Police are pictured outside of a Century 16 movie theatre where as many as 14 people were killed and many injured at a shooting during the showing of a movie at the in Aurora, Colo. , Friday, July 20, 2012. (AP Photo)(CBS/AP)
AURORA, Colo. - A gunman clad in body armor and wearing a gas mask opened fire
on moviegoers at a midnight showing of the latest Batman movie Friday, killing
12 and injuring dozens more in one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent
U.S. history.
In an early evening press conference Friday, Colorado Gov. John
Hickenlooper announced that 30 people were hospitalized, 11 of those critical.
The total number of people injured was corrected to 70, not 71 as reported
earlier -- 12 of them fatalities.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates says the last of the 10 deceased
victims from the midnight showing of a Batman movie was removed from the
theater Friday afternoon.
Coates says officers expect to get a confirmed list of the
deceased and meet with their families Friday night.
The violent and chaotic scene erupted at about 12:30 a.m. local
time as the suspected gunman, identified as 24-year-old James Holmes, stood at
the front of one of the Century 16 theaters at the Aurora Mall where "The
Dark Knight Rises" was playing. Witnesses reported that the gunman entered
the theater through an emergency exit door and authorities said he threw two
gas canisters before opening fire.
Read more at CBSNews.com.
(Copyright 2012 CBS News and the Associated Press.)
