On July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurred inside a Mershops Town Center Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, United States, during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes set off tear gas grenades and shot into the audience with multiple firearms. Twelve people were killed and 70 others were injured, 58 of them due to gunfire. Holmes' shooting remains the deadliest mass shooting by a lone shooter in Colorado's history.
Holmes was arrested minutes later in his car outside the cinema. Earlier, he had rigged his apartment with homemade explosives and incendiary devices. These were defused by the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad a day after the shooting.
Fearing copycat crimes, movie theaters showing the same film across the United States increased their security. Gun sales increased in Colorado, and political debates were generated about gun control in the United States.
Holmes confessed to the shooting but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Arapahoe County prosecutors sought the death penalty. The trial began on April 27, 2015. On July 16 of that year, Holmes was convicted of 24 counts of first-degree murder, 140 counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of possessing explosives. On August 7, the jury deadlocked on whether to impose the death penalty. On August 26, Holmes was given 12 life sentences, one for every person he killed; he also received 3,318 years for the attempted murders of those he wounded and for rigging his apartment with explosives.
The shooting had a major impact on film exhibition. Several theater chains implemented restrictions on the wearing of costumes, and the incident precipitated the end of traditional midnight showings for blockbusters, in favor of earlier Thursday previews.
Events
Shooting
The shooting occurred in Theater 9 at the Century 16 multiplex (operated by Cinemark Theatres), located in the Town Center at Aurora shopping mall at 14300 E. Alameda Avenue. Police said that Holmes bought a ticket, entered the theater, and sat in the front row. About 20 minutes into the film, he left Theater 9 through an emergency exit door beside the movie screen, with direct access to the lightly used parking area at the back of the complex, while propping the door slightly open with a plastic tablecloth holder. There were about 400 people inside Theater 9.
Holmes went to his car (which he had parked near the exit door), changed into protective clothing, and retrieved his guns. About 30 minutes into the movie, police say, around 12:30 a.m., he reentered the theater through the exit door. Holmes was dressed in black and wore a gas mask, a load-bearing vest, a ballistic helmet, bullet-resistant leggings, a bullet-resistant throat protector, a groin protector, and tactical gloves. He was listening to a techno radio station, which was playing the song "Becoming Insane" by Infected Mushroom, through a set of headphones so that he could not hear anything from people in the theater. Initially, few in the audience considered Holmes to be a threat. Some witnesses thought he was wearing a costume, like other audience members who had dressed up for the screening. Some believed he was playing a prank, while others thought he was part of a special effects setup for the film's premiere, or a publicity stunt by the studio or theater management.
Holmes reportedly threw one canister towards the left side of the theatre, emitting a gas or smoke, that partially obscured the audience members' vision, made their throats and skin itch, and caused eye irritation. He fired a 12-gauge Remington 870 Express Tactical shotgun, first at the ceiling and then at the audience. He also fired a Smith & Wesson M&P15 semi-automatic rifle with a 100-round drum magazine, which eventually malfunctioned. Finally, he fired a .40-caliber Glock 22 Gen4 handgun. He shot first to the back of the room, and then toward people in the aisles. A bullet passed through the wall and hit three people in adjacent theater 8, which was screening the same film. Witnesses said the multiplex's fire alarm system began sounding soon after the attack began, and staff told people in Theater 8 to evacuate.
Holmes fired 76 shots in the theater: 6 from the shotgun, 65 from the semi-automatic rifle, and 5 from the .40-caliber handgun.
Police response
The first phone calls to emergency services via 9-1-1 were made around midnight, prior to his attack, as can be heard in the opening statements of the prosecution, as well as the recorded transcript of his interview with the FBI. At 12:39 a.m., after he began shooting, other victims began to call the police who arrived within 90 seconds and found three .40-caliber handgun magazines, a shotgun, and a large drum magazine on the floor of the theater. Some people reported the shooting via Twitter or text messaging rather than calling the police; officers were already at the theater by the time that the tweets were sent. Ambulances were hindered by chaos and congestion in the parking lot, and they were unable to reach the back of the complex where police had pulled the injured out through the emergency exit doors of Theatre 9. Sgt. Stephen Redfearn, one of the first police officers to arrive on the scene, sent victims to area hospitals in squad cars.
At about 12:45 a.m., police officer Jason Oviatt apprehended Holmes behind the cinema, next to his car, without resistance. Because of his tactical clothing, Holmes was at first mistaken for another police officer. He was described as being calm and "disconnected" during his arrest. Two federal officials said that Holmes had dyed his hair red and called himself "The Joker", although authorities later declined to confirm this. Three days later, at his first court appearance in Centennial, Colorado, Holmes's hair appeared reddish-orange. Later, the Colorado district attorney who prosecuted Holmes said he never called himself the Joker, and blamed the federal officials for the rumor. The officers found several firearms in the theater and inside the shooter's car, including another Glock 22 handgun. Holmes was found carrying a first-aid kit and spike strips, which he later admitted in an interview he had planned to use if police either shot at or chased him.
Following his arrest, Holmes was initially jailed at the Arapahoe County Detention Center, under suicide watch. The police interviewed more than 200 witnesses of the shooting. Speaking on behalf of himself and FBI agent James Yacone, who was in charge of the investigation, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said he was confident that the shooter acted alone.
