Colorado Shooting; Batman Premiere Blighted By Shooting Tragedy with 14 Killed [Video]
A day for many excited Batman fans quickly turned into great tragedy and turmoil as a shooting broke out in a Colorado theatre Friday morning.
10 people were killed on the site as gunfire shooting erupted at a midnight screening of the much anticipated Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises."
It was reported that 4 more people ended up losing their lives at the hospital due to their injuries. However, the death toll may rise as at least 50 were wounded by the mass shooting, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates says.
A suspect to the Colorado shooting has been apprehended by authorities in the parking lot outside the Century 16 Movie Theater at the Aurora Town Center, which is less than 10 miles from the Denver downtown region.
One witnesses has reported to NBC station KUSA-Denver that a black-clad 6-foot-tall man wearing a riot helmet, goggles and bullet-proof vest was seen at the location, and is thought to have been the killer. Police Chief Dan Oates has reported that the suspect was found with a gas mask and two firearms in his possession, and ammunition was recovered from his car.
Witnesses have described that the real life shooting began during a noisy shoot out scene in the new "Dark Knight Rises" movie. Many in the theater actually believed the real gunshots were just part of the film and did not realize their lives were in danger until it was too late.
The gunfire lasted for up to 20 minutes, according to some eyewitnesses.
"I don't know whose little girl that was, but my heart goes out to them. ... A cop came walking through the front door ... holding a little girl in his arms and she wasn't moving, she wasn't moving," one young man told KUSA.
Other witnesses described some victims as being hit by gunfire in the stomach, others in the cheek. One victim is believed to be as young as nine years old, according to one eye witness, Salina Jordan.
A 911 dispatcher, Cathy Canzanora, has told NBC News that at about 12:39 a.m. on Friday local time (2.39 a.m. ET) the emergency call center was suddenly flooded with calls from just about "everybody who had cellphones in the theater." The call center immediately dispatched police, ambulances and fire crews to the location.
"The Dark Knight Rises" is the third and final movie in the Christopher Nolan trilogy in the Batman franchise. The movie was just released for general public viewing from midnight on Friday, and thousands attended special midnight screenings across the country.
Video footage of the aftermath of the horrific shooting can be seen below:
