On Friday July 20th at approximately 12:38 Colorado time, a gunman wearing protective gear walked into the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado, set off a tear gas grenades and opened fire on the audience killing 12 people and injuring 58 others. The sole suspect is James Eagan Holes, 24.
We were having really bad storms at our house that night. Our AC had broken so we had all the windows and sliders open and all the fans going. We had just checked the radar on our phones to see how long the latest round of storms would last when the alert came through about the shooting. We, like everyone else as they found out, were shocked. A part of me still is. You would think that after things like 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing, that we wouldn't be as shocked or surprised when people do things like this and yet each one has the same impact. That crushing blow. The wondering of how can anyone be so evil, so cruel. You pray. You pray for all of those affected and as hard as it is, you pray for the shooter. Because surely he needs prayer the most. The fear starts. You hear about how people aren't going to go to the movies anymore. The gun debate starts, again..."we need stricter gun laws"..."if only someone had been carrying that night". People do as they always do in a crisis, they lash out, they look for answers. And yet at the same time, we all come together as we always do. How can we help those who have been affected by this. Already the victims from the Columbine shooting have reached out to those who survived. To let them know you can survive this. It won't go away, but it doesn't have to be the end of everything.
This one man has managed to have a million arms reaching and touching so many people. Those he shot and didn't survive. Their families and loved ones. The survivors. Their families and loved ones. The doctors and nurses and other staff who had to work on the survivors. The workers at the theatre. The first responders...firemen, paramedics, policemen. Those who had to work the crime scene. Those officers, crime scene investigators, medical examiner, forensic people and many more. Then there is his apartment. It was booby-traped. Set to kill anyone who dared enter. They had to evacuate everyone who lived there. There was no guarantee they would ever get to return and collect their belongings. It all depended if they could safely detonate everything or if they would have to destroy the building. More lives affected just by living in the same building. The firemen and bomb squad that responded and worked that scene. All the prosecution lawyers and staff, public defender that he was assigned, judge, jury, that will now have to be a part of his trial. All of this because of one man.