Aurora Colorado Violence

Gunman turns movie into surreal horror: 'This is real'A movie theater that my family and I have visited many times was the scene of a violent and life changing event last night.Tomorrow it will be all over the news and it will be all anyone hears about ---at least here in Denver. My prayers go out to the victims....they will never again feel safe in a movie theater.It makes me angry.... They ought execute the suspect, but in time we will learn why this loon did such a thing....apart from making a name for himself.Edited by AdminPhat, : clarification and added link.

I was reading the reports on the news channel just now, and hadn't put your location and the news reports together Phat.It's a truly awful event - there are unconfirmed reports at the moment of a 3 month old baby being amongst the wounded.I suspect you know the cinema in question, and it must bring it home all the more strongly.The victims and their families have my deepest sympathies.

The theater is in Aurora, which is a suburb of Denver, where I live. My family and I have seen movies at the theater before, and the area was normally quite peaceful. I dont own a TV, or I imagine that the entire days news will be filled with reports from the crime scene. They now say that 12 died...instead of 14...many of them children. This brings back memories of the first day that I heard about the Columbine shootings. I was at the dentist and the news was just becoming public.Initially, in a breaking news story, people are numb to the reality of the magnitude of the situation, since we see and hear of shootings everywhere ...virtually all of the time...on and in the news media. As the reporters begin to write more personal stories...stories of the families and of the victims...the sobering reality of the violent culture that we live in begins to sink in, and I think that all of us will feel this as this story is magnified and detailed in the media.I don't know if I or anyone else will feel quite the same...out in public with our families...ever again. My prayers go out to the many victims. In a sense, we all are victims by extension.Add by edit: I wont post any videos (which are numerous) since all of you will soon see and hear plenty of news about this.Edited by Phat, : added

I am sure that it will have a huge impact on everyone in your community, for years to come.This tragedy will, naturally enough, raise some questions, and being the community that we are et EvC, I am sure that we will want to debate those questions.And, (also given the community that we are at EvC), I hope that we might want to postpone such debate for 24 hours, out of respect.

Agreed. I will close it for 24 hours and open it up again tomorrow. Edited by AdminPhat, : No reason given.

By now, the news media has thoroughly covered the story, yet the names of the victims are only now being gathered. Again, our prayers go out to them.Also, already I have heard a conspiracy theory about how the government set this up (totally baseless and ridiculous) as well as stories about the gunman and his intelligence. I am happy not to own a television, for I select the news that I absorb via my computer.My early conclusions regarding this tragedy?1) Changing gun laws won't stop these types of incidents, though the criteria as to what types of guns are allowed to be purchased might be considered.2) Just because it is a disturbed white guy, it is as much an act of terrorism as it would be had the shooter been black and/or Muslim.3) People will be ever more willing to trade in personal freedoms for greater public security...and our society will continue to change.4) There are no easy answers in faith to tell people. I believe, for the record, that God had nothing to do with this, nor any sort of devil, though some fundamentalist friends whom I know would argue the latter to be the case. Edited by Phat, : No reason given.

I guess the word "terrorism" is has been thoroughly bastardized and is now completely meaningless if every act of violence is considered as such. The masses only give a shit when a bunch of white people are murdered. Gun shots ring out daily in the ghetto, is THAT terrorism? Does that pull on the heart strings of ANYONE? Of course they will if every act of violence is labeled terrorism and we have a "war on terror" and every news outlet feeds the masses that the only way to fight this "war" is to give up freedoms. Faith and imaginary friends had as much to do with this as did Osama Bin Laden. The kid was mentally ill and his sickness was ignored and untreated. Plain and simple.{abe} LinkyEdited by hooah212002, : No reason given.

You've got four different threads there. Which will this one be?

Anyone against giving this guy the death penalty?- Oni

Me.

Me. Another dead person would solve nothing but your bloodlust. It wouldnt bring a single victim back to life or heal a single injury. Two wrongs dont make a right.

Me. Far too expensive and solves nothing.

Killing him won't solve anything. The little shit claims he's the Joker. I say send him to Arkham.Mutate and Survive

Well, first of all, we do need to go through the trial. I know they've caught him, I know the evidence we've seen in the media seems overwhelming, I know it's been reported that his flat was booby-trapped, etc, but it is important for due process to take place. Niceties, perhaps, but important ones.However, if we assume he is found guilty, I am personally still against the death penalty. It's hard to maintain a deterrence argument, when your future perpetrator is highly likely to be deranged - and as a society, I still like to feel that we are better than that.I do understand the desire to put people to death, if they themselves commit murder, but to preserve our own aspirations at civilization, and to prevent even one innocent person being put to death, I would still cast my vote not to have a death penalty.

Well my 'bloodlust' does not influence the verdict or sentence. Colorado state law does. They have the death penalty, so it is a punishment that's available. No sentence would do that. But you're not suggesting we don't punish him because the victims won't come back to life, right?You agree that there should be some form of punishment? The death penalty is legal in the state of Colorado, so I don't see how that can be a "wrong" just like slaughtering 12 people and wounding how ever many more is a "wrong".One's legal, one is a horrendous act of violence.- Oni