
eryone reacts differently to stress.
One possibility is that he nowrealizes or feels
remorseful, Levin said. Another is that he is re-
gretful that he may get the deathpenalty. Another
is that he is psychotic and totally confused.
Levin, the author of Serial Killers andSadistic
Murderers: Up Close and Personal, has studied
mass murderers for more than 30 years.
Holmes alleged behavior differed from most
other mass murderers, and that suggests he is
psychotic, Levin said.
Only 16percent of all mass killings are random
killings of strangers in shopping malls, cinemas
and churches, he said. Overwhelmingly, the
majority are quite selective.
Most mass killers are triggeredby a catastroph-
ic loss, he said, like a nasty separation or divorce,
and then seek revenge against those whom they
think are responsible.
But Holmes, who haddone poorly inhis gradu-
ate neuroscience program, didnot gogunning for
the professors.
Its not rational tokill your professors, but this
is so far away in every respect from what youd
expect from a mass killer that you have to start
wondering what is the matter with him, Levin
said.
With the exception of school shooters, Levin
said, he knows of no mass killer in his early to
mid-20s who killed at random in a public place.
He said Holmes may suffer from schizophre-
nia, a braindisorder that oftenappears inlate ad-
olescence or early adulthood, andcanmake it dif-
ficult to distinguish fantasy from reality.
Other experts, like DavidEagleman, director of
the Initiative on Neuroscience and the Law, be-
lieve that a schizophrenic wouldhave a hardtime
following such an ambitious plan as that which
Holmes allegedly devised.
Experts in the mental health community in
Colorado will not speculate on the possibility of
Holmes having a mental illness because no psy-
chiatric valuations have yet beenperformed, and
they do not want to further stigmatize a commu-
nity that is already marginalized. Most schizo-
phrenics are not violent.
In a community already outraged by the mass
killings, many react with anger toward the possi-
bility of Holmes being mentally ill.
Its a gut reaction, Levin said. I never would
excuse this killer or any other, but I would like to
explain his behavior. Many people ask about his
motive and mindset, and then when you take a
stab at it, theyre critical. They dont like the idea
of medicalizing the condition of a killer. Theyd
much prefer to see it as evil, than sick.
Colleen OConnor: 303-954-1083,
coconnor@denverpost.com, or
twitter.com/coconnordp
Public defenders
Daniel B. King
Chief trial deputy with the Colorado State Public Defenders Office.
King represented Sir Mario Owens in the witness-murder trial.
Tamara A. Brady
Chief trial deputy with the Colorado State Public Defenders Office.
Brady represented Jose Luis Rubi-Nava in the dragging-murder trial.
James OConnor
Head of the Arapahoe County division of the Colorado State Public
Defenders Office.
James
Eagan
Holmes, in
his booking
mug.
King Brady OConnor
He just looks like a pathetic
freak, McKayla Hicks, who was
wounded in the shooting and at-
tended Mondays hearing, told
CNN. I just want him put away
forever.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068,
THE DENVER POST
Daily and Sunday $18.00 $58.50 $117.00 $234.00
Sunday Only $7.00 $22.75 $45.50 $91.00
Saturday/Sunday $5.25 $17.25 $34.25 $68.25
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reserved.
2A Midnight massacre tuesday, july 24, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 6
ASTRONAUT
RIDE DIES AT 61
The trailblazer who in 1983 became the first U.S.
woman and at age 32 the youngest American to
fly in space succumbs to pancreatic cancer. 17A
TUESDAY, JULY 24, 2012 AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS E95 F64 22A B the denver post B $1 price may vary outside metro denver 66
Theater shooting: Stay updated with the latest news and developments denverpost.com/theatershooting dp
PENN STATE
TOLD TO PAY
$60 MILLION
SPORTS, 1B
Inspectors probe mission meal
that sent 60 to hospital 12A
ATFIRSTHEARING,
SUSPECTSILENT
Complete
coverage
Legal teams. Meet
the lawyers for the
prosecution and
defense. 2A
What now? Century
Aurora 16 faces
uncertain future. 4A
Commentary. 911
recordings shed light
on a night both horrific
and heroic. 5A
Hickenhoopers
leadership. Governor
balances grief with
running the state. 6A
Aurora theater shooting suspect James Eagan Holmes appears in Arapahoe County District Court on Monday. Holmes is being held on suspicion of first-
degree murder and could face additional counts of aggravated assault and weapons violations stemming froma mass shooting Friday. As the public got
its first glimpse of Holmes, one expert is warning people to not read too much into whats behind his eyes. 2A RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
Gun
sales up
since
tragedy
Firearminterest
spikes as some
seek protection
By Sara Burnett
The Denver Post
Backgroundchecks for people
wanting tobuy guns inColorado
jumped more than 41 percent af-
ter Friday mornings shooting at
an Aurora movie theater, and
firearms instructors say theyre
also seeing increased interest in
the training required for a con-
cealed-carry permit.
Its been insane, Jake Mey-
ers, an employee at Rocky
Mountain Guns and Ammo in
Parker, said Monday.
When he arrived at work Fri-
day morning just hours after a
gunman killed 12 and injured 58
others at the Century Aurora 16
theater there already were 15
to 20 people waiting outside the
store, Meyers said.
He called Monday probably
the busiest Monday all year and
said the basic firearms classes
that he and the stores owner
teach are booked solid for the
next three weeks, something
that hadnt happened all year.
A lot of it is people saying, I
didnt think I needed a gun, but
nowI do, Meyers said. When
it happens in your backyard,
people start reassessing Hey,
I go to the movies.
Between Friday and Sunday,
the Colorado Bureau of Investi-
gation approved background
checks for 2,887 people who
wanted to purchase a firearm
a 43 percent increase over the
previous Friday through Sunday
and a 39 percent jump over
GUNS 4A
SUSPECT I N COURT
Holmes will hear
charges next week
The appearance, mostly
a legal formality, drew
victims relatives.
By Jeremy P. Meyer
The Denver Post
centennial David San-
chez should have been cele-
brating the birth of his first
grandchild Monday.
Instead, he was at the Arap-
ahoe County Justice Center,
hoping for a look at the man
who he believes shattered the
lives of his pregnant daughter
Katie Medley and her hus-
band, Caleb.
CalebMedley was incritical
condition Monday at Univer-
sity of Colorado Hospital with
a bullet wound through the
eye.
He andKatie were watching
a midnight showing of The
Dark Knight Rises when, po-
lice say, James Eagan Holmes
openedfire at the Century Au-
rora 16 theater.
Justice, Sanchez said, is
very important for me. I want-
ed to come here. I wasnt sure
about (Katies) feelings. She is
being very strong right now,
SUPPORT 5A
By John Ingold, Jessica
Fender and Jeremy P.
Meyer The Denver Post
centennial With a tan-
gle of orangish-red hair atop
his head like a bizarre cos-
tume wig, James Eagan Holm-
es slouched into a courtroom
Monday to learn he is being
held on suspicion of commit-
ting one of the worst mass
murders in American history.
Shackled at the wrists and
ankles, Holmes jingled as he
walked into his first court ap-
pearance since the Friday
shootings at the Century Au-
rora 16 that killed 12 and in-
jured 58 more. Surrounded by
one of his public defenders
and two Arapahoe County
Sheriffs deputies, Holmes ap-
peared barely to pay attention
as 18th Judicial District Chief
Judge William Sylvester ad-
vised him of his rights. He
spoke not one word.
In the gallery, the father of
Alex Teves, who was killed in
HEARING2A
I WANTED TO COME HERE
Victims kin attends
for sake of justice
David Sanchez was
expecting the birth
of a grandson Monday.
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CENTURY 16 MOVI E COMPLEX
Future of Aurora theater
unclear in wake of shooting
The filmindustry takes
a hit as ticket sales are
down across the nation
over the weekend.
Santiago Nieto, 40, of Los Angeles and Alicia West, 24, of Aurora talk as they look at the front of the Century Au-
rora 16 theater Monday. West was at the theater Friday night to see The Dark Knight Rises, but her friend never
showed up, so she left about 40 minutes before the showstarted. Joe Amon, The Denver Post
By Mark Jaffe
The Denver Post
The Century Aurora 16 movie com-
plex the scene of one of the worst
mass shootings inU.S. history is one
of 456 theaters operated by Cinemark
Holdings, but it presents a unique di-
lemma.
What will Cinemark do with it?
asked Tony Wible, an industry analyst
with Janney Montgomery Scott.
Weve never hadanything happenlike
this in the world of media.
The theater remained closed Mon-
day as police investigated Friday
mornings shooting. James Eagan
Holmes, 24, is accused of opening fire
on the audience at a midnight show,
killing 12 and injuring 58.
With movie theaters in 39 states,
Mexico and 12 Latin American coun-
tries, the Aurora complex is a drop in
the revenue bucket for Plano, Texas-
based Cinemark.
The companys 3,878 U.S. screens
each averaged $412,000 in revenue in
2011, according to company filings. At
that rate, Auroras 16 screens would
have generated about $6.6 million.
Cinemark reported 2011 revenues of
$2.3 billion.
Hard to say what happens with the
property, certainly that particular
screen itself would always be a horri-
bly tainted place, Matthew Harrigan,
ananalyst with Wunderlich Securities
in Denver, said in an e-mail.
Officials for Cinemark did not re-
turn calls for comment.
Movie theaters usually sign15- to 20-
year leases, industry analysts andreal-
estate agents said.
The theater was built in 1998 with
3,400seats. It was operatedby Century
Theaters, which Cinemark bought in
2006.
There are a lot of capital improve-
ments that go into a theater, so Id be
surprised if they didnt try to keep it,
Wible said.
The location has a solid market,
saidRobb Brown, a principal with The
Denver Retail Group.
You look for a location without a
movie theater within five miles and
they have that, Brown said.
If Cinemark did decide to leave the
building, its fate would be uncertain.
After Nathan Dunlap, a former em-
ployee at a Chuck E Cheese at South
Peoria Street and East Iliff Avenue,
killed four employees at that store in
1993, the operator left it empty until
the lease ranout. Anewtenant came in
1996.
As for the shootings impact to the
theater industry, across the country
movie ticket sales were down last
weekend, said Jeff Bock, senior box of-
fice analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co.
The massacre occurredat a showing
of the new Batman movie The Dark
Knight Rises.
Opening weekend revenue for that
filmwas estimatedtobe $175 million. It
fell short at $160.8 million still giv-
ing it the third-largest opening ever,
Bock said.
But box office returns for Ice Age,
ananimatedmovie, were down56 per-
cent, and receipts for Ted, a comedy,
were down 55 percent, Bock said.
Well have to wait to next weekend
toreally see if there is animpact, Bock
said.
Kevin Keller contributed to this story.
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912,
mjaffe@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/bymarkjaffe
An Arapahoe County bomb squad
suits up to enter the Century Auro-
ra 16 movie theater, the scene of a
mass shooting in which 12 people
were killed and 58 were injured
Friday.
Andy Cross, The Denver Post
J AMES HOLMES FAMI LY SPEAKS OUT
Lawyer says mothers reaction misrepresented
In a public statement, the family requests privacy
and offers condolences to victims and families.
By Felisa Cardona
The Denver Post
san diego Acriminal-defense at-
torney hired by the family of shooting
suspect James Eagan Holmes says his
mother was portrayed inaccurately by
national media reports that implied
she knewher son was troubled.
Lawyer Lisa Damiani said her client
Arlene Holmes knew nothing about
the mass murder in Denver when she
was awakenedabout 5:45 a.m. PDTFri-
day by ABC News. Damiani said the
reporter asked whether she was Ar-
lene Holmes and whether her son was
James Holmes. Reading a statement
from Arlene Holmes, Damiani said: I
said Yes, you have the right person.
But I was talking about myself.
ABCNews is standing by its report-
ing.
Speaking in front of the high-rise
building that houses her office in
downtown San Diego on Monday af-
ternoon, Damiani declined to say why
the family had hired her.
On Monday morning, two attorneys
fromthe state public defenders office
were appointed to defend James
Holmes, 24, who is suspectedof killing
12 people and injuring 58 others in an
Aurora movie theater. An Arapahoe
County judge has sealed records relat-
ed to the case, including financial re-
cords showing his needfor a public de-
fender.
During the brief news conference,
Damiani deflected a volley of ques-
tions, including some about the rela-
tionships between family members
still living in California and whether
James Holmes is estranged from his
family.
The family would like privacy, she
said. The family wants to reiterate
that their hearts go out to the victims
and their families.
Damiani saidthat Robert andArlene
Holmes and their daughter have had
tremendous support from the pastor
of their church.
Church employees at Peasquitos
Lutheran in suburban San Diego ac-
knowledgedthey are trying to helpthe
Holmes family cope with the fallout of
the shootings.
As a faith community, we will be
present to walk with and pray for all
members of the Holmes family as they
deal with this situation, a church
statement reads. We also ask that you
join us in prayer for the families of
those who were killed and the survi-
vors of those traumatized along with
their families.
Althoughshedeclinedtosaywhether
the family fears for its safety, Damiani
said, I have concern for their safety.
About 30 reporters and photogra-
phers have beencampedout infront of
the family home in the Rancho Peas-
quitos neighborhood of San Diego
since the killings in Aurora, consid-
ered one of the worst mass murders in
U.S. history.
Holmes, who is also accused of rig-
ging his apartment near the Anschutz
Medical Campus inAurora withexplo-
sives, is being held without bail in the
Arapahoe County jail.
Whenhe was arrested, police say, he
had four weapons in his possession
and was wearing body armor.
David Casper, who owns Hillcrest
Pawnbrokers inSanDiego, saidhe rec-
ognized James Holmes when his pic-
ture flashed across his television
screen Friday.
He has been in here more than
once, he said. He didlook at the guns.
One of my employees remembers him
asking about the guns.
Casper says his is one of only two
pawnshops that sell guns inSanDiego,
which may explain why Holmes drove
15 miles into the city fromthe suburbs
to Hillcrest Pawnbrokers.
Casper has shotguns and handguns
displayed on the wall and in a case in-
side his store. He says he doesnt re-
member the month or day Holmes
came intothe shopbut that he knows it
was within the last year and that he
asked about the guns in the shop.
I remember he sought advice,
Casper said.
Casper says he wont sell firearms to
people who make him suspicious and
that he reserves the right to refuse ser-
vice to any customer.
I have refused to sell, but he
wouldnt have been that person,
Casper said, adding that Holmes
seemedso normal, he wouldhave sold
himguns.
those same days on the first
weekend of July.
The biggest spike was on Fri-
day, when there were 1,216
checks, a 43 percent increase
over the average number for the
previous two Fridays.
The checks are required be-
fore anyone may legally pur-
chase a gun in Colorado. Be-
cause some purchasers may
have bought more than one gun
or decided against their pur-
chase, the actual number bought
may have been different from
2,887.
Such increases arent unusual
in the wake of mass shootings.
After a gunman in Tucson
killed six people and injured
others, including Congresswom-
an Gabrielle Giffords, in 2010,
background checks in Arizona
jumped 60 percent over the
same date one year earlier, ac-
cording to the FBI.
Asimilar increase occurred in
Virginia after the shootings at
Virginia Tech University in
2007.
Dion Studinski, who teaches a
course requiredfor people toap-
ply for a concealed-carry permit,
said his class for Saturday at Fir-
ing-Line gun store and indoor
shooting range inAurora is over-
booked.
Weve definitely had an in-
crease, he said.
TomMauser, a gun-control ad-
vocate whose son Daniel was
killedat Columbine HighSchool
in 1999, said he wasnt surprised
by the numbers.
To me thats just symbolic of
the fear that drives (people), he
said.
State Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-
Aurora, said she understands
what people are thinking when
they walk into a gun shop. But
she hopes buying a gun isnt the
only response people have.
She wouldalsolike tosee Con-
gress reinstate an assault-weap-
ons ban, and she said Colorado
should look into other measures
that could prevent tragedies like
Fridays shooting.
I think thats what the conver-
sation needs to be, she said. I
dont think that to be preventa-
tive, we need to provide or have
more guns.
Sara Burnett: 303-954-1661,
sburnett@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/sara_burnett
GUNS
FROM 1A
Source: Colorado Bureau of Investigation
The Denver Post
Surging gun sales
The number of background checks
for gun purchases in Colorado
surged after the Century Aurora 16
theater tragedy.
Sunday Saturday Friday
710
850
1,216
705
889
1,243
222
306
428
11 12 11 12 11 12
Average approvals in July 2011
Average approvals in July 2012*
Number of approvals for the past
Friday, Saturday and Sunday
*For the two weeks ending July 8
and July 15.
Holmes Match
profile verified,
mentions prison
By Ryan Parker
The Denver Post
A Match.com profile for
James EaganHolmes is genuine,
according to a spokesman for
the dating website.
There was a profile and it
was taken down as soon as
Match.com was alerted to it,
spokesmanMatthewTraubsaid.
Match.comis a dating website
where users create profiles in
hopes of meeting someone for
dating or a relationship.
The opening statement on
Holmes profile reads: Will you
visit me in prison? This same
line was used on an adult-
themed dating site for a person
representing himself as Holmes,
seeking a casual sex gal.
4A Midnight massacre tuesday, july 24, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post A 6
COMMENTARY
911 tapes
grim, full
of bravery
By Chuck Murphy
The Denver Post
aurora
T
he true scope of the hero-
ismon display Friday
morning at the Century
Aurora 16 multiplex will gradually
trickle out over the next weeks
and months.
But this much we already know:
Aurora police officers risked their
lives at every turn to try to save
others, while their dispatchers
back in the communications cen-
ter monitored the most chaotic
scene any of themhad ever faced.
I think people should under-
stand that when they call, we real-
ly do care, said Kathie Stauffer,
the dispatcher at the epicenter of
Friday mornings mass shooting.
We care about everybody who
calls us.
The dispatch tapes fromFriday
morning make that plain. And
while there will be after-action
reviews that will undoubtedly
find areas of concern or roomfor
improvement, Aurora residents
can rest assured that their officers
on the scene did all they could.
The first officer tells dispatch
he is out on foot at the theater
within 44 seconds of the initial
call. At that point, here is what he
and his colleagues knewfrom
Stauffer:
Theyre saying somebody is
shooting in the auditorium.
There is at least one person
thats been shot, but theyre saying
theres hundreds of people just
running around.
Less than 10 seconds later they
also learned:
Somebody is still shooting in-
side theater number nine, per an
employee.
So the officers went inside to
theater 9.
Before two minutes had passed
since the deluge of 911 calls that
interrupted a quiet night in Auro-
ra, the first officer was outside the
very theater where the shooting
began. It is impossible to imagine
the uncertainty of that moment.
There is smoke everywhere.
There is some kind of gas in the air,
maybe pepper spray. There is a
gunshot victimon the floor just
outside the door to theater 9.
The patrons are panicking. The
police are frustrated. The Dark
Knight Rises is still playing on
the screen.
The next five minutes on the
dispatch tapes are hard to hear.
The quality is fine, but the content
is brutal. And knowing that the
cries for help were coming from
police officers accustomed to vio-
lence and chaos only makes them
more compelling.
Get us some damn gas masks for
theater 9! We cant get in it.
Ive got seven down in theater
nine. Seven down!
Ive got one ambulance here.
Where are my ambulances at?
And then, eight minutes and 20
seconds in, officers have cut
through the smoke and the gas
and the panic and...
Ive got a child victim. I need
rescue at the back door of theater
9 now.
It was then that Stauffer real-
ized howhorrible the scene really
was.
It was just sadness, she said.
It is important to remember that
though they had someone later
identified as James Eagan Holmes
in custody before five minutes had
passed, and he told themhe acted
alone, officers could not be certain
that was true. Fleeing patrons and
nearby construction workers told
themabout other possible shoot-
ers a guy in a blue shirt, maybe a
guy with a red backpack.
So the officers tending to the
wounded in theater 9 were on
high alert. Ashooter could be
behind the screen, hiding behind
a garbage can, playing possum
and waiting to open fire fromthe
floor.
Their radio traffic betrays no
hint of concern for anyone other
than the victims.
We have one we can not move
in theater 9, get an ambulance
here as soon as you can.
Give me some ambulances to
the back of the theater or the old
Sports Authority lot.
Have them shut the movie off
in 9.
having to make a huge amount of de-
cisions. I have to go with what she
wants. She really didnt want to give a
whole bunch of information to the
media. She has been avoiding it.
Sanchez, 53, whoworks at Schriever
Air Force Base in Colorado Springs,
arrived too late for the hearing and
didnt get to see Holmes in person.
Caleb Medley is an aspiring stand-
up comic who had won a contest at a
comedy club last week. He was ex-
pected to move on to the next round
for another performance.
Comic Brad Galli performed with
him Wednesday at the New Faces
Contest at Comedy Works South.
It was the funniest I had ever seen
him, saidGalli, who has knownMed-
ley for more than two years. He had
gotten a lot better. He also was really
into film as well. He made a lot of
shorts that he put up on the Internet
that were really funny.
The couple, who are fans of Bat-
man, had gone to the midnight movie
dressedinBatmanattire, according to
a website created by their friends to
raise money for the couple. They have
no health insurance.
Katie Medley, who is quoted on the
website, said her husband was the
fourth victim removed from the the-
ater after police arrived.
They didnot bother to wait for the
ambulance, she said. He was put in
the back of a cop car, and they drove
him straight to University Hospital. I
did not get to see him again because
the police were keeping me, and I did
not find out if he was still alive until
they released me at about 4 a.m.
