The Denver Post, by Staff

Unknown number of people shot at Aurora movie theater

By The Denver Post Staff

EVOLUTION OF A STORY: The first post was at 2:42:17 a.m., July 20, 2012. Story would update 36 times before appearing in print. 

An unknown number of people were injured early Friday when shots rang out at an Aurora movie theater during a premiere showing of the new Batman movie.

Sometime after 1 a.m., police received reports of gunshots at the Century 16 Movie Theaters at the Aurora Town Center.

No confirmed information is available on how many people were injured and whether there were any fatalities.

Dozens of ambulances and police vehicles were outside the mall, where the theater was showing “The Dark Knight Rises.”

A witness, Bejamin Fernandez, 30, said he was watching the movie when he heard a series of explosions. He said that people ran from the theater and there were gunshots as police shouted ‘get down!”

He says he saw people falling, including one young girl.

A witness said that he was watching the Police had set up a command post near the Dillards and wereinterviewing hundreds of possible witnesses.

Police spokeswoman Cassidee Carlson says “the scene is still very active and we have little information for release at this time.”

Swedish Medical Center spokeswoman Nicole Williams says two people injured at the theater have arrived at the hospital in critical condition.

She says emergency workers have said there could be several more patients.

Evolution of a story: This post, at 12:34:28 p.m., was the 19th update of the day. The story would go through 36 versions online. 

71 shot, 12 killed at Aurora movie theater

By Ryan Parker, Kurtis A. Lee, Jordan Steffen and Jennifer Brown

AURORA —A gunman burst into the emergency exit door of a theater and shot 71 people, killing at least 12 of them, at a midnight premiere of the new Batman movie Friday, creating a chaotic, smoke-filled scene that had bloody moviegoers dragging each other outside.

“It was like something out of a movie,” said Jacob King, who was standing in the lobby when someone carried out the motionless body of a young girl, covered in blood. “You don’t want to believe it’s real, but it is.” The moviegoer handed the child’s body to a police officer, who put her in the back of his squad car and sped away.

The 24-year-old suspect, later identified as James Holmes of Aurora, stormed into the theater with three guns and two gas canisters that clouded the room and stung people’s eyes and throats.

Police arrested Holmes minutes after arriving at the movie theater, and he remains in custody. Holmes surrendered to officers behind the theater near a white Hyundai.

Officers say three weapons were used – a shotgun, an assault rifle and a handgun. A second handgun was in his car, but police don’t know if it was used in the attack.Holmes was wearing “full ballistic gear,” including a vest, a helmet, a gas mask and other body armor during the shooting.

Two devices were set off during the shooting.

Police found Holmes’ north Aurora apartment booby-trapped, the same song playing on repeat on his stereo. The apartmentcomplex has been evacuated.

Ten people died at the scene, and two others died at hospitals. Many of others who were shot were critically injured.

One of the victims died at Children’s Hospital in Aurora, but officials there would not say whether it was a child or an adult. The otherfive patients survived, including one who is in critical condition with buckshot injuries to the back.

Two of the victims at Children’s were hit with a high-velocity rifle, perhaps from 60 to 80 feet away, said emergency-room physician Dr. Guy Upshaw.

Police received multiple calls about the shooting beginning at 12:39 a.m. and arrived minutes later at the theater complex, 14300 E. Alameda Ave.

Police say the suspect “appeared” at the front of one of the theaters showing “The Dark Knight Rises.” Witnesses told The Post he entered through an emergency exit at the right front of the Theater 9 less than 10 minutes into the film.

The suspect then threw some type of explosive and started shooting into the packed theater. The man had a rifle, a handgun and a gas mask when police arrested him. A shotgun was left in the theater.

Police have no evidence that there are any additional suspects involved in the shooting.

The bodies of the 10 people who died at the theater remain at the scene while police continue to investigate.

Josh Kelly, 28, was watching the movie with his girlfriend of about four years. He lost her in the chaos.

Josh called his father, Robert Kelly, from the theater and said: “I can’t find my girl.” In the mayhem, the darkness and the smoke, and people panicking and trampling one another, he “just lost track and he couldn’t see,” the elder Kelly said. “My son is freaked out.”

Robert Kelly rushed to the theater after his son’s call, and found him outside covered in blood. His girlfriend was among the fatalities. Now he is home and sedated, under a nurse’s care

Outside the back exit of the theater, FBI agents have placed yellow tape and numbered evidence markers on objects in the parking lot, including a gas mask. A bloody jacket and spilled popcorn were on the pavement.

Authorities also searched a white car parked behind the movie theater, removing what appeared to be a combat helmet, a duffel bag, an ammunition clip and a vest.

After his arrest, the suspect made a statement about possible explosives in his residence.

Police have blocked off a three-block area around an apartment complex in north Aurora. Residents in the area said they were evacuated around 2 a.m. while police searched the third floor of the apartment building.

The University of Colorado confirmed that Holmes was in the process of withdrawing from the university’s graduate program in neurosciences.

Holmes enrolled at the university in June 2011.

Jackie Mitchell said he had drinks with Holmes a few nights ago at the Zephyr Lounge. Mitchell said the two talked about football.

Holmes was “geeky” and had a “swagger” to him, Mitchell said.

“He just didn’t seem the type to go into a movie theater and shoot it up,” Mitchell said. “He seemed like a real smart dude.”

Police from all over the metro area were called to the scene.

Corbin Dates and Jennifer Seeger were sitting in the second row of the theater when Dates saw someone in the front row answer a phone call during the opening credits and walk to the emergency door in the front of the theater.

Less than an hour later, a man, dressed in black and wearing a gas mask and what looked like body armor, entered through the same emergency exit. He lobbed two canisters, and almost instantly the theater filled with smoke.

Dates and Seeger, like others in the theater, thought the man and the smoke were all part of the show, they said. Right as their eyes began to tear up from the smoke, the man fired a shot at the ceiling.

The gunman moved through the crowd and stopped in front of Seeger

He pointed a long rifle at her face and said nothing.

He shot at the person sitting behind her, Seeger said.

“I have no idea why he didn’t shoot me,” Seeger said.

The two dived to the ground. They could feel hot shell casings hitting their legs as the tried to crawl through the dark theater now filled with smoke. Seeger’s forehead has a burn from one of the casings.

Her friends urged each other and the people around them to stay quiet, desperate not to draw the attention of the gunman who was working his way up the aisle.

As she huddled on the ground, Seeger could see bodies of women and children lying around her. Seeger, who has some EMT training, tried to help a man bleeding next to her. She worked to find a pulse but was forced to leave him behind as they tried to flee the theater.

People tried to exit through the main entrance of the theater, Seeger said. By then the gunman had worked his way to the back of the theater, shooting at people as they tried to run.

Seeger estimates she was trapped in the theater for 10 to 15 minutes. When she finally reached the lobby, she saw a police officer cocking a shotgun

Once outside, Seeger called her father.

“My dad is not a sentimental guy, but he was crying on the phone,” Seeger said.

Tom Sullivan embraces his wife, Terry, left, and daughter Megan outside Gateway High School in Aurora on Friday. At the time, the family hadn’t heard any news about the fate of son Alex, who was at the movie theater where dozens of people were shot during a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.” Friday night, the family learned that Alex, who turned 27 that day, was one of the 12 who died. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)

James Wilburn was also sitting in the second row of the theater when the emergency door opened.

“He was dressed in black,” Wilburn said, “wearing a flak jacket and a gas mask.”

The man dropped a canister to the floor that began spewing gas before he fired several rounds toward the back of the theater.

Naya Thompson, 21, said the gas spread quickly through the theater and thinks that the gunman may have dropped two canisters.

“It was like tear gas,” Thompson said. “I was coughing and choking, and I couldn’t breathe.”

Benjamin Fernandez, 30, said he was watching the movie when he heard a series of explosions. He said people ran from the theater and there were gunshots as police shouted, “Get down!”

Fernandez said he saw people falling, including one young girl.

Brittany Romero was in Theater 10 for the 12:15 a.m. showing. When the fire alarm sounded, people began throwing their popcorn and drinks in the air, assuming it was a practical joke, Romero said

Salina Jordan, 19, was in Theater 8 and saw people fall after they were shot. She said one girl was struck in a cheek, and others were wounded in the stomach, including a girl who looked to be around 9 years old

Jordan said it sounded like firecrackers until someone ran into Theater 8 yelling, “They’re shooting out here!”

The police came running in, telling people to run out. Some police were carrying or dragging bodies, she said.

Meghan Walton, 20, of Boulder said she was sitting beside her friend Gage Hankins, 18 of Ohio in Theater 8 when he was shot in the arm before he was rushed out of the theater.

“I saw a whole lot of smoke in the aisle,” Walton said. “I saw about three or four bullets shot near the smoke.

Walton was with 10 members of the group Friends: Association of Young People who Stutter.

“I ran outside and was holding his arm that was shot,” Walton said. “My eyes were blurred by the smoke. It was like chaos. People were crying hysterically.”

She counted 12 people who were bleeding. Ambulances started arriving, but there were not enough to put everyone in them.

“The worst was a man who was shot in the head. He had his hand on his head,” Walton said. “They started doubling up, putting two people in the same ambulance. One girl who wasn’t injured as badly was placed in a police car and rushed away.”

Police set up a command post near the Dillards department store and were interviewing hundreds of possible witnesses. Many were taken by bus to Gateway High School for questioning.

Robert Jones, 28, was in Theater 9 when the shooting started.

Jones said when he first saw smoke billowing from the front of the theater, he thought it was a special effect. Shots rang out almost immediately after

“I thought it was pretty much the end of the world,” Roberts said

Roberts stayed flat on the ground until police came into the theater

Tammi Stevens said her son, 18-year-old Jacob Stevens, was inside Theater 9 when the shooting started. Stevens was waiting for her son at Gateway High School while police interviewed him.

Jacob told his mom that he saw a guy walk into the theater wearing body armor and throw some sort of cannister that then emitted some sort of gas.

“You let your kids go to a late night movie ... you never think something like this would happen,” Stevens said.

President Barck Obama addressed the shooting from Ft. Myers, Fla., Friday morning.

“We never understand what leads someone to terrorize their fellow human beings like this,” Obama said. “Life is very fragile, and it is precious.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper released a statement Friday morning

“It is beyond the power of words to fully express our sorrow this morning,” Hickenlooper said. “We appreciate the swift work by local, state and federal law enforcement. Coloradans have a remarkable ability to support one another in times of crisis. This is one of those times.”

In a statement released Friday morning, Republican Mitt Romney said that he was “deeply saddened” by the “senseless violence.”

The FBI is assisting in the investigation. Officers and deputies responded from almost every local police and sheriff’s department in the metro area.

The FBI said that there was no indication that the shooting has any connection to terrorism.

Victims were transported to at least six hospitals. Several of them were rushed to hospitals in police cars. Ages of people injured and killed in the shooting vary.

One child and five adults were taken to Children’s Hospital Colorado.

The adults ranged in age from 18 to 31 years old. One of the six patients died and the other five are currently listed in conditions from good to critical.

Information on which of the patients died was not released.

Shortly after midnight, patients started arriving at the Medical Center of Aurora. A total of 15 patients – ranging from 16 to 31 years old – were sent to the medical center, 12 of them with gunshot wounds.

Eight of the patients have been discharged, five victims remain in critical condition and two patients are being prepared for surgery.

All of the patients came in with wounds to their torsos, heads or necks. 

Doctors said the wounds were caused by a high-caliber weapon or what appeared to be shrapnel.

Swedish Medical Center spokeswoman Nicole Williams says two people injured at the theater have arrived at the hospital in critical condition. She says emergency workers said there could be several more patients.

Denver Health Medical Center treated six victims from the shooting.

All were treated for gunshot wounds and abrasions. Three victims have since been released, the other three remain in fair condition, hospital officials said.

A total of 23 victims were taken to the University of Colorado Hospital. Rep. Ronda Fields of Aurora announced that she is hosting a prayer vigil for “any and all” at 7 p.m. at the Aurora Municipal Building at 15151 E. Alameda Parkway.

Warner Bros. studio released a statement Friday morning saying the studio is “deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. The studio has canceled the red carpet premier of “The Dark Knight Rises” in Paris, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Aurora police are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call 303-627-3100.

AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS. #THEATERSHOOTING

The Denver Post was an early adopter of social media. Our reporters, photographers and editors understand the tools and are adept at finding sources, information and then leading the competition in pushing those details to our readers.

Over the course of the first four days of the shooting, The Post and its reporters posted more than a thousand entries on Twitter and Facebook. What follows on the next pages is a sampling of the first 24 hours of coverage. We followed that on day 2 with minute-by-minute tweets as bomb experts disarmed James Holmes’ booby-trapped apartment; and then from President Obama’s visit and the memorial on Sunday; and finally, from the hearing and Holmes’ first appearance on Monday. In between, the people who follow @denverpost and our reporters and editors knew what we knew — immediately.

AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS: PHOTO GALLERY

In the early morning hours of July 20, Denver Post photojournalists were dispatched to the Century 16 Movie Theater in Aurora to document the aftermath of a mass shooting that killed 12 and wounded 58 people. The slideshow was launched on denverpost.com at 2:24 a.m. and included images from the movie theater, local hospitals and Gateway High School, a gathering place for victims and witnesses. As the day went on, the gallery was continually updated with photos from the shooter’s booby-trapped apartment, the investigation at the theater and the stream of parents and friends picking up victims and witnesses from the high school. 

AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS: VIDEOS

In the early morning hours of July 20, Denver Post photojournalists were dispatched to the Century 16 Movie Theater in Aurora, Colorado to document the aftermath of a mass shooting that killed 12 and wounded 58 people. This video is a compilation of four videos from that day: The first is raw video obtained from a theatergoer at the scene. Next are two videos with witnesses, the first posted at 6:30 in the morning and a second later that day. The last video is two days later, from the memorial attended by thousands.

EVOLUTION OF A STORY: Story first published online at 6:48:59 a.m., July 20, 2012; and updated 12 times before appearing in print (shown).

By Sara Burnett, Jessica Fender, Felisa Cardona and Jeremy P. Meyer

Aurora — James Eagan Holmes — now the subject of global headlines — was never one to draw attention to himself.

In interviews with people who have known him throughout his life, Holmes was described as a quiet and intelligent person who wouldn’t even acknowledge neighbors in his apartment hallway.

Holmes, 24, maintained that quiet demeanor even as police say he was plotting a horrific attack that killed 12 people and injured 58 others in an Aurora movie theater early Friday.

He bought four guns and 6,000 rounds of ammunition, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said.

He rigged his apartment with what authorities fear are deadly explosives and blared techno music from his stereo in what’s believed to be an attempt to invite more devastation when the door was opened.

From what little is known about the suspect, it appears that he was a study in contrast — a smart and quiet man who authorities say harbored a deadly plan

In high school the boy known as “Jimmy” quit the soccer team after his sophomore year and focused mostly on his studies.

He earned a degree in neuroscience with highest honors from the University of California Riverside in 2010 but didn’t walk in his commencement ceremony.

Oates said Holmes, who did not resist when he was arrested outside the theater minutes after the shooting, acted alone.

Oates declined to discuss what motive, if any, Holmes gave police.

One hint could be in what New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters Friday, saying that Holmes had reportedly identified himself as Batman’s arch-enemy “The Joker” to authorities.

“He had his hair painted red, he said he was ‘The Joker,’ obviously the ‘enemy’ of Batman,” Kelly said at a news conference, addressing the increased security at New York City theaters.

Oates, who said he talked with Kelly early Friday, would not confirm that report. But residents of Holmes’ apartment building said police who came to their doors immediately after the shooting asked if they had seen a man with his hair dyed red or pink.

Information compiled from multiple sources shows the planning for the attack was methodical, went back months and coincided with Holmes’ withdrawal from a graduate program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

In May, he began buying guns and apparently stocking up on the body armor that police said he wore during the shooting: a ballistic helmet and vest, ballistic leggings, throat and groin protector, a gas mask and black tactical gloves.

Before he left for the movie theater he booby-trapped his apartment, attaching several trip wires to 1-liter plastic bottles containing an unknown substance in a manner so sophisticated Oates said it could take days to disarm sives and blared techno music from his stereo in what’s believed to be an attempt to invite more devastation when the door was opened.

It’s so “vexing” that by nightfall Friday officers had still not risked entering the apartment, instead using cameras to probe.

“I personally have never seen anything like what the pictures show us in there,” Oates said.

Holmes’ parents, who live in San Diego, issued a statement saying the family is cooperating with authorities. His father flew to Denver Friday afternoon. His mother remained at the family home, neighbors said.

“Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families and friends of those involved,” they said. “We are still trying to process this information and we appreciate that people will respect our privacy.”

Holmes grew up in San Diego, graduating from Westview High School in 2006. He then went on to the University of California Riverside, where Chancellor Timothy White said Holmes distinguished himself, graduating with highest honors.

“Academically, he was the top of the top,” White said.

The Mai family has lived next door to the Holmes family for abut 15 years on a middle-class street in suburban San Diego.

Christine Mai, 17, said she never saw Jimmy Holmes act out violently or with a weapon, nor did she see him socializing with friends or bringing girlfriends home.

The Holmes family had Christmas parties in their front yard and often exchanged gifts with the Mais, she said. Last year, they shared hot apple cider in the front yard with other neighbors.

“He seemed like a nice guy,” she said. “His mother used to tell us he was a good son.

After graduation from UCR, Holmes took a part-time job at a nearby McDonald’s.

“I felt bad for him because he studied so hard,” Mai said. “My brother said he looked kind of down; he seemed depressed.”

Julie Adams said her son played soccer with Holmes at Westview High.

Holmes played his freshman and sophomore years, she said

While most of the other kids — her son Taylor included — played league soccer and continued the sport throughout high school, Holmes wasn’t as involved, she said.

“I could tell you a lot about every single kid on that team except for him,” Adams said. “He was more aloof.”

She was shocked to discover helicopters circling her San Diego neighborhood because of Holmes’ alleged rampage

“Taylor remembers playing soccer with him. He said he was quiet, reserved and a respectful kid,” Adams said.

According to her son’s yearbook, Holmes also ran cross country as a freshman but did not continue the sport.

Holmes came to Colorado in May 2011 and started in CU’s neuroscience program a month later. But by last month, he was in the process of withdrawing, university spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery said Friday.

In an e-mail message to members of the campus community, Doug Abraham, chief of police for the university, said Holmes’ access to campus buildings was terminated while his withdrawal was being processed.

He said officials do not believe Holmes has been on campus since then, but authorities evacuated several research buildings as a precautionary measure while they waited for bomb-sniffing dogs to search buildings Friday afternoon.

In an application Holmes submitted for a different apartment early last year, he described himself as a “quiet and easy-going” student. Other tenants in his building — which is reserved for students, faculty and staff of the medical campus — described him as a recluse.

Kaitlyn Fonzi, a 20-year-old biology student at University of Colorado Denver who lives in an apartment below Holmes’ said she heard techno music blasting from Holmes apartment around midnight.

Another tenant said residents called 9-1-1 about the racket.

Fonzi went upstairs and knocked on the door. When no one answered, she put her hand on the knob and realized the door was unlocked. Fonzi decided not to go inside the apartment.

At almost exactly 1 a.m., Fonzi said, the music stopped.

Denver Post writers Kieran Nicholson, Monte Whaley and Jordan Steffen and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Weapons in possession

James Eagan Holmes legally purchased all four firearms at local stores within 60 days of the shooting at the Century Aurora 16. The ammo for each weapon was legally purchased from online vendors.

REMINGTON 870 12-GAUGE SHOTGUN

Holmes first shot into the crowd with a shotgun, aiming toward the back of the theater.

Purchased at Bass Pro Shop.

Ammo: 2.75-inch, 12-gauge shells.

SMITH & WESSON M&P15

The rifle, a civilian version of the U.S. military’s M-16, was strapped to the shooter’s back and could hold 100 rounds.

Purchased at Gander Mountain in Thornton.

Ammo: .223-caliber rounds.

GLOCK .40-CALIBER PISTOL

One handgun was found inside Theater 9. A second handgun was found in the shooter’s car behind the building.

One purchased each at Gander Mountain stores in Thornton and Denver.

Ammo: .40-caliber rounds

SHOOTER’S GEAR

Ballistic helmet

Gas mask

Tactical vest

Ballistic leggings

Metal shin guards

Armored boots

Sources: McClatchy Tribune; Remington; Smith & Wesson; Glock Danielle Kees, The Denver Post

By Michael Booth and Kevin Simpson

AURORA — The lone figure who appeared suddenly at the front of the theater looked, to moviegoers engrossed in early scenes of “The Dark Knight Rises,” like a live-action twist on a fun midnight show already populated with costumed fans.

