The Dark Knight visits the theaters

So, very recently (as in a little after midnight last night) in Aurora, Colorado there was a movie theater shooting. In this shooting, 71 people were either severally injured or killed. The shooter was James Eagan Holmes, a twenty-four year old college student. He was described as being a loner, who wouldn’t look you in your eye. From what police have said this was no Mickey Mouse operation or fly by night thought. He planned and executed his plans with precision. If things had gone the way he planned the plot is speculated to have gone off like this.

He sets up a noise distraction that grabs the attention of the police. When they knock at his door no answer, so they break down the door and instant causalities arise, because he booby trapped his apartment so that a firebomb would explode. As the police are busy attending to this, meanwhile he is at the movie theater taking as many casualties as he would like. He didn’t simply have a handgun. He was packing with, according to the police with an A.R. 15, Remington, Glock, and a .49 caliber Glock.

It is not known how many rounds he fired off, but many were fired. Currently, via the last update 12 people lost their lives, two of which died on the scene and ten that died at the hospital as well as 59 critically injured. Also apparently one other person who was at an adjoining movie theater was struck, little is known of their condition. The assailant was apparently a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, Colorado until last month when he withdrew. When his own mother was questioned early this morning she told reports she was not surprised and needed to call the police. That left me a bit baffled, could this have been prevented, I thought, what did she know that we obviously didn’t. Also, a statement was released that the family wants us to respect their privacy.

The president talks about uniting as an American family and embracing the parents of those who lost children and letting them know we will be there for them during their loss. The victims ages range from three months to forty-five years old. My question is one, could this have been avoided, two, what do we do as a people to grow and learn from this, and c, why are we as a society jumping to the death penalty already? I have seen hate groups that focus on does Colorado have the death penalty?

While the crime seems very thought out and mythical in its execution, what has brought this young twenty-four year old man to the point where he would do such a heinous thing to a seemingly innocent group of moviegoers at the premiere for the Batman Movie? I would like to commend the quick actions of the police, fire department, if you or someone you know is struggling with the aftermath of this great tragedy there are numbers to call and quite a good number of professionals there to assist those in need of coping with this great loss and making sense of the whole ordeal. These are the numbers to the hotline and tip line, which are

3037391862, the tip line and for the hot line 3036172300. Let us all unite as human beings and comfort one another in the meanwhile as the details are steadily made public.

Keep this in mind,

“

Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.”

~Chief Seattle, 1854

Take care!