The Theater and the Shooting

[February]

Originally Posted by zvzvzv

there were several minutes of shooting & chaos before
911 was called, then the first police were helping
wounded people & taking then to the hospital.
according to scanners he was discovered at the rear
near his car by a single officer/patrol car.

that's 3:30 in from the initial dispatch.
enough time to run around a bit.

scanner audio:
Scanner Audio from Aurora Theater Shooting - YouTube

they discovered him at 3:30am?

[zvzvzv]

Originally Posted by February

they discovered him at 3:30am?

3 minutes 30 seconds after the first dispatch,
about 3 minutes after police were on scene.

[What'sThatClue]

Originally Posted by pinkflamingo

There is a bit of conspiracy here, where did the second gas mask come from? I am wondering about the voicemail the police received after the fact- threatening message from someone, and that second gas mask. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...1119173?pgno=1

Maybe we need (second person of interest) sleuthing thread. There are some pictures from the crime scene that indicate that there may have been an accomplice.

The only thing I've heard about a threatening message was that LE questioned a classmate of JH because the threatening message purportedly came from his phone, but then LE released him.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ed-police.html

(it's in other sources too, not just dailymail, but that's the first link I clicked on )

[What'sThatClue]

Originally Posted by February

they discovered him at 3:30am?

Now that's bizarre. LE said they arrived within minutes and JH sat around in his car waiting for them all that time???

[What'sThatClue]

Originally Posted by zvzvzv

3 minutes 30 seconds after the first dispatch,
about 3 minutes after police were on scene.

Whew, that's better. ROFL

[February]

Originally Posted by What'sThatClue

Whew, that's better. ROFL

LOL... i almost fell on my chair too when i thought it was 3:30am

[February]

Originally Posted by zvzvzv

3 minutes 30 seconds after the first dispatch,
about 3 minutes after police were on scene.

Thank you for the explanation

[February]

Originally Posted by What'sThatClue

The only thing I've heard about a threatening message was that LE questioned a classmate of JH because the threatening message purportedly came from his phone, but then LE released him.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ed-police.html

(it's in other sources too, not just dailymail, but that's the first link I clicked on )

You know, i really want to talk about this YPL but just like what the admin said, we can hold off on this for now till the story change --- my curiosity is Fox Denver is the one reporting this on Twitter

[darcedarce]

So the two girls outside didn't encounter him??

[zvzvzv]

Originally Posted by darcedarce

So the two girls outside didn't encounter him??

one had already been shot in the face, so yes they encountered him.
sounds like they escaped theater 9 through the rear exit
as JH was busy shooting & were hiding outside near theater 8 exit.
Eric Hunter let them inside theater 8 as JH was approaching.
makes sense if you look at aerial photos.

[darcedarce]

I knew she had been shot. I meant, encountered him outside. The way the account was relayed it sounded like the girls were locked out with the shooter.

[zvzvzv]

Originally Posted by darcedarce

I knew she had been shot. I meant, encountered him outside. The way the account was relayed it sounded like the girls were locked out with the shooter.

sorry, i tried to find the proper emoticon for morbid sarcasm but
couldn't find one. No, Eric Hunter saved those girls & himself,
& who knows how many people by locking JH out.
i hope Eric Hunter is remembered for this event rather than JH
or Batman himself.

[rollinginit]

Does anybody know if the police were onhand before all this happened? It was a midnight movie premire. Huge crowds. I know some of our police are usually at these events to keep peace.

I also wonder when people started lining up at the theater. When my daughter went to the hunger games premire....they started lining up at 8pm.

[Liz]

I've not heard or read anything about any officers being on the Century 16 premises, at the time the shooting began. I imagine that might change in the near future.

I can remember when the ushers guarded those exit doors!

[HastingsChi]

How is it possible in this age of every movie device having a camera and video camera that no one in the theatre has posted to social media any photos from the lobby or inside the theatre prior to the movie starting with the accused in the background?

As opening night of this particular film was an event, I have no doubt that folks were taking photos to showcase their excitement before the movie and it's very likely the accused would appear in the background of at least one or two pics; right?

I bring this up because the initial survivor's statements mentioned the individual taking the phone call returning to his or her seat and not leaving the theatre. They also didn't identify that person as the shooter.

Especially in a stadium seating theatre where simply because of elevated perspective everyone would notice someone leaving through the door closest to the screen.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S 2

[newsleuther]

Something that has puzzled me for days now... so tear gas was thrown at the crowd, correct?

Why have we not heard reports of temporary blindness, burning eyes and skin, why were the people who gave interviews right away not suffering from anything like that? It sticks to your clothing as well.

Was it something else rather than tear gas perhaps?

[zvzvzv]

Originally Posted by HastingsChi

I bring this up because the initial survivor's statements mentioned the individual taking the phone call returning to his or her seat and not leaving the theatre. They also didn't identify that person as the shooter.

did they actually mention his returning to a seat,
or just skip to noticing someone entering the door later?
the reports i read seemed as though the phone call &
exit were made during the opening credits, if the
movie had begun i doubt anyone was paying attention
to anything but the movie. except whoever he was
sitting next to, they could be cooperating with police
only & not speaking to media, or they could be deceased.