Sanchez told a large group of re-
porters after the 12-minute court
hearing that he hadcome tothe court-
house as a representative for Caleb
SUPPORT
FROM 1A
and Katie.
It is important to support my
daughter and her husband and their
newborn baby, he said.
Sanchez said he would support the
death penalty if Holmes were found
guilty.
His daughter had been concentrat-
ing on the pending birth of their son,
whom they have named Hugo, and
her husbands state. The childs deliv-
ery was to be induced Monday.
Doctors were determining whether
they should allow Caleb to see the
boy after he is born. There were con-
cerns about infections.
Its been horrendous. Its been
more than anybody should be able to
handle, Sanchez said. We never
thought we would be part of some-
thing like this.
Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367,
jpmeyer@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/jpmeyerdpost
Staff writer John Wenzel contributed
to this report.
David Sanchez, whose son-in-lawCaleb Medley was in critical condition
after being shot through an eye at Fridays movie-theater incident, speaks
Monday after James Eagan Holmes, the 24-year-old suspect, appeared
before an Arapahoe County judge in Centennial. Joe Amon, The Denver Post
VOICES, TEARS, REMEMBRANCE
T
he three daughters and
one son of Gordon
Cowden, 51, the oldest
of the 12 victims who were
killed in the Aurora movie-
theater rampage, gather
Monday at a makeshift
memorial at South Sable
Boulevard and East
Centrepoint Drive in Aurora.
People continue to pay their
respects at the site near the
theater where 12 were killed
and 58 injured. Adozen white
crosses represent each of
those killed. Suspect James
Eagan Holmes is in custody.
Evan Semon, Special to The Denver Post
Where to find help
Need help processing the trage-
dy? Or do you wish to help out
financially but are not sure
where a donation should go?
Here are several resources:
GivingFirst.org, a safe and secure
online vehicle of the Community
First Foundation, is helping those
who wish to find nonprofits that
are assisting the victims and the
families. The featured nonprofits
include Aurora Mental Health
Center, Arapahoe/Douglas Mental
Health Network, Mental Health
America of Colorado, Bonfils Blood
Center Foundation, Metro Crisis
Services Inc., Colorado Organiza-
tion for Victim Assistance and Den-
ver Center for Crime Victims.
Childrens Hospital Colorado has
opened a family support line,
720-777-2300.
Aurora Mental Health Center
offers its support by having
trained counselors available by
phone, 303-617-2300.
Multimedia:
Images and video
fromthe shooting
scene, hospitals
and more.
denverpost.com/
mediacenter
Map: Detailing key
locations in the
shooting.
denverpost.com/
theatershootings
dp
66 the denver post B denverpost.com B tuesday, july 24, 2012 News 5A
July 24, 2012
PA6f 11
By Anthony Cotton
The Denver Post
aurora The dean of the
University of Colorado Denver
graduate school that James Ea-
ganHolmes withdrewfromlast
month said Monday that the
school had rigorous measures
in place to monitor, coach and
counsel students whomay have
been having academic or per-
sonal problems.
If any programwould be put
on a pedestal, it would be this
one, said Barry Shur, speaking
of the neuroscience program
that Holmes was enrolled in.
Holmes, 24, is accused of fa-
tally shooting 12 people early
Friday morning in an Aurora
movie theater during a showing
of the newBatmanmovie. Fifty-
eight others were injured, many
critically.
Shur was a participant ina 45-
minute briefing that included
CU-Denver Chancellor DonEl-
liman, executive vice chancel-
lor Lilly Marks and Doug Abra-
ham, the chief of police on the
Anschutz Medical Campus.
The officials, referring to the
ongoing investigation, would
not answer specific questions
about him or his academic
standing. They didsay that Hol-
mes withdrew from the pro-
gram June 10, three days after
taking a preliminary oral exam-
inationbefore three professors.
The exam measures knowl-
edge of core coursework done
during the school year, and
Shur saidanyone whostruggles
academically or personally is
givenhelpso they cancontinue
in the program.
Its very, very rare for a stu-
dent to be terminated for aca-
demic reasons. The percentage
of students we admit who dont
receivetheir Ph.D. is verysmall,
he said. In the neuroscience
program, theres remediation;
theres theabilityfor thestudent
to retake the examination.
Holmes received $171,024
from the National Institutes of
Health for his first year in the
program. Of that total, $26,000is
allottedfor personal expenses.
When officials were asked
whether that money couldhave
been used to buy weapons or
ammunition, Elliman and Shur
said they could not comment
because it is part of the ongoing
investigation.
Its considered an honor to
receive the grant, Shur said.
The neuroscience programis
one of about a dozen Ph.D. pro-
grams on campus, focusing on
how the brain works, specifi-
cally how the nervous system
processes information. In exis-
tence since 1986, the programis
funded, in part, by training
grants from the NIH, awarded
to the most prestigious Ph.D.
training programs in the coun-
try, Shur said.
CU receives about 10 applica-
tions to the program each year,
with five or six students admit-
ted. Shur said there are about 35
students enrolled in the four-
year program, which has had
great success, he added, in areas
suchas drugtreatment for Down
syndrome, injuries tothecentral
nervous system and treatment
for the prevention of strokes.
During the first year of the
program, students choose three
facultymembers anddo12-week
rotations within that instruc-
tors specific discipline. At the
end of the year, the student
chooses oneof thefacultymem-
bers to be his thesis mentor.
When Holmes withdrew, he
was required to fill out a form
saying it was voluntary. Pro-
gram directors then sign off on
it and send it to the dean. As
part of that process, the direc-
tors try to determine why the
student is leaving the program.
However, Holmes left that area
blank on his withdrawal form.
Shur saidthat paperwork was
being processedfor Holmes but
had not been completed.
You have to understand that
the program directors are with
these students daily. This is not
something where theyre say-
ing, Oh, maybe Ill see the stu-
dent in six months, he said.
This is a family. Its a team-
building environment. Theyre
very much in contact with the
students in the program.
Especially with any student
that might have any kind of aca-
demicor other difficultythose
aretheonesthat programleader-
ship would focus their interest
on, more than anyone, the stu-
dents who are in need of help.
School officials said a back-
groundcheckis requiredfor any
student applying to the school.
Elliman said he felt that the uni-
versity had done all it could.
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292,
acotton@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/anthonycottondp
Barry Shur, left, dean of the Anschutz Medical Campus Grad-
uate School at the University of Colorado Denver, answers
questions about James Eagan Holmes, the suspect in Fridays
theater shootings, and packages that showed up Monday at
the school. Doug Abraham, Anschutz Medical Campus chief
of police, is in the foreground. Heather Rousseau, The Denver Post
ANSCHUTZ CAMPUS
Suspicious
packages
deemed
no threat
By Kurtis Lee
The Denver Post
aurora Officials at the
University of Colorado Denver
Anschutz Medical campus said
two suspicious packages found
on the campus Monday were
deemed no threat to students
and faculty.
Because of the events of this
past weekend, we wanted to be
sure of the safety of the campus
and make sure that they were
not a threat, said Jacque Mont-
gomery, a spokeswomanfor the
university. We brought inlocal
authorities to look at the situa-
tion, they didjust that, andthey
viewed it to be no threat.
One of the packages was sent
to a faculty member, while the
other was sent to the campus
mail services.
No classes were disrupted,
but minor evacuations did take
place, said Montgomery.
James Eagan Holmes, who is
alleged to have killed 12 people
at a nearby movie theater, was
in the process of withdrawing
fromthe schools graduate pro-
gram in neurosciences. After
his arrest, it was discovered
that Holmes had booby-
trapped his apartment with ex-
plosives.
Holmes enrolled in the grad-
uate program at the university
in June 2011.
Kurtis Lee: 303-954-1655,
klee@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/kurtisalee
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6 the denver post B denverpost.com B tuesday, july 24, 2012 MIDNIGHT MASSACRE 7A
Energy frominspiration
PUBLI C SAFETY
Shootings
raise tough
questions
for theaters
Beefed-up security may become
the normin the short term, but
can movie houses afford it? And
will patrons pay for it?
By Douglas Brown
The Denver Post
Movie theaters across the country are
hiring extra off-duty police officers and
security guards in the wake of the killing
of 12 people Friday in a theater in Aurora.
Its a logical andmaybe reassuring step,
but it is unclear whether guards will re-
mainpart of the routine after news cover-
age of the killings fades.
Two things are clear, security experts
say: One, movie theaters should be made
more secure, permanently. And two, the-
aters may not be able to afford it.
If not for popcorn, they would all be
out of business, saidHowardLevinson, a
security consultant in Massachusetts
who has worked extensively with movie
theaters. They make all of their money
from concessions, and its not the lucra-
tive business it was before. It wouldbe al-
most economically impossible to have a
higher security standard. Without the
general public paying as much as 50 per-
cent more for a ticket, I dont see how a
theater could stay open.
Would moviegoers pay another $5, in
the age of Netflix and Hulu Plus? Its a
questionthat theater owners wouldrath-
er not test.
Even if security at theaters was upped
drastically, Levinson said it probably
wouldnt stop someone such as the per-
petrator of Fridays mass shootings.
James Eagan Holmes, a 24-year-old grad-
uate-school dropout, is being heldby Au-
rora police in the shootings.
Aurora Police Chief DanOates saidina
Friday news conference that there were
no on-duty cops providing security for
the midnight show.
But other details have not been re-
leased, soits not yet knownwhether the-
ater security guards were onduty, wheth-
er an employee was in the projection
booth when the shootings began, or
whether any alarms sounded when
a man propped open an exit door,
steppedoutside, put onprotective armor,
returned to the theater and began firing.
Levinson said the extra security, the
employee inthe projectionboothandthe
alarmshould have been in place.
The midnight premiere of The Dark
Knight Rises was a packed, pop-culture
spectacle, not a sleepy Sunday matinee.
Enhancedsecurity shouldhave beenpart
of the event, Levinson said.
When a movie premieres, a studio
gives a stipend for additional security,
Levinson said.
Acall to Cinemark, the Texas company
that owns the Century Aurora 16 theater,
was not returned by press time.
And if a projectionist wasnt watching
over the audience, that toowas a mistake,
Levinson said.
Some theaters have alarms attached to
doors in the theaters; the alarms dont
ring through the theater but instead alert
employees that a door has been opened.
Inthe past, the alarms were usedprimari-
ly tothwart people fromletting infriends
without paying.
Tommy Burns, a security and police
consultant inNevada, saidit is important
to remember that movie theaters have
been remarkably safe places, given the
volume of people packed into them, the
pre-movie drinking and the violence on
the screens.
You rarely have an incident. So as a
theater operator, you have a concern for
safety, but where do you draw the line?
Burns asked. Prior to Friday, he said, no-
body really saw the need to swaddle
movie theaters in security.
Inthe short term, armedpolice officers
will be much more common at theaters,
Burns said. But eventually they will van-
ishas closed-circuit televisions andsecu-
rity guards become the norm, he said.
However security manifests in movie
theaters, for now it will be a big topic of
discussion among theater owners.
Where do you balance profitability
with responsibility? Thats what it is
balance, said Philip Jan Rothstein, the
president of Rothstein Associates, a cri-
sis-management consultancy in Con-
necticut. Doyouhave a security guard, a
camera, an alarm at every exit? Do you
have a surveillance system? What kinds
of controls are justifiable? What controls
are realistic?
Its a trade-off between privacy and
comfort.
Douglas Brown: 303-954-1395,
djbrown@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/douglasjbrown
Kelsey Fowler contributed to this report.
P
resident Barack Obama hugs Stephanie Davies, who helped keep her friend, Allie Young, left, alive after she was shot
during the movie theater shootings Friday in Aurora. Obama met the young women and other victims Sunday and later
spoke about their experience. He said at a news conference that Young, 19, was shot in the neck and Davies pulled her
out of harms way and held her fingers to Youngs wound to slowthe bleeding. Young apparently told Davies to flee, but she
refused, staying with her friend and pulling her out of the aisle until the shooting stopped. The Associated Press/Pete Souza, White House
PRESIDENTIAL EMBRACE
By Lynn Bartels The Denver Post
Gov. John Hickenlooper was once told he was
blessed with large batteries, and he has needed
all that energy since first learning of the shootings
at a Batman movie early Friday in Aurora.
Hickenlooper has been everywhere, it seems:
visiting patients and their families at hospitals,
talking at news conferences, answering questions
during national TV shows and showing up at
prayer rallies.
He has blended the routine with the extraordi-
nary, attending a going-away party for a staffer in
the governors office Friday afternoon before re-
turning for a news conference that evening with
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates and others.
Hickenlooper debated canceling a Saturday
night dinner at the governors mansion with some
members of his Cabinet and their spouses and a
fewstaffers, something he does every fewmonths.
The dinner went on as planned but with two
guests, including Tim Warner, chief executive of
the company that owns the chainof movie theaters
where the midnight massacre occurred.
When the governor was introduced at a vigil
Sunday, a cheer went up fromthe crowd.
It warmed my heart, Hickenlooper admitted.
He has beenprivy to a video takenby Aurora po-
lice that shows the crime scene, the bodies and the
bullets. He has seen a video of the suspects apart-
ment and been briefed on the investigation.
Has it changed you? Hickenlooper was asked
Monday in an interviewat the state Capitol.
Oh, yeah, oh yeah, he said.
But Hickenlooper, a Denver Democrat who took
office in January 2011, quickly changed the subject
to the shooting victims and their families. He has
met with them to show them the state supports
them1,000 percent.
The number of upbeat comments I heard is all
so inspiring, he said.
One young woman had two of her fingers shot
off. She hadbeenshot withall three of the weapons
(the gunmanused). She has severe injuries, but she
was making jokes of how odd it was that she liked
movies so much and yet this happened at a movie
she wanted to see.
Hickenlooper had gone to Colorado Springs
with friends Thursday night to attend a birthday
party. He had finally gone to bed when a friend
banged on his hotel roomdoor about 2:45 a.m. and
told himto turn on his TVset.
I got out of bed and turned on the TV and
looked at it, Hickenlooper said. My spirits sank.
Amanarmedwiththree weapons openedfire in-
side the Century Aurora 16 complex where the
movie The Dark Knight Rises was premiering.
Ultimately, 12 people died and 58 were wounded.
James Eagan Holmes is suspected in the shooting.
Hickenloopers office issued a statement at 8:07
that Friday morning. Three minutes later, Presi-
dent Barack Obama called the governor.
Hickenlooper visited the crime scene about
9:30 a.m. Friday.
Later, ina police commandvehicle, Hickenloop-
er, Oates, Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan and others
viewedaninvestigative videocops made inside the
theater. In addition to the bodies and the bullets,
Hickenlooper said, the video included all the
things youdropwhenyoure running for your lives
which is everything.
He recalled seeing popcorn, paper, purses and
even a lone boot standing upright in an aisle.
The video was deeply disturbing, Hickenloop-
er said, but that was in the abstract.
It was not the same as someone describing to
you that their loved one is no longer alive or how
someone saved their life, he said.
He made visits to area hospitals over three days,
talking to shooting victims and their families.
Maybe its the kind of people who go to movies
at midnight, the governor said, but the optimism
of people who have beenthrough such anordeal is
remarkable.
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327,
lbartels@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/lynn_bartels
Gov. John Hickenlooper, bowing his head during a community vigil for the movie-theater massa-
cre victims Sunday, says acting as the states chief griever has changed himbut that response and
words of support fromall over have been uplifting. AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post
GOV. J OHN HI CKENLOOPERS LEADERSHI P
The governors duties have made hima
ubiquitous figure and a changed man
in the wake of the Aurora shootings.
By Holly Ramer The Associated Press
concord, n.h. A man who was stopped for
speeding on the Maine Turnpike had numerous
weapons in his car as well as newspaper clip-
pings about the Aurora rampage and told au-
thorities he hadattendedThe Dark Knight Rises
movie with a loaded gun in his backpack, Maine
state police said Monday.
Timothy Courtois of Biddeford, Maine, was ar-
restedafter other drivers reportedseeingaMustang
speedingwithits lights flashingaround10a.m. Sun-
day. Astate trooper clocked the car at 112 mph.
Courtois told authorities he was on his way to
Derry, N.H., to shoot a former employer. He also
saidhe hadattendedthe Batmanmovie inSaco the
previous night. A search of his car turned up an
AK-47 assault weapon, four handguns, ammuni-
tion and the news clippings, authorities said.
We dont know what his true intentions were,
saidSteve McCausland, spokesmanfor the Depart-
ment of Public Safety.
Later Sunday, police searched Courtois home
and found a machine gun, several other guns and
thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Authorities were still trying Monday to confirm
whether Courtois attendedthe movie, but state po-
lice Lt. Kevin Donovan said Courtois appeared to
be telling the truthwheninterviewedby investiga-
tors. Aspokesman for the movie-theater chain did
not immediately return a call Monday.
I guess were taking everything at face value,
Donovan said. Its very scary.
Heavily armed Maine man with Aurora clippings is held
6A News tuesday, july 24, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 66
PA6f 1
AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. ARMED RESPONSE
Background checks for people wanting to buy guns in Col-
orado jumped more than 41 percent after Friday mornings
shooting at an Aurora movie theater, and frearms instruc-
tors say theyre also seeing increased interest in the training
required for a concealed-carry permit.
Its been insane, Jake Meyers, an employee at Rocky
Mountain Guns and Ammo in Parker, said Monday.
When he arrived at work Friday morning just hours after a gunman
killed 12 and injured 58 others at the Century Aurora 16 theater there
already were 15 to 20 people waiting outside the store, Meyers said.
He called Monday probably the busiest Monday all year and said the
basic frearms classes that he and the stores owner teach are booked solid
for the next three weeks, something that hadnt happened all year.
A lot of it is people saying, I didnt think I needed a gun, but now I do,
Meyers said. When it happens in your backyard, people start reassess-
ing Hey, I go to the movies.
Between Friday and Sunday, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation ap-
proved background checks for 2,887 people who wanted to purchase a
frearm a 43 percent increase over the previous Friday through Sunday
and a 39 percent jump over those same days on the frst weekend of July.
The biggest spike was on Friday, when there were 1,216 checks, a 43
percent increase over the average number for the previous two Fridays.
The checks are required before anyone may legally purchase a gun in
Colorado. Because some purchasers may have bought more than one gun
or decided against their purchase, the actual number bought may have
been different from 2,887.
Published
July 24, 2012
Story by
Sarah Burnett
Firearm interest spikes as some seek protection
Gun sales up
since tragedy
PAGE 2
Such increases arent unusual in the wake of mass shootings.
After a gunman in Tucson killed six people and injured
others, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, in
2010, background checks in Arizona jumped 60 percent over
the same date one year earlier, according to the FBI.
A similar increase occurred in Virginia after the shoot-
ings at Virginia Tech University in 2007.
Dion Studinski, who teaches a course required for people
to apply for a concealed-carry permit, said his class for Sat-
urday at Firing-Line gun store and indoor shooting range in
Aurora is overbooked.
Weve defnitely had an increase, he said.
Tom Mauser, a gun-control advocate whose son Daniel
was killed at Columbine High School in 1999, said he wasnt
surprised by the numbers.
To me thats just symbolic of the fear that drives (peo-
ple), he said.
State Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, said she understands
what people are thinking when they walk into a gun shop. But
she hopes buying a gun isnt the only response people have.
She would also like to see Congress reinstate an assault-
weapons ban, and she said Colorado should look into other
measures that could prevent tragedies like Fridays shooting.
I think thats what the conversation needs to be, she said. I dont
think that to be preventative, we need to provide or have more guns.
PA6f 3
AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. DENVERPOST.COM
The news from Aurora in the early hours of Friday, July 20, was fast-moving, but
throughout the night and throughout the frst 72 hours, digital news editors and
producers sought to keep denverpost.com active and relevant to the millions who
were coming to the site for information about the tragedy. Click on the link to fnd a
gallery of screenshots of the home page at various times in those frst days.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW
http://www.denverpost.com/theatershooting/ci_22396464
HEROES AMONG US SECTION
PA6f 1
Sunday, July 29
SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012
THEY PROTECTED THEIR LOVED ONES
THEYCARRIEDSTRANGERS TOSAFETY
THEY PROVIDED COMFORT AND CARE
HEROES
AMONGUS
By John Ingold; Photos by RJ Sangosti and Joe Amon, The Denver Post
What would I do?
When the lights go down in a movie theater, you are
alone, even in the crowd.
Please be quiet. Silence your cellphone.
The roomsmells of popcornbutter, andyour shoes stick
to the floor. But the surroundings drift away as the images
onscreen spool into your imagination and the sound ef-
fects vibrate into your rib cage. The accelerating story
takes you along. Thats the point, isnt it? To escape?
Frompractically the opening scene of The Dark Knight
Rises, pretend guns fire and actors shriek, a classic slam-
bang opener.
But then, duringaquiet scene, thesoundof gunshotssud-
denly, confusinglycomesaliveagainintheater9at theCen-
turyAurora 16. Bullets ripintotheair. Innocents scream. The
gunmanshouts. Thewoundedwail out. Thebloodshedisreal.
What would I do?
Inside the theater, some froze and many ran. They were
human. There is no disgrace in that.
But sitting amidthe crowd, JonBlunk didnot freeze, and
he didnot run. Instead, he quickly pushedhis girlfriendto
the ground to safety then shielded her from bullets
that took his life but not hers. Across the theater, others
Matt McQuinn, JohnLarimer, Jesse Childress andmore
were just as selfless.
