14 Dead in Shooting at Dark Knight Rises Midnight Screening ⇒

{% blockquote -J. David Goodman http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/us/police-say-14-are-killed-in-shooting-at-colorado-mall.html The New York Times %} A gunman opened fire in a crowded movie theater in the Denver suburbs early Friday morning, killing at least 14 people and wounding dozens of others, the police told reporters in an early morning news conference.

The shooting erupted during midnight showings of “The Dark Night Rises” at the multiplex in Aurora, Colo., where throngs had gathered, some dressed as characters from the highly anticipated Batman sequel. {% endblockquote %}

I was nearly brought to tears reading this on my commute this morning.

Movie theaters are supposed to be holy places, where we can sit together in relative silence and be enterntained, educated or enlightened (or all three) for two hours or more. I don’t want to imagine a world in which people fear gathering publicly to enjoy something they love, but I don’t have to. For the people of Aurora, Colorado, that is now a horrific reality.

My heart goes out to the victims, their families, those wounded in the attack1 and those who witnessed it.


  1. Reuters is reporting fifty wounded. ↩︎