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A masked gunman has shot dead 14 people and wounded more than 50 others at a Batman film premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in the US – police said.
A total of 14 people have been killed and 50 wounded in a mass shooting at a cinema in Denver during a premiere of the new Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Eyewitnesses reported that a baby was shot at point blank range and some of the victims were children as a single masked gunman went on a rampage.
The gunman (who was quickly arrested) was reportedly wearing body armour and a gas mask and used tear gas in the assault inside the cinema.
The shooting happened at the Century Aurora 16 Movie Theater in a mall in the suburb of Aurora, Denver, Colorado which was packed for a midnight premiere of Two separate devices were also said to have been found in vehicles outside the cinema.
Local reporter Justin Joseph of KDVR said that, according to witnesses, the moment Batman appeared on screen a man wearng body armour and a gas mask, and wielding at least one long gun, stood up and faced the crowd.

Batman premiere.

CNN quoted one witness as saying he saw a “guy slowly making his way up the stairs and firing, picking random people”.
It said local hospitals were alerted to a “mass casualty incident”. Media reports said 10 people died at the scene and four died later in hospital.
A spokeswoman for Denver’s Swedish Medical Center said three people had been admitted to that hospital with gunshot wounds and were in critical condition.
Another hospital, Denver Health, had received six wounded, one of whom was in critical condition, spokeswoman Kalena Wilkinson said.
A witness told CNN – “We heard anywhere from 10 to 20 shots and little explosions going on. Shortly after that we heard people screaming. Then they came on PA system and said everyone needed to get out.
“As soon as we got out, there were people running around and screaming.” He said friends had told him the gunman was wearing a gas mask.
Another witness said the gunman opened fire during a shoot-out scene in the movie, leading to confusion. The theatre also filled with thick smoke – he said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4zv-555Cb8

Witness Hayden Miller told KUSA-TV that he was inside Theater 16 and heard several shots.
“Like little explosions going on and shortly after that we heard people screaming” – he told the station.
Hayden said at first he thought it was part of a louder movie next door. But then he saw “people hunched over leaving theatre.”
Aurora police spokeswoman Cassidee Carlson told AP – “The scene is still very active and we have little information for release at this time.”
Swedish Medical Centre spokeswoman Nicole Williams said two people injured at the theatre had arrived at the hospital in critical condition.
She told AP emergency workers had said there could be several more patients.
The nearby University of Colorado hospital received 20 people with minor to severe injuries, hospital spokeswoman Jackie Montgomery told CNN before the interview was cut short due to technical difficulties.
An Aurora police dispatcher confirmed a shooting at a cinema but did not provide further details.
KDVR said the shooting was carried out by two gunmen in separate theaters who sowed panic with tear gas.
Aurora is a suburb of Denver near the scene of the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, in which 13 people were shot dead and another 24 were wounded.