Daily Archives: July 20, 2012

Life is very fragile

Posted on by

President Barack Obama called Friday for a truce in the political war that is the 2012 campaign as he led an emotional silent tribute to the victims of the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, and urged a country often divided to unite “as one American family.” (via: yahoopolitics )

“And if there’s anything to take away from this tragedy it’s the reminder that life is very fragile. Our time here is limited and it is precious. And what matters at the end of the day is not the small things, it’s not the trivial things, which so often consume us and our daily lives. Ultimately, it’s how we choose to treat one another and how we love one another. It’s what we do on a daily basis to give our lives meaning and to give our lives purpose. That’s what matters. At the end of the day, what we’ll remember will be those we loved and what we did for others. That’s why we’re here. I’m sure that many of you who are parents here had the same reaction that I did when I heard this news. My daughters go to the movies. What if Malia and Sasha had been at the theater, as so many of our kids do every day? Michelle and I will be fortunate enough to hug our girls a little tighter tonight, and I’m sure you will do the same with your children. But for those parents who may not be so lucky, we have to embrace them and let them know we will be there for them as a nation.” — Remarks by the President on the Shootings in Aurora, Colo. – NYTimes.com (via apsies)

Aurora movie shooter is a former medical student

Posted on by

The Boston Globe: [James] Holmes was a student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver until last month, spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery said. She did not know when he started school or why he withdrew.

The image of Holmes is from the University of Colorado.

Update: Live: KUSA reports he was studying neuroscience.

Today

Posted on by

I’m probably going to be following the tragedy in Aurora. I can’t concentrate on politics or anything else right now. My heart goes out to the victims and their families and friends.

Posted in Uncategorized

Red carpet premiere of Dark Knight in Paris cancelled after shootings

Posted on by

“Warner Bros., makers of “The Dark Knight Rises” have canceled the film’s red carpet premiere in Paris on Friday night in addition to media interviews with director Christopher Nolan and cast members. The Hollywoord Reporter said Nolan and Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway and Morgan Freeman were at Paris’ hotel Le Bristol to promote the film. However, journalists at le Bristol for a daytime press conference were told to leave. In a statement, Warner Bros. said: “Warner Bros. is deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. We extend our sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time.” — Red carpet premiere of “Dark Knight” canceled after shootings

How not to respond to the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado

Posted on by

An opinion on some of the ‘reporting’ on the mass shooting in Aurora from Charles P. Pierce:

“Well, it’s nice to see people have things in perspective before the blood has dried.

“Because, really, it’s all about them. And their pet issues. And the gnomes that scuttle about their frontal lobes.

“I would like to recommend that, when an event like what happened in Aurora occurs, we all give ourselves a decent interval before wedging the bloodshed into the stifling cliches that pass for our current political dialogue. Maybe a day, maybe a week. Then, we can start arguing again about why it’s so goddamn easy in this country to outfit yourself to go to the movies as though you were coming ashore at Saipan. Then, we can start defending Rush Limbaugh, or excoriating HollyWeird. I just think it’s indecent to do it as soon as the sun comes up the next day.

“… [S]eriously, there isn’t anything to say right now. Everything is diversion, distraction, and evasion of the simple fact that someone very much like the rest of us walked into a movie theater, opened fire, and killed a dozen or so more people just like the rest of us. James Holmes is the bell, tolling, tolling. That’s all he is right now. To assume anything else is to wrap yourself in trivia against the storm.”

Exactly.

More “how not to respond to a tragedy,” courtesy of: Matt Drudge and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX)

Denver law enforcement now dealing with James Holmes’ booby-trapped apartment

Posted on by


shortformblog:

And things get complicated further. We wish authorities luck as they try to defuse what sounds like a serious explosive device at Holmes’ apartment. (via AP, Reuters; read more here)

EDIT: Via MSNBC (ht Matt), apparently the explosives are dangerous enough that they’ve evacuated FIVE nearby buildings.

…

Police investigate the Aurora theater shooting suspect’s apartment near the intersection of 17th Street and Paris Street on Friday, July 20, 2012. (Stephen Mitchell, The Denver Post)

James Holmes’ mother: “You have the right person.”

Posted on by

I can’t imagine…

ABC News: A California woman who identified herself as the mother of James Holmes, the 24-year-old man federal authorities said is the suspect in a mass shooting in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater, told ABC News her son was likely the culprit, saying, “You have the right person.” The woman, contacted at her home in San Diego, spoke briefly with ABC News and immediately expressed concern her son may be involved in the shooting death of at least 12 people overnight. “You have the right person,” she said, apparently speaking on gut instinct. “I need to call the police… I need to fly out to Colorado.”