[21merc7]

I'm guessing it was not tear gas. Some other substance. I'm looking through the youtube videos of witness right after, no one says anything about burning. I keep hearing "gas bomb" I guess they mean smoke bomb???

[zvzvzv]

Originally Posted by newsleuther

Something that has puzzled me for days now... so tear gas was thrown at the crowd, correct?

Why have we not heard reports of temporary blindness, burning eyes and skin, why were the people who gave interviews right away not suffering from anything like that? It sticks to your clothing as well.

Was it something else rather than tear gas perhaps?

definitely not tear gas.
they sell "smoke grenades" for paintball games,
JH had a poster on his wall about paintball combat.
http://www.smokegrenade.net/info/orangesmokegrenade.htm

[DeadCat]

Originally Posted by zvzvzv

definitely not tear gas.
they sell "smoke grenades" for paintball games,
JH had a poster on his wall about paintball combat.
http://www.smokegrenade.net/info/orangesmokegrenade.htm

Will be interesting to see more about this--I'm seeing mixed reports. Here's one that says it was tear gas...

http://www.ohio.com/news/local-news/...-life-1.323104

"Akron native Carli Richards and Chris Townson were two of the first shooting victims to escape out of the theater after the shooting started in Aurora, Colorado last week. Richards was hit by 22 shotgun pellets and Townson had one pellet graze his chest.

Richards has chronicled her ordeal on her blog, www.carlirotten.net, and also on Facebook. Contacted by email, Richards said she is still recovering from her wounds.

“The instinct [to] keep running overpowered any other thought in my mind,” she wrote.

As she fled the theater, Richards said, she realized many around her were not moving.

“If my partner and I had not taken responsibility for ourselves at some point in our lives and joined the U.S. Navy, we would not have immediately recognized the smell of tear gas,” she wrote."

[HastingsChi]

Originally Posted by zvzvzv

did they actually mention his returning to a seat,
or just skip to noticing someone entering the door later?
the reports i read seemed as though the phone call &
exit were made during the opening credits, if the
movie had begun i doubt anyone was paying attention
to anything but the movie. except whoever he was
sitting next to, they could be cooperating with police
only & not speaking to media, or they could be deceased.

I'll try to find the initial survivor interviews but they mentioned someone in the front row getting a phone call and taking it at the exit door closest to the screen and I'm very confident they stated that person returned to their seat. This was as the news broke and likely the survivors who initially mentioned the phone call.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S 2

[DeadCat]

Carli Richards, as one of the first to run out of theater 9, also says in her eyewitness account blog,
http://www.carlirotten.net/my-blog/
"I got back to my little ER room and was told that I had gotten hit in my right arm, both of my legs, my chest, my back, and my butt. I asked them what the hell hit me, because I thought it sounded like fireworks or a bomb or something going off behind me, and they told me it was a bunch of “buckshot”. “What the hell is buckshot?” I asked, in my stupor. They said that shotguns either take slugs, which are just big-ass bullets, like the ones we used in Navy boot camp, or buckshot- basically, a plastic casing holds a bunch of pellets, and when the shot is fired, these pellets disburse all over the place. All this meant to me was that this ******* really wanted to hurt and scare a lot of people. If his main mission was to kill, he would have gotten out the automatic weapon right away. The rumor is that he had a shotgun, automatic rifle, and two pistols with him that night. Thankfully he just used the shotgun and did not use slugs, because otherwise, the back and chest wounds might have been fatal."

[newsleuther]

Originally Posted by DeadCat

Will be interesting to see more about this--I'm seeing mixed reports. Here's one that says it was tear gas...

http://www.ohio.com/news/local-news/...-life-1.323104

"Akron native Carli Richards and Chris Townson were two of the first shooting victims to escape out of the theater after the shooting started in Aurora, Colorado last week. Richards was hit by 22 shotgun pellets and Townson had one pellet graze his chest.

Richards has chronicled her ordeal on her blog, www.carlirotten.net, and also on Facebook. Contacted by email, Richards said she is still recovering from her wounds.

“The instinct [to] keep running overpowered any other thought in my mind,” she wrote.

As she fled the theater, Richards said, she realized many around her were not moving.

“If my partner and I had not taken responsibility for ourselves at some point in our lives and joined the U.S. Navy, we would not have immediately recognized the smell of tear gas,” she wrote."

That's actually the account I read that confused me.

I know they've been saying tear gas from the start, but no one seemed to be suffering from the effects of it, so I assumed maybe it was misreported and was just some kind of smoke grenade.

But then I read that account of people who had been trained and knew the smell, who said it was tear gas, and also that they had been hosed off.

Just a bit strange to me is all, I'd expect to see the people outside with bleary red eyes

[zvzvzv]

from what i've read tear gas is odorless.
a common suspension fluid in smoke bombs, tear gas,
electronic cigarettes & stage smoke is propylene glycol.
someone may be familiar with the smell of this chemical,
which is non-toxic, used in make-up & food products,
also as antifreeze.
at the risk of 'sleuthing victims', i say the ability to smell
tear gas & at the same time avoid it's effects is impossible.

[newsleuther]

That makes sense. Maybe the smell of a chemical that activates the smoke or gas is the same, and that's what was smelled.