A shooting at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., early today has left at least 12 people dead and at least 50 people injured, authorities confirmed.
Police now have now apprehended a 24-year-old male and recovered a gun after the shooting at approximately 12:30 a.m. at the Century 16 Movie Theaters at the Aurora Town Center in the Denver suburb.
Witnesses said that the man appeared at the front of the theater with a rifle, handgun and gas mask. The man then threw a canister that released some kind of gas, after which a hissing sound ensued, and he then opened fire on the crowd packed into the early-morning screening of the film, according to people in the theater at the time.
"They got up and they started to run through the emergency exit, she said that when she turned around, all she saw was the guy slowly making his way up the stairs and just firing at people, just picking random people," a man talked to a couple who was inside the theater told ABC News.
Of the six victims were taken to Children's Hospital in Aurora, the youngest was 6 years old.
"The gunshot continues to go on and on and then after we didn't hear anything we finally got up and there was people bleeding, there was people obviously may have been actually dead or anything, and we just ran up out of there, there was chaos everywhere," he said.
"We were maybe 20 or 30 minutes into the movie and all you hear, first you smell smoke, everybody thought it was fireworks or something like that, and then you just see people dropping and the gunshots are constant," witness Christ Jones told ABC News Denver affiliate KMGH. "I heard at least 20 to 30 rounds within that minute or two."
Patrons in the theater where the shooting took place, along with those in an adjacent theater also viewing the action-packed movie, were unsure of what was happening at the time. Jack, who was in the adjacent theater with his son, said that the commotion began as one of the action scenes was starting up.
"These guys came through, and they say someone's shooting," he said. "I thought, 'Oh, they must have heard the fireworks, you know ... I had no idea. And then the alarms started to go off in the theater.'"
An explosive device was also found inside the movie house. Police are not sure whether the device, which investigators are calling a bomb, was already in place or whether it was thrown into the crowd.
Ambulances rushed to the scene as audience members fled the theater. Aurora's police chief said that he could not elaborate on women or children injured or dead in the shooting.
Once apprehended the gunman told authorities that there were explosives in his North Aurora, Colo., residence. Investigators rushed to the apartment complex, which was quickly evacuated and is now under lockdown.
Investigators confirmed that explosives were found. It is unclear if they were scheduled to detonate or if it was part of a stockpile.
Though police have said that they believe the shooter was acting alone, they are now taking precautions and checking all cars in the parking lot and clearing near the theater.
A senior official who is monitoring the situation in Washington said that early guidance based on the early snapshot of this man's background indicated that this does not appear to be linked to radical terrorism or anything related to Islamic terrorism.
Investigators are now interviewing friends and associates of the suspect to get a sense of the man's background.
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