Exploiting one of the last shared, in-person, cultural events we have

Posted on by

“And as someone who writes about movies, and who cares about the big, flawed thing we call fandom, I’m saddened by someone turning that shared enthusiasm into a weapon. And even if this tragedy hadn’t happened at the premiere of one of a dwindling number of genuinely mass cultural events, I hate the idea of using an audience’s suspension of disbelief, their openness to and absorption in the spectacle unfolding before them, as cover—the gunman reportedly started shooting during a sequence involving gunfire, meaning the audience was slower to react. We are vulnerable when we go to the movies, open to fear, and love, and disgust, and rapture, surrendering our brains and hearts to someone else’s vision of the world. We don’t expect to surrender our bodies, too.” — Alyssa Rosenberg: How the Colorado theater shooting exploited one of our last mass, in-person cultural events.

(via: think-progress)

An Aurora shooting victim narrowly missed the shooting at Toronto’s Eaton Centre in June

Posted on by

I only know about this tragic story because I follow Jake Tapper on Twitter. He tweeted:

…

Here’s Jessica Redfield’s last tweet before becoming one of the shooting victims in Aurora last night.

How strange (and, yes, chilling) that in her last blog post, dated June 5, 2012, she’s discussing how she narrowly missed a shooting in the food court of Toronto’s Eaton Centre last month, and how it continued to haunt her:

Late Night Thoughts on the Eaton Center Shooting

“I can’t get this odd feeling out of my chest. This empty, almost sickening feeling won’t go away. I noticed this feeling when I was in the Eaton Center in Toronto just seconds before someone opened fire in the food court. An odd feeling which led me to go outside and unknowingly out of harm‘s way. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around how a weird feeling saved me from being in the middle of a deadly shooting.

“[...] I say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing. So often I have found myself taking it for granted. Every hug from a family member. Every laugh we share with friends. Even the times of solitude are all blessings. Every second of every day is a gift. After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given.

“I feel like I am overreacting about what I experienced. But I can’t help but be thankful for whatever caused me to make the choices that I made that day. My mind keeps replaying what I saw over in my head. I hope the victims make a full recovery. I wish I could shake this odd feeling from my chest. The feeling that’s reminding me how blessed I am. The same feeling that made me leave the Eaton Center. The feeling that may have potentially saved my life.”

http://jessicaredfield.wordpress.com/

I’m so sorry, Jessica. My heart goes out to your family and your friends.

Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, and now James Holmes

Posted on by

AURORA SENTINEL: “It was the worst mass shooting in Colorado since the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999. Students Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, opened fire at the school in the Denver suburb of Littleton, about 15 miles west of Aurora, killing 12 classmates and a teacher and wounding 26 others before killing themselves in the school’s library.” (via: inothernews)

Immediate deaths have been revised from 14 to 12. 

“Local news reports showed aerial video of police cautiously searching Holmes’ apartment, some five miles from the Century Aurora 16 theater, as the suspect reportedly told police he had explosives inside.” — Aurora ‘Dark Knight’ Shooting Suspect Identified: James Holmes, 24 – ABC News

While I slept: another shooting tragedy in my state

Posted on by

This is horrible, tragic.

I’m about 50 miles from Aurora. If you’re wondering, Columbine is in a different suburb of Denver — in Littleton, which is about 18 miles from Aurora.

“AURORA — Fourteen people were killed and about 50 were injured early Friday when shots rang out at an Aurora movie theater during a premiere showing of the new Batman movie. A 24-year-old suspect in is custody and an apartment building in north Aurora connected to the suspect was being evacuated and searched for possible explosives, according to Police Chief Dan Oates.” — 14 killed, 50 wounded at Aurora movie theater – The Denver Post

24-years-old?

“He looked so calm when he did it. It was like scary. He waited for both the bombs to explode before he did anything. Then, after both of them exploded, he began to shoot.” – Eyewitness from Aurora, Colo., theater shooting during showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” last night. (via: joshsternberg)

President Obama’s Statement on Aurora Shooting

Eyewitness tells @todayshow that gunman was dressed in SWAT-like outfit, methodically shot people as they tried to exit room

RT @9NEWS: University Hospital confirms the youngest patient admitted from #theatershooting is 3 months old. We have not… http://t.co/LnbsT2Kg

CNN: The heavily armed suspect, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, was apprehended by police in a rear parking lot of the theater, Frank Fania, a police spokesman, told CNN. The suspect was not immediately identified, though Fania said he was believed to be in his early 20s. ”He did not resist. He did not put up a fight,” Fania said. Police seized a rifle and a handgun from the suspect, and another gun was found in the theater, he said.


Aurora Police responded to a shooting at the Century 16 movie theatre early Friday morning, July 20, 2012. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

See more photos at the Denver Post