Culture

Batman Shooter News Links: Injured Victim Shares with Reddit, NYPD Beefing Up Movie Security, Brian Ross Apologizes

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Lots of speculation, to be expected, in the wake of the shooting at a midnight showing of Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado. 12 are dead and at least 38 injured. Here's some news:

  • Barack Obama and Mitt Romney both cancelled campaign events today, with the president making remarks about the shooting in lieu of a campaign speech in Florida. "If there is any take away from this, it's that life is fragile," the president said. "Our time here is limited and it's precious."
  • Time puts together some details about the alleged shooter, 24-year-old James Holmes, currently in police custody. Public records don't show him holding a concealed carry permit and he has no criminal record.
  • One of the dead, Jessica Redfield, had previously been at the scene of the mall shooting in Toronto, leaving the food court before a gunman opened fire.
  • One of the surviving victims, grazed by a bullet, shares his injuries and story on Reddit.
  • The New York Police Department will be sending police officers to showings of Dark Knight Rises over the weekend "[a]s a precaution against copycats and to raise the comfort levels among movie patrons in the wake of the horrendous shooting in Colorado," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement. The premier of Dark Knight Rises in Paris, meanwhile, was cancelled.
  • ABC News apologized for Brian Ross' reporting that the alleged shooter Jim Holmes could've been a Tea Party member just because one of dozens of Jim Holmes' in the Denver area happened to join an online Tea Party forum.  "An earlier ABC News broadcast report suggested that a Jim Holmes of a Colorado Tea Party organization might be the suspect, but that report was incorrect," ABC News said in a statement. "ABC News and Brian Ross apologize for the mistake, and for disseminating that information before it was properly vetted."