Senseless in Aurora

[Moonlight J]

http://gma.yahoo.com/mass-shooting-colo-movie-theater-10-people-dead-085940681--abc-news-topstories.html

Good thing they don't believe it was connected to Islamic terrorism. It isn't like there's never been any domestic terrorism in the greater Denver area ever.....

[Judge Jude]

@chucktodd: NBC's Pete Williams has the Aurora suspect's name: James Holmes, born 12/13/87

"James Holmes" - from Yemen, maybe?

#probablynot

[TranaGreg]

Hope sheep didn't decide to go to a midnight showing

[Hornsby]

One of the strangest coincidences that I've ever heard of...one of the victims, Jessica Redfield, was in Toronto last month in the Mall when the Canadian shooter started firing. Here's her blog entry from that incident...

by Jessica Redfield
A Run On of Thoughts

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Late Night Thoughts on the Eaton Center Shooting

Posted by Jessica Redfield in Uncategorized on June 5, 2012

I can’t get this odd feeling out of my chest. This empty, almost sickening feeling won’t go away. I noticed this feeling when I was in the Eaton Center in Toronto just seconds before someone opened fire in the food court. An odd feeling which led me to go outside and unknowingly out of harm‘s way. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around how a weird feeling saved me from being in the middle of a deadly shooting.

What started off as a trip to the mall to get sushi and shop, ended up as a day that has forever changed my life. I was on a mission to eat sushi that day, and when I’m on a mission, nothing will deter me. When I arrived at the Eaton Center mall, I walked down to the food court and spotted a sushi restaurant. Instead of walking in, sitting down and enjoying sushi, I changed my mind, which is very unlike me, and decided that a greasy burger and poutine would do the trick. I rushed through my dinner. I found out after seeing a map of the scene, that minutes later a man was standing in the same spot I just ate at and opened fire in the food court full of people. Had I had sushi, I would’ve been in the same place where one of the victims was found.

My receipt shows my purchase was made at 6:20 pm. After that purchase I said I felt funny. It wasn’t the kind of funny you feel after spending money you know you shouldn’t have spent. It was almost a panicky feeling that left my chest feeling like something was missing. A feeling that was overwhelming enough to lead me to head outside in the rain to get fresh air instead of continuing back into the food court to go shopping at SportChek. The gunshots rung out at 6:23. Had I not gone outside, I would’ve been in the midst of gunfire.

I walked around the outside of the mall. People started funneling out of every exit. When I got back to the front, I saw a police car, an ambulance, and a fire truck. I initially thought that maybe the street performer that was drumming there earlier had a heart attack or something. But more and more police officers, ambulances, and fire trucks started showing up. Something terrible has happened. I overheard a panicked guy say, “There was a shooting in the food court.” I thought that there was no way, I was just down there. I asked him what happened. He said “Some guy just opened fire. Shot about 8 shots. It sounded like balloons popping. The guy is still on the loose.” I’m not sure what made me stick around at this point instead of running as far away from the mall as possible. Shock? Curiosity? Human nature? Who knows.

Standing there in the midst of the chaos all around us, police started yelling to get back and make room. I saw a young shirtless boy, writhing on a stretcher, with his face and head covered by the EMS as they rushed him by us to get him into an ambulance. The moment was surprisingly calm. The EMTs helping the boy weren’t yelling orders and no one was screaming like a night time medical drama. It was as if it was one swift movement to get the boy out of the mall and into the ambulance. That’s when it really hit me. I felt nauseas. Who would go into a mall full of thousands of innocent people and open fire? Is this really the world we live in?

Police start yelling again “GET BACK NOW!” Another stretcher came rushing out of the mall. I saw a man on a stretcher, the blanket underneath him spotted with blood. Multiple gunshot holes in his chest, side, and neck were visible. It’s not like in the movies when you see someone shot and they’re bleeding continuously from the wound. There was no blood flowing from the wounds, I could only see the holes. Numerous gaping holes, as if his skin was putty and someone stuck their finger in it. Except these wounds were caused by bullets. Bullets shot out of hatred. His dark skin on his torso was tinted red with what I assume was his own blood. He was rushed into the ambulance and taken away.

More people joined the crowd at the scene and asked what happened. “There was a shooting in the food court,” kept being whispered through the crowd like a game of telephone. I was standing near a security guard when I heard him say over his walkie talkie, “One fatality.” At this point I was convinced I was going to throw up. I’m not an EMT or a police officer. I’m not trained to handle crime and murder. Gun crimes are fairly common where I grew up in Texas, but I never imagined I’d experience a violent crime first hand. I’m on vacation and wanted to eat and go shopping. Everyone else at the mall probably wanted the same thing. I doubt anyone left for the mall imagined they witness a shooting.

I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders’ faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath. For one man, it was in the middle of a busy food court on a Saturday evening.

I say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing. So often I have found myself taking it for granted. Every hug from a family member. Every laugh we share with friends. Even the times of solitude are all blessings. Every second of every day is a gift. After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given.

I feel like I am overreacting about what I experienced. But I can’t help but be thankful for whatever caused me to make the choices that I made that day. My mind keeps replaying what I saw over in my head. I hope the victims make a full recovery. I wish I could shake this odd feeling from my chest. The feeling that’s reminding me how blessed I am. The same feeling that made me leave the Eaton Center. The feeling that may have potentially saved my life.

