By NBC News' Pete Williams and NBC News staff
Updated at 11:11 a.m. ET:
Twelve people were killed and at least 50 others were wounded early Friday
when a gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire during a midnight
premiere screening of the latest Batman movie near Denver, authorities and
witnesses said.
The apartment of the suspect in custody, named as James Holmes, 24, a former
graduate student in the neuroscience program at University of Colorado
medical school, had been booby-trapped with what police described as
sophisticated explosives or flammable material, and officers were trying to
determine how to defuse the device or devices, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates
said. The area had been evacuated, and police were expected to remain on
the scene "for hours or days," he said.
Police said there was no evidence of additional suspects.
"We're pretty confident he acted alone," Officer Frank Fania told TODAY.
Victims of the shooting were being treated in at least six hospitals and
included a 6-year-old. A 4-month-old baby also was treated and released. The
oldest reported patient is 45.
Authorities said the gunman had appeared at the front of the theater during
the film and released a canister of tear gas. Witnesses told reporters that
the gunfire erupted during a shootout scene in "The Dark Knight Rises."
"It was mass chaos," witness Jennifer Seeger told TODAY. The gunman shot the
ceiling and then "he threw in the gas can, and then I knew it was real."
"I told my friend, 'We've got to get out of here,' but then he shot people
trying to go out the exits," Seeger said. She said the shooter made his way
up the aisle, shooting as he went, saying nothing.
Oates initially told journalists that 14 people had been killed, but the
figure was later revised to 12.
The shooting occurred in the Century 16 Movie Theaters at Aurora Town
Center. Aurora is a suburb less than 10 miles east of downtown Denver.
NBC station KUSA of Denver cited a witness as seeing a black-clad, 6-foot-
tall man wearing a riot helmet, goggles and a bulletproof vest. Witnesses
said the gunman entered the theater through an emergency exit door.
However, many people attended the film dressed in Batman-related costumes.