Evenas the gunmancontinuedtoshoot, evenas fear was
at its strongest, the theater was awash in courage.
HEROES 2B
PA6f 2
Sunday, July 29
MICHAEL WHITE SR. | A FATHER PROTECTS HI S CHI LDREN
Hes going toshoot me,
but hes not going toget them
Michael White Sr. was able to shield his sons girlfriend, Farrah Soudani, during the shooting. Both his son and Soudani were wounded in the rampage. RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
M
ichael White Sr. lifted his
head just enough to peek
through the ribbon of space
betweentwo theater seats in
front of him.
I sawhimclimbing the stairs, coming to-
wardus, shooting. I thought, This guys gon-
na shoot me.
The fire alarm was bleating by then, and
White remembers thinking, Whats taking
the police so long?
He kept peeking between the seats. The
shooter kept coming.
I thought about Farrah and my son. I
thought, Hes going toshoot me, but hes not
going to get them. Hes not going to get both
of us. So I laid over Farrah to cover her, and
I tried to keep her quiet.
He lay there, his body shielding his sons
woundedgirlfriendandlistening tothe pop-
pop-popof semi-automatic rounds spraying
aroundthe dark theater, where uponscreen,
The Dark Knight Rises was still playing.
I was waiting for the bullet to come.
White figures the killer was about two
rows away, still firing, when the lights came
on. Andhe stoppedshooting. He turnedand
started to head out.
The father waited a few seconds to make
sure he hadnt just imagined the shooter
leaving. ThenI toldFarrahI was going togo
get help.
Midnight-movie premieres had become
something of a White family tradition. For
this particular Batman premiere, though,
only two of Whites four children his old-
est son, Mike Jr. and his daughter, Paula Ad-
ams could make it. Mike Sr.s girlfriend,
Michelle Baker, came, along with Mike Jr.s
girlfriend, Farrah Soudani, who mixed her
boyfriends family with a group of her
friends andco-workers fromthe nearby Red
Robin restaurant. Between the Whites and
the RedRobinemployees, the groupclaimed
pretty much the entire seventh row.
The previews were over, the opening cred-
its had rolled, and Bruce Wayne was in the
Batcave talking to Alfred when Michael
White Jr. saw a canister fly through the air
across the front of the theater.
I chuckledbecause I thought, Somebody
lost their Batman prop.
His dad sawthe canister too.
Mike White Sr. also saw the exit door
down at the front of the theater open. And
whenlight fromthe movie playing onscreen
flickered just right, White saw the man
dressed in black.
I thought it was a Batmancostume, some-
thing the theater was doing, he said.
He still believedthat whenthe manfireda
shotgun.
Then, White watchedas he switchedfrom
a shotgun to a semi-automatic rifle.
Thats when I realized it was real.
At that moment, it was as if a switch had
been flipped. Everyone in the theater
seemed to come to that realization at once.
People started screaming, and all over the
theater, the Whites could see people hitting
the floor either because they were hiding
or because they had been shot.
Michael White Jr. heard his father yell,
Get down! but by then, the 33-year-oldwas
already hit.
So was Soudani.
Im hit! Mike Jr. heard her scream.
My guts are on the floor.
He tried to crawl across the floor to his
girlfriend, but he couldnt move. I remem-
ber seeing Farrah trying to work her way to-
wardus. I remember watching bodies drop.
At that point, the shooters gun jammed,
althoughat the time, the elder White figured
he must be reloading.
I thought, This is gonna take him a min-
ute, so the elder White grabbed his daugh-
ter andhis girlfriendby the hair, pulledthem
toward the back door and told themto run.
I turned back to see about my son and
Farrah. Thats when I realized Farrah was
hurt.
Mike Sr. took off his shirt andheldit over a
hole on Farrahs side.
I started talking to her. She was saying,
Imscared. I dont want to die, so I told her,
Ive got you. Im not going to leave you. I
toldher, Everythings going to be all right,
He didnt believe that last sentence for a
second.
It was about that time, White said, that he
looked through the sliver of light between
theater seats and saw the man in black gun-
ning for thema second time.
At that moment, White stopped comfort-
ing Farrah and set about saving her life.
When the shooting stopped and White fi-
nally left the theater to get help, police were
in the lobby. They ordered himto get down,
to crawl out the door, and he did.
Apolice officer took Mike White Jr. to the
hospital in his patrol car, and that same offi-
cer the Whites think his name was Mike
Hawkins, and they would like to thank him
came back tothe scene andfoundMike Sr.
a shirt to put on.
In the days since, as the critically wound-
ed Soudani has been recovering at Univer-
sity of Colorado Hospital, White said he
has asked himself why he risked his life to
save that of a woman hed met only once
before.
He spent 20 years in the Air Force, but it
wasnt his military experience kicking in. He
never saw combat or got shot at in two de-
cades of service that took him to Japan and
England and all over the U.S. It wasnt in-
stinct, either, or some innate tendency tohe-
roics. Asked if he had ever saved anyones
life before, White joked that he had maybe
saved a teddy bear from drowning as a kid,
but that was the closest he had come.
Its definitely not that he was ready to die
that night.
The best answer he has come up with
might make sense only to another parent.
I was thinking of my son, and of how
much they are in love. I didnt want that to
end. His son loved her, White said. I
couldnt let her get away.
Mike Jr. spent four days at University. He
was shot in the arm, but the bullet grazed a
lung and broke a rib before exiting his back.
Six days after the shooting, White took his
son to the dusty corner across the street
fromthe Aurora theater that had been filled
with flowers, candles and good wishes. His
right armwas still in a sling, and he moved a
little slowly in the blistering heat, but he
stopped in front of each victims name. He
was surprised, he said as the two men
walked away, at how much the pile of teddy
bears andthe kindwords people hadwritten
moved him.
Thensomeone askedhimwhat he thought
of his dad, and Mike White Jr. broke into a
grin.
Hes pretty great. But I always knewthat.
Karen Aug: 303-954-1733,
kauge@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/karenauge
By Michael Booth The Denver Post
The killer had walked on to shoot others. Ang-
giat Mora had to shoulder his wounded family.
Mora felt he hadalready escapeddisaster once,
in what suddenly seemed like a different life, and
maybe he didnt deserve that reprieve.
So there was no getting away fromthis one. Not
with his wife crying on the movie theater floor,
shot in three places.
Leave me here, Rita sobbed.
No, Im going to carry you, shouted Mora.
We go together.
And the small man, whose plane had taken off
froma Japanese airport just as last years tsunami
hit, hoistedRita onhis back andstaggered30feet.
He didnt stop until he sawthe warmwelcome of
flashing red-and-blue police lights.
Mora hadaneye out for his son, Patria, amidthe
heavy noxious gas and the flashes of light. Patria,
14, had moved a fewfeet away as they fled the ter-
ror of even more gunshots. But then Mora saw
himagain, as a young woman called for help with
a man shot in his leg.
He could have left, but he stopped to help,
Mora saidof his son. They carriedtheir wounded
mom and a complete stranger until Mora
was out of breath, andhis sonneededtoshowhim
something.
Patria lifted up his shirt and showed his father
another gunshot wound.
Asked whether carrying Rita was unusual
somehow, Mora says: No, no, no, no. I was not a
hero to help my family. I needed to help my fami-
ly.
ANGGIAT MORA | HELPI NG HI S FAMI LY
Imgoing tocarryyou
Shooting victimRita Mora was carried fromthe theater by her
husband, Anggiat Mora. Rita was shot three times during the
attack, which left 12 dead. Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
6 the denver post B denverpost.com B sunday, july 29, 2012 HEROES AMONG US 3B
Center of Aurora Dr. Frank Lansville, you have
no idea howyoure going to react.
But, though there is no formula for bravery,
Cornell University psychology professor David
Dunning says valor is surprisingly a seedwe all
contain.
And it is a seed that can be nurtured.
What it takes is the experience to helpmedi-
cal training, crisis skills, even just a habit of doing
kind acts for others and an occasion to use it.
Thesethingscanbetrained. Theycanbepracticed.
The next open Mile High Red Cross class on
first aid and CPR starts Friday in Broomfield.
The Tuesday class is already full.
Take a look at the people who performedacts
of courage at the theater.
They are military veterans and people with
medical skills. They are the children of parents
who taught them to always help, no matter
where, no matter what.
Sometimes it was a choice that night, and
sometimes it was just a reflex. But every one of
themwas prepared for bravery.
Is it any wonder that Blunk toldfriends he ex-
pected to die valiantly?
People would be surprised when an oppor-
tunity arises, how much they might rise to the
occasion, Dunning says. People respond in
helpful ways more than they might think.
Courage is contagious. One person acting
bravely causes another to do so. We gain
strength fromone another. Even at the movies,
you are not really alone.
Outside the theater, bystanders stopping to
help inspired others to do the same. An Aurora
police officer began loading the wounded into
his cruiser todrive themtothe hospital himself.
Another followed his lead. And another.
At the hospital, teams of doctors and nurses
workedaggressively tofight back against death,
the belief of one amid the chaos fortifying the
belief of others. Of the 60 people 60 people
taken to the hospital that night, doctors and
nurses saved all but two.
I dont know what the it was that night,
says Lansville, the Aurora doctor. But it
worked.
For most of its duration, The Dark Knight
Rises is a story about a terrorist who thinks he
has won.
It isnt until the end when citizens step for-
ward to protect one another and police officers
showthebraverybehindthebadgethat heroes
emerge.
But the Aurora gunmandidnt needtowait un-
til theendtolearnthat. Hesawit playout infront
of himin real life.
Heroes arose before his eyes.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068,
Young women and men such as Jarell Brooks
stayed beside wounded friends or frightened
strangers vowing not to leave them even
though they themselves could flee.
You actually have to take into consideration
that helping this person might be the end,
Brooks would later say.
While people pushed out in a wave of panic,
Chris Lakota ran into the theater, toward the
danger. These words Unto the breach, dear
friends popped into his head as he did.
In the parking lot outside, Stephanie Rodri-
guez took off her belt and fashioned a tourni-
quet on the leg of a man screaming in pain.
Todd Peckham stopped his own escape
shouting down any fear inside him and
helped victims to safety. He held one mans
head as the man gushed blood.
Imanable-bodiedman, Peckhamsays now.
I was like, I gotta do this. I cant not be a part of
this.
Would I do that?
It is, perhaps, obvious that you dont know
what youhave inside of youuntil youare forced
to look.
Unless youre inthat situation, says Medical
HEROES
FROM 1B
MATT McQUI NN | A MI X OF HUMI LI TY AND COURAGE
Thats just the type
of personhe was
By Ray Mark Rinaldi The Denver Post
I
ts impossible to say now why Matt
McQuinnreactedthe way he didwhen
the shooting started that night at an
Aurora movie theater. Instead of pro-
tecting himself, the Ohio native pro-
tected another, his girlfriend, Samantha
Yowler.
He joined her brother, Nick, to form a hu-
manshield over her as a gunmantook aimat
the innocent.
Nick was uninjured. Samantha was shot in
the leg. Matt took three bullets and died.
People who knew McQuinn, 27, say it was
his natural way.
Thats just the type of person he was,
said longtime family friend Micaella Clay.
He was the first person I know who you
would call if you needed something.
One of the last times Clay saw McQuinn,
he was headed out the door to rescue a
friend with a flat tire.
Its a long way, though, from doing favors
to sacrificing a life, frombeing a nice guy to
choosing the ultimate act of chivalry, and
that is where those who knew about Mc-
Quinn will have to connect the dots.
And its not just friends and family, but ev-
eryone affected by the tragedy in any way,
who find hope in the notion that it brought
out the best in some.
By now, news accounts have detailed the
key facts.
McQuinn went to high school in Vandalia,
Ohio, a small, scattered Dayton suburb
caught somewhere between our traditional
and modern notions of middle America. It
has its Walmart superstore but also the old
doughnut shop, where people gather around
a counter and go through five trays of blue-
berries a day.
As a young adult, he was well-known in
nearby Springfield, where he was active in
Maiden Lane Church of God.
He and Samantha, also 27, worked at Tar-
get. Last November, the pair joined Nick
Yowler in Colorado, transferring to a Target
store not so far from the Century Aurora 16
movie theater.
The trail McQuinn left behind through
the testimony of acquaintances, social net-
works and stories offers some clues about
why he acted bravely when things turned
darkat a screeningof a Batmansequel July20.
In some ways, it seems simple. Im not
surprised at all about Matt, said David Ka-
sel, who went to school with McQuinn and
knew him since they were kids. McQuinn
wasnt one to steal the spotlight then, he
said. He was a sport, not a showoff.
He was very loyal, a good friend, Kasel
said.
The type of guy, yes, whowouldtake a bul-
let for you.
McQuinns own pages on Facebook and
MySpace offer a more complex portrait.
They have all those things youwouldexpect
froma kidwho grewupina Midwest setting
best described as usual. He had lots of
friends, and they clearly had some good
times; there is a lot of camaraderie and a lit-
tle beer in the picture. He was close to his
family, no doubt.
But he wasnt all the quiet type, either.
Clicking throughthe photos, another trait
something akin to nerve, even daring
emerges. His bottom lip was pierced twice
withmetal posts. Facial hair comes andgoes,
and there is a colorful parade of sunglasses
and ball caps. His musical favorites give a
nod to Michael Jackson but center more on
louder rock bands such as Avenged Seven-
fold. Matt took lots of pictures with his hand
heldup, index finger andpinkie pointedout,
heavy-metal style.
Its nothing too outrageous; it looks like
fun, actually.
But maybe it all adds up. Theres that bold
McQuinn, the one whodressedlike the Joker
on Halloween, friended Playboy Playmate
Kendra Wilkinson and tattoo TV star Kat
Von D, and liked motorcycles.
And theres the quiet McQuinn, who was
popular at church, whomKasel describes as
disinterested in the spotlight, a guy who
liked to laugh at other peoples jokes.
Amix of humility andcourage, of kindness
and audacity, of tradition and rebellion. The
type of guy, yes, who would take a bullet.
McQuinns friends are returning his loyal-
ty in the days following his death. Clay has
started a fund drive on the website givefor-
ward.org, and more than $11,000 has poured
in. They hope to raise more and spread the
generosity to the families of the other shoot-
ing victims.
Kasel, a graphic artist, has designed a T-
shirt that turns the Batman logo into two
Ms, a tribute to his old pal. McQuinns
mother asked for 30 of the shirts for family
and friends to wear as they grieve. He is giv-
ing themto her and will sell the rest to raise
money for burial costs (purchase via the
website signsteingraphics-com1.webs.com).
No one knows exactly why McQuinn rose
to the moment. But its clear that friends and
family want to rise up for him.
Ray Mark Rinaldi: 303-954-1540,
rrinaldi@denverpost.com or
twitter.com/rayrinaldi
Matt McQuinn poses with his girlfriend, Samantha Yowler, whomhe covered with his body to protect amid the horror at the Cen-
tury Aurora 16. Yowler, also shielded by her brother, Nick, was wounded. McQuinn was shot three times and died. The Associated Press
About the section
Section editor: Lee Ann Colacioppo
Design: Matt Swaney
Photography editor: Ken Lyons
Editing: Marcus Chamberland,
John Ealy, Dale Ulland, Vinny Vella,
Bob Willis
Research: Vickie Makings
Reporting: Karen Aug, Michael Booth,
Jennifer Brown, Eric Gorski,
Tegan Hanlan, John Ingold,
Ray Mark Rinaldi, Erin Udell
Photography: Joe Amon, Karl Gehring,
Helen H. Richardson, RJ Sangosti
2B HEROES AMONG US sunday, july 29, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 6
PA6f 3
Sunday, July 29
Jon Blunk, 26, was a lot of things among thema Navy veteran and
the father of two young children.
But he may always be remembered as the man who lost his life sav-
ing someone elses.
Blunk was attending the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight
Rises in Aurora with his girlfriend, Jansen Young, when a gunman
opened fire in the theater. Blunk responded immediately, telling
Young to get on the floor and pushing her under a seat.
According to Young, Blunk covered her body with his own as bul-
lets flewaround them.
Jon took a bullet for me, Young said.
His actions that night surprised no one.
He always said if he was ever going to die, he wanted to die a hero,
Blunks estanged wife, Chantel, told KNRV-TVin her hometown,
Reno, Nev. The couple was separated, but Chantel Blunk said Blunk
was a devoted father who wanted his kids to look up to him.
JON BLUNK
Alexander Jonathan Boik AJ to everyone who knewhimgraduat-
ed fromGateway High School barely two months before he was killed
in an Aurora movie theater.
The 18-year-old on the cusp of adulthood will be remembered by
his family for his warmand loving heart.
At a candlelight vigil days after his death, friends and family
many dressed in purple, Boiks favorite color described a young
man who was the life of the party. AJ could put a smile on anybodys
face, one friend said.
Boik loved pottery, played baseball in high school he was buried
with his catchers mitt and planned to attend the Rocky Mountain
College of Art and Design this fall. His dreamwas to teach art and
own a studio someday.
At AJs funeral, about 1,000 people heard his uncle John Hoover say
Boik wasnt the biggest guy but that he had a huge personality.
AJ BOIK
TODD PECKHAM AND JUSTI N BAKER | FRI ENDS HELP STRANGERS
Doyouneedhelp?
Are youOK?
By Ray Mark Rinaldi
The Denver Post
T
odd Peckham and Justin Baker
may have surprised themselves
when they dived into the chaos
unfolding at the Century Aurora
16 movie theater.
But they didnt surprise each other.
The two have been friends for four years.
They share a certain sort of common sense,
an admiration for each others character, re-
sourcefulness, honor. Each uses that to ex-
plain why it was natural for the other to en-
ter the bloody fray, to walk toward the mess
when someone yelled, Shots fired! rather
than away fromit.
Todd is amazing, said Baker, simply.
Imso proud of Justin, Peckhamsaid.
Together, PeckhamandBaker usheredvic-
tims tosafety, helpedthe woundedintovehi-
cles, held the heads and hands of people
whose bodies hadbeenravagedinthe shoot-
ing rampage. It was an experience that cost
theminthe days since the event, andmay-
be in the days that are to followsleep, se-
curity, confidence, calm.
Thetwomenshareakinship. Peckhamis 41,
Baker, 21. Peckham is a mentor, of sorts, for
Baker. He helped him out through school,
gave hima place to stay for a while.
If anyone wonders what kinds of adven-
tures bond the two of them, it might be this:
They were both up for the 10:20 p.m. show-
ing of the Spider-Man sequel in the Centu-
rys theater 15, a late screening of a block-
buster two weeks past its opening-weekend
prime.
They got there five minutes late and saw
the film through to the start of its closing
credits when the fire sirens went off. No big
deal, they thought, false alarm. They began
to gather their popcorn and bottled water.
Then, a movie-theater employee entered
and told them to get out now. His eyes
were big, scary, wet. Thats when I knew
something was wrong, Peckhamsaid.
That something became clear as they exit-
ed the building through a hazy hallway, ar-
rived outside and looked toward the theater
showing The Dark Knight Rises.
In a flash, there was just this mad rush
and we sawhundreds of people pouring out
of the north end, Peckhamsaid.
They spent the next 40 minutes in an
adrenaline-fueled rush, guiding victims
away fromwhatever was going oninthe the-
ater and toward a stand of trees on the edge
of the parking lot. Peckham saw a group of
people hovering arounda manwhohadbeen
shot inthe leg andbeganshouting orders for
themto bring himover.
I can be bossy, Peckhamsaid.
They laid the man down near a curb.
I held his head so it wouldnt hang off or
be on the cement, Peckhamsaid.
Baker jumped on his phone to call 911.
The manwas screaming, I have to call my
wife. I have to call my wife. He was asking
frantically about his friend Pierce, left be-
hind in the movie theater. All the while, an-
other helper, Stephanie Rodriguez, stead-
fastly kept pressure on the mans wound.
Whats your name? Peckhamasked.
Carey, the man said.
Whats your wifes name?
Jessica.
PeckhamcalmedCarey Rottmanby pledg-
ing tocall his wife onthe spot. He tappedher
number into his cellphone as Rottman dic-
tated. Just then, a police cruiser arrived, and
Peckham helped lift Rottman into the back
seat, holding a flashlight, pushing aside seat
belts. The car rushed off.
Peckham went to dial his phone, but the
number had vanished fromhis screen.
I didnt have a chance to save it, and it
killed me because I had promised this guy,
Peckhamsaid.
The pair plungedback intothe darkness of
the parking lot. Victims were scattered
about, on phones, in groups. Some were
bleeding.
They saw two young women walking
aside the theater. One of them collapsed.
They ran over. I put her arm around my
shoulder and my hand around her waist,
Peckham said, and she screamed out, My
right side, dont touch my right side!
She had been shot.
He scooped up Allie Young and maneu-
vered her to a safe area while her friend,
Stephanie Davis, put pressure on her
wounds. They placedher onthe groundnext
toanother manwhohadbeenshot. Her head
rested in Bakers lap.
A police officer walked toward them. He
was clutching a little girl tohis chest. She was
limp, like a rag doll. Quickly, they flagged an
ambulance and returned to the crowd.
We went through the parking lot and
askedeveryone that was there, Do youneed
help? Are you OK? Peckhamsaid.
By then, the area was filling withemergen-
cy crews, and there was a sense of minimal
safety, as Baker puts it. It was time toget out
of the way. They walked over to Peckhams
NissanZ, drove thoughthe police barricades
that had been set up and went home.
There was little sleepthat night andplenty
of questions. The next day, they were
hooked on news accounts of the shooting.
