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BANNING,
Calif. -- Twelve
people were killed and more than 70 were injured. That's the latest
out of the Century 16 Theater shooting in Aurora, Colo. The shooting
suspect was identified as 24-year-old James Holmes. He's a graduate
of UC Riverside and his parents live in suburban San Diego. It
all happened during a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight
Rises" early on Friday morning.
"I'm
very sad because of the loss," said Diana Glenn, a moviegoer
from Yucaipa, Calif., who is originally from Aurora, Colo. "I
also think hopefully it will bring to the forefront people with
mental illness. I think this is a young man who had a lot of problems
that were not addressed. I just can't even imagine how his parents
are reacting to it. I think the whole thing is sad in a lot of
ways. I'm not so sure that we can blame the movie, but I think
we need to be careful of what we're consumers of. Just what I
heard of him becoming in-character of 'The Joker' lends me to
believe there are people that cannot handle certain things. We
also need to be careful of where our kids are. We lived in south
Aurora from 1995 to 1997. It is a very great community, a very
nice community. Just regular people are there -- a mix dynamic
of different types of people. When we moved away is when the Columbine
thing happened."
Her son
Jacob Glenn added: "I have a lot of the same feelings about
this as my mom. I just think that a guy that would do something
like that just for the heck of it and take the name of 'The Joker'
just has some mental illness and is probably an inspiration for
people to not do something like this. I think I will watch out
for certain things. I usually don't go alone to the movies and
recommend that people don't go alone to the movies. If you can't
get help, then you basically don't have help."
Now,
moviegoers across southern California are asking for theaters
to do more to stay safe. In addition, they are keeping their guard
up for anyone who decides to copy what Holmes did.
"Of
course, we always have security here at the theater taking care
of our patrons," said Michael Frydrych, owner of the Fox
Cineplex Theatres in Banning, Calif. "Today, we did have
extra. We're watching people that are coming in, not allowing
people to wear costumes and masks at the door. It won't be a policy
that we're going to have forever. Both Banning and Beaumont Police
have been here each show just to investigate the auditoriums,
check exits, check the lines and keep popping back and forth.
Everything is running smooth. Families are enjoying their movies.
They're coming down still. We're just sad to hear what happened
in Colorado today."
The Aurora,
Colo. movie theater incident is being called the worst one-day
shooting in America's history.
"It's
very upsetting, I think about the families, the children that
were hurt," said Joey Brown of Beaumont, Calif. "My
heart grieves with the families. The loss and those who have been
injured. First off, how did he get inside the theater the way
he did? Thoughts come to my head, 'Why would he do what we did?'
I would ask questions especially about the safety since I am a
father. I would probably ask management about that. I do think
that there's got to be more better than it was. You can't just
walk in with a bag of who knows what. I am going to the movies
with caution tonight. I know people who like to follow in footsteps
with things like this. I am not really worried about it that much.
You can't really expect something like that."
Witnesses
say the suspect threw several smoke bombs into the crowd before
he fired more than 40 rounds at the audience.
"It's
horrible, I can't believe that somebody did that," said Rachel
Warner, a moviegoer from Beaumont, Calif. "I don't think
that you can get too paranoid because there was one person who
did something crazy somewhere far away. It's unfortunate. I hope
it doesn't happen here. You can't just change the way that you
live because of somebody doing that. I think that the [theater]
manager who was here had the right idea. They've got the police
coming every so often. Like he said, there is a 'no-mask' policy.
They at least will be able to identify somebody if they do something
crazy. I'm here now and I heard about it today."
The ironic
part of the story is before "The Dark Knight Rises"
was shown, the trailer for the new Warner Bros. film "The
Gangster Squad" was shown. In it, a group of mobsters opened
fire on a movie theater audience.
"It's
a terrible incident that happened," said Vanessa Medina of
Yucaipa, Calif. "I think that people like that shouldn't
deserve to die like that especially just going to hang out with
family and friends. Stuff like that shouldn't happen. If I get
shot, I get shot. I hope it doesn't happen. It's so unexpecting.
They should definitely have security out front because that's
something I noticed there's not really surveillance here. Other
than that, I'm not really sure what else there is for something
like that. I'll still go to the movies. Like I said, if something
like that happens, it happens. You've got to be cautious now.
There are things that happen unexpectedly. It's good to keep your
guard up."
Although
Holmes was living in Colorado, police say he had Tennessee license
plates on his vehicle.
"It's
pretty crazy, who would come shoot up a theater with a bunch of
children in it?" said Jaz Smith, a moviegoer from Banning,
Calif. "Imagine what it did to those kids, how traumatized
they are. They won't be able to go to another movie without freaking
out. It's Colorado, I'm in California, I'll take my chances. I
don't think anyone should really too much freak out, but I do
appreciate all of the cops being here and what not. That's a good
idea just in case someone does want to be crazy. Yes, of course,
I love the movies. That's what I'm saying, this is not Colorado.
Just because one person was crazy, don't blame the whole world."
Some moviegoers
believe that theaters should start using metal detectors and begin
doing patdowns of each customer. It's better to be safe, than
sorry.
Related
Story: Complete
coverage of Friday morning's mass movie theater shooting in Aurora,
CO
Map
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Holmes' parents still reside in the suburban San Diego
community of Rancho Peñasquitos.
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
A
long line outside the Fox Cineplex Theatres in Banning, Calif.
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
"The
Dark Knight Rises" movie poster
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO
/ ©AMERICAJR.com
Moviegoers
in line to see the 10:15 showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
From
left to right: Diana Dusky of Banning, Calif., Jaz Smith of Banning,
Calif. and Viri Moreno of Beaumont, Calif.
