1. UPDATE 17: [FINAL] AURORA, DENVER BATMAN SCREENING SHOOTING. FULL OBAMA STATEMENT; ROMNEY STATEMENT; LINKS TO COVERAGE

    Reports of a mass shooting at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Denver Colorado. Reuters is reporting 10 dead with many injured. UPDATE: 8:34am EST Revised numbers at least 12 Dead, many injured. (a lot of horrific reports of specific events coming out)

    This is genuinely awful news.

    I’m no longer updating. LINKS TO COVERAGE AT THE BOTTOM OF CUT

    Live local new coverage here UPDATE 17: 7:51 am EST embedded:

    UPDATE: BBC REPORT

    UPDATE 2: Aurora Police are to make a statement at 5:15am EST (3:15 Local denver)

    UPDATE 3: Denvers 9News Tweets:

    CONFIRMED: minimum 10 dead, 39 transported - this just in from Aurora PD Chief Oates.

    UPDATE 4: Various unconfirmed reports one suspect arrested. Repeat Unconfirmed. (confirmed during press conference)

    SKY NEWS UK Tweets

    Sky Sources: FBI considering raising national security level across the United States following Denver shooting

    UPDATE 5: BBC coverage with live text

    updates: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18922685#TWEET175597

    UPDATE 6: 5:30 EST NBC TWEETS:

    Fourteen dead, dozens injured during a Colorado screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.” Suspect is in custody.

    UPDATE 7:  BBC TEXT UPDATE VIA WEBSITE 5:31 EST:

    1031: Police say the suspect was arrested in a car park nearby and was in possession of a rifle and hand-gun. They believe more weapons may have been left in the cinema. The man arrested told them that explosives were stored at his home, police said.
    UPDATE 8: UK Paper, The Guardian has Live Updates HERE latest update:

    10.36am BST/3.36am Local time A masked gunman shot 14 people dead and up to 50 injured at a showing of the new Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises at a cinema in the US city of Denver, police said.

    Local radio station KOA, citing witnesses, said a figure in a gas mask had opened fire at the showing in a mall in the suburb of Aurora and set off a smoke or teargas bomb.

    The situation is developing quickly and we will bring you the latest information as it happens.

    UPDATE 9: More from The Guardian

    10.53am/3.53am:Here is the latest update from Associated Press newswire:

    “Witness Hayden Miller told KUSA-TV that he was inside Theater 16 and heard several shots.

    “Like little explosions going on and shortly after that we heard people screaming,” he told the station.

    Hayden said at first he thought it was part of a louder movie next door. But then he saw “people hunched over leaving [the] theater.”

    Spokeswoman Nicole Williams said that two people in critical condition had been rushed to the nearby Swedish Medical Center.

    She said emergency crews told her staff to prepare for several more patients from the shooting scene.

    “We’re on standby to receive,” she said. “Police said they could have as many as 20 or more (patients).”

    This is really terrible stuff.

    UPDATE 9: The Guardian’s web news editor Jonathan Haynes tweets 6:09 EST:

    Gunman had rifle and handgun, and another weapon on the scene. Police searching parking lot and apartment for explosives. US media report

    UPDATE 10: CNN showing video from in the cinema reportedly

    Police scanner if you feel so obliged: http://www.radioreference.com/apps/audio/?action=wp&feedId=43

    UPDATE 11: More from The Guardian’s live blog:

    11.21am BST/ 4:21 MDT: Here’s some of the first half of a short press briefing from local police chief Dan Oates. At the start of the briefing he confirmed that a 24 year-old male had been arrested and was in custody:

    As of now we only know of one gunman and we have noi evidence of any additional shooters. Police officers responded and found the gunman in the back of the theatre outside in the parking lot in his car in possesison of a gas mask and at least a rifle and a hand gun.”

    The shooting went on for some time as. We have approximately 50 injured and 14 dead. 10 dead in the theatre and four died at the area hospital.

    The police response consisted of any one who was bleeding into police cars into hospitals….There may be some double counts.

    The suspect is in custody and made statements about possible explosive in his residence. At this time there is a residence in a B=North Aurora apartment building which has been evacuated and we are searching for explosive inside there.

    We are also concerned about explosives in the parking lot as it is [currently] sealed off.

    UPDATE 12: CNN international (more distant to situation than CNN US) just reporting on possible PR/promotional issues for film. Of course slightly inappropriate, but a question many will be asking. 

    UPDATE 13: CNN contributor David Frum Tweets:

    It seems that it’s perfectly legal for a Colorado resident to carry a semiautomatic weapon into a movie theater with him.

    I have to admit this is the question I asked myself, it is a situation so removed from my reality (I’m from a small town in New Zealand, I couldn’t get a gun even if I urgently needed one)

    UPDATE 14: 7:00am EST The Guardian’s Live updates are exemplary, there latest which may or may not seem worse than actuality:

    11.53am BST/4.53am MDT: Denver University hospital is reporting that they are treating three people for “chemical exposure”.

    UPDATE 15: President Obama statement: CNN Mexico Reporter @RodrigoEBR Tweets:

    President Obama: We are committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice, ensuring the safety of our people

    and:

    Pres Obama: All of us must have the people of Aurora in our thoughts and prayers as they confront the loss of family, friends, and neighbors

    more at his twitter

    UPDATE 15: FULL OBAMA STATEMENT:

    Via Scribd.com

    Statement by President Barack Obama on the Shooting in Colorado

    UPDATE 16: @breakingnews tweets Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s statement:

    Mitt Romney: ‘Ann and I are deeply saddened by the news of the senseless violence that took the lives of 15 people in Colorado’ - Statement

    UPDATE 17: My final update; please follow The Guardian’s Live updates for coverage as well as local channel 9News’s video here. From The Guardian Updates, Aurora residents are waking up to the terrible news:

    1.00pm: (8:00am EST)Stringer Laura Standley and local Denver resident has filed this from the scene:

    Police cars and emergency vehicles are just beginning to leave as the sun comes up around 530am in Aurora, but the alarm continues to sound from the Century 16 theatre.

    Area residents are wandering over having heard the news of the shooting at their neighbourhood theatre. Christine Doan, 24, is one such resident.

    She said she came down because she heard some of the victims were children. In fact, talking about it brought her to tears. “Lives were lost here,” she said.

    “This is a serious event for (Aurora).”

    Doan says the news is shocking, despite comparing it to a shooting at this very mall which resulted in a curfew for teenagers on Fridays and Saturday nights.

    Jojo Perez, 30, another resident in this north Aurora neighbourhood mirrors these sentiments. “That could have been us in there.” she said.

    • Posted By: moclak
    • July 20, 2012 at 8:55pm