2012 Aurora theater shooting
On July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurred inside a Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, United States, during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. Dressed in tactical clothing, 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes set off tear gas grenades and shot into the audience with multiple firearms. Twelve people were killed, and 70 others were injured, 58 of them from gunfire.
| 2012 Aurora theater shooting | |
|---|---|
Century 16 at Town Center at Aurora | |
Bottom left: Map of Colorado with Aurora marked Top: Map of central Aurora Bottom right: Town Center at Aurora and the location of the Century 16 multiplex | |
| Location | 14300 East Alameda Avenue, Aurora, Colorado, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 39.7059°N 104.8206°W |
| Date | July 20, 2012 c. 12:38 a.m. – c. 12:45 a.m. (MDT UTC−06:00) |
| Target | Audience watching The Dark Knight Rises |
Attack type | Mass shooting, mass murder, tear gas attack |
| Weapons | |
| Deaths | 12 |
| Injured | 70 (58 from gunfire, 4 from tear gas, 8 from fleeing accidents) |
| Perpetrator | James Eagan Holmes |
| Motive | Disputed:
|
| Verdict | Guilty on all counts |
| Convictions |
|
| Sentence | 12 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole plus 3,318 years |
It is the deadliest shooting by a lone perpetrator in the history of Colorado and the state's second-deadliest mass shooting, just after the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. At the time, the event had the largest number of victims (82) in one shooting in modern U.S. history. This number was later surpassed by the 107 victims of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting and eventually the 927 victims of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.
Holmes was arrested minutes later in his car outside the cinema. Earlier, he had rigged his apartment with homemade explosives and incendiary devices. These were defused by the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office Bomb Squad a day after the shooting.
Fearing copycat crimes, movie theaters showing the same film across the United States increased their security. Gun sales increased in Colorado, and political debates were generated about gun control in the United States.
Holmes confessed to the shooting but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Arapahoe County prosecutors sought the death penalty. The trial began on April 27, 2015. On July 16 of that year, Holmes was convicted of 24 counts of first-degree murder, 140 counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of possessing explosives. On August 7, the jury deadlocked on whether to impose the death penalty. On August 26, Holmes was given 12 life sentences, one for every person he killed; he also received 3,318 years for the attempted murders of those he wounded and for rigging his apartment with explosives.