They grew more and more worried about
the people they had seen.
Bit by bit, they pieced some of it together.
They sawa story about Rottmanandlearned
he survived. They connected with Rodri-
guez and shared their experiences.
They heard a woman being interviewed
on TV and recognized her voice. It was
Young. She was safe too. Hospital visits fol-
lowed.
Still, they wonder about the little girl. Was
she the child shot and killed? Which of the
other murky faces they encounteredmade it
through, or didnt?
The questions are not so easily put away.
Both men hold on to a sense of urgency.
They want people to understand all of
what happened that night and for the story
of braver acts to be heard. They want every-
one to know about Rodriguezs strength,
Rottmans concern for others when he was
injured himself.
They want people to know that a veteran
hairstylist and a Starbucks barista did what
they could, that something like this is big-
ger than what one person created and the
evil that he brought there, said Peckham,
who owns Fix salon in Cherry Creek North.
That light always beats dark.
Theres a burden in that, and it weighs
heavily. Both have reached out for counsel-
ing. Baker went to a meeting that Starbucks
quickly arranged for three employees who
were at the scene. Managers and counselors
offered to assist.
In a sense they are victims too, even if it
was their decision to enter the fray.
Friends have tried to tell them that their
reaction was natural, that they are the kind
of guys who are always there for others,
goodpeople whohadnochoice but todothe
right thing.
But thats not entirely true. It was a choice.
They remember making it.
Peckham: I took a moment and know in
my head theres a switch on and off, on
and off that says, What do you do, what
do you do, what do you do, what do you do?
What do you do?
And they did what they did.
Justin Baker, left, and Todd Peckham, who had been watching a movie in another theater, guided victims toward safety and treatment. Photos by RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
WE WILL REMEMBER
Jon Blunk, pictured with his children Maximus and Hailey, wanted to be a Navy SEAL. His girlfriend said he showed no
sign of fear during the theater shooting. Reuters
JON BLUNK | FATHER OF TWO DI ED PROTECTI NG HI S GI RLFRI END
The situations inmylife
made me the manI am
J
on Blunk knewinstantly that it was real.
Blunk wasnt fooled.
His girlfriend, JansenYoung, has saidthat
whena bombor something flewupbehind
us, Blunk reacted immediately.
She hadnt yet processedwhat shedheard
and seen, so when he pushed her to the floor she
asked, Why, whats going on?
Out in the parking lot, a handgun, part of
Blunks firearms collection, lay in his car.
In some ways, a good portion of Blunks 26
years were preparation for the moment when a
gunman marched up and down the dark aisles of
the Century Aurora 16 theater.
When he was a toddler, his mother took off,
leaving Blunks dad to raise him alone, said his
friend Kyle Dawson. Growing up in Englewood,
Blunk believed his mother was dead, Dawson
said.
He was a teenager, living in Reno, Nev., before
he learned she was alive and that he had half-
brothers and a half-sister.
Dawson heard bits and pieces of Blunks early
life onlong shifts together whenthe twowere de-
ployed on the nuclear super carrier USS Nimitz.
What Dawson never heard, he said, was a com-
plaint about it out of his friend.
He just said, The situations in my life made
me the man I am, Dawson said.
Just out of high school, Blunk joined the Navy.
By 20, he was married to his high school sweet-
heart, Chantel; at 21, he was a father.
Id never seen happiness in his face like when
his first childcame into the world, saidDawson,
who is godfather to Hailey, now 4. By the time
his daughter was 6 months old, he was, like, I
want a son.
Blunk picked out a name for his boy.
Before long, he had a tattoo on his back that
was his sons initials, Dawson said.
Sure enough, a year solater, Chantel gave birth,
and the baby boy was christened with Blunks
chosen name: Maximus.
Blunk warned Chantel early on that he
wouldnt be a 9-to-5, home-every-night kind of
husband and father, Dawson said. Even the job
the Navy gave him, working onthe Nimitzs pow-
er plant, didnt satisfy his appetite for a life out-
side everyone elses comfort zone.
What he really wanted was to be a Navy SEAL,
Dawson said. But he was afraid if he applied and
didnt get accepted for SEAL training, he could
wind up back on a power-plant crew for four
years.
Soin2009, he left the Navy andset his sights on
becoming a police officer not to be a guy writ-
ing traffic tickets, as Dawson put it. He wanted
to be on a SWATteam, he said.
He brought his wife and kids to Colorado, the
home state hed missed since he left as a kid. But
this time, things didnt go as Blunk planned. A
couple of teenage screw-ups stood in the way of
his plans to become a police officer, so he redi-
rected his energy toward getting back into the
Navy and into SEAL training.
His relationshipwithChantel frayed, andeven-
tually she took the kids and went back to Reno,
where she planned to stay until he got his act to-
gether, Dawson said.
The man she struggled with and the man she
married was never a guy who picked a fight, but
neither was he a guy to back off fromone.
Once, ina Navy-base weight room, a manDaw-
son said was at least 300 pounds with arms like
two anacondas was firing off critiques, and not
in a helpful way, of other guys lifting technique
and skill.
Everybody inthe place was intimidated, except
Blunk. Jongot inhis face andtoldhimto be quiet,
Dawson said and got those arms around his
neck for his trouble.
You wouldnt think anybody in his right mind
would bite off a piece of that, Dawson said.
Maybe, Dawson said, a kid whose mom leaves
him has nothing left to fear. In any case, there
wasnt much in any situation that could scare
him.
If he was scared in the theater in the early
morning of July 20, he gave no sign of it.
A lot of people have asked Dawson if hes sur-
prised by what Blunk did inthat theater. Nothing
could be further fromreality.
As the shooter walked up the aisle, firing at
people who were screaming and running away,
JansenYoung has said, Blunk pushedme farther
under the seats, still protecting her, telling her to
be quiet and stay down.
He kept pushing, Young told NBC. And then,
she didnt feel himpushing anymore.
Dawson and Blunk had talked about how they
would react if, say, they were in a bank when a
robber came in waving a gun.
We talked about how he would love to be the
person in that situation who would step up,
Dawson said.
Whether he ever considered that his bravery
might leave his kids, whomhe planned to see the
weekendafter he died, without their dad, he nev-
er talked about that, Dawson said.
He said, Everybodys going to die. Idbe more
than happy to die doing something or protecting
somebody other than myself.
Karen Aug: 303-954-1733,
kauge@denverpost.com
or twitter.com/karenauge
Jansen Young survived the Aurora shooting rampage when her boyfriend, Jon Blunk, sacrificed
his own life by shielding her fromthe bullets and shrapnel flying around the movie theater.
Photo courtesy of the Young family
Online.
Viewslide shows
and watch a
video interview
with some of
those profiled in
this section.
denverpost.com/
heroes
Read previous
coverage of the
Aurora theater
shootings.
denverpost.com/
theatershooting
PA6f 4
Sunday, July 29
Staff Sgt. Jesse Childress who served his country in the military
and loved sports and superheroes died trying to save a friend.
Childress, 29, whoma friend lovingly called a big nerd, was fatally
wounded when he dived in front of a female Air Force member
stationed with himat Buckley Air Force Base.
Childress, of Thornton, worked as a cybersystems operator and was
on active-duty orders in the 310th Force Support Squadron, according
to the Air Force Reserve Command. His friends said Childress
worked with the bases computer systems.
He played sports with friends nearly every day of the week soft-
ball, bowling, flag football. He trained for a Tough Mudder race,
which he completed last month with colleagues fromBuckley.
He was a huge part of our unit, and this is a terrible loss, said an
Air Force sergeant who stopped by the memorial site near the theater.
The person that did this was an incredible coward.
STAFF SGT. JESSE CHILDRESS
Gordon Cowden, 51, was the oldest of the victims. He was a small-
business owner raising four kids who lived with himpart time: Kris-
tian, 21, a student at Colorado State University; Weston, 20, attending
the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy; Brooke, 17; and Cierra, 16. Two of
his girls were in the theater with himthat night. Cowdens family de-
scribed himas a loving father, a quick-witted world traveler with a
keen sense of humor, an outdoorsman and a true Texas gentleman
that loved life and his family.
He will be rememberedfor his devotiontohis childrenandfor always
trying his best todothe right thing, nomatter the obstacle, they said.
Cowden was laid to rest Friday in his native Texas, two days after a
memorial service in downtown Denver. Cowden owned a real-estate-
appraisal business and loved to hunt, ski and tell funny stories,
according to his obituary in the Austin American-Statesman. Above
all, he loved spending time with his four children, it said.
GORDON COWDEN
STEPHANI E RODRIGUEZ | A 17- YEAR- OLD S SELFLESS ACTI ONS
She hadthe strength
of 10,000men
After fleeing the Aurora theater, 17-year-old Stephanie Rodriguez stopped to help a man who was shot in the leg. She used her belt as a tourniquet. RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
By Jennifer Brown The Denver Post
I
nstead of running for her life, Stepha-
nie Rodriguez ran to him, the man
who collapsedoutside the theater and
lay on the pavement, screaming.
My leg! Help me! he yelled, pan-
icking.
The 17-year-old girl knelt beside him and
pushed her hands on his thigh, trying to stop
therushof bloodlikeshehadseendoctors do
on Greys Anatomy. She took off her belt,
the one with the silver buckle she had picked
out that night to go with her Hollister shirt,
and tied it like a shoelace around his leg.
Then Stephanie lifted the mans wounded
leg, while her brother supported his other
leg and two strangers cradled his torso.
They dragged himout of the parking lot and
to a grassy spot where he wouldnt get run
over by one of the fleeing cars.
Somany others hadrunright past the man
before Stephanie came.
She wouldfindout later his name is Carey
Rottman.
Stephanie, a Gateway High School senior
whothinks about becomingapoliceofficer or
anurse, was calmevenas astrangers blood
covered her hands and stained her jeans.
She had the strength of 10,000 men, and
shes 17 and shes little and shes beautiful,
said Todd Peckham, who was also helping
victims that night. He was inspired by the
girl with long eyelashes and thick, dark hair,
the girl who didnt flinch whenshe put pres-
sure on a gunshot wound with her bare
hands.
It was adrenaline, Stephanie said. I
wasnt sure what was going on, and I hadnt
processed it yet. My first reaction was to
help him.
Stephanie hadnt really wanted to see the
new Batman movie. Her older brother
talkedher intogoing withhimandtwoof his
friends.
Like the others, she saw a figure enter
through the emergency exit door beside the
screen. She saw the man in the seat in front
of her throwup his hands, batting at the gas
canister flying throughthe darkness. It land-
ed in the row in front of her, about halfway
up the theater on the left side.
Andshe sawthe flash of white light streak
out of the gun each time the gunman fired.
Stephanies 20-year-oldbrother, Chris Ra-
mos, grabbed her arm and pulled her to the
floor. I cant believe this is happening, he
kept saying. Weve got to get out of here.
The shooting stopped, and Stephanie and
Chris tried to escape. But the terror began
again within a couple of seconds. Stephanie
hit the floor and crawled back into her row.
She prayed: Dear God, please help us. Let
all of us get out.
She remembers a man standing up and
staring at the shooter, frozen with fear. She
heard a girl screaming, Dad! Dad! but no
one answered.
She hoped someone would stop the gun-
man before he got anyone else.
When the shooting stopped again, briefly,
Stephanie stood and joined the rush of peo-
ple clambering down the stairs toward the
exit. She lost her brother and hoped he was
somewhere in the sea of people pushing
down the stairs.
She wont forget the woman she couldnt
help.
The womans legs were inside a row of
seats, her upper body in the aisle, face up,
eyes closed.
Stephanies instinct told her to stop, to try
to pick her up, but people were pushing
frombehind. In the panic, amid the screams
and people shouting, Go! Go! Get out! the
crowd stepped on the woman in the aisle.
Outside in the parking lot, Stephanie and
her brother stayed with Rottman, 27, until
police set him in a squad car and drove him
to the Medical Center of Aurora.
He stayed on my mind all night, Stepha-
nie said.
The next day, she decidedto findhim. She
commented on an online 9News story that
mentioned Rottman, introducing herself
and asking if he was doing OK. Then they
connected through Facebook.
When she walked into Rottmans hospital
room, his father grabbed her and squeezed.
His mother asked Stephanie how old she
was.
I told his mom I just turned 17, and she
just burst into tears, she said.
Stephanie, who wears hot-pink flip-flops
and blue glittery nail polish, said her mom
has always taught her to help other people,
whether they need money or kindness. Her
mother, Violet Duran, saidStephanies char-
acter was tested that night, and her actions
were selfless.
I dont feel any different, Stephanie said.
In my heart, I feel really proud of myself. I
see myself as human.
One of the friends who had gone to the
movies with Stephanie and Chris called
their mother minutes after the shooting,
telling her they had been separated and
didnt knowwhere they were.
Duran was eating with her boyfriend. She
stood up fromthe table, and her body began
to shake.
Her boyfriend drove her as close to the
theater as they could get. She jumped out of
the car and ran six blocks, as fast as she
could. She didnt stop shaking until she
found her children in the crowd.
Since that night, Stephanies brother
keeps apologizing for taking her to the mov-
ie. He went to see it again at another theater
andstartedto cry 20minutes in, after seeing
the scene now forever linked with the most
terrifying day of his life.
He woke upina panic a fewnights ago, the
theater in his nightmares.
Stephanie thought she was handling it fine
until a loud pop outside her house made her
crouchdownandput her armover her head.
She burst into tears.
And the morning after the shootings,
Stephanie woke up in a fog at about 5 a.m.,
her cellphone in her hand. On the screen, it
was ticking off the minutes since she had
placed her last call, still on the line.
She had called 911 in her sleep.
WE WILL REMEMBER
Jon Blunk, 26, was a lot of things among thema Navy veteran and
the father of two young children.
But he may always be remembered as the man who lost his life sav-
ing someone elses.
Blunk was attending the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight
Rises in Aurora with his girlfriend, Jansen Young, when a gunman
opened fire in the theater. Blunk responded immediately, telling
Young to get on the floor and pushing her under a seat.
According to Young, Blunk covered her body with his own as bul-
lets flewaround them.
Jon took a bullet for me, Young said.
His actions that night surprised no one.
He always said if he was ever going to die, he wanted to die a hero,
Blunks estanged wife, Chantel, told KNRV-TVin her hometown,
Reno, Nev. The couple was separated, but Chantel Blunk said Blunk
was a devoted father who wanted his kids to look up to him.
JON BLUNK
Alexander Jonathan Boik AJ to everyone who knewhimgraduat-
ed fromGateway High School barely two months before he was killed
in an Aurora movie theater.
The 18-year-old on the cusp of adulthood will be remembered by
his family for his warmand loving heart.
At a candlelight vigil days after his death, friends and family
many dressed in purple, Boiks favorite color described a young
man who was the life of the party. AJ could put a smile on anybodys
face, one friend said.
Boik loved pottery, played baseball in high school he was buried
with his catchers mitt and planned to attend the Rocky Mountain
College of Art and Design this fall. His dreamwas to teach art and
own a studio someday.
At AJs funeral, about 1,000 people heard his uncle John Hoover say
Boik wasnt the biggest guy but that he had a huge personality.
AJ BOIK
TODD PECKHAM AND JUSTI N BAKER | FRI ENDS HELP STRANGERS
Doyouneedhelp?
Are youOK?
By Ray Mark Rinaldi
The Denver Post
T
odd Peckham and Justin Baker
may have surprised themselves
when they dived into the chaos
unfolding at the Century Aurora
16 movie theater.
The two have been friends for four years.
They share a certain sort of common sense,
an admiration for each others character, re-
sourcefulness, honor. Each uses that to ex-
plain why it was natural for the other to en-
ter the bloody fray, to walk toward the mess
when someone yelled, Shots fired! rather
than away fromit.
Imso proud of Justin, Peckhamsaid.
Together, PeckhamandBaker usheredvic-
tims tosafety, helpedthe woundedintovehi-
cles, held the heads and hands of people
whose bodies hadbeenravagedinthe shoot-
ing rampage. It was an experience that cost
theminthe days since the event, andmay-
be in the days that are to followsleep, se-
curity, confidence, calm.
Thetwomenshareakinship. Peckhamis 41,
Baker, 21. Peckham is a mentor, of sorts, for
Baker. He helped him out through school,
gave hima place to stay for a while.
If anyone wonders what kinds of adven-
tures bond the two of them, it might be this:
They were both up for the 10:20 p.m. show-
ing of the Spider-Man sequel in the Centu-
rys theater 15, a late screening of a block-
buster two weeks past its opening-weekend
prime.
They got there five minutes late and saw
the film through to the start of its closing
credits when the fire sirens went off. No big
deal, they thought, false alarm. They began
to gather their popcorn and bottled water.
Then, a movie-theater employee entered
and told them to get out now. His eyes
were big, scary, wet. Thats when I knew
something was wrong, Peckhamsaid.
That something became clear as they exit-
ed the building through a hazy hallway, ar-
rived outside and looked toward the theater
showing The Dark Knight Rises.
In a flash, there was just this mad rush
and we sawhundreds of people pouring out
of the north end, Peckhamsaid.
They spent the next 40 minutes in an
adrenaline-fueled rush, guiding victims
away fromwhatever was going oninthe the-
ater and toward a stand of trees on the edge
of the parking lot. Peckham saw a group of
people hovering arounda manwhohadbeen
shot inthe leg andbeganshouting orders for
themto bring himover.
I can be bossy, Peckhamsaid.
I held his head so it wouldnt hang off or
be on the cement, Peckhamsaid.
The manwas screaming, I have to call my
wife. I have to call my wife. He was asking
frantically about his friend Pierce, left be-
hind in the movie theater. All the while, an-
other helper, Stephanie Rodriguez, stead-
fastly kept pressure on the mans wound.
Whats your name? Peckhamasked.
Jessica.
PeckhamcalmedCarey Rottmanby pledg-
ing tocall his wife onthe spot. He tappedher
number into his cellphone as Rottman dic-
tated. Just then, a police cruiser arrived, and
Peckham helped lift Rottman into the back
seat, holding a flashlight, pushing aside seat
belts. The car rushed off.
Peckham went to dial his phone, but the
number had vanished fromhis screen.
I didnt have a chance to save it, and it
killed me because I had promised this guy,
Peckhamsaid.
The pair plungedback intothe darkness of
the parking lot. Victims were scattered
about, on phones, in groups. Some were
bleeding.
They saw two young women walking
aside the theater. One of them collapsed.
They ran over. I put her arm around my
shoulder and my hand around her waist,
Peckham said, and she screamed out, My
right side, dont touch my right side!
She had been shot.
He scooped up Allie Young and maneu-
vered her to a safe area while her friend,
Stephanie Davis, put pressure on her
wounds. They placedher onthe groundnext
toanother manwhohadbeenshot. Her head
rested in Bakers lap.
A police officer walked toward them. He
was clutching a little girl tohis chest. She was
limp, like a rag doll. Quickly, they flagged an
ambulance and returned to the crowd.
We went through the parking lot and
askedeveryone that was there, Do youneed
help? Are you OK? Peckhamsaid.
By then, the area was filling withemergen-
cy crews, and there was a sense of minimal
safety, as Baker puts it. It was time toget out
of the way. They walked over to Peckhams
NissanZ, drove thoughthe police barricades
that had been set up and went home.
There was little sleepthat night andplenty
of questions. The next day, they were
hooked on news accounts of the shooting.
They grew more and more worried about
the people they had seen.
Bit by bit, they pieced some of it together.
They sawa story about Rottmanandlearned
he survived. They connected with Rodri-
guez and shared their experiences.
They heard a woman being interviewed
on TV and recognized her voice. It was
Young. She was safe too. Hospital visits fol-
lowed.
Still, they wonder about the little girl. Was
she the child shot and killed? Which of the
other murky faces they encounteredmade it
through, or didnt?
The questions are not so easily put away.
Both men hold on to a sense of urgency.
They want people to understand all of
what happened that night and for the story
of braver acts to be heard. They want every-
one to know about Rodriguezs strength,
Rottmans concern for others when he was
injured himself.
They want people to know that a veteran
hairstylist and a Starbucks barista did what
they could, that something like this is big-
ger than what one person created and the
evil that he brought there, said Peckham,
who owns Fix salon in Cherry Creek North.
That light always beats dark.
Theres a burden in that, and it weighs
heavily. Both have reached out for counsel-
ing. Baker went to a meeting that Starbucks
quickly arranged for three employees who
were at the scene. Managers and counselors
offered to assist.
In a sense they are victims too, even if it
was their decision to enter the fray.
Friends have tried to tell them that their
reaction was natural, that they are the kind
of guys who are always there for others,
goodpeople whohadnochoice but todothe
right thing.
But thats not entirely true. It was a choice.
They remember making it.
Peckham: I took a moment and know in
my head theres a switch on and off, on
and off that says, What do you do, what
do you do, what do you do, what do you do?
What do you do?
Justin Baker, left, and Todd Peckham, who had been watching a movie in another theater, guided victims toward safety and treatment. Photos by RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
WE WILL REMEMBER
PA6f 5
Sunday, July 29
Matt McQuinn, who had moved to Colorado with his girlfriend just a
fewmonths ago, died shielding her fromgunfire.
When the shooting started, McQuinn, 27, protected Samantha
Yowler. The two had worked together at a Target store in Ohio, then
both transferred in November to work for a Target in Aurora.
Yowlers brother, Nick, also helped forma shield to protect her. He
was uninjured, while Samantha was shot in the leg.
McQuinn was shot three times.
