# 12 people shot dead at BATMAN movie screening in Denver. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 20, 2012, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835 "2012-07-20T09:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![D-bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@D-bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D-bear)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/61 "2012-07-20T15:49:18Z")
> [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > WASHINGTON – Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Friday that the shootings that took place in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater hours earlier were a result of “ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs” and questioned why nobody else in the theater had a gun to take down the shooter. > > [Louie Gohmert: Aurora Shootings Result Of 'Ongoing Attacks On Judeo-Christian Beliefs' | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/louie-gohmert-aurora-shootings_n_1689099.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009&utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false) I’m kinda surprised that it took a Republican this long to put out that statement. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/62 "2012-07-20T15:52:02Z")
I’m not sure that I want your average packing Toms, Dicks and Harriets in a crowded, dark theater (with tear gas, no less) trying to take down a shooter and also not coordinating their fires. Sounds like a recipe for more innocent victims getting shot. ---
**Author:** ![IceQube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@IceQube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQube)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/63 "2012-07-20T16:09:13Z")
Damn. Those dozen or so people will be missed. Whom they could have become, we don’t know. Robbed of their potentials. Their trajectories, stopped midway. I suppose this comes with the territory we call life, and we have the right to either accept or reject the rules of engagement. For those who accept, this shows just how precarious our lives are - a random event like this, a freak accident, anything - could just tip the balance against us and bankrupt us of the ephemeral period we have on this Earth. Hopefully, there won’t be anything like this at the London Olympics, but I’m frankly a little on edge, given all the current conflict - international, and now, domestic. My heart also goes out to those who were physically - and emotionally - scarred by this tragic event. > [@echo7tango](#): > > Harriets Interesting that you mentioned this name. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/64 "2012-07-20T16:11:41Z")
Apparently the shooter has a San Diego link. His mother lives in a suburb of SD and he attended HS here. The local news reported he was a normal kid who the neighbors thought went off to college. Of course, all of this is in the fog of early news reports, and we know that information like that often changes. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/65 "2012-07-20T16:19:06Z")
I’ve updated the thread title, which originally said 14 people were killed and not 12. And the three-month-old child is now out of the hospital The baby was not shot and was apparently taken to the hospital just as a precaution. Good news such as it is. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/66 "2012-07-20T16:28:44Z")
Makes me rethink not carrying most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/67 "2012-07-20T16:29:30Z")
News reported a father said his 6 year old daughter is the 13th victim. ---
**Author:** ![gunnergoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e95f7d/32.png) [@gunnergoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gunnergoz)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/68 "2012-07-20T16:30:54Z")
For once I’m speechless. How terrible for the victims. What senseless tragedy. ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/69 "2012-07-20T16:32:34Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > while we all glue ourselves to the TV and hope that there is actual YouTube footage of people being killed. No, I’m wondering how such an obviously unbalanced Ph.D.c. in neuro something or other managed to get his hands on so many explosives … if that’s what his apartment is booby trapped with. I can do without the gore. I’m also wondering why people thought smoke bombs and a LIVE gunman were part of the movie, unless they were a little kid who would obviously think it was awesome and not immediately be alarmed. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/70 "2012-07-20T16:33:00Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Man, I felt something brewing about this movie. Fans have just been über invested. I don’t know if Heath Ledger’s performance in the last movie was just so freaking astonishing that fans were too worked up for the next installment, but fans have been going bananas. Threatening critics, flooding rotten tomatoes with enough crazy comments to shut the damn comments section down, prompting the website owner to release a statement saying “ **Jesus Christ twisting the nails** , it’s just a MOVIE people!” Bolding mine. This mightn’t be the right place to say it but, man, you are awesome with words. > [@echo7tango](#): > > I’m not sure that I want your average packing Toms, Dicks and Harriets in a crowded, dark theater (with tear gas, no less) trying to take down a shooter and also not coordinating their fires. Sounds like a recipe for more innocent victims getting shot. Seriously. How much more damage would have been done? I’m with the people who are trying not to allow this to fuel further phobias about crowds and How Dangerous Life Is. That’s not a helpful way to live and I know it, but then some motherfucker like this guy comes along and I’m back to, “Well, what would it be like if I _didn’t_ allow my kids to ever leave the house?” ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/71 "2012-07-20T16:33:42Z")
His [photograph](http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/national/james-holmes-photo-aurora-colorado-dark-knight-rises-shooter-kills-122) has been posted. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/72 "2012-07-20T16:35:40Z")
> [@Darth\_Nader](#): > > WASHINGTON – Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Friday that the shootings that took place in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater hours earlier were a result of “ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs” and questioned why nobody else in the theater had a gun to take down the shooter. > > [Louie Gohmert: Aurora Shootings Result Of 'Ongoing Attacks On Judeo-Christian Beliefs' | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/louie-gohmert-aurora-shootings_n_1689099.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009&utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false) Jesus, that’s so stupid on so many levels. If someone is going to use a handgun to take out a shooter wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with an AK, a shotgun, and two handguns of his own in a crowded, darkened movie theater, then yes, direct divine intervention from God himself will probably be necessary. ---
**Author:** ![LaurenIpsum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@LaurenIpsum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaurenIpsum)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/73 "2012-07-20T16:40:36Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > He’s a white guy, right? Please tell me he’s a white guy. The shooter, I mean. Does the race of the shooter make it less of a tragedy? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/74 "2012-07-20T16:43:41Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Another sick fuck makes the news and gets his moment of fame. Twelve lives are over and countless lives are damaged, and the media swarms like flies to a dead dog’s carcass, while we all glue ourselves to the TV and hope that there is actual YouTube footage of people being killed. Our society continues to spiral downward. It’s fucking depressing. You’d prefer that the news stations … \*\*\*not \*\*\* report on current events? 😕 And I’ll refer you [to this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=657803)in the hopes that you see that life is better now, not worse, and that there IS no downward spiral. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/75 "2012-07-20T16:49:41Z")
> [@lorene](#): > > Bolding mine. This mightn’t be the right place to say it but, man, you are awesome with words… Not gonna lie…I made \*\*myself \*\*giggle a bit with that one. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/76 "2012-07-20T16:51:26Z")
How did he get in with a rifle, a shotgun and two pistols? I’m usually sweating like Billy Hayes in _Midnight Express_ because I have a Cadbury in my pocket ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/77 "2012-07-20T16:53:15Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > How did he get in with a rifle, a shotgun and two pistols? I’m usually sweating like Billy Hayes in _Midnight Express_ because I have a Cadbury in my pocket I believe he kicked in the emergency exit. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/78 "2012-07-20T16:55:41Z")
> [@D-bear](#): > > Teeny Tiny bright spot in this huge issue is that Obama and Romney have BOTH agreed to halt all political ads in the whole state as this issue unfolds. Yea, I don’t really see the point. Unless the political ads were specifically about gun violence or something, I don’t see why an Obama ad is anymore upsetting then the Geico ad or whatever that will replace it. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/79 "2012-07-20T16:56:12Z")
> [@LaurenIpsum](#): > > Does the race of the shooter make it less of a tragedy? Yeah, I was wondering WTF that had to do with anything. America really needs to get over race. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835/80 "2012-07-20T16:59:55Z")
> [@LaurenIpsum](#): > > Does the race of the shooter make it less of a tragedy? It wouldn’t, but it’s bad enough without throwing a match into the racial tinderbox. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/12-people-shot-dead-at-batman-movie-screening-in-denver/628835.md?page=5)