Discovery of explosive devices
When apprehended, Holmes told the police that he had booby-trapped his apartment with explosive devices. Police evacuated five buildings surrounding his Aurora residence, which was about 5 mi (8 km) north of the cinema. Holmes' apartment complex is limited to University of Colorado Medical Center students, patients, and employees. One day after the shooting, officials disarmed an explosive device that was wired to the apartment's front door, allowing a remote-controlled robot to enter and disable other explosives. The apartment held more than 30 homemade grenades, wired to a control box in the kitchen and filled with at least 30 US gal (110 L) of gasoline.
Neighbors reported loud music from the apartment around midnight on the night of the massacre, and one went to his door to tell him she was calling the police; she said the door seemed to be unlocked, but she chose not to open it.
A police official said a Batman mask was found in the apartment. On July 23, police finished collecting evidence from the apartment. Two days later, residents were allowed to return to the four surrounding buildings, and six days later, residents were allowed to move back into the formerly booby-trapped building.
Casualties
Twelve fatalities were reported along with 70 injuries. 58 were hit by bullets, and were reported by mainstream news as the most victims of any mass shooting in United States history. This figure was not surpassed until the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, which killed 49 people and injured 58 others for a combined total of 107 casualties. Four people's eyes were irritated by the tear gas grenades, while eight others sustained non-gunshot injuries while fleeing the theater. The massacre was the deadliest shooting in Colorado since the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999.
Fatalities
Ten victims died at the scene and two more were pronounced dead in local hospitals. An unborn child was also killed. The people murdered were:
- 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
Ghawi had survived the Eaton Centre shooting in Toronto that occurred a month prior.
Injuries
The injured were treated at Children's Hospital Colorado, Denver Health Medical Center, The Medical Center of Aurora, Parker Adventist Hospital, Rose Medical Center, Swedish Hospital, and University Hospital. On July 25, three of the five hospitals treating victims announced they would limit medical bills or forgive them entirely.
Ashley Moser, Veronica Moser-Sullivan's mother, suffered critical injuries after being shot three times in the chest, neck, and abdomen. She was rendered a paraplegic due to one of the bullets lodging in her spine. She miscarried a week after the attack.
Caleb Medley, the last victim discharged, left University Hospital on September 12. He had serious brain damage and an injury to his right eye from a shotgun blast to the head and underwent three brain surgeries. He required a feeding tube, had severely impaired movement, and could no longer speak.
Stefan Moton was paralyzed from the chest down after a bullet went through his spine.
The Community First Foundation collected more than $5 million for a fund for victims and their families. In September, victims and their families received surveys asking about their preferences for how collected funds should be distributed, either by dividing it equally among victims or through a needs-assessment process.
On November 16, 2012, the Aurora Victim Relief Fund announced that each family of the dead would receive $220,000.
Court proceedings
Holmes' booking photo was released, and he first appeared in court on July 23, 2012. According to press reports, he seemed dazed and largely unaware of his surroundings.
On July 30, Colorado prosecutors filed formal charges against Holmes, including 24 counts of first-degree murder, 116 counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of illegal possession of explosives. Two charges were filed for each victim to expand the opportunities for prosecutors to obtain convictions. Colorado State District Court Judge William B. Sylvester, who was the trial judge overseeing the case, placed a gag order on lawyers and law enforcement, sealing the court file and barring the University of Colorado from releasing public records relating to Holmes' year at the school. Media organizations challenged the sealing of the court file.
On August 9, Holmes' attorneys said he is mentally ill and they needed more time to assess the nature of his illness. The disclosure was made at a court hearing in Centennial, Colorado, where news media organizations asked a judge to unseal court documents in the case. Prosecutors alleged on August 24, 2012, that Holmes told a classmate he wanted to kill people four months before the shooting.
A judge ruled on August 30 that a notebook written by Holmes, in which he allegedly described a violent attack, was covered by physician–patient privilege because it was addressed to his psychiatrist. This made it inadmissible as evidence unless Holmes' mental health became an issue in the case. Prosecutors dropped their request for access to the notebook on September 20, 2012.
On January 2, 2013, prosecutors and defense attorneys in the case returned to court in advance of the preliminary hearing, the public's first officially sanctioned look at the evidence, due to the gag order. It began on January 7. Prosecutors offered their case as to why the trial should proceed, and defense lawyers argued that it should not. At the conclusion, Judge Sylvester decided there was enough relevant, admissible evidence to proceed to a trial.
Also on January 7, lawyers for both sides argued whether to admit four unspecified prescription bottles and immunization records investigators had seized from Holmes' apartment when they searched it in July 2012, considering doctor-patient confidentiality laws. The judge ruled in October that prosecutors could keep the items.
On March 27, Holmes' lawyers offered a guilty plea in exchange for prosecutors not seeking the death penalty. On April 1, the prosecution announced it had declined the offer. Arapahoe County district attorney George Brauchler said: "It's my determination and my intention that in this case for James Eagan Holmes justice is death."
Jury selection started on January 20, 2015. It ended on April 15, 2015.
Trial
On February 27, 2014, Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour set the start of Holmes' trial for October 14. The trial was delayed to December 8 upon a defense request for a continuance to further evaluate Holmes' mental condition. On that date, the trial was again postponed, as Holmes' lawyers asked for another continuance to further prepare their case and review the paperwork of evidence.