Several minutes into the much-anticipated new Batman film, he entered through an exit door near the screen, clothed entirely in black. He carried multiple weapons — some longbarreled, some short — and wore what appeared to be body armor, gloves and a gas mask.

He tossed two canisters that burst into billowing clouds.

In the second row, Corbin Dates and Jennifer Seeger realized this wasn’t done for theatrical effect only when they began to choke on the fumes — and the dark figure fired a single shot into the ceiling.

Far from a comic-book villain, the gunman methodically set about turning a packed movie premiere into a chaotic scene of random carnage that left 12 dead and dozens injured. The weapons were all too real: an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, a shotgun and a .40-caliber Glock handgun.

The assailant then pointed the rifle directly at Seeger’s face — yet didn’t immediately pull the trigger. Instead, he fired into the row behind her while Seeger and Dates dived into the aisle and crawled to seek cover behind nearby seats. They felt hot shell casings burning their legs as the gunman fired multiple shots toward the back of the theater

“I have no idea why he didn’t shoot me,” recounted Seeger, 22. “He shot the person right behind me.”

From his second-row vantage point, James Wilburn could make out a rifle slung over the gunman’s back. Amid the noxious fumes from the canister, he saw the assailant raise the shotgun and repeatedly fire toward the back of the theater.

Ducking behind the seat backs in front of him, Wilburn figured the man couldn’t have been more than 5 to 6 feet away. Many in the audience took flight. Everyone was screaming.

The film played on

Emma Goos, a 19-year-old college student home for the summer, sat with a friend in the third row — the only seats left when they got there — when the figure entered the theater.

“It took seven shots for me to realize it wasn’t a joke and realize it was a real gun,” Goos said. “I very much wanted to believe it was a prank. By that point, everyone was screaming to get down and our whole row collapsed on each other.”

She wondered later if she escaped the gunman’s field of vision because of his gas mask: “His face was completely covered. He looked like a monster.”

After exhausting the shotgun rounds, the gunman calmly dropped the weapon and resumed firing with the rifle as he made his way up the aisle.

Twenty to 30 rapid-fire shots struck patrons in their stadium-style seats or scrambling up the steps, witnesses said.

The dim light, combined with spreading smoke, obscured emergency exits as the passing time became impossible to reckon in the pandemonium.

Seeger and a few others hushed one another as they moved away from the sound of the gunshots, hugging the floor and hoping the shooter would ignore them if he couldn’t hear them.

She saw bodies lying around her.

“I was trying to stay out of his sight,” she said. “I was pretending I was dead.”

Elsewhere in the theater, 28-year-old Robert Jones also initially took the smoke to be an elaborate special effect. When gunshots ripped the semidarkness, he knew it was something else, something horrific.

“I thought it was pretty much the end of the world,” he said.

Chris Ramos initially took the flying canisters for fake bats, in the spirit of the film. But the sharp explosion and the hissing cloud of fumes changed his mind.

Then he saw the gunman, standing in a corner of the theater, shoot a man sitting next to him in the chest. The violence had only begun, but Ramos, 20, would continue to be haunted by the sight of the killer blasting away, choosing people’s fate with each bullet.

“No care for people’s ages, or male or female, or anything,” Ramos said.

“He was heartless. I panicked. I thought at that moment I was going to die.”

For Mora and Rita Silalahi and their teenage son Patrick, the gunman’s first shot into the theater ceiling prompted Mora to turn to his wife and say: “This is not right. We’d better duck.”

Their friend, 42-year-old Jerry Sahertian, relayed their account of seeking cover beneath a ladder at the front of the theater. Then, during a brief silence after the initial fusillade, the three of them tried to flee to safety.

“He saw my friends move, and he shot,” said Sahertian.

Patrick took a round in the back, with the bullet lodging in his stomach.

Rita was struck in the shoulder, elbow and left side. Both were later transported to area hospitals, where Rita underwent surgery.

Naya Thompson, 21, and her 22-year-old boyfriend, Derrick Poage, also made a break for safety, with Thompson coughing and choking from the smoke. When they emerged, Poage noticed blood splashed on his pants. His shoes had come off in the chaos.

Violence struck others who never saw it coming.

In the adjacent theater in the multiplex, which also was showing the Batman feature, 23-year-old Eric Hunter heard three “pops” and saw holes appear in the wall to his right.

Smoke wafted through them.

It happened just as a gunfight broke out on screen, and like so many others, Hunter assumed this diversion was just another means of amping up the entertainment.

“And then I thought, ‘Oh, it’s just firecrackers, or stupid kids,’ ” Hunter said. Seconds later, he heard several more pops and saw more holes in the wall — and realized something was seriously wrong.

Nearby, Joel Wheelersburg also heard shots coming from the theater on the right and figured them for “new sound effects.” But then he noticed the smoke drifting through the holes.

“I thought, why smoke? Why ash?” said Wheelersburg, 27.

Then he noticed something even more disturbing — people hunched over in the seats near the holes. They looked hurt.

Some were. Meghan Walton, 20, was sitting next to 18-year-old Gage Hankins when one of the bullets ripped through the wall and struck her friend in the arm.

Walton ran outside with him, holding his arm, and remembers that it felt hot. Her vision blurry from the smoke, she counted a dozen people bleeding as ambulances arrived. She could hear hysterical crying.

As Hunter rose to leave the theater, the violent reality of the situation began to dawn on him. Blood pooled on the stairs. He and others yelled a warning: There was a shooter.

He came upon two teenage girls who appeared to be in shock — one looked to have been shot in the jaw. Blood ran from her face and down her shirt.

Hunter said he grabbed their hands and began to lead the girls outside but then saw the gunman walking down the hallway from the adjacent theater.

The quick glimpse — all-black clothing, mask, body armor, multiple weapons — told Hunter that the assailant “didn’t plan on making it out of there.”

He pulled the girls back inside, slammed the door and held it shut. He said someone, presumably the shooter, pounded on it for a few seconds.

Then nothing

Unsure whether anyone had notifed authorities, he told another patron to hit the fire alarm. Once the shooting stopped, and the threat appeared to pass, he helped walk the girls out through the lobby, past others who were wounded, past cops rushing in and ambulance workers brushing past.

Outside, huddled with a terrified group of patrons, Hunter looked back at the doors and watched a large man pace back and forth, in apparent agony, then scream and fall over. He appeared to have been shot in the back.

He saw a little girl carried out limp in a man’s arms.

Time crawled. Jennifer Seeger, the young woman who had looked down the barrel of the assailant’s rifle, estimates the ordeal lasted perhaps 10 or 15 minutes. Once outside, she phoned her anxious father.

“My dad is not a sentimental guy,” Seeger said, “but he was crying on the phone.”

Worst shootings in the U.S.

