Kaitlyn Fonzi said she lives directly beneath the shooting suspect. She and her boyfriend were trying to go to sleep Thursday when, at midnight, loud techno music started blaring from upstairs.
"We heard very loud music coming so I walked upstairs and banged on the door," Fonzi, a 20-year old biology student at the University of Colorado Denver, told HuffPost on Friday.
Fonzi said when she banged on the door, it rattled as if it were unlocked. "I contemplated poking my head in and saying, 'Yo, shut that off.'"
Instead, Fonzi said she went back downstairs and called a non-emergency police number. She said the bass-heavy music kept blasting, as if it was just one song on repeat, until it abruptly stopped at 1:00 a.m. She and her boyfriend figured it had been on a timer.
Fonzi said they went to sleep, but were awaken by police an hour later and told to evacuate. When she learned about the shooting –- and reports that the suspect's apartment contained explosives or had been booby-trapped -– she said she was glad she hadn't poked her head in.
They had never had a problem with their upstairs neighbor before. "It was like nobody lived there."
-- Arthur Delaney
AMC, the second-biggest chain of movie theaters in the country, issued a statement:
We are terribly saddened by the random act of violence in Aurora and our thoughts are with the victims and their families. For the safety and security of our guests and associates, we are actively working with local law enforcement in communities throughout the nation and under the circumstances we are reaching out to all of our theatres to review our safety and security procedures. Being a safe place in the community for all our guests is a top priority at AMC and we take that responsibility very seriously.
The Poway School District has officially confirmed that James Holmes graduated from Westview High School in San Diego, Calif. in 2006. The district plans to release a full statement shortly, and the superintendent is referring all questions to police.
-- Joy Resmovits
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), whose husband was killed in the 1993 shooting on the Long Island Railroad, told East Meadow Patch that her thoughts are with the victims.
"The horrific nightmare of a mass shooting on innocent civilians in a crowded public place has, sadly, come true once again," she said. "I mourn alongside the people of Aurora for the many killed and injured and the countless family and friends whose lives, as a result of the consequences of this event, will be negatively affected for decades to come."
McCarthy's husband, Dennis, was killed along with five others in the 1993 incident aboard the commuter train. Her son, Kevin, was among 19 wounded in the attack. McCarthy was elected to Congress in 1996 following her efforts to advocate for gun control.
Read more here.
-- John Celock
ABC has apologized for releasing information "before it was properly vetted."
An earlier ABC News broadcast report suggested that a Jim Holmes of a Colorado Tea Party organization might be the suspect, but that report was incorrect. ABC News and Brian Ross apologize for the mistake, and for disseminating that information before it was properly vetted.
Read more here.
See the shooting suspect's yearbook photo here
Like municipalities across the country, the city of Aurora has been dealing with a budget crunch and last year started moving ahead with a plan to staff fewer police officers.
Rather than be hit with a tax increase, the city council voted to drop the ratio of police officers to the general population, from the traditional 2 cops per 1,000 residents to 1.6 per 1,000 over the next decade.
The local police union had initially resisted the staffing reduction but eventually came on board.
According to ABC7 News in Denver, some residents questioned the cuts after a New Years party turned into a near-riot at a local hotel.
--Dave Jamieson
The leader of the nation's most prominent gun control lobby said he doesn't want to hear the sympathies of President Barack Obama and Republican presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney in the aftermath of the Aurora, Colo. shootings. Instead, he wants them to actually do something about gun laws.
"We understand that President Obama has just spoken and so might Mitt Romney," Brady Campaign president Dan Gross said in a statement. "As someone who has suffered the lasting impact of gun violence, and President of Brady, I can tell you that we don't want sympathy. We want action."
Gross noted that this past April 16 marked the anniversary of "the worst mass shooting in American history," when 32 people were shot and killed by a gunman on the Virginia Tech campus in 2007.
Gross called on people to "demand Congress take action to stop arming dangerous people." He said the Brady Campaign is meeting today with activists around the country to sign a petition against arming dangerous people."We are insistent that our elected leaders take action to prevent future tragedies. Political cowardice is not an excuse for evasion and inaction on this life-and-death issue," said Gross.
-- Jennifer Bendery
President Barack Obama's reelection campaign has canceled an event featuring former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D) in New Hampshire today, Bedford Patch reports