Imnot surprised at all about Matt, said David Kasel, who went to
school with McQuinn. He was very loyal , a good friend.
McQuinn graduated fromVandalia-Butler High School, in a suburb
of Dayton, Ohio, in 2004.
He met Yowler while the two were working at a Target in Spring-
field, Ohio. McQuinn was active in the Maiden Lane Church of God in
Springfield.
MATT McQUINN
People knewher as Cayla. A23-year-old who described herself as
simple and independent, Micayla Medek was just trying to get her
life together while still having fun. Ajoyful spirit, Medek had a love
for hot pink, Hello Kitty and the magic of fairies.
She spent every Thursday night eating dinner with her dad.
Medek, a graduate of WilliamC. Hinkley High School in Aurora,
worked as a Subway sandwich artist. She took classes at the Com-
munity College of Aurora through last fall.
Those who knewMedek loved her tolerant philosophy of life,
which was captured in a quote fromher printed in the programat her
memorial: Were all a little weird. And lifes a little weird. And when
we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join
up in mutual weirdness and call it love.
Medek, the youngest of three children, was known for her radiant
spirit, infectious laughter and willingness to help others, family and
friends said.
MICAYLA MEDEK
JARELL BROOKS | HE KNEW HE HAD TO HELP
Younever knowwhat youre
going todoina situation
WE WILL REMEMBER
Jarell Brooks helped a mother and her two children escape. The 18-year-old was shot in the leg as he put himself between the gunman and the family. Joe Amon, The Denver Post
J
arell Brooks was raisedtofear God, re-
spect women and make good deci-
sions.
Confident and calm, the son of a
pastor, he punctuates answers with
Yes, sir, and wont let girls pick up
the check, ever.
He rapped about sandboxes and swings
when he was in fourth grade and wrote love
songs when he was in middle school.
On the night of July 19, meeting a friend at
the Century Aurora 16 theater, Jarell was
standing onthe cuspof manhood18 years
old and 6 feet, 4 inches tall, about to start
college and a newchapter.
He noticed a young family coming up the
aisle, a manandwomanintheir mid-20s, the
woman holding the hand of a little girl in a
Spider-Mancap, the mancradling aninfant.
All wore Batman shirts.
Jarell didnot questionas others have
why parents would bring such small chil-
dren to a violent midnight movie.
He thought it was nice to see a family do-
ing something together.
Around him, moviegoers played cards to
pass the time.
Jarell played a game of hangman on his
Android phone.
The next time he saw the young mother,
the room was filled with smoke, people
were screaming, and hard decisions were
being made.
Their seats were near the rear of the the-
ater, about six rows down from the projec-
tionroom. Whenthe shooting started, Jarell
ducked behind the seat in front of him and
made sure his friend was safe.
As he started to crawl toward the exit, he
bumped into the young mother. She was
clutching her children, too scared to move.
Its just me and my two kids, she said.
Up until that moment, Jarell said, he was
of singular focus, thinking only of getting
himself out. Seeing the young family, it was
as if he was jarredintoremembering whohe
was raised to be.
You never knowwhat youre going to do
in a situation, he said. For someone to say
anything about it, unless you are in that
moment, in that crunch time, you never
knowwhat you are going to do.
Whensomeone is shooting, you get out,
he continued. But when I sawher, I kind of
hadto take a 180. Youhave to helpthis wom-
an. You cant live with yourself knowing a
family was hurt or killed.
Jarell crawled alongside the woman and
children, shielding them from the gunman
firing into the crowd from the other side of
the theater. He began to guide them out,
crawling little by little.
When the woman began to stand, so did
Jarell. There was another flash. Almost im-
mediately, he felt a sharp pain in his left leg.
He triedto steady himself andfell. He saw
blood and a hole in his leg.
The bullet had entered his thigh, turned
and danced, and exited belowhis knee. The
shrapnel struck the woman he was shield-
ing, spraying her right leg fromthe ankle to
the upper thigh.
He triedtostandup, move the womanand
her children along, and keep a hand on his
wound, all at the same time.
Then all were out, safe but separated, Jar-
ell hopping on one foot and losing a lot of
blood. Strangers helped him to a car, para-
medics tended to his injuries, and he was
taken to Denver Health.
The next day, as news reporters sought
out survivors stories, Jarell learned the
names of the young family he helped save: a
25-year-old schoolteacher named Patricia
Legarreta; her 4-year-olddaughter, Azariah;
and 4-month-old Ethan. The children were
unharmed.
In the terror of the theater, the three had
become separatedfromPatricias fianc and
Ethans father, Jamie Rohrs, also 25.
In interviews, Rohrs has described hur-
dling over a rowof seats and running for his
life, disoriented and unable to find his
family.
I dont blame himfor that at all, said Jar-
ell, who graduated from Overland High
School this year and will begin studies at
Metropolitan State University in Denver
this fall. Someone is shooting in a closed
space. His life is onthe line. Youre ina panic
situation.
Jarells actions have inspired tributes on
Facebook and a fundraising campaign to
helpcover his medical andschool expenses.
The leg injury is keeping himfromhis cater-
ing job at Elitch Gardens.
On the Sunday after the shooting, the
young family Jarell helped rescue attended
services at New Life Worship Center in
Commerce City, where Jarells father, Jef-
frey, is the senior pastor.
During a prayer of thanksgiving, the fami-
ly came forward. God had a plan in putting
Jarell where he did, the pastor said.
Back at his familys apartment in Aurora,
Jarell Brooks rested and recovered, replay-
ing in his mind the choices he made in
theater 9.
Eric Gorski: 303-954-1971,
twitter.com/egorski
The 24-year-old wanted to be a sports journalist and came to Colo-
rado to pursue that goal. She worked here for 104.3 The Fan, where
she impressed people with her liveliness and hard work.
When fire destroyed many homes in Colorado last month, Ghawi
decided to start collecting donated hockey equipment for kids who
had lost theirs.
She wanted to help. Thats the type of heart she had, her brother
Jordan Ghawi told 9News.
In June, Ghawi was in Toronto, where she walked out of a shopping-
mall food court moments before a gunman shot seven people there.
Writing as Jessica Redfield in a June 5 blog entry, she described how
that reminded her howblessed I amfor each second I amgiven.
Every second of every day is a gift, she wrote.
JESSICA GHAWI
John Thomas Larimer stood ready to be deployed to dangerous cor-
ners of the world for two simple reasons, his girlfriend recalled: to
protect his country and to save others fromharm.
The 27-year-old Navy sailor died shielding his girlfriend, Kelley
Vojtsek, froma barrage of bullets in a place that is supposed to be
safe.
Larimer will be remembered for his kindness and position as an
outstanding shipmate, friends said. Avalued member of our Navy
team, he will be missed by all who knewhim, said his commanding
officer.
Larimer joined the Navy in June 2011 and was a cryptologic techni-
cian 3rd class. For the past year, he had been stationed at the U.S. Fleet
Cyber Command station at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora.
The youngest of five children, Larimer was fromCrystal Lake, Ill., a
suburb of Chicago.
JOHN LARIMER
EMMA GOOS | COMFORT FOR A STRANGER
I was terrifiedthis would
steal myfaithinhumanity
WE WILL REMEMBER
O
utside the theater, just as the
first squad cars arrived, Emma
Goos encountered the man
who thought he had a hole in
his head.
He stood alone, his right arm limp, beg-
ging for help.
He had short-cropped hair and a blue
shirt. His face was so covered in blood,
Emma couldnt make out any distinguish-
able features.
Is there a hole in my head? he said.
She was no doctor. She was a college kid
home for summer break, a girl with a nose
ring and straight blond hair and a book of
fairy tales in the bag she had left behind in
the theater when she ran for her life.
Blood poured from the right side of the
mans head and down his arm.
He did not have a hole in his head.
As best as Emma could tell, he had been
grazed by a bullet. She thought how she
might help him.
Youre OK, the 19-year-old girl told the
stranger.
The outing was to be the beginning of a
weekend birthday celebration for a friend.
Six of them met for the premiere, Emma
wearing a green striped sweater and purple
hat, the color scheme of the Riddler.
There was a buzz in the theater, a sense of
communal anticipation, of seeing something
first, when the rest of the world is asleep.
Even after the shooting started, Goos
thought it was a theater-sponsored stunt.
She expecteda character dressedas Batman
to come down the stairs at any moment and
punch out the villain.
Get down! one of her friends yelled.
Goos entire rowhit the floor.
When the gunman, several rows above
them, paused, her group ran.
She slipped on a pool of popcorn butter,
banged her face on a seat and fell to the car-
pet. One of her shoes came off.
Outside, the parking lot was chaos.
The man was to her right.
He was leaning against a patrol car that
had just arrived.
The police officers rushed past him, guns
drawn, in pursuit of the shooter.
Help me, the man said.
The people closest stood against the the-
aters brick wall, dumbstruck.
No one else had stopped to help him,
Goos said. No one had even answered him
or sort of acknowledgedthat he was covered
in blood. If I was in his position, I would be
terrified. I wouldhave wantedsomeone toat
least say, Hi. Youre still alive. ... Ill try to
help you while I can.
She took a closer look at his head wound.
She sawtissue and cringed.
Is there a hole in my head?
She stuttered and stumbled.
Youre OK. I dont think youre going to
die.
She helped the man remove his shirt. He
couldnt raise his right arm, so Goos lifted it
for him. She pressed the blue cotton T-shirt
against where a knot onhis headhadswelled
to the size of a goose egg.
I had no idea what to do, Goos said. I
had no idea whether telling himto put pres-
sure onthe woundwas good. But I thought it
was better than him standing there waiting
for the paramedics alone.
Later, Goos considered what had caused
her to stop and help.
She thought about her mother, the woman
who before Goos was born had been an
emergency medical technician and a fire-
fighter, someone who never seemed scared
when her clumsy, reckless kid broke both
arms falling off a scooter or busted her nose
diving into a pool.
She thought about her own coming of age
as a budding actor at Hinkley HighSchool in
Aurora, where playing the role of Anita in
West Side Story gave her license to be
strong and independent too.
She thought about her just-completed
freshman year at St. Johns College in Santa
Fe, of studying Greek philosophers and
mathematicians, of Aristotles ideas about
the virtuous man.
She carries a book with her everywhere,
always. Onthe night of the shooting, it was a
volume of fairy tales by Oscar Wilde. She
readit while onbreak fromher jobat a mom-
and-pop pizza joint before the movie.
No matter how Goos tried to reassure the
man, howshe answereddifferently, he repeat-
edit againandagain, like a recordskipping.
The shirt pressed to his head had become
soaked with blood.
Goos calmed the man down, helped him
elevate his arm and told him she was going
to look for something to replace the shirt
and be right back.
Bythe time she returned, paramedics were
swarmingaroundtheman. Shewalkedbyand
nodded, but he probably didnt see her.
She never learned his name.
She never found out what happened to
him.
Goos reached her mother on the phone
and told her there had been a shooting, that
she couldnt find her friends.
Her mother and stepfather live just a few
minutes away and arrived before the police
blockades went up. She foundher friends, all
unhurt.
That night, I was terrified this would
steal my faith in humanity, Goos said. Ev-
eryone will live their life ona fewbasic prin-
ciples of I love my family, I love my neigh-
bor. ... You will have a trust in other people.
We all have the human condition. We all
have to establish some kind of common
ground betweenus, and the violationof that
common ground is really hard to come back
from for people who have lost loved ones,
who have been injured, to those who got out
all right and wonder why.
Acouple of days later, Goos went to the Au-
rora police station. She had been told to come
there tolook for what she hadleft behind.
Her bag with the Oscar Wilde book. Her
lost shoe.
Someone brought out a box of shoes, so
many tossed together, scuffed and covered
with dirt or worse. It reminded Goos of the
piles of shoes belonging to victims of the
Nazi concentration camps.
Symbols of anonymous suffering, she
called them.
She found her lost shoe and went home.
Eric Gorski: 303-954-1971,
twitter.com/egorski
Emma Goos, 19, escaped injury in the Aurora theater shooting when the gunman passed her row. Goos later stopped to comfort
a man who had a wound to his head. She was never able to find out his name. Joe Amon, The Denver Post
LAW ENFORCEMENT | ACTI ONS SPEAK LOUDLY
Were loading patients into back of PDcars
Do I have permission to take some of these victims via car?
I have a whole bunch of people shot out here and no rescue.
an unidentified Aurora police officer
At the scene of the largest mass shooting in U.S. history, po-
lice assumed roles both familiar and not: running toward dan-
ger tofindthe shooter, figuring out whether he actedalone, an-
swering questions from the panicked and injured, using their
squad cars as ambulances.
Aurora officers arrived within 90 seconds of the dispatch
center getting deluged with the first calls at 12:39 a.m., authori-
ties have said.
Because of a judges gag order preventing authorities from
discussing the case, Aurora police declined requests to inter-
viewofficers whohelpedthe injuredat the Century 16theaters.
Bits andpieces of their stories reside inthe memories of vic-
tims and hospital staff and on the terrifying dispatch tapes
fromthat night.
I have a party shot here. I need rescue hot.
Im taking one male to the hospital in my car.
Let Aurora South knowcruiser 6 is in route. One critical, one
semi-critical.
FYI, right nowwere loading patients into back of PDcars to
get them transported.
Outside the theater, Aurora police Officer Nigel Labarrie was
among a group of strangers who comforted and held the hand
of 18-year-old Bonnie Kate Pourciau, who had been shot in the
leg. Labarrie helped carry her to a waiting patrol car, and an-
other Aurora police officer rushedher anda family toUniversi-
ty of Colorado Hospital.
He didnt care if I would sue him, Pourciau said from her
hospital bed last week, a yellow daisy tucked in her reddish-
brown hair. He just did the right thing. He did it, man. He got
me there.
Labarrie, an18-year veteranof the department, visitedher in
the hospital several times before Pourciau boarded a medical
flight back to her home in Louisiana on Thursday night.
One witness tothe massacre, JacobKing, describedsomeone
carryingout amotionlesslittlegirl, coveredinblood. Apoliceoffi-
cer took the girl, set her inhis squadcar andspedaway, he said.
Dr. Frank Lansville, medical director of emergency services at
Medical Center of Aurora, said an Aurora policeman with emer-
gency medical training apparently took over some of the earliest
triage on the scene, helping sort out the injured amid crowds of
moviegoers coming out andcrowds of police moving in.
Thats a very courageous thing, Lansville said.
PA6f 6
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Amid the onslaught of bullets, shotgun blasts and general chaos,
Amanda Lindgren said her boyfriend, Alex Teves, never hesitated to
shield her with his body during the deadly attack that ended his life.
He was my angel that night, but he was my angel every day I knew
him. Imbroken, Lindgren, 24, told ABCNews.
Teves grewup in the Phoenix area, graduated fromDesert Vista
High School and received his bachelors degree fromthe University
of Arizona.
He worked as a mentor at Arizona and the University of Denver,
where he earned a masters degree in counseling psychology.
Alexs last act of heroismis a testament to his character, his self-
lessness and unending compassion for those he loved, his family said
in a statement. Alex had the heart of a lion, but it was made of gold,
always willing to help anyone.
ALEX TEVES
Rebecca Wingo was a mother, daughter, sister and friend.
But, according to her former husband, Robert Wingo, with whom
she had two daughters, she was more than that.
Alot of people say, Oh, this person was amazing. It wasnt that; it
was that Rebecca was a catalyst. She was the person who walked into
a room, and then everything is going to happen, Robert Wingo said.
She would brighten a roomand take you in a direction. Rebecca, she
kind of had her own gravity to her, and thats why so many people like
her.
Wingo was fluent in Mandarin and worked as a translator for the
Air Force for nearly 10 years.
When she was killed, the 32-year-old was working at Joes Crab
Shack in Aurora, and she had been attending college since 2009,
working toward an associate of arts degree and hoping to become a
social worker.
REBECCA WINGO
CHRIS LAKOTA | HE RAN I NTO THEATER 9
I wantedtodo
something good
WE WILL REMEMBER
H
is first reaction wasnt fear. It
was anger.
Chris Lakota is a mixed mar-
tial artist and a sword fighter.
He was once shot in the arm
with a 9mm pistol after shoving a guy who
was throwing gang signs, he said. He has a
scar on his stomach where he was stabbed
and a tattoo on his biceps with the initials of
a childhood friend shot to death in a gang
fight when Lakota was 17.
Sowhena shakenandsweating young the-
ater employee stoodinfront of the credits at
the end of the new Spider-Man movie and
told everyone to evacuate immediately, La-
kota didnt listen.
He saw the people streaming out of the-
ater 9. He knew someone was shooting in
there; the theater employee hadalready told
him it wasnt a fire. Instead of running out,
he went in.
He ran in. To theater 9. In the dark and
smoke, thefirst personLakotasawwhoneed-
ed help was Bonnie Kate Pourciau. The 18-
year-old from Baton Rouge, La., was strug-
gling down the last few steps toward the
screen, her knee ripped apart by a gunshot.
Lakota threwher armaroundhis neck and
carried her out of the theater. Outside, he
put a sweat shirt under her head and
wrapped another one around her knee. He
grabbed a bottle of water from a man who
passed by, held Bonnie Kates head up and
put the bottle to her lips. He yelled for an
ambulance.
It was just pandemonium, he said.
People were screaming. Running for their
cars. Onemans handwas blownapart. Anoth-
er mans shinbone stuck out of his leg. Aman
moaned in agony. The fire alarm pulsated,
threeintensebeepsat atime, onendlessrepeat.
Lakotas friendstartedtaking a video with
his phone. It begins as Lakota is crouched
over Bonnie Kate and ends as he and a cou-
ple of others carry her to the front seat of a
patrol car.
Bonnie Kate was quiet when Lakota was
with her. She barely made a sound, just
moaned a couple of times.
Think about positive things, Lakota told
her. Think about your summer.
He told her not to look at her leg, which at
first was spouting blood as fast as a pour
froma bottle of wine, Lakota said. Just keep
your eyes up.
He stayed with her the whole time.
When Lakota, 36, ran into theater 9, he
wasnt focused on carrying someone out, he
said. His initial thought was to take out the
coward whowas shooting people. But then
he sawBonnie Kate.
I wanted to do something good, said La-
kota, whose full name is Brent Christopher
Thunderhorse Lakota. If you see bad, and
youdont doanything, I feel its just as badas
the evil itself.
It felt like everything in my life prepared
me to go in there.
After about 15 minutes in front of the the-
ater, police officers asked whether Lakota
could move Bonnie Kate behind the com-
plex, where ambulances were supposed to
arrive. He put her armaroundhis neck again
and carried her around the building.
She accidentally scratched his cheek with
her fingernail, drawing blood. He made a joke
about thembothhaving scars fromthat night.
She felt as light as feathers, he said.
They waitedbehindthe theater for several
more minutes, Lakota said. Andwhenhe slid
her into the front seat of a patrol car, he pat-
ted her knee. He buckled her seat belt.
Good luck to you. I hope I see you again.
Lakota tracked Bonnie Kate down at Uni-
versity of Colorado Hospital last week. Her
mother answeredthe phone whenhe called.
Bonnies been looking for you, he re-
called her saying.
Whenhe went tovisit her, he brought gifts
from his American Indian heritage a
white-tailed hawk feather, a dreamcatcher
and, to keep good spirits close, sweetgrass.
Lakotas wife wonfree tickets tothe movie
that night and encouraged him and his
friendto use them. Now, he feels that he was
meant to go.
I wouldnt change it for anything, he
said.
Chris Lakota, who was watching a different movie when the Aurora shootings began, went into theater 9 to help Bonnie Kate Pourciau escape. RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
Innocent and beautiful, her aunt says. Veronica was a 6-year-old, vi-
brant, excitable child who a fewdays before she died was chatting
away about learning howto swim.
The blond, blue-eyed girl attended Holly Ridge Elementary School
and loved to play dress-up.
Her mother, critically wounded that night in the theater, was preg-
nant and later miscarried. Veronica had gone to the movie with her
mother and her mothers boyfriend.
Veronica was just so full of joy every day. She loved life, no matter
what we did, her father, Ian Sullivan, told Londons The Sun. She
was the sweetest, most innocent, angelic little child anyone could
ever ask for.
Her father took her on a camping trip near Georgetown a fewdays
before Veronica died, he told the newspaper. They slept in a tent,
went fishing, sawelk and deer and cooked over a campfire.
VERONICA MOSER-SULLIVAN
Friends and family will miss his big heart and his bear hugs. Alex Sul-
livan was a loving husband, a good-humored guy, a comic-book lover
and filmfanatic who could quote Caddyshack fromstart to finish.
He died on his 27th birthday, keeping a family tradition started at age 6
to go to the movies that day. Ayear ago last Sunday, he married his wife,
Cassie. Sullivan stood 6-feet-4 and weighed about 280 pounds. He
played football and wrestled before graduating fromGrandviewHigh
School in 2003. Later, he went to culinary school. Sullivan worked at a
Red Robin restaurant and went to the Aurora theater with several of his
co-workers that fateful night; seven of themwere injured.
Sullivan was the family peacemaker. He hugged his sister each time
they met and loved his wife so much it showed on his face.
Alot of my memories growing up, we always had a great time to-
gether and had fun and played and climbed trees, and I was right
there with himon everything, said his sister, Megan.
ALEX SULLIVAN
MEDICAL PERSONNEL | THE LONGEST NI GHT
Youre running onadrenaline,
instinct. Andflat-out guts.