[TranaGreg]

One of the strangest coincidences that I've ever heard of...one of the victims, Jessica Redfield, was in Toronto last month in the Mall when the Canadian shooter started firing. Here's he blog entry from that incident...

wow, that is truly a bizarre - & tragic - coincidence

[baldgriff]

Is it the conceal and carry that you dont like - or the entire NRA?

Just curious. [opening pandora's box.........]

[joncarlos]

I'm already getting the pro-NRA messages on my Facebook that one armed person in the theater could have stopped the attack. Using tragedy to advance your ****ed up agenda.....great.

Yeah, if they were SWAT-certified and had their sniper rifle on them. Oh, and a gas mask. This guy had tear gas and body armor.

Senseless tragedy. My heart goes out to everyone affected.

[B-Fly]

I'm already getting the pro-NRA messages on my Facebook that one armed person in the theater could have stopped the attack. Using tragedy to advance your ****ed up agenda.....great.

To be fair, my Facebook feed is full with messages using the tragedy as a jumping off point for attacking the NRA and/or promoting far stricter fun control laws. I'm not sure it's inappropriate to revisit our discussions about gun control when a tragedy like this occurs, but if that's permissible, then I can't say that only the pro-gun-control side of the national debate is permitted to speak in the wake of such a tragedy.

[B-Fly]

Is it the conceal and carry that you dont like - or the entire NRA?

Just curious. [opening pandora's box.........]

I personally don't like guns in the hands of citizens, period, but I know that it's far too much a part of our nation's culture to change dramatically anytime in the foreseeable future (and would likely require an amendment to the Constitution).

[senorsheep]

OK, so this was my morning...

I wake up to my radio alarm. The morning show host is having a terse conversation with a reporter, and I hear the word "Columbine." In Colorado, when you hear someone say "Columbine" in "that" tone of voice, you know what's happened. I quickly gather there's been a mass shooting at a midnight movie showing of the new Dark Knight movie in Aurora.

I live in the NW Denver suburb of Arvada. Aurora is a SE suburb, about as far away from me as you can get in the metro area. Still, a papa bear's gotta make sure his cubs are OK, so I go downstairs to peek in on my daughters. Neither of them are in their beds. I check the garage and driveway. Neither of their cars is there.

My oldest daughter turned 21 at midnight, and she was out celebrating with friends last night, and she had told me she would probably just crash at her girlfriend's house afterwards, so I wasn't too worried about her. But where was my 18-year-old-daughter?

So I grab my phone to call her. This is the first thing I see:

(Sorry, I don't know how to make it bigger, click on it)

KenseyMessage.JPG

No joke.

My brain immediately said, "Don't worry, why would she go all the way down to Aurora to see a movie?"

Still... :shudder:

Anyway, I got her on the phone, and everything's good. She had stayed over at her girlfirend's house after the movie.

Still... :shudder:

[B-Fly]

My brain immediately said, "Don't worry, why would she go all the way down to Aurora to see a movie?"

Still... :shudder:

Anyway, I got her on the phone, and everything's good. She had stayed over at her girlfirend's house after the movie.

Still... :shudder:

:shudder: indeed. Way to close to home for comfort.

[senorsheep]

Although most people on local talk radio this morning were there to figure out what happened and express sympathy, there were a few crackpots on both sides of the gun issue who felt it necessary to use this tragedy to advance their political agendas. It made me so sick and angry, I had to shut it off. This happens, and your first reaction is to take the airwaves to defend your politics, or attack someone else's? I guess I should pity anyone whose perspective has become so completely distorted by angry politicking, but I find myself fantasizing about punching them all in the teeth and screaming at them to just shut the F up. Where is the human decency? It's disgusting.

I know I need to do as I say here all the time and not focus on the fringe loonies, but even I have my limits. Honestly, F all these people. They could all spontaneously combust this instant and I'd never miss them.

Anyway, I feel just awful for all the good people of this community. This is such a great community, and a great place to live, and to have this happen... again... it's so sad. It's just crushing.

[Moonlight J]

American Rifleman@NRA_Rifleman - Good morning, shooters. Happy Friday! Weekend plans?

@celebboutique: #Aurora is trending, clearly about our Kim K inspired #Aurora dress

*******s

[B-Fly]

Re: the American Rifleman tweet from 6:20am this morning...my generally optimistic view about humanity tells me that the Tweeter hadn't heard the news yet. I assume the twit who posted from celebboutique probably hadn't heard it, either, but should have at least attempted to assess why #Aurora was trending before posting.

[senorsheep]

Re: the American Rifleman tweet from 6:20am this morning...my generally optimistic view about humanity tells me that the Tweeter hadn't heard the news yet. I assume the twit who posted from celebboutique probably hadn't heard it, either, but should have at least attempted to assess why #Aurora was trending before posting.

What kind of inhuman scumbug hears about this shooting and immediately thinks "Oooo, I've got to go log on to some NRA website and start capturing their conversations so I can score some cheap political points with my buddies!" ?

Is that person really a better human being than his targets?

Not in my book.

Anyway, I'm outta here, because I'm really on edge about all this, and I could see me losing it and getting really ugly with somebody here, and I don't wanna do that.

Have a good weekend, guys.