CHILD WARNING EFFORTPOST Aurora, Colorado Shooting 2012 (CW)

On the night of July 20th 2012, James Eagan Holmes

parked his car near the exit door of Theater 9 at the Century 16 multiplex. Police said the Holmes bought a ticket for the movies to see The Dark Knight Rises, sat in the front row and about 20 minutes into the movie he left the theater through the exit door beside the movie screen which had direct access to the parking lot. He propped the door opened slightly with a plastic tablecloth holder. Around 12:30 am he reentered the theater. He was dressed in all black wearing a gas mask, a loading-bearing vest, a ballistic helmet, bullet resistant leggings, a bullet resistant throat protector, a groin protector and tactical gloves.

He was also wearing headphones listening to Techno so he wouldn't hear any of the audience members.

Once he entered there was a mix of emotions. Some believed it to be a prank while some were actually threatened.

It's said to be reported that Holmes threw a cannister to left, emitting a gas or smoke. He proceeded to fire a 12-gauge Remington 870 Express Tactical shotgun at the ceiling then then at the audience.

He also had with him a Smith&Wesson M&P15 semi-automatic rifle that eventually malfunctioned.

Finally he fired a .40-caliber Glock 22 Gen4 handgun which passed through the wall and hit three people in theater 8. The fire alarm began sounding soon after the attack began, and staff started evacuating theater 8.

TOTAL NUMBER OF SHOTS FIRED: 76

6 from shotgun

65 from semi-automatic rifle

5 from .40 caliber handgun

POLICE RESPONSE:

First calls to 9-1-1 were made around 12:39am. It took police 90 seconds to respond. Some even reported the shooting via Twitter rather then calling the police. Unfortunetly, Ambulances were hindered by the chaos and congestion in the parking lot and were unable to reach the back of the complex where police where pulling injured out through the exit door of theater 9.

Around 12:45am, Police officer Jason Oviatt apprehended Holmes behind the cinema by his car without resistance. At first he was mistaken for another police officer because of his tactical gear. During his arrest he was described as calm and "Disconnected".

EXPLOSIVES:

Upon his arrest Holmes told the police he had bobby-trapped his apartment with explosive devices.

Police evacuated the surrounding area which including 5 building's which was about 5 miles north from the cinema.

The apartment held more then 30 homemade grenades, wired to a control box in the kitchen and filled with at least 30 US gal (110 L) of gasoline.

CASUALTIES:

12 fatalities were reported along with 70 injured by bullets. 4 peoples eyes were irritated by the tear gas and 8 were injured while fleeing the theater.

Jonathan Blunk, 26

Alexander J. Boik, 18

Jesse Childress, 29

Gordon Cowden, 51

Jessica Ghawi (Also known as Jessica Redfield), 24

John Larimer, 27

Matt McQuinn, 27

Micayla Medek, 23

Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6

Alex Sullivan, 27

Alexander C. Teves, 24

Rebecca Wingo, 32

Jessica Ghawi had survived the Eaton Centre shooting in Toronto that occurred a month prior

COURT PROCEEDINGS:

Holmes was convicted of the following:

12 counts of First-degree murder

140 counts of Attempted first-degree murder

Possessing an illegal explosive device

VERDICT:

Guilty on all counts

SENTENCE:

12 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole plus 3,318 years.

OTHER LITTLE TID BITS:

Screenshot of his profile from Match.com

Women who have wrote to him and sent him pictures in prison admiring him.

Photo of Holmes taken from his phone:

Footage of outside the theater where you can see a man has been shot and is bleeding

SORUCES:

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/powerful-photos-released-from-aurora-theater-shooting/14

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Aurora,_Colorado_shooting