WE WILL REMEMBER
A
good portion of Angel
Chavezs job is to be calm
when she realizes the pa-
tient coming out of the am-
bulance has three fingers
blown off by a gun.
And to swallow shock when the cap-
tains chair of the next ambulance holds
a girl sitting upright and bleeding, gun-
shot wound to the chest.
And not to let a burgeoning massacre
10 miles away distract her team from
the usual patients facing death outside
the spotlight.
Chavez was the night charge nurse in
the Denver Health emergency room
when the theater shootings began.
Alerted by dispatchers around 1 a.m.,
she checked which ER rooms could be
safely cleared and how many hallway
spaces were open for overflowvictims.
We could have taken 20 ourselves,
Chavez said, with potentially more in
the childrens ER.
All without forgetting the current
traumas: Apatient in deep septic shock
who would later die. Head injuries to a
helmetless motorcycle rider. Early on a
Friday morning in summer, the Denver
ERis oftenstuffedwiththe aftermathof
bar fights, car wrecks and gang postur-
ing.
One of the tricks is to not set every-
one in motion immediately, no matter
how strong the instinct, said Dr. Chris
Colwell, Denver Healths emergency-
medicine chief. He was woken up by
cellphone calls after midnight, but part
of his job is to think three days down
the road.
Colwell, who treated students on the
ground at Columbine High Schools
shootings in 1999, allowed himself one
brief flash that Fridays call was eerily
similar: dozens of young people shot
in a place that should have been safe.
In the next moment, Colwell felt
lucky there was something he could do
about it.
Just a few hours after 1 a.m., the ER
bays were quiet again, and parents of
the theater victims checked in the hos-
pital lobby to meet social workers and
doctors. Chavez looked forward to the
Saturday yoga class she takes to slough
off stress andthought of the girl missing
her fingers.
Who was, surprisingly, cheerful.
She was so happy it wasnt worse,
Chavez said.
The trauma-response culture is all
about What did we learn?
Its so positive, it makes you feel you
could be positive as well, in something
like this, Chavez said.
R
ed and blue police lights
bouncing off the windows
of the emergency bay, Dr.
Comilla Sasson reached for
gloves.
She didnt usually carry extras. But
suddenly a copcruiser was backing into
University of Colorado Hospital, full of
bodies gushing blood.
And then another cruiser.
And then another. Sasson stuffed 50
pairs of gloves into pockets of her
scrubs. This was not going to end any-
time soon.
At some point, it was the longest
night of my life. And at some point, it
was How did that five hours go by?
she said.
Sasson and her shift partner that Fri-
day morning, Dr. Barbara Blok, spent
the next hours triaging 23 victims from
Auroras movie-theater shooting. Sur-
rounded by trauma surgeons, charge
nurses, orthopedic specialists, radiolo-
gy techs andcleanupcrews, they point-
ed fingers, steered gurneys and tried to
bolster the spirits of first-year residents
three weeks out of medical school.
And peeled glove after glove after
soiled glove.
Its the quantity of bloodthat sticks in
Sassons mind. Blood from head
wounds. From shattered limbs. From
chest cavities opened to stem internal
bleeding.
Underneath all that blood was more
to worry about. A bullet powers in and
bounces, doing more damage on the
way out. Or worse, stays inside and
threatens veins and tissue.
Sasson describes her triage duty as a
constant circling. A patient with a
pulse, talking, will suddenly crash from
unseen internal bleeding. The ER doc-
tor must cycle around and around the
arrayed beds, heading off that crash.
Universitys ER was already full and
on divert status, with 10 more in the
waiting area, whenthe shooting started
just after 12:30 a.m. With gunshot trau-
ma, you make room. The first hour is
the golden hour for those on the brink.
The first nine to 10 patients were all
in the resuscitation area, she said.
More than five could not tell us their
names.
Aurora police cars kept rolling in,
Sasson remembers looking from in-
doors to outdoors. These people are
really sick, she thought, and Ive got
two minutes to figure it out before the
next one comes in.
Six hours after it began, at a 7 a.m.
shift change, Sasson let out a deep
breath and said to herself, Wait
what did I just see?
But inside that six hours?
Youre running on adrenaline, in-
stinct, Sasson said. And flat-out guts.
D
r. Gilbert Pineda grabbed a
full bottle of water and
chugged all of it in a few
gulps.
He shook his head a cou-
ple of times. Focus. Focus. Focus, he
said, only to himself.
Pineda walked down the narrow,
stark-white corridor of the emergency
department and added up the scene. A
manwitha bloody bandage onhis head.
One patient intubated, on life support.
Another man with graphic gunshot
wounds to his arms and legs.
Patients lined up in the hallway, in-
cluding a man with a belt wrapped
around his thigh like a tourniquet. A
man screaming: I need pain medica-
tion! More screams coming from one
of the rooms.
Pineda toldhimself not to let the yell-
ing distract himjust because patients
are loud doesnt mean theyre critical.
He saw a doctor in a white moon
suit preparing to decontaminate peo-
ple exposed to a noxious gas. Eighteen
patients, 13 with gunshot wounds.
Before walking into the Medical Cen-
ter of Aurora early that Friday morning,
Pineda had been up 20 hours. He had
workeda 12-hour shift, thengone todin-
ner with his daughter who was in town
from college. He was as tired as he had
ever remembered being and went to
bed at about 11:45 p.m. Thursday.
Pineda was asleep for about an hour
when his phone rang. It was the hospi-
tals emergency medical chief, Dr.
Frank Lansville. His voice was direct
and solemn.
Gilbert, there has beena mass shoot-
ing in Aurora. There may be as many as
20 patients. I need you to go to the
emergency department.
Pineda slipped on a pair of Levis and
grabbed his medical bag. As he was
leaving, he thought, Boy, what an idiot
youare. Youare inyour car, backing out
of your driveway, and this is something
thats been a dream.
He turnedonthe EMSradioinhis car.
What he heard snapped himalert.
Pineda went from one patient to the
next, unwrapping bandages and check-
ing for signs that shotgun pellets had
entered the chest or the bloodstream.
One man had 20 pieces of buckshot in
his body.
Pineda, the hospitals EMS medical
director, saidits those kindof days that
remind him why he chose emergency
medicine.
This is what I trained to do, he said.
When something like this happens,
you just click into this mode of Wow.
This is what I like to do. Not that I want
to see people injured, but if they are in-
jured, I want to have the opportunity to
take care of them.
T
he first inkling of what was
in store came rolling up to
the Childrens Hospital
Colorado emergency room
without warning and
without lights and sirens a little be-
fore 1 a.m.
A car not an ambulance or police
car, just some ordinary car that not long
ago had transported people to a movie
theater drove up. Inside was a pas-
senger who had been shot.
Thats when we were told and its
a little fuzzy now but they said
thered been a shooting in a theater,
said Dr. Tien Vu.
Soon, the victims came toofast for Vu
to track.
Cheryl Stiles phone rang just after 1
a.m. Aself-professednight owl, she had
been asleep only an hour, and she had
already put ina full shift the day before.
Stiles started her nursing career at
Childrens 25 years ago and 24 of
those have been in emergency medi-
cine. Now that she is director of emer-
gency services, those late-night calls
are part of the job.
In Colorados hierarchy of trauma
care, Childrens has the highest ranking.
For children, that usually means a car
accident or a fall. To get multiple gun-
shot wounds within an hour probably
had never happened, Vu said.
Stiles was in her car within minutes
of getting the call. When she arrived at
the hospital, Stiles said, the first thing
she sawwas a groupof staffers standing
just outside the emergency-room
doors, inthe ambulance bay. The team
was in a circle. Some were holding
hands, some hugging, Stiles said.
They had just needed a moment, she
said.
Stiles joined them briefly, then they
all walked together through the glass
doors back to the emergency room.
Stiles remembers a nurse torn be-
cause a patient was afraid to have the
lights turned off or be left alone. She
held his hand while a colleague did
whatever clinical things were required.
Twelve hours after it began, Vus shift
was over; Stiles still had seven more
hours her scheduled shift ahead.
Vu got into her car and headed north
on Peoria Street. She had gone only a
couple of blocks when she saw red
lights clusteredarounda brick building.
I went home and turned on the TV,
she said. Thats when the enormity of
what happened hit me. It is also when
she learned the red lights were gath-
ered at the booby-trapped home of the
man suspected of causing the carnage.
She turned off the TV, kissed her 2-
year-olddaughter and, exhausted, went
to bed, hoping finally to get some sleep.
She didnt.
Angel Chavez,
a nurse at Denver Health
Dr. Comilla Sasson, University
of Colorado Hospital
Dr. Gilbert Pineda,
Medical Center of Aurora
Dr. Tien Vu,
Childrens Hospital Colorado
Cheryl Stiles, a nurse at
Childrens Hospital Colorado
AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. HEROES VIDEO
PA6f 1
The Aurora theater shooting on July 20, 2012, took loved ones away and injured
family members, friends and neighbors. But the theater shooting also brought out
some unexpected heroes who stayed behind and helped strangers who were hurt.
Here are their stories.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO
http://photos.denverpost.com/2012/07/31/video-heroes-of-the-aurora-theater-shooting/
PA6f 1
AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. SPECIAL SECTION
SUNDAY, JULY 29, 2012
THEY PROTECTED THEIR LOVED ONES
THEYCARRIEDSTRANGERS TOSAFETY
THEY PROVIDED COMFORT AND CARE
HEROES
AMONGUS
By John Ingold; Photos by RJ Sangosti and Joe Amon, The Denver Post
What would I do?
When the lights go down in a movie theater, you are
alone, even in the crowd.
The roomsmells of popcornbutter, andyour shoes stick
to the floor. But the surroundings drift away as the images
onscreen spool into your imagination and the sound ef-
fects vibrate into your rib cage. The accelerating story
takes you along. Thats the point, isnt it? To escape?
Frompractically the opening scene of The Dark Knight
Rises, pretend guns fire and actors shriek, a classic slam-
bang opener.
But then, duringaquiet scene, thesoundof gunshotssud-
denly, confusinglycomesaliveagainintheater9at theCen-
turyAurora 16. Bullets ripintotheair. Innocents scream. The
gunmanshouts. Thewoundedwail out. Thebloodshedisreal.
What would I do?
Inside the theater, some froze and many ran. They were
human. There is no disgrace in that.
But sitting amidthe crowd, JonBlunk didnot freeze, and
he didnot run. Instead, he quickly pushedhis girlfriendto
the ground to safety then shielded her from bullets
that took his life but not hers. Across the theater, others
Matt McQuinn, JohnLarimer, Jesse Childress andmore
were just as selfless.
Evenas the gunmancontinuedtoshoot, evenas fear was
at its strongest, the theater was awash in courage.
HEROES 2B
What would I do?
When the lights go down in a movie theater, you are alone, even in the crowd.
The room smells of popcorn butter, and your shoes stick to the foor.
But the surroundings drift away as the images onscreen spool into your
imagination and the sound effects vibrate into your rib cage. The acceler-
ating story takes you along. Thats the point, isnt it? To escape?
From practically the opening scene of The Dark Knight Rises, pre-
SPECIAL SECTION
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by John Ingold
Photos by RJ Sangosti
and Joe Amon
PAGE 2
tend guns fre and actors shriek, a classic slam-bang opener.
But then, during a quiet scene, the sound of gunshots suddenly, confus-
ingly comes alive again in theater 9 at the Century Aurora 16. Bullets rip
into the air. Innocents scream. The gunman shouts. The wounded wail out.
The bloodshed is real.
What would I do?
Inside the theater, some froze and many ran. They were human. There is
no disgrace in that.
But sitting amid the crowd, Jon Blunk did not freeze, and he did not run. In-
stead, he quickly pushed his girlfriend to the ground to safety then shield-
ed her from bullets that took his life but not hers. Across the theater, others
Matt McQuinn, John Larimer, Jesse Childress and more were just as selfess.
Even as the gunman continued to shoot, even as fear was at its strongest,
the theater was awash in courage.
Young women and men such as Jarell Brooks stayed beside wounded
friends or frightened strangers vowing not to leave them even though
they themselves could fee.
You actually have to take into consideration that helping this person
might be the end, Brooks would later say.
While people pushed out in a wave of panic, Chris Lakota ran into the
theater, toward the danger. These words Unto the breach, dear friends
popped into his head as he did.
In the parking lot outside, Stephanie Rodriguez took off her belt and fash-
ioned a tourniquet on the leg of a man screaming in pain.
Todd Peckham stopped his own escape shouting down any fear inside
him and helped victims to safety. He held one mans head as the man
gushed blood.
Im an able-bodied man, Peckham says now. I was like, I gotta do this.
I cant not be a part of this.
Would I do that?
It is, perhaps, obvious that you dont know what you have inside of you
until you are forced to look.
Unless youre in that situation, says Medical Center of Aurora Dr. Frank
Lansville, you have no idea how youre going to react.
But, though there is no formula for bravery, Cornell University psychology
PAGE 3
professor David Dunning says valor is surprisingly a seed we all contain.
And it is a seed that can be nurtured.
What it takes is the experience to help medical training, crisis skills,
even just a habit of doing kind acts for others and an occasion to use it.
These things can be trained. They can be practiced.
The next open Mile High Red Cross class on frst aid and CPR starts Fri-
day in Broomfeld. The Tuesday class is already full.
Take a look at the people who performed acts of courage at the theater.
They are military veterans and people with medical skills. They are the chil-
dren of parents who taught them to always help, no matter where, no matter what.
Sometimes it was a choice that night, and sometimes it was just a refex.
But every one of them was prepared for bravery.
Is it any wonder that Blunk told friends he expected to die valiantly?
People would be surprised when an opportunity arises, how much they
might rise to the occasion, Dunning says. People respond in helpful ways
more than they might think.
Courage is contagious. One person acting bravely causes another to do so.
We gain strength from one another. Even at the movies, you are not really alone.
Outside the theater, bystanders stopping to help inspired others to do the
same. An Aurora police offcer began loading the wounded into his cruiser to
drive them to the hospital himself. Another followed his lead. And another.
At the hospital, teams of doctors and nurses worked aggressively to fght
back against death, the belief of one amid the chaos fortifying the belief of
others. Of the 60 people 60 people taken to the hospital that night, doc-
tors and nurses saved all but two.
I dont know what the it was that night, says Lansville, the Aurora doc-
tor. But it worked.
For most of its duration, The Dark Knight Rises is a story about a ter-
rorist who thinks he has won.
It isnt until the end when citizens step forward to protect one another and
police offcers show the bravery behind the badge that heroes emerge.
But the Aurora gunman didnt need to wait until the end to learn that. He
saw it play out in front of him in real life.
Heroes arose before his eyes.
PA6f 4
Its impossible to say now why Matt McQuinn reacted the way he did
when the shooting started that night at an Aurora movie theater. Instead
of protecting himself, the Ohio native protected another, his girlfriend,
Samantha Yowler.
He joined her brother, Nick, to form a human shield over her as a gun-
man took aim at the innocent.
Nick was uninjured. Samantha was shot in the leg. Matt took three bul-
lets and died.
People who knew McQuinn, 27, say it was his natural way.
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by
Ray Mark Rinaldi
Matt McQuinn poses with his girlfriend, Samantha Yowler, whom he covered
with his body to protect amid the horror at the Century Aurora 16. Yowler, also
shielded by her brother, Nick,was wounded.McQuinn was shot three times and
died. The Associated Press
MATT McQUINN. A MIX OF HUMILITY AND COURAGE
Thats just the type
of person he was
PA6f 5
Thats just the type of person he was, said longtime family friend Mi-
caella Clay. He was the frst person I know who you would call if you
needed something.
One of the last times Clay saw McQuinn, he was headed out the door to
rescue a friend with a fat tire.
Its a long way, though, from doing favors to sacrifcing a life, from being
a nice guy to choosing the ultimate act of chivalry, and that is where those
who knew about McQuinn will have to connect the dots.
And its not just friends and family, but everyone affected by the tragedy
in any way, who fnd hope in the notion that it brought out the best in some.
By now, news accounts have detailed the key facts.
McQuinn went to high school in Vandalia, Ohio, a small, scattered Day-
ton suburb caught somewhere between our traditional and modern no-
tions of middle America. It has its Walmart superstore but also the old
doughnut shop, where people gather around a counter and go through fve
trays of blueberries a day.
As a young adult, he was well-known in nearby Springfeld, where he
was active in Maiden Lane Church of God.
He and Samantha, also 27, worked at Target. Last November, the pair
joined Nick Yowler in Colorado, transferring to a Target store not so far
from the Century Aurora 16 movie theater.
The trail McQuinn left behind through the testimony of acquaintanc-
es, social networks and stories offers some clues about why he acted
bravely when things turned dark at a screening of a Batman sequel July 20.
In some ways, it seems simple. Im not surprised at all about Matt,
said David Kasel, who went to school with McQuinn and knew him since
they were kids. McQuinn wasnt one to steal the spotlight then, he said. He
was a sport, not a showoff.
He was very loyal, a good friend, Kasel said.
The type of guy, yes, who would take a bullet for you.
McQuinns own pages on Facebook and MySpace offer a more complex
portrait. They have all those things you would expect from a kid who grew
up in a Midwest setting best described as usual. He had lots of friends, and
they clearly had some good times; there is a lot of camaraderie and a little
PA6f 6
beer in the picture. He was close to his family, no doubt.
But he wasnt all the quiet type, either. Clicking through the photos, an-
other trait something akin to nerve, even daring emerges. His bottom
lip was pierced twice with metal posts. Facial hair comes and goes, and
there is a colorful parade of sunglasses and ball caps. His musical favorites
give a nod to Michael Jackson but center more on louder rock bands such
as Avenged Sevenfold. Matt took lots of pictures with his hand held up,
index fnger and pinkie pointed out, heavy-metal style.
Its nothing too outrageous; it looks like fun, actually.
But maybe it all adds up. Theres that bold McQuinn, the one who
dressed like the Joker on Halloween, friended Playboy Playmate Kendra
Wilkinson and tattoo TV star Kat Von D, and liked motorcycles.
And theres the quiet McQuinn, who was popular at church, whom Ka-
sel describes as disinterested in the spotlight, a guy who liked to laugh at
other peoples jokes.
A mix of humility and courage, of kindness and audacity, of tradition
and rebellion. The type of guy, yes, who would take a bullet.
McQuinns friends are returning his loyalty in the days following his
death. Clay has started a fund drive on the website giveforward.org, and
more than $11,000 has poured in. They hope to raise more and spread the
generosity to the families of the other shooting victims.
Kasel, a graphic artist, has designed a T-shirt that turns the Batman logo
into two Ms, a tribute to his old pal. McQuinns mother asked for 30 of
the shirts for family and friends to wear as they grieve. He is giving them
to her and will sell the rest to raise money for burial costs (purchase via
the website signsteingraphics-com1.webs.com).
No one knows exactly why McQuinn rose to the moment. But its clear
that friends and family want to rise up for him.
PA6f 7
LABEL IF NEEDED
GOES HERE GOES
HERE GOES
Date published
Story by
Name(s) go here and go
here and go here
Michael White Sr. lifted his head just enough to peek through the rib-
bon of space between two theater seats in front of him.
I saw him climbing the stairs, coming toward us, shooting. I thought,
This guys gonna shoot me.
The fre alarm was bleating by then, and White remembers thinking,
Whats taking the police so long?
He kept peeking between the seats. The shooter kept coming.
I thought about Farrah and my son. I thought, Hes going to shoot me,
but hes not going to get them. Hes not going to get both of us. So I laid
over Farrah to cover her, and I tried to keep her quiet.
He lay there, his body shielding his sons wounded girlfriend and listen-
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by Karen Aug
MICHAEL WHITE SR. A FATHER PROTECTS HIS CHILDREN
Hes going to shoot me,
but hes not going to get them
Michael White Sr. was able to shield his sons girlfriend, Farrah Soudani, during the shooting. Both his son and Soudani were wounded in the
rampage. RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
PA6f 8
ing to the pop-pop-pop of semi-automatic rounds spraying around the dark
theater, where up on screen, The Dark Knight Rises was still playing.
I was waiting for the bullet to come.
White fgures the killer was about two rows away, still fring, when the
lights came on. And he stopped shooting. He turned and started to head out.
The father waited a few seconds to make sure he hadnt just imagined
the shooter leaving. Then I told Farrah I was going to go get help.
Midnight-movie premieres had become something of a White fam-
ily tradition. For this particular Batman premiere, though, only two of
Whites four children his oldest son, Mike Jr. and his daughter, Paula
Adams could make it. Mike Sr.s girlfriend, Michelle Baker, came, along
with Mike Jr.s girlfriend, Farrah Soudani, who mixed her boyfriends fam-
ily with a group of her friends and co-workers from the nearby Red Robin
restaurant. Between the Whites and the Red Robin employees, the group
claimed pretty much the entire seventh row.
The previews were over, the opening credits had rolled, and Bruce
Wayne was in the Batcave talking to Alfred when Michael White Jr. saw a
canister fy through the air across the front of the theater.
I chuckled because I thought, Somebody lost their Batman prop.
His dad saw the canister too.
Mike White Sr. also saw the exit door down at the front of the the-
ater open. And when light from the movie playing on screen fickered just
right, White saw the man dressed in black.
I thought it was a Batman costume, something the theater was doing,
he said.
He still believed that when the man fred a shotgun.
Then, White watched as he switched from a shotgun to a semi-auto-
matic rife.
Thats when I realized it was real.
At that moment, it was as if a switch had been fipped. Everyone in the
theater seemed to come to that realization at once. People started scream-
ing, and all over the theater, the Whites could see people hitting the foor
either because they were hiding or because they had been shot.
Michael White Jr. heard his father yell, Get down! but by then, the
PA6f 9
33-year-old was already hit.
So was Soudani.
Im hit! Mike Jr. heard her scream. My guts are on the foor.
He tried to crawl across the foor to his girlfriend, but he couldnt move.
I remember seeing Farrah trying to work her way toward us. I remember
watching bodies drop.
At that point, the shooters gun jammed, although at the time, the elder
White fgured he must be reloading.
I thought, This is gonna take him a minute, so the elder White
grabbed his daughter and his girlfriend by the hair, pulled them toward
the back door and told them to run.
I turned back to see about my son and Farrah. Thats when I realized
Farrah was hurt.
Mike Sr. took off his shirt and held it over a hole on Farrahs side.
I started talking to her. She was saying, Im scared. I dont want to die,
so I told her, Ive got you. Im not going to leave you. I told her, Every-
things going to be all right,
He didnt believe that last sentence for a second.
It was about that time, White said, that he looked through the sliver of
light between theater seats and saw the man in black gunning for them a
second time.
At that moment, White stopped comforting Farrah and set about saving
her life.
When the shooting stopped and White fnally left the theater to get
help, police were in the lobby. They ordered him to get down, to crawl out
the door, and he did.
A police offcer took Mike White Jr. to the hospital in his patrol car, and
that same offcer the Whites think his name was Mike Hawkins, and
they would like to thank him came back to the scene and found Mike
Sr. a shirt to put on.
In the days since, as the critically wounded Soudani has been recover-
ing at University of Colorado Hospital, White said he has asked himself
why he risked his life to save that of a woman hed met only once before.
He spent 20 years in the Air Force, but it wasnt his military experience
PA6f 10
kicking in. He never saw combat or got shot at in two decades of service
that took him to Japan and England and all over the U.S. It wasnt instinct,
either, or some innate tendency to heroics. Asked if he had ever saved any-
ones life before, White joked that he had maybe saved a teddy bear from
drowning as a kid, but that was the closest he had come.
Its defnitely not that he was ready to die that night.
The best answer he has come up with might make sense only to another
parent.
I was thinking of my son, and of how much they are in love. I didnt
want that to end. His son loved her, White said. I couldnt let her get
away.
Mike Jr. spent four days at University. He was shot in the arm, but the
bullet grazed a lung and broke a rib before exiting his back.
Six days after the shooting, White took his son to the dusty corner
across the street from the Aurora theater that had been flled with fowers,
candles and good wishes. His right arm was still in a sling, and he moved a
little slowly in the blistering heat, but he stopped in front of each victims
name. He was surprised, he said as the two men walked away, at how much
the pile of teddy bears and the kind words people had written moved him.
Then someone asked him what he thought of his dad, and Mike White
Jr. broke into a grin.
Hes pretty great. But I always knew that.
PA6f 11
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by
Michael Booth
The killer had walked on to shoot others. Ang-
giat Mora had to shoulder his wounded family.
Mora felt he had already escaped disaster once,
in what suddenly seemed like a different life, and
maybe he didnt deserve that reprieve.
So there was no getting away from this one.
Not with his wife crying on the movie theater
foor, shot in three places.
Leave me here, Rita sobbed.
No, Im going to carry you, shouted Mora.
We go together.
And the small man, whose plane had taken off
from a Japanese airport just as last years tsunami
hit, hoisted Rita on his back and staggered 30 feet.
He didnt stop until he saw the warm welcome of
fashing red-and-blue police lights.
Mora had an eye out for his son, Patria, amid
the heavy noxious gas and the fashes of light. Pa-
tria, 14, had moved a few feet away as they fed
the terror of even more gunshots. But then Mora
saw him again, as a young woman called for help
with a man shot in his leg.
He could have left, but he stopped to help,
Mora said of his son. They carried their wounded
mom and a complete stranger until Mora
was out of breath, and his son needed to show
him something.
Patria lifted up his shirt and showed his father
another gunshot wound.
Asked whether carrying Rita was unusual some-
how, Mora says: No, no, no, no. I was not a hero to
help my family. I needed to help my family.
ANGGIAT MORA. HELPING HIS FAMILY
Im going to carry you
Shooting victim Rita
Mora was carried from
the theater by her
husband, Anggiat Mora.
Rita was shot three
times during the attack,
which left 12 dead.
Helen H. Richardson,
The Denver Post
PA6f 12
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by
Karen Aug
JON BLUNK. FATHER OF TWO DIED PROTECTING HIS GIRLFRIEND
The situations in my life
made me the man I am
Jon Blunk knew instantly that it was real.
A lot of people in theater 9 frst thought the popping sounds, the spread-
ing smoke, the foreboding fgure in black were all part of some elaborate,
slightly creepy movie promotion.
Blunk wasnt fooled.
His girlfriend Jansen Young has said that when a bomb or something
few up behind us, Blunk reacted immediately.
She hadnt yet processed what shed heard and seen, so when he pushed
her to the foor she asked, Why, whats going on?
Out in the parking lot, a handgun, part of Blunks frearms collection,
lay in his car.
Jansen Young survived the Aurora shooting rampage when her boyfriend, Jon Blunk, sacrifced his own life by shielding her from the bullets and
shrapnel fying around the movie theater. Photo courtesy of the Young family
PA6f 13
In some ways, a good portion of Blunks 26 years were preparation for
the moment when a gunman marched up and down the dark aisles of the
Century Aurora 16 theater spraying bullets.
When he was a toddler, his mother took off, leaving Blunks dad to raise
him alone, said his friend Kyle Dawson. Growing up in Englewood, Blunk
believed his mother was dead, Dawson said.
He was a teenager, living in Reno, before he learned she was alive, and
that he had half-brothers and a half-sister.
Dawson heard bits and pieces of Blunks early life on long shifts together
when the two were deployed on the nuclear supercarrier USS Nimitz. What
Dawson never heard, he said, was a complaint about it out of his friend.
He just said, The situations in my life made me the man I am, Daw-
son said.
Just out of high school, Blunk joined the Navy. By 20 he was married to
his high school sweetheart, Chantal; at 21 he was a father. Id never seen
happiness in his face like when his frst child came into world, said Daw-
son, who is godfather to Hailey, now 4. By the time his daughter was 6
months old, he was like, I want a son.
Blunk picked a name out for his boy. Before long, he had a tattoo on his
back that was his sons initials. Sure enough, a year so later, Chantal gave
birth and the baby boy was christened with Blunks chosen name: Maximus.
Blunk warned Chantal early on that he wouldnt be a 9-to-5, home-ev-
ery-night kind of husband and father, Dawson said. Even the job the Navy
gave him, working on the Nimitz power plant, didnt satisfy his appetite
for a life outside everyone elses comfort zone.
What he really wanted was to be a Navy SEAL, Dawson said. But he was
afraid if he applied and didnt get accepted for Seal training, he could wind
up back on a power plant crew for four years. So in 2009 he left the Navy,
and set his sites on becoming a police offcer, not to be a guy writing traffc
tickets, as Dawson put it. He wanted to be on a SWAT team.
He brought his wife and kids to Colorado, the home state hed missed since
he left as a kid. But this time, things didnt go as Blunk planned. A couple of
teenaged screw ups stood in the way of his plans to become a police offcer,
so he redirected his energy toward getting back into the Navy, and into SEAL
PA6f 14
Jon Blunk, pictured
with his children
Maximus and Hailey,
wanted to be a Navy
SEAL. His girlfriend said
he showed no sign of
fear during the theater
shooting. Reuters
training. His relationship with Chantal frayed, and eventu-
ally she took the kids and went back to Reno, where she
planned to stay until he got his act together, Dawson said.
The man she struggled with and the man she married
was never the guy who picked a fght, but neither was he
the guy to back off from one.
Once, in a Navy base weight room, a guy Dawson said
was at least 300 pounds with arms like two anacondas
was fring off critiques, and not in a helpful way, of other
guys lifting technique and skill.
Everybody in the place was intimidated, except Blunk.
Jon got in his face and basically told him to be quiet,
Dawson said, and got those arms around his neck for
his trouble. You wouldnt think anybody in right mind
would bite off a piece of that, Dawson said.
Maybe, Dawson said, a kid whose mom leaves him has
nothing left to fear. In any case, there wasnt much in any situ-
ation that could scare him.
If he was scared in the theater early Friday morning, he gave no sign of it.
A lot of people have asked Dawson if hes surprised by what Blunk did
in that theater. Nothing could be further from reality.
As the shooter walked up the aisle, fring, at people who were scream-
ing and running away, Jansen Young has said, Blunk pushed me further
under the seats, still protecting her, telling her to be quiet and stay down.
He kept pushing, Young told NBC. And then, she didnt feel him push-
ing any more.
The two men had talked about how they would react if, say, they were in
a bank when a robber came in waving a gun. We talked about how he would
love to be the person in that situation . . .who would step up, Dawson said.
If he ever considered that his bravery might leave his kids, who he
planned to see the weekend after he died, without their dad, he never
talked about that, Dawson said.
He said, everybodys going to die. Id be more than happy to die doing
something or protecting somebody other than myself.
PA6f 15
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by
Ray Mark Rinaldi
Todd Peckham and Justin Baker may have surprised themselves when
they dived into the chaos unfolding at the Century Aurora 16 movie theater.
The two have been friends for four years. They share a certain sort of
common sense, an admiration for each others character, resourcefulness,
honor. Each uses that to explain why it was natural for the other to en-
ter the bloody fray, to walk toward the mess when someone yelled, Shots
fred! rather than away from it.
TODD PECKHAM AND JUSTIN BAKER. FRIENDS HELP STRANGERS
Do you need help?
Are you OK?
Justin Baker, left, and Todd Peckham, who had been watching amovie in another theater, guided victims toward safety and treatment. Photos by
PA6f 16
Im so proud of Justin, Peckham said.
Together, Peckham and Baker ushered victims to safety, helped the
wounded into vehicles, held the heads and hands of people whose bodies
had been ravaged in the shooting rampage. It was an experience that cost
them in the days since the event, and maybe in the days that are to fol-
low sleep, security, confdence, calm.
The two men share a kinship. Peckham is 41, Baker, 21. Peckham is a
mentor, of sorts, for Baker. He helped him out through school, gave him a
place to stay for a while.
If anyone wonders what kinds of adventures bond the two of them, it
might be this: They were both up for the 10:20 p.m. showing of the Spider-
Man sequel in the Centurys theater 15, a late screening of a blockbuster
two weeks past its opening-weekend prime.
They got there fve minutes late and saw the flm through to the start of
its closing credits when the fre sirens went off. No big deal, they thought,
false alarm. They began to gather their popcorn and bottled water.
Then, a movie-theater employee entered and told them to get out
now. His eyes were big, scary, wet. Thats when I knew something was
wrong, Peckham said.
That something became clear as they exited the building through a hazy
hallway, arrived outside and looked toward the theater showing The Dark
Knight Rises.
In a fash, there was just this mad rush and we saw hundreds of people
pouring out of the north end, Peckham said.
They spent the next 40 minutes in an adrenaline-fueled rush, guiding
victims away from whatever was going on in the theater and toward a stand
of trees on the edge of the parking lot. Peckham saw a group of people
hovering around a man who had been shot in the leg and began shouting
orders for them to bring him over.
I can be bossy, Peckham said.
I held his head so it wouldnt hang off or be on the cement, Peckham
said.
PA6f 17
The man was screaming, I have to call my wife. I have to call my wife.
He was asking frantically about his friend Pierce, left behind in the mov-
ie theater. All the while, another helper, Stephanie Rodriguez, steadfastly
kept pressure on the mans wound.
Whats your name? Peckham asked.
Jessica.
Peckham calmed Carey Rottman by pledging to call his wife on the spot.
He tapped her number into his cellphone as Rottman dictated. Just then, a
police cruiser arrived, and Peckham helped lift Rottman into the back seat,
holding a fashlight, pushing aside seat belts. The car rushed off.
Peckham went to dial his phone, but the number had vanished from his
screen.
I didnt have a chance to save it, and it killed me because I had prom-
ised this guy, Peckham said.
The pair plunged back into the darkness of the parking lot. Victims were
scattered about, on phones, in groups. Some were bleeding.
They saw two young women walking aside the theater. One of them
collapsed. They ran over. I put her arm around my shoulder and my hand
around her waist, Peckham said, and she screamed out, My right side,
dont touch my right side!
She had been shot.
He scooped up Allie Young and maneuvered her to a safe area while
her friend, Stephanie Davis, put pressure on her wounds. They placed her
on the ground next to another man who had been shot. Her head rested in
Bakers lap.
A police offcer walked toward them. He was clutching a little girl to his
chest. She was limp, like a rag doll. Quickly, they fagged an ambulance and
returned to the crowd.
We went through the parking lot and asked everyone that was there,
Do you need help? Are you OK? Peckham said.
By then, the area was flling with emergency crews, and there was a
sense of minimal safety, as Baker puts it. It was time to get out of the way.
PA6f 18
They walked over to Peckhams Nissan Z, drove though the police barri-
cades that had been set up and went home.
There was little sleep that night and plenty of questions. The next day,
they were hooked on news accounts of the shooting. They grew more and
more worried about the people they had seen.
Bit by bit, they pieced some of it together. They saw a story about Rott-
man and learned he survived. They connected with Rodriguez and shared
their experiences.
They heard a woman being interviewed on TV and recognized her voice.
It was Young. She was safe too. Hospital visits followed.
Still, they wonder about the little girl. Was she the child shot and killed?
Which of the other murky faces they encountered made it through, or didnt?
The questions are not so easily put away. Both men hold on to a sense
of urgency.
They want people to understand all of what happened that night and for
the story of braver acts to be heard. They want everyone to know about Ro-
driguezs strength, Rottmans concern for others when he was injured himself.
They want people to know that a veteran hairstylist and a Starbucks
barista did what they could, that something like this is bigger than what
one person created and the evil that he brought there, said Peckham, who
owns Fix salon in Cherry Creek North. That light always beats dark.
Theres a burden in that, and it weighs heavily. Both have reached out
for counseling. Baker went to a meeting that Starbucks quickly arranged
for three employees who were at the scene. Managers and counselors of-
fered to assist.
In a sense they are victims too, even if it was their decision to enter the fray.
Friends have tried to tell them that their reaction was natural, that they
are the kind of guys who are always there for others, good people who had
no choice but to do the right thing.
But thats not entirely true. It was a choice. They remember making it.
Peckham: I took a moment and know in my head theres a switch on
and off, on and off that says, What do you do, what do you do, what do
you do, what do you do? What do you do?
PA6f 19
Instead of running for her life, Stephanie Rodriguez ran to him, the man
who collapsed outside the theater and lay on the pavement, screaming.
My leg! Help me! he yelled, panicking.
The 17-year-old girl knelt beside him and pushed her hands on his thigh,
trying to stop the rush of blood like she had seen doctors do on Greys
Anatomy. She took off her belt, the one with the silver buckle she had
picked out that night to go with her Hollister shirt, and tied it like a shoe-
lace around his leg.
Then Stephanie lifted the mans wounded leg, while her brother sup-
ported his other leg and two strangers cradled his torso. They dragged
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by
Jennifer Brown
STEPHANIE RODRIGUEZ. A 17-YEAR-OLDS SELFLESS ACTIONS
She had the strength
of 10,000 men
After feeing the Aurora theater, 17-year-old Stephanie Rodriguez stopped to help a man who was shot in the leg. She used her belt as a
tourniquet. RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
PA6f 20
him out of the parking lot and to a grassy spot where he wouldnt get run
over by one of the feeing cars.
So many others had run right past the man before Stephanie came.
She would fnd out later his name is Carey Rottman.
Stephanie, a Gateway High School senior who thinks about becoming
a police offcer or a nurse, was calm even as a strangers blood covered
her hands and stained her jeans.
She had the strength of 10,000 men, and shes 17 and shes little and
shes beautiful, said Todd Peckham, who was also helping victims that
night. He was inspired by the girl with long eyelashes and thick, dark hair,
the girl who didnt finch when she put pressure on a gunshot wound with
her bare hands.
It was adrenaline, Stephanie said. I wasnt sure what was going on,
and I hadnt processed it yet. My frst reaction was to help him.
Stephanie hadnt really wanted to see the new Batman movie. Her older
brother talked her into going with him and two of his friends.
Like the others, she saw a fgure enter through the emergency exit door
beside the screen. She saw the man in the seat in front of her throw up his
hands, batting at the gas canister fying through the darkness. It landed in
the row in front of her, about halfway up the theater on the left side.
And she saw the fash of white light streak out of the gun each time the
gunman fred.
Stephanies 20-year-old brother, Chris Ramos, grabbed her arm and
pulled her to the foor. I cant believe this is happening, he kept saying.
Weve got to get out of here.
The shooting stopped, and Stephanie and Chris tried to escape. But the
terror began again within a couple of seconds. Stephanie hit the foor and
crawled back into her row. She prayed: Dear God, please help us. Let all
of us get out.
She remembers a man standing up and staring at the shooter, frozen
with fear. She heard a girl screaming, Dad! Dad! but no one answered.
She hoped someone would stop the gunman before he got anyone else.
When the shooting stopped again, briefy, Stephanie stood and joined
the rush of people clambering down the stairs toward the exit. She lost her
PA6f 21
brother and hoped he was somewhere in the sea of people pushing down
the stairs.
She wont forget the woman she couldnt help.
The womans legs were inside a row of seats, her upper body in the
aisle, face up, eyes closed.
Stephanies instinct told her to stop, to try to pick her up, but people
were pushing from behind. In the panic, amid the screams and people
shouting, Go! Go! Get out! the crowd stepped on the woman in the aisle.
Outside in the parking lot, Stephanie and her brother stayed with Rott-
man, 27, until police set him in a squad car and drove him to the Medical
Center of Aurora.
He stayed on my mind all night, Stephanie said.
The next day, she decided to fnd him. She commented on an online
9News story that mentioned Rottman, introducing herself and asking if he
was doing OK. Then they connected through Facebook.
When she walked into Rottmans hospital room, his father grabbed her
and squeezed. His mother asked Stephanie how old she was.
I told his mom I just turned 17, and she just burst into tears, she said.
Stephanie, who wears hot-pink fip-fops and blue glittery nail polish,
said her mom has always taught her to help other people, whether they
need money or kindness. Her mother, Violet Duran, said Stephanies char-
acter was tested that night, and her actions were selfess.
I dont feel any different, Stephanie said. In my heart, I feel really
proud of myself. I see myself as human.
One of the friends who had gone to the movies with Stephanie and
Chris called their mother minutes after the shooting, telling her they had
been separated and didnt know where they were.
Duran was eating with her boyfriend. She stood up from the table, and
her body began to shake.
Her boyfriend drove her as close to the theater as they could get. She
jumped out of the car and ran six blocks, as fast as she could. She didnt
stop shaking until she found her children in the crowd.
Since that night, Stephanies brother keeps apologizing for taking her
to the movie. He went to see it again at another theater and started to cry
PA6f 22
20 minutes in, after seeing the scene now forever linked with the most ter-
rifying day of his life.
He woke up in a panic a few nights ago, the theater in his nightmares.
Stephanie thought she was handling it fne until a loud pop outside her
house made her crouch down and put her arm over her head. She burst
into tears.
And the morning after the shootings, Stephanie woke up in a fog at
about 5 a.m., her cellphone in her hand. On the screen, it was ticking off
the minutes since she had placed her last call, still on the line.
She had called 911 in her sleep.
PA6f 23
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by
Eric Gorski
EMMA GOOS. COMFORT FOR A STRANGER
Outside the theater, just as the frst squad cars arrived, Emma Goos en-
countered the man who thought he had a hole in his head.
He stood alone, his right arm limp, begging for help.
He had short-cropped hair and a blue shirt. His face was so covered in
blood, Emma couldnt make out any distinguishable features.
Is there a hole in my head? he said.
She was no doctor. She was a college kid home for summer break, a girl
with a nose ring and straight blond hair and a book of fairy tales in the bag
she had left behind in the theater when she ran for her life.
Emma Goos, 19, escaped injury in the Aurora theater shooting when the gunman passed her row. Goos later stopped to comfort a man who had
a wound to his head. She was never able to fnd out his name. Joe Amon, The Denver Post
I was terrifed this would
steal my faith in humanity
PA6f 24
Blood poured from the right side of the mans head and down his arm.
He did not have a hole in his head.
As best as Emma could tell, he had been grazed by a bullet. She thought
how she might help him.
Youre OK, the 19-year-old girl told the stranger.
The outing was to be the beginning of a weekend birthday celebration
for a friend. Six of them met for the premiere, Emma wearing a green
striped sweater and purple hat, the color scheme of the Riddler.
There was a buzz in the theater, a sense of communal anticipation, of
seeing something frst, when the rest of the world is asleep.
Even after the shooting started, Goos thought it was a theater-spon-
sored stunt. She expected a character dressed as Batman to come down
the stairs at any moment and punch out the villain.
Get down! one of her friends yelled.
Goos entire row hit the foor.
When the gunman, several rows above them, paused, her group ran.
She slipped on a pool of popcorn butter, banged her face on a seat and
fell to the carpet. One of her shoes came off.
Outside, the parking lot was chaos.
The man was to her right.
He was leaning against a patrol car that had just arrived.
The police offcers rushed past him, guns drawn, in pursuit of the
shooter.
Help me, the man said.
The people closest stood against the theaters brick wall, dumbstruck.
No one else had stopped to help him, Goos said. No one had even
answered him or sort of acknowledged that he was covered in blood. If I
was in his position, I would be terrifed. I would have wanted someone to
at least say, Hi. Youre still alive. ... Ill try to help you while I can.
She took a closer look at his head wound. She saw tissue and cringed.
She stuttered and stumbled.
Youre OK. I dont think youre going to die.
She helped the man remove his shirt. He couldnt raise his right arm, so
PA6f 25
Goos lifted it for him. She pressed the blue cotton T-shirt against where a
knot on his head had swelled to the size of a goose egg.
I had no idea what to do, Goos said. I had no idea whether telling him
to put pressure on the wound was good. But I thought it was better than
him standing there waiting for the paramedics alone.
Later, Goos considered what had caused her to stop and help.
She thought about her mother, the woman who before Goos was born
had been an emergency medical technician and a frefghter, someone who
never seemed scared when her clumsy, reckless kid broke both arms fall-
ing off a scooter or busted her nose diving into a pool.
She thought about her own coming of age as a budding actor at Hin-
kley High School in Aurora, where playing the role of Anita in West Side
Story gave her license to be strong and independent too.
She thought about her just-completed freshman year at St. Johns Col-
lege in Santa Fe, of studying Greek philosophers and mathematicians, of
Aristotles ideas about the virtuous man.
She carries a book with her everywhere, always. On the night of the
shooting, it was a volume of fairy tales by Oscar Wilde. She read it while
on break from her job at a mom-and-pop pizza joint before the movie.
No matter how Goos tried to reassure the man, how she answered dif-
ferently, he repeated it again and again, like a record skipping.
The shirt pressed to his head had become soaked with blood.
Goos calmed the man down, helped him elevate his arm and told him
she was going to look for something to replace the shirt and be right back.
By the time she returned, paramedics were swarming around the man.
She walked by and nodded, but he probably didnt see her.
She never learned his name.
She never found out what happened to him.
Goos reached her mother on the phone and told her there had been a
shooting, that she couldnt fnd her friends.
Her mother and stepfather live just a few minutes away and arrived be-
fore the police blockades went up. She found her friends, all unhurt.
That night, I was terrifed this would steal my faith in humanity, Goos
PA6f 26
said. Everyone will live their life on a few basic principles of I love my
family, I love my neighbor. ... You will have a trust in other people. We all
have the human condition. We all have to establish some kind of common
ground between us, and the violation of that common ground is really
hard to come back from for people who have lost loved ones, who have
been injured, to those who got out all right and wonder why.
A couple of days later, Goos went to the Aurora police station. She had
been told to come there to look for what she had left behind.
Her bag with the Oscar Wilde book. Her lost shoe.
Someone brought out a box of shoes, so many tossed together, scuffed
and covered with dirt or worse. It reminded Goos of the piles of shoes
belonging to victims of the Nazi concentration camps.
Symbols of anonymous suffering, she called them.
She found her lost shoe and went home.
PA6f 27
Do I have permission to take some of these victims via
car? I have a whole bunch of people shot out here and no
rescue.
an unidentifed Aurora police offcer
At the scene of the largest mass shooting in U.S. history,
police assumed roles both familiar and not: running toward
danger to fnd the shooter, fguring out whether he acted
alone, answering questions from the panicked and injured,
using their squad cars as ambulances.
Aurora offcers arrived within 90 seconds of the dispatch center getting
deluged with the frst calls at 12:39 a.m., authorities have said.
Because of a judges gag order preventing authorities from discussing
the case, Aurora police declined requests to interview offcers who helped
the injured at the Century 16 theaters.
Bits and pieces of their stories reside in the memories of victims and
hospital staff and on the terrifying dispatch tapes from that night.
I have a party shot here. I need rescue hot.
Im taking one male to the hospital in my car.
Let Aurora South know cruiser 6 is in route. One critical, one semi-
critical.
FYI, right now were loading patients into back of PD cars to get them
transported.
Outside the theater, Aurora police Offcer Nigel Labarrie was among a
group of strangers who comforted and held the hand of 18-year-old Bon-
nie Kate Pourciau, who had been shot in the leg. Labarrie helped carry her
to a waiting patrol car, and another Aurora police offcer rushed her and a
family to University of Colorado Hospital.
He didnt care if I would sue him, Pourciau said from her hospital bed
Published
Sunday, July 29
Story by
Eric Gorski
LAW ENFORCEMENT. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDLY
Were loading patients
into back of PD cars
PA6f 28
last week, a yellow daisy tucked in her reddish-brown hair. He just did
the right thing. He did it, man. He got me there.
Labarrie, an 18-year veteran of the department, visited her in the hos-
pital several times before Pourciau boarded a medical fight back to her
home in Louisiana on Thursday night.
One witness to the massacre, Jacob King, described someone carrying
out a motionless little girl, covered in blood. A police offcer took the girl,
set her in his squad car and sped away, he said.
Dr. Frank Lansville, medical director of emergency services at Medi-
cal Center of Aurora, said an Aurora policeman with emergency medi-
cal training apparently took over some of the earliest triage on the scene,
helping sort out the injured amid crowds of moviegoers coming out and
crowds of police moving in.
Thats a very courageous thing, Lansville said.
Jarell Brooks was raised to fear God, respect women and make good
decisions.
Confdent and calm, the son of a pastor, he punctuates answers with
Yes, sir, and wont let girls pick up the check, ever.
He rapped about sandboxes and swings when he was in fourth grade
and wrote love songs when he was in middle school.
On the night of July 19, meeting a friend at the Century Aurora 16 the-
ater, Jarell was standing on the cusp of manhood 18 years old and 6 feet,
4 inches tall, about to start college and a new chapter.
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by
Eric Gorksi
JARELL BROOKS. HE KNEW HE HAD TO HELP
You never know what youre
going to do in a situation
Jarell Brooks helped a mother and her two children escape. The 18-year-old was shot in the leg as he put himself between the gunman and the
family. Joe Amon, The Denver Post
PA6f 29
PAGE 30
He noticed a young family coming up the aisle, a man and woman in
their mid-20s, the woman holding the hand of a little girl in a Spider-Man
cap, the man cradling an infant. All wore Batman shirts.
Jarell did not question as others have why parents would bring
such small children to a violent midnight movie.
He thought it was nice to see a family doing something together.
Around him, moviegoers played cards to pass the time.
Jarell played a game of hangman on his Android phone.
The next time he saw the young mother, the room was flled with smoke,
people were screaming, and hard decisions were being made.
Their seats were near the rear of the theater, about six rows down from
the projection room. When the shooting started, Jarell ducked behind the
seat in front of him and made sure his friend was safe.
As he started to crawl toward the exit, he bumped into the young moth-
er. She was clutching her children, too scared to move.
Its just me and my two kids, she said.
Up until that moment, Jarell said, he was of singular focus, thinking
only of getting himself out. Seeing the young family, it was as if he was
jarred into remembering who he was raised to be.
You never know what youre going to do in a situation, he said. For
someone to say anything about it, unless you are in that moment, in that
crunch time, you never know what you are going to do.
When someone is shooting, you get out, he continued. But when I
saw her, I kind of had to take a 180. You have to help this woman. You cant
live with yourself knowing a family was hurt or killed.
Jarell crawled alongside the woman and children, shielding them from
the gunman fring into the crowd from the other side of the theater. He
began to guide them out, crawling little by little.
When the woman began to stand, so did Jarell. There was another fash.
Almost immediately, he felt a sharp pain in his left leg.
He tried to steady himself and fell. He saw blood and a hole in his leg.
The bullet had entered his thigh, turned and danced, and exited below
his knee. The shrapnel struck the woman he was shielding, spraying her
right leg from the ankle to the upper thigh.
He tried to stand up, move the woman and her children along, and keep
PAGE 31
a hand on his wound, all at the same time.
Then all were out, safe but separated, Jarell hopping on one foot and
losing a lot of blood. Strangers helped him to a car, paramedics tended to
his injuries, and he was taken to Denver Health.
The next day, as news reporters sought out survivors stories, Jar-
ell learned the names of the young family he helped save: a 25-year-old
schoolteacher named Patricia Legarreta; her 4-year-old daughter, Azariah;
and 4-month-old Ethan. The children were unharmed.
In the terror of the theater, the three had become separated from Patri-
cias fanc and Ethans father, Jamie Rohrs, also 25.
In interviews, Rohrs has described hurdling over a row of seats and
running for his life, disoriented and unable to fnd his family.
I dont blame him for that at all, said Jarell, who graduated from Over-
land High School this year and will begin studies at Metropolitan State
University in Denver this fall. Someone is shooting in a closed space. His
life is on the line. Youre in a panic situation.
Jarells actions have inspired tributes on Facebook and a fundraising
campaign to help cover his medical and school expenses. The leg injury is
keeping him from his catering job at Elitch Gardens.
On the Sunday after the shooting, the young family Jarell helped rescue
attended services at New Life Worship Center in Commerce City, where
Jarells father, Jeffrey, is the senior pastor.
During a prayer of thanksgiving, the family came forward. God had a
plan in putting Jarell where he did, the pastor said.
Back at his familys apartment in Aurora, Jarell Brooks rested and re-
covered, replaying in his mind the choices he made in theater 9.
PA6f 32
MEDICAL PERSONNEL. THE LONGEST NIGHT
Angel Chavez, a nurse at Denver Health
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by
Michael Booth
A good portion of Angel Chavezs job is to be calm when she realizes the
patient coming out of the ambulance has three fngers blown off by a gun.
And to swallow shock when the captains chair of the next ambulance
holds a girl sitting upright and bleeding, gunshot wound to the chest.
And not to let a burgeoning massacre 10 miles away distract her team
from the usual patients facing death outside the spotlight.
Chavez was the night charge nurse in the Denver Health emergency
room when the theater shootings began. Alerted by dispatchers around 1
a.m., she checked which ER rooms could be safely cleared and how many
hallway spaces were open for overfow victims.
We could have taken 20 ourselves, Chavez said, with potentially more
in the childrens ER.
All without forgetting the current traumas: A patient in deep septic
shock who would later die. Head injuries to a helmetless motorcycle rider.
PA6f 33
Early on a Friday morning in summer, the Denver ER is often stuffed with
the aftermath of bar fghts, car wrecks and gang posturing.
One of the tricks is to not set everyone in motion immediately, no mat-
ter how strong the instinct, said Dr. Chris Colwell, Denver Healths emer-
gency-medicine chief. He was woken up by cellphone calls after midnight,
but part of his job is to think three days down the road.
Colwell, who treated students on the ground at Columbine High Schools
shootings in 1999, allowed himself one brief fash that Fridays call was
eerily similar: dozens of young people shot in a place that should have
been safe.
In the next moment, Colwell felt lucky there was something he could
do about it.
Just a few hours after 1 a.m., the ER bays were quiet again, and parents
of the theater victims checked in the hospital lobby to meet social workers
and doctors. Chavez looked forward to the Saturday yoga class she takes
to slough off stress and thought of the girl missing her fngers.
Who was, surprisingly, cheerful.
She was so happy it wasnt worse, Chavez said.
The trauma-response culture is all about What did we learn?
Its so positive, it makes you feel you could be positive as well, in some-
thing like this, Chavez said.
PA6f 34
Dr. Comilla Sasson,University of Colorado Hospital
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by
Michael Booth
Red and blue police lights bouncing off the windows of the emergency
bay, Dr. Comilla Sasson reached for gloves.
She didnt usually carry extras. But suddenly a cop cruiser was back-
ing into University of Colorado Hospital, full of bodies gushing blood.
And then another cruiser.
And then another. Sasson stuffed 50 pairs of gloves into pockets of her
scrubs. This was not going to end anytime soon.
At some point, it was the longest night of my life. And at some point,
it was How did that fve hours go by? she said.
Sasson and her shift partner that Friday morning, Dr. Barbara Blok,
spent the next hours triaging 23 victims from Auroras movie-theater
shooting. Surrounded by trauma surgeons, charge nurses, orthopedic
specialists, radiology techs and cleanup crews, they pointed fngers,
PA6f 35
steered gurneys and tried to bolster the spirits of frst-year residents
three weeks out of medical school.
And peeled glove after glove after soiled glove.
Its the quantity of blood that sticks in Sassons mind. Blood from head
wounds. From shattered limbs. From chest cavities opened to stem inter-
nal bleeding.
Underneath all that blood was more to worry about. A bullet pow-
ers in and bounces, doing more damage on the way out. Or worse, stays
inside and threatens veins and tissue.
Sasson describes her triage duty as a constant circling. A patient with
a pulse, talking, will suddenly crash from unseen internal bleeding. The
ER doctor must cycle around and around the arrayed beds, heading off
that crash.
Universitys ER was already full and on divert status, with 10 more in
the waiting area, when the shooting started just after 12:30 a.m. With gun-
shot trauma, you make room. The frst hour is the golden hour for those
on the brink.
The frst nine to 10 patients were all in the resuscitation area, she
said. More than fve could not tell us their names.
Aurora police cars kept rolling in, Sasson remembers looking from in-
doors to outdoors. These people are really sick, she thought, and Ive
got two minutes to fgure it out before the next one comes in.
Six hours after it began, at a 7 a.m. shift change, Sasson let out a deep
breath and said to herself, Wait what did I just see?
But inside that six hours?
Youre running on adrenaline, instinct, Sasson said. And fat-out
guts.
Dr. Gilbert Pineda grabbed a full bottle of water and chugged all of it in
a few gulps.
He shook his head a couple of times. Focus. Focus. Focus, he said,
only to himself.
Pineda walked down the narrow, stark-white corridor of the emergency
department and added up the scene. A man with a bloody bandage on his
head. One patient intubated, on life support. Another man with graphic
gunshot wounds to his arms and legs.
Patients lined up in the hallway, including a man with a belt wrapped
around his thigh like a tourniquet. A man screaming: I need pain medica-
tion! More screams coming from one of the rooms.
Pineda told himself not to let the yelling distract him just because
patients are loud doesnt mean theyre critical.
He saw a doctor in a white moon suit preparing to decontaminate peo-
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by
Jennifer Brown
Dr. Gilbert Pineda, MedicalCenter ofAurora
PA6f 36
PA6f 37
ple exposed to a noxious gas. Eighteen patients, 13 with gunshot wounds.
Before walking into the Medical Center of Aurora early that Friday
morning, Pineda had been up 20 hours. He had worked a 12-hour shift,
then gone to dinner with his daughter who was in town from college. He
was as tired as he had ever remembered being and went to bed at about
11:45 p.m. Thursday.
Pineda was asleep for about an hour when his phone rang. It was the
hospitals emergency medical chief, Dr. Frank Lansville. His voice was di-
rect and solemn.
Gilbert, there has been a mass shooting in Aurora. There may be as
many as 20 patients. I need you to go to the emergency department.
Pineda slipped on a pair of Levis and grabbed his medical bag. As he
was leaving, he thought, Boy, what an idiot you are. You are in your car,
backing out of your driveway, and this is something thats been a dream.
He turned on the EMS radio in his car. What he heard snapped him
alert.
Pineda went from one patient to the next, unwrapping bandages and
checking for signs that shotgun pellets had entered the chest or the blood-
stream. One man had 20 pieces of buckshot in his body.
Pineda, the hospitals EMS medical director, said its those kind of days
that remind him why he chose emergency medicine.
This is what I trained to do, he said. When something like this hap-
pens, you just click into this mode of Wow. This is what I like to do. Not
that I want to see people injured, but if they are injured, I want to have the
opportunity to take care of them.
PA6f 38
The frst inkling of what was in store came rolling up to the Childrens
Hospital Colorado emergency room without warning and without lights
and sirens a little before 1 a.m.
A car not an ambulance or police car, just some ordinary car that not
long ago had transported people to a movie theater drove up. Inside was
a passenger who had been shot.
Thats when we were told and its a little fuzzy now but they said
thered been a shooting in a theater, said Dr. Tien Vu.
Soon, the victims came too fast for Vu to track.
Cheryl Stiles phone rang just after 1 a.m. A self-professed night owl, she had been asleep
only an hour, and she had already put in a full shift the day before.
Stiles started her nursing career at Childrens 25 years ago and 24 of those have been
in emergency medicine. Now that she is director of emergency services, those late-night
calls are part of the job.
In Colorados hierarchy of trauma care, Childrens has the highest ranking. For chil-
dren, that usually means a car accident or a fall. To get multiple gunshot wounds within
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by
Karen Aug
Dr. Tien Vu, Childrens Hospital Colorado
PA6f 39
an hour probably had never happened, Vu said.
Stiles was in her car within minutes of getting the call. When she arrived at
the hospital, Stiles said, the frst thing she saw was a group of staffers standing
just outside the emergency-room doors, in the ambulance bay. The team was
in a circle. Some were holding hands, some hugging, Stiles said.
They had just needed a moment, she said.
Stiles joined them briefy, then they all walked together through the
glass doors back to the emergency room.
Stiles remembers a nurse torn because a patient was afraid to have the
lights turned off or be left alone. She held his hand while a colleague did
whatever clinical things were required.
Twelve hours after it began, Vus shift was over; Stiles still had seven
more hours her scheduled shift ahead.
Vu got into her car and headed north on Peoria Street. She had gone only
a couple of blocks when she saw red lights clustered around a brick building.
I went home and turned on the TV, she said. Thats when the enormity
of what happened hit me. It is also when she learned the red lights were gath-
ered at the booby-trapped home of the man suspected of causing the carnage.
She turned off the TV, kissed her 2-year-old daughter and, exhausted,
went to bed, hoping fnally to get some sleep.
She didnt.
Cheryl Stiles, a nurse at Childrens Hospital Colorado
PA6f 38
PAGE 40
CHRIS LAKOTA. HE RAN INTO THEATER 9
Published
July 29, 2012
Story by
Jennifer Brown
His frst reaction wasnt fear. It was anger.
Chris Lakota is a mixed martial artist and a sword fghter. He was once
shot in the arm with a 9mm pistol after shoving a guy who was throwing
gang signs, he said. He has a scar on his stomach where he was stabbed
and a tattoo on his biceps with the initials of a childhood friend shot to
death in a gang fght when Lakota was 17.
So when a shaken and sweating young theater employee stood in front
of the credits at the end of the new Spider-Man movie and told everyone
I wanted to do
something good
Chris Lakota, who was watching a different movie when the Aurora shootings began, went into theater 9 to help Bonnie Kate Pourciau escape.
PA6f 41
to evacuate immediately, Lakota didnt listen.
He saw the people streaming out of theater 9. He knew someone was
shooting in there; the theater employee had already told him it wasnt a
fre. Instead of running out, he went in.
He ran in. To theater 9. In the dark and smoke, the frst person Lakota
saw who needed help was Bonnie Kate Pourciau. The 18-year-old from Ba-
ton Rouge, La., was struggling down the last few steps toward the screen,
her knee ripped apart by a gunshot.
Lakota threw her arm around his neck and carried her out of the the-
ater. Outside, he put a sweat shirt under her head and wrapped another
one around her knee. He grabbed a bottle of water from a man who passed
by, held Bonnie Kates head up and put the bottle to her lips. He yelled for
an ambulance.
It was just pandemonium, he said.
People were screaming. Running for their cars. One mans hand was
blown apart. Another mans shinbone stuck out of his leg. A man moaned
in agony. The fre alarm pulsated, three intense beeps at a time, on endless
repeat.
Lakotas friend started taking a video with his phone. It begins as La-
kota is crouched over Bonnie Kate and ends as he and a couple of others
carry her to the front seat of a patrol car.
Bonnie Kate was quiet when Lakota was with her. She barely made a
sound, just moaned a couple of times.
Think about positive things, Lakota told her. Think about your summer.
He told her not to look at her leg, which at frst was spouting blood as
fast as a pour from a bottle of wine, Lakota said. Just keep your eyes up.
He stayed with her the whole time.
When Lakota, 36, ran into theater 9, he wasnt focused on carrying
someone out, he said. His initial thought was to take out the coward who
was shooting people. But then he saw Bonnie Kate.
I wanted to do something good, said Lakota, whose full name is Brent
Christopher Thunderhorse Lakota. If you see bad, and you dont do any-
thing, I feel its just as bad as the evil itself.
It felt like everything in my life prepared me to go in there.
PA6f 42
After about 15 minutes in front of the theater, police offcers asked
whether Lakota could move Bonnie Kate behind the complex, where am-
bulances were supposed to arrive. He put her arm around his neck again
and carried her around the building.
She accidentally scratched his cheek with her fngernail, drawing blood.
He made a joke about them both having scars from that night.
She felt as light as feathers, he said.
They waited behind the theater for several more minutes, Lakota said.
And when he slid her into the front seat of a patrol car, he patted her knee.
He buckled her seat belt. Good luck to you. I hope I see you again.
Lakota tracked Bonnie Kate down at University of Colorado Hospital
last week. Her mother answered the phone when he called.
Bonnies been looking for you, he recalled her saying.
When he went to visit her, he brought gifts from his American Indian
heritage a white-tailed hawk feather, a dreamcatcher and, to keep good
spirits close, sweetgrass.
Lakotas wife won free tickets to the movie that night and encouraged
him and his friend to use them. Now, he feels that he was meant to go.
I wouldnt change it for anything, he said.

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NEWS saturday, july 21, 2012 B denverpost.com B the denver post 66

We all have the ability to rise above what

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Such violence, such evil is senseless.

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