adminPolice in the Denver suburb of Aurora said they had arrested the alleged gunman following chaotic scenes at a movie theatre at a local mall yesterday.
“This is a horrific event,” Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates told a news conference, saying there was no evidence of a second gunman.
He told the news briefing that 10 people were killed on site and four others were later reported dead in area hospitals.
Dozens of police were at the scene, and the authorities evacuated the area while they checked if there was an explosive device in the area.
Denver’s’ KOA radio station said a figure in a gas mask had opened fire at the showing in a mall in the suburb of Aurora and set off a smoke or tear gas bomb.
“A man apparently appeared in a riot helmet in a bullet proof vest from behind the scene at a suburban Denver movie theatre,” Al Jazeera’s John Hendren reported from Chicago.
“And according to witnesses he set off a smoke bomb and then began firing into the crowd. The suspect is now in custody. Police will only tell us that he is a young adult male.
“[The shooter] said apparently that he had bombs in his apartment. Police then went to search that apartment. We have not heard exactly what the result of that search was,” Hendren said.
Police spokesman Frank Fania said a male suspect was arrested in the parking lot behind the theatre. “He did not resist, he did not put up a fight,” he said.
The suspect was though to be in his early 20s, Fania said. He was carrying a knife, a rifle, a handgun when arrested and one other gun was recovered from the theatre, he said. The gunman was also wearing a bulletproof vest.
The gunman “appeared at the front of the screen” in the theatre and started shooting, Fania said.
CNN quoted one witness as saying he saw a “guy slowly making his way up the stairs and firing, picking random people”.
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.
Fania said police received the first call about the shooting at 00:39 local time and responded within “a minute or two”. Local hospitals were alerted to a “mass casualty incident”.
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.
Aurora is near the scene of the 1999 Columbine high school massacre, in which 13 people were shot dead and another 24 were wounded.—Al Jazeera
Online Reporter