April 16, 2007: At Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va., 59 people were shot by Seung-Hui Cho; 32 were killed and 27 wounded.

Aug. 1, 1966: Charles Whitman shot 47 people from the clock tower at the University of Texas at Austin; 16 were killed and 31 wounded.

Oct. 16, 1991: In Killeen, Texas, 45 people were shot, 23 fatally and 22 wounded, by George Hennard at a Luby’s Cafeteria.

July 18, 1984: At a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif., 40 people were shot, 21 fatally and 19 wounded, by James Oliver Huberty.

April 20, 1999: At Columbine High School in unincorporated Jefferson County, 39 people were shot, 13 fatally and 26 wounded, by students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

Nov. 5, 2009: Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan shot 37 people, 13 fatally and 24 wounded, at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood, Texas.

May 21, 1998: Kipland Kinkel shot 25 people, four fatally, including his parents, and wounded 21 in Springfield, Ore.

The Denver Post Research Library

AURORA THEATER SHOOTINGS:INTERACTIVE TIMELINE

In less than 11 hours after the shooting, two members of The Denver Post digital team built this interactive timeline so readers could follow along with major developments.

Using open source code, Google spreadsheets and cascading style sheets, Daniel J. Schneider and Charles Minshew uploaded images, audio files, social media elements, documents and Post coverage items to build the timeline. Readers are now able to follow every element of the case, whether it’s reading official releases, listening to police scanner traffic, reading the court documents or watching video.

The tool is live today and documenting the tragedy from beginning to end.

Introduction by Karen Augé

Profiles by Karen Augé, Lynn Bartels, Karen E. Crummy, Lindsay H. Jones, Patrick Saunders, Jordan Steffen and Eric Udell

All across the country Thursday night, thousands of people put on capes and costumes, rounded up friends and family and raced off to experience a celluloid fantasy about a tortured hero who devotes his life to fighting evil.

Inside an Aurora theater, though, the greatest evil wasn't on the screen.

It came instead in the form of a man who swaddled himself in a cocoon of armor before taking aim at a theater full of unprotected teenagers, moms and dads, and little kids.

When the shooting in theater 9 early Friday stopped, 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes was in handcuffs, and 70 people were wounded.

Twelve of them died.

As their names trickled out over the past two days, in friends' social media tributes, in anguished families' pleas for information and, finally, Saturday afternoon, in an official list, portraits emerged of the lives they had lived, and would have lived.

Of the 12, the youngest was 6, the oldest 51.

Nearly all those in between were young adults, old enough to be crafting careers, serving in the military, raising families but young enough to get a thrill out of being first to see the summer blockbuster — and energetic enough to do it at midnight.

One was two days shy of his first anniversary, one a single mother. One of them had just earned his master's degree and wanted to be a counselor.

They had all gone out for a night of fun, but more than one died trying to save someone else.

The greatest heroes weren't on the screen.

JON BLUNK: Shielded girlfriend, saved her life

For Jansen Young, 21, the two constants during the movie-theater massacre that ended 12 lives were the sound of gunshots and the feeling of her boyfriend, Jon Blunk’s, hands on her back.

Blunk, 26, was shot to death while protecting Young, according to NBC News. Young declined to discuss details of the shooting with The Denver Post, saying she was “trying to work through it.”

Young told NBC News that when the shooter started his attack, Blunk knew to throw her to the floor.

On the movie-theater floor, Blunk kept pushing her with his arms as she heard shots being fired.

She eventually noticed that he had stopped pushing her under the seat, but she didn’t think he had been killed.

“I guess I didn’t really know he had passed, up until I started shaking him and saying, ‘Jon, Jon, we have to go. … It’s time for us to get out of here,’ ” she said, her voice trembling.

Young said she tried to get up and lift Blunk by the shoulder but he didn’t move. The couple had been dating since October, she told NBC.

Blunk’s estranged wife, Chantel Blunk, who lives in Reno, Nev., with their two children — a 4-year-old girl and a 2-year-old boy — told NBC News that she was notified of his death by the FBI.

“He always talked about if he were going to die, he wanted to die a hero,” she said.

He probably imagined that would happen in the military and not in a suburban movie theater

Jon Blunk went to Proctor Hug High School in Reno, where he and Chantel met. After his 2004 high school graduation, he enlisted in the Navy and served aboard the USS Nimitz in San Diego.

Blunk left the Navy, separated from his wife and moved to Colorado in 2009

He had been working at a hardware store at the time of the theater shooting.

Blunk’s funeral will be at 1 p.m., Friday, August 3 at the Mountain View Mortuary in Reno. He will receive a full military funeral and burial.

A Wells Fargo account — “Jonathan Blunk Memorial Fund” — has been set up for contributions, which will be used for his funeral and two daughters.

Alexander “AJ” Boik: “A warm and loving heart”

His name was Alexander Boik, but to the hundreds who stood on the Gateway High School football field to remember him, he was AJ.

His family called Boik a young man with “a warm and loving heart.”

On the day after he was killed in the Aurora theater shootings, friends recalled a guy who made people laugh, who loved softball and who loved movies so much he never missed a premiere.

“He was the life of the party. AJ could bring a smile to anybody’s face,” said one of a dozen speakers who paid tribute to their friend outside the high school Boik graduated from just two months ago.

The young man, who declined to give his name, said he had known Boik since they were freshmen at Gateway.

His girlfriend, identified by friends as Lasamoa Cross, surprised everyone by saying she and AJ were secretly engaged.

“We were crazy in love. We had big plans. We were going to have everything,” she said. “We are still going to have everything because he’s still here. AJ lives (in everyone who knew and loved him),” she said.

Boik’s plans included attending Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in the fall. His family said his dream was to become an art teacher and open his own studio.

A memorial Facebook page was created for A.J., a site now bursting with messages of condolence, photos of hand-drawn messages etched in sandy beaches, and memories of the young man whose vivacious life was abruptly ended.

“AJ was loved by all that knew him,” his family said. “We want to try and focus on the beautiful lives that were ended and not the evil that is responsible. This is a time for us to remember our loved ones and cherish the memories we have of them.

The family asked that their privacy be respected.

“We are trying to move through this horrible ordeal,” the family said.

“Our thoughts, prayers and love go out to the other families of the victims and all those who have been touched by this senseless tragedy.

A memorial fund has been set up for AJ, with the money going directly to his family.

Boik’s funeral is being held at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 27. The service will be at the Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Aurora, and the family has requested that media not attend.

JESSE CHILDRESS: “A great man” to his Air Force colleagues

Nearly every day of the week, Jesse Childress spent his evenings playing sports with friends. Monday it was softball. Tuesday it was bowling. Another night, it was flag football.

He trained for a Tough Mudder race, which he completed last month with nearly 30 other Air Force airmen from Buckley Air Force Base. Childress, who served in the Army before joining the Air Force Reserves, loved the obstacles, but hated the running.

“Jesse was really big into sports,” said Alejando Sanchez, a friend and fellow member of the Air Force Reserves stationed at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora.

In the fall, Childress, 29, spent his Sundays cheering for the Broncos — he had season tickets, and would wear his No. 92 Elvis Dumervil jersey — and throughout the winter and spring, he watched his beloved Los Angeles Kings and Los Angeles Clippers. Childress, whose parents live in Palmdale, Calif., dreamed of visiting every Division I football stadium.

But Childress was also a “big nerd,” his friend Kevin Thao said, in the most endearing way possible, because of Childress’ love of comics and superhero movies. Childress had recently purchased a new black Scion, a car he nicknamed the “Batmobile.”

Thao and Sanchez had tickets to “The Dark Knight Rises” in theater 8, and tried to convince Childress to sneak in from theater 9 to join them.

Childress declined in order to stay with another friend.

Thao said Childress was fatally wounded when he dived in front of the friend, a female Air Force member from Buckley.

“He would have done that,” Thao said Saturday evening at the makeshift memorial erected across the street from the Century 16 theater.

Sanchez and Thao gave their witness statements to the police, and then spent nearly 90 minutes wandering around the parking lot looking for Childress.

“We were all calling the hospitals, the police department,” Sanchez said. “Almost every hour, to every hospital in this area.”

Three other Air Force colleagues traveled from the Air Force base Saturday to honor Childress. Two women and a man, all in their Air Force uniforms, placed flowers at the memorial and then straightened the Air Force flag that was already in place.

The male airman, who declined to give his name, then turned to face the crowd of mourners.

“We lost a great man, you guys,” he said.

Childress lived in Thornton, and was one of two military members stationed at Buckley killed in the shooting. The other was John Larimer, a sailor in the U.S. Navy. Another airman and another sailor were injured.

According to the Air Force Reserve Command, Childress worked as a cyber systems operator and was on active duty orders in the 310th Force Support Squadron. His friends said Childress worked with the base’s computer systems.

“He was a huge part of our unit, and this is a terrible loss. The person that did this was an incredible coward,” Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Schwald said Saturday at the memorial site. She declined to give her first name.

GORDON COWDEN: Slain father “loved life”

Gordon W. Cowden, 51, of Aurora was the oldest of the victims killed in the theater.

His family released this statement:

“Loving father, outdoorsman and small business owner, Cowden was a true Texas gentleman that loved life and his family. A quick witted world traveler with a keen sense of humor, he will be remembered for his devotion to his children and for always trying his best to do the right thing, no matter the obstacle.”

Cowden had taken his two teenage children to the theater the night of the shooting. The teenagers escaped unharmed.

A spokeswoman said the family “wishes to express appreciation for the concern and prayers offered us during this very difficult time. Our hearts go out to everyone that has been harmed by this senseless tragedy. Cowden is the son of former Texas State Representative George M. Cowden, according to the Austin Statesman.

“The family respectively requests privacy as we cope with the loss of our loved one. Thank you for understanding that we will not be granting interviews or speaking to members of the media. Again, our thoughts and prayers are with all who are suffering due to this tragic event.”

His funeral will be on Wednesday, July 25, at Pathways Church, which is located at 1595 Pearl Street, Denver.

JESSICA GHAWI: “She wanted to help”

Jessica Ghawi grew up a hockey fan in football-crazed Texas.

She followed that passion to Colorado to forge a career in sports journalism.

It probably took her to Toronto, where just weeks ago, she walked out of a shopping-mall food court moments before a gunman shot seven people.

Writing as Jessica Redfield in a June 5 blog entry, the 24-year-old described how the experience reminded her “how blessed I am for each second I am given.”

Early Friday in Aurora, Ghawi did not escape the gunfire.

Jessica Ghawi paid the bills by working as a waitress until she was laid off recently, said Adrian Dater, who covers the Colorado Avalanche for The Denver Post. But her goal was to earn a living as a sports journalist.

When fire destroyed the homes of so many in Colorado last month, Ghawi decided to start collecting donated hockey equipment for kids.

“She wanted to help. That’s the type of heart she had,” her brother, Jordan Ghawi, told 9News.

According to a tweet sent on Monday by her brother Jordan, her memorial service will be held at 10 a.m., Saturday, July 28, at Community Bible Church in San Antonio, Texas.

The family has set up the Jessica Redfield Ghawi Foundation and are directing donations to a scholarship fund, which they have established for aspiring sports broadcasters. So far, nearly $23,000 has been donated in her memory.

Late Thursday night, as Ghawi waited for the show to start in sold-out theater 9, she tweeted her excitement and impatience, and ribbed friends who weren’t there.

“MOVIE DOESN’T START FOR 20 MINUTES,” she tweeted before midnight.

It was her last message.

JOHN THOMAS LARIMER: Sailor was an “outstanding shipmate”

John Thomas Larimer’s last act was a heroic act. It was not, however, an act of bravery performed in his role as a Navy sailor — it was an act of love and sacrifice performed as a boyfriend.

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Larimer was killed early Friday in the Aurora movie theater massacre while protecting his girlfriend, Kelley Vojtsek, from the barrage of bullets.

“John and I were seated in the middle area. When the violence occurred, John immediately and instinctively covered me and brought me to the ground in order to protect me from any danger,” Vojtsek said in a written statement provided to the Chicago Sun-Times.

“Moments later, John knowingly shielded me from a spray of gunshots. It was then, I believe, John was hit with a bullet that would have very possibly struck me. I feel very strongly that I was saved by John and his ultimate kindness.”

Larimer, 27, joined the Navy in June 2011 and was a cryptologic technician 3rd class. For the past year, he had been stationed at the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command station at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora.

“I am incredibly saddened by the loss of Petty Officer John Larimer,” Cmdr. Jeffrey Jakuboski, Larimer’s commanding officer, said in a statement.

“He was an outstanding shipmate. A valued member of our Navy team, he will be missed by all who knew him."

Larimer was from Crystal Lake, Ill., a suburb of Chicago.

A family member told the Daily Herald newspaper that Larimer was the youngest of five siblings. He was a 2003 graduate of Crystal Lake South High School and trained at the Great Lakes Naval Academy.

Julie Gates, a neighbor in Crystal Lake, described Larimer as a man with a good sense of humor who took time to stop and buy lemonade from her daughter’s lemonade stand.

Vojtsek, in her statement to the Chicago Sun-Times, said that she and Larimer had a conversation about his military advancement just weeks before the shooting.

“He wanted to be deployed for two simple reasons: He wanted to protect his country, and he wanted to save others from danger and harm,”

Vojtsek said in the Sun-Times statement.

His funeral and burial will be private.

MICAYLA MEDEK: Hinkley grad was “trying to get life together”

Everyone knew her as Cayla.

Micayla Medek, 23, worked as a Subway “sandwich artist.” “I do everything lol,” she said on her Facebook page.

A graduate of William C. Hinkley High School in Aurora, Medek took classes at Community College of Aurora through last fall.

“I’m a simple independent girl who’s just trying to get her life together while still having fun,” she wrote on Facebook.

She attended the midnight showing of the new Batman movie with friends and was wounded, family members told the Los Angeles Times. Nearly 20 hours passed before authorities confirmed to the family that she was one of the 12 killed in the shooting.

The Micayla Medek Memorial Fund is accessed through Fitzsimons Credit Union. Contributions can also be routed through local credit unions by calling 800-919-2872.

A visitation for Medek will be held Wednesday, July 25, from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Newcomer Funeral Home & Crematory, 190 N. Potomac, Aurora.

The funeral is at 11 a.m. on Thursday, July, 26, at New Hope Baptist Church, 3701 Colorado Blvd., Denver.

MATT McQUINN: Ohio native protected his girlfriend

Matt McQuinn died protecting his girlfriend.

As a gunman calmly walked up the aisle of an Aurora movie theater Friday firing at moviegoers, the 27-year-old Ohio native dived on top of Samantha Yowler. Her brother Nick, 32, also tried to shield her, said Robert L. Scott, attorney for the McQuinn and Yowler families.

Samantha Yowler, 27, was shot in the knee. Her brother escaped without injury. But McQuinn, from St. Paris, Ohio, was not as fortunate.

McQuinn’s mother, Jeri Jackson, flew to Colorado on Friday as family members in Springfield tried to get information about what happened to McQuinn, according to the Dayton Daily News.

McQuinn’s stepmother, Stacie McQuinn, said the hospital would not tell Yowler, who underwent surgery Friday, about her boyfriend’s condition because the two were not related.

Matt McQuinn graduated from Vandalia-Butler High School in 2004. He met Yowler while the two were working at a Target store in Springfield, the Dayton Daily News reported. In November, the couple transferred to a Target store in Denver, joining Yowler’s brother, who had lived in Colorado for the past few years.

Co-workers spoke warmly of McQuinn on Friday when the news began circulating among the staff. Diane Behling worked with both McQuinn and “Sammy” and said they were all a close-knit team. She said McQuinn was “just a really good person” and that she loved having his “company and laughter” at work.

McQuinn’s funeral is set for 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 28 at Maiden Lane Church in Springfield, Ohio. His burial will be at Lawrenceville Cemetery in Clark County.

VERONICA MOSER-SULLIVAN: 6-year-old just learned to swim, “loved to dress up and read”

Veronica Moser-Sullivan will always be 6 years old.

The “vibrant, excitable,” blond-haired, blue-eyed little girl, who was bragging five days ago about learning how to swim, was one of the 12 people killed in the Aurora theater shooting Friday, said her great-aunt Annie Dalton.

“She loved to dress up and read and was doing well at school. She was beautiful and innocent,” Dalton said of Veronica, who attended Holly Ridge Elementary School in Denver. “It’s a nightmare right now.”

Veronica’s mother, Ashley Moser, remains in critical condition at Aurora Medical Center. The 25-year-old was shot in the neck, and doctors have been unable to remove the bullet. She also suffered a gunshot wound in the abdomen.

Moser passes in and out of consciousness, asking about her daughter, Dalton said, and does not yet know that Veronica died.

Moser, who was recently accepted to medical school, might recover with some use of her hands.

“They expect her to have some paralysis but don’t know how extensive it will be,” Dalton said.

Veronica was a comfort to her grandfather, who died two months ago after suffering from a terminal illness over the previous year.

“We were just rebuilding our family,” Dalton said.

ALEX SULLIVAN: First wedding anniversary would have been Sunday

Sometime late Thursday, Alex Sullivan posted on his Facebook page: “#TheDarkKnightRises OMG COUNTING down till it start cant wait going to be the best birthday ever.”

Sullivan died on his 27th birthday. He and co-workers from a Red Robin restaurant had gone to the premiere. Sullivan was killed, and seven coworkers were injured.

Sunday would have been Sullivan’s one-year wedding anniversary. Recently, he wrote on his Facebook page: “Just took the wife to DIA going to be gone for 3 and a half weeks going to miss her a lot. I love you cassie.”

Cassandra Sullivan returned home Wednesday.

The morning of the shooting, Alex Sullivan’s father, Tom, showed his picture around and asked if anybody had seen his son, an image that reminded some of 9/11 and grieving people amid that tragedy

Friends on Saturday talked about the big-hearted, good-humored guy they knew.

Derek Smith, who worked with Sullivan at Red Robin on South Havana Street, said the two were movie buffs.

“In ‘Animal House,’ there’s a part when they go to the bar and one of the guys screams across the bar, ‘Hey, Otis!’ ” Smith said. “When I walked in, it was always, ‘Hey, Otis!’ No one knew what it meant, but because we’re both into movies we got a kick out of it.

“Ah, man, I’m going to miss that dude, I really am,” Smith said, his eyes welling with tears.

Bryan Beard first met Sullivan during their freshman year at Grandview High School.

“We just clicked,” Beard said. “We’re both big guys, and big guys stick together.”

Beard said Sullivan stood 6 feet 4 inches and weighed about 280 pounds

He played football and wrestled before graduating from high school in 2003 and later going to culinary school, Beard said.

Maneka Singh, another high school friend, said Sullivan was “always smiling and the type of guy who had too many friends and loved them all.”

“I’m just trying in a way to make sense of all of this. I don’t know that you can really even do that,” she said. “Why a movie theater? Why so many innocent people?”

ALEXANDER TEVES: Recent master’s graduate a fan of Arizona, Spider-Man

Shooting victim Alexander Teves recently earned his master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Denver.

Friends of Teves, 24, began posting on social media Friday night after learning Teves was among the 12 people killed in the Aurora movie theater shootings.

A friend, identified only as Caitlin on Twitter, posted messages on the social media network early Friday from the Century Aurora 16 theater, and wrote on Twitter early Saturday that Teves was, “One of the best men I ever knew. The world isn’t as good a place without him.” She also described Teves as a fan of the University of Arizona and Spider-Man.

Teves’ aunt, Barbara Slivinske, told ABC15 in Phoenix that he had also attended college in Arizona and had wanted to pursue further schooling in order to become a physical therapist.

According to his father, Tom Teves, the 24-year-old blocked his girlfriend, Amanda, from the very bullet that ended up killing him.

“He always put everybody else ahead of himself and that was typical of his behavior yesterday. He was a hero,” Slivinske told ABC15. “He was a wonderful nephew. He was a wonderful person. Loving, caring, intelligent, and had a good sense of humor. Everybody loved him who met him.”

Slivinske told ABC15 that he would wear the same outfit to high school everyday — clean blue jeans and a crisp white T-shirt.

It became such a trademark joke among his classmates that they would have “Alex Teves Day” where everyone would show up to school in the same outfit, reports ABC15.

A University of Denver spokeswoman said Teves, from Phoenix, graduated in June. The university officially notified its students and faculty of Teves’ death Saturday afternoon.

The University released the following statement:

“The University extends its deepest condolences to his family and friends, including the many current students and faculty who knew and worked with Alex.”

Teves’ personal Facebook page lists him as a 2010 graduate of the University of Arizona, and a 2006 graduate of Desert Vista High School in Phoenix.

Funeral arrangements are still being made.

REBECCA WINGO: Mom of two “lost … to a mad man”

The father of Rebecca Wingo, 32, confirmed that his daughter died in the Aurora theater shootings in a post on his Facebook page.

Steve Hernandez wrote, “I lost my daughter yesterday to a mad man, my grief right now is inconsolable, I hear she died instantly, without pain, however the pain is unbearable.”

Friends said Saturday that Wingo’s parents also posted a message about her death on Wingo’s Facebook page. That page shows a picture of two young girls.

A friend, Gail Riffle, brought two teddy bears, one pink and one white, to the memorial site near the CenturyAurora 16 theater for Wingo’s daughters, as well as roses for Wingo’s parents.

“Everybody is hurting right now,” Riffle said. “She was a gentle, sweet, beautiful soul.”

Wingo listed Joe’s Crab Shack as her employer on Facebook, and a manager at the restaurant in Aurora confirmed that Wingo worked there. He deferred comment to the restaurant’s corporate office, which was closed Saturday.

Wingo had been enrolled at the Community College of Aurora since fall 2009 and had been working toward an associate of arts degree.

By John Ingold, Kurtis A. Lee and Yesenia Robles

Then there was 11-year-old Byron Allen, who held a sign saying, “Real heroes don’t wear capes.” His mother, Jennifer Allen, said she and Byron go to the movies at the Century Aurora 16 theater at least twice a month.

“I’m here,” Byron said, “because there’s this little 6-year-old girl, and I feel bad this person killed her. I’m also giving her a puppy, a stuffed dog.”

The vigil closed as the sun slipped from beneath a cloud and dropped below the mountains with the crowd singing “Amazing Grace” in unison.

After a vigil of tears and hugs, cheers and harmony, it seemed only one thing remained unsaid: the name of the shooting suspect.

By John Ingold, Jessica Fender and Jeremy P. Meyer 

CENTENNIAL — With a tangle of orangish-red hair atop his head like a bizarre costume wig, James Eagan Holmes slouched into a courtroom Monday to learn he is being held on suspicion of committing one of the worst mass murders in American history.

Shackled at the wrists and ankles, Holmes jingled as he walked into his first court appearance since the Friday shootings at the Century Aurora 16 that killed 12 and injured 58 more. Surrounded by one of his public defenders and two Arapahoe County Sheriff’s deputies, Holmes appeared barely to pay attention as 18th Judicial District Chief Judge William Sylvester advised him of his rights. He spoke not one word.

In the gallery, the father of Alex Teves, who was killed in the shootings, crossed his arms and glared at Holmes. Others — shooting survivors and victims’ relatives — leaned forward with their elbows resting on their knees.

Boxes of tissues were placed on the seats’ armrests for those struck by tears. But the most pervasive sounds in the courtroom were the steady, practiced voices of the judge and the attorneys ticking through routine procedural matters.

For all the emotion and commotion surrounding the moment, it was a hearing that lasted only 12 minutes.

“We need to be here to heal,” said Anggaiat Situmeang, who described himself as a relative of a shooting victim, as he approached the courthouse Monday morning. “It’s hard, physically and mentally.”

The hearing ended with Sylvester ordering Holmes, 24, held without bond. He is scheduled to return to court July 30, when he will be formally charged.

After the hearing, Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers declined to say whether her office would seek the death penalty in the case, noting the fact that a significant fact-gathering process and specific legal procedures must be completed before such a momentous decision can be made.

Chief among the evaluative process facing the four-member prosecution team — which has the ultimate discretion to pursue such a penalty — is the fact that families will have a say in whether they wish to pursue a death penalty, and the long-lasting effects of such a decision.

To that point, Chambers noted that the theater massacre has direct and indirect impact on hundreds of people, from victims to family members of victims, both living and dead.

“I don’t think that’s a (decision) that can be made in the abstract,” Chambers said. “It’s something we definitely want to get their input on.”

Meanwhile, prosecutors are seeking input from victims, issuing subpoenas and search warrants. Sylvester has ordered the case file and all connected search warrants be sealed. On Monday, he issued a gag order preventing the lawyers involved from discussing details of the case.

“This is a very active, ongoing investigation,” Chambers said.

Holmes’ attorneys, Daniel King and Tamara Brady, declined comment after the hearing. King and Brady are members of the state public defender’s capital cases team, the group of attorneys who represent clients in death penalty cases.

Advisement hearings — such as Holmes’ hearing Monday — are the first step in a criminal case and are typically legal formalities. Once the district attorney files formal charges, the next major step for Holmes will be a preliminary hearing, at which a judge will listen to testimony to determine whether Holmes should be bound over for trial.

But legal experts said that could be some ways off because Holmes’ attorneys may ask that Holmes receive a mental-health evaluation to determine whether he is fit to stand trial. To face trial, a defendant must understand the charges against him and be able to help his lawyers in his defense.

“I think (an evaluation) is going to happen early in this case because part of the defendant’s claims is maybe that he’s incompetent to stand trial,” said University of Denver law professor Sam Kamin.

Such evaluations can significantly prolong a case. In the instance of Nathan Dunlap, who was convicted of killing four people in an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese restaurant and sentenced to death, the mental-health evaluation lasted five months.

In the meantime, all the victims of the shooting can do is wait — both for answers and for justice.

“He just looks like a pathetic freak,” McKayla Hicks, who was wounded in the shooting and attended Monday’s hearing, told CNN. “I just want him put away forever.”

Legal teams in Holmes case

Prosecution

Carol Chambers: District attorney for the 18th Judicial District, which includes Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln counties. Elected in 2004, she is term-limited and will be out of office in January. Over her tenure, Chambers’ office has prosecuted several high-profile cases, including the convictions of Robert Ray and Sir Mario Owens in the shooting of a witness to another killing and the man’s fiance. Ray and

Owens are on death row.

Karen Pearson: Chief prosecutor, she has been with the DA’s office since 1996 and has been a deputy district attorney since 2007. High-profile cases that Pearson has handled include the 2005 road-rage case that left two dead and the 2008 car crash into a Baskin-Robbins ice cream store in which three people died, including a 3-year-old boy. She graduated from the University of Denver law school.

Jacob Edson: Senior deputy district attorney, he has been with the office for seven years. High-profile cases he has handled include the Marcus Hightower conviction for murder and the Anthony Gillespie murder trial.

He graduated from the University of Denver.

Andrew Steers: Senior deputy district attorney, he has been with the office since 2007. He became felony deputy in September 2011. He graduated from the University of Denver.

Public Defenders

Daniel B. King: Chief trial deputy with the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office. King represented Sir Mario Owens in the witness-murder trial.

Tamara A. Brady: Chief trial deputy with the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office. Brady represented Jose Luis Rubi-Nava in the dragging-murder trial.

James O’Connor: Head of the Arapahoe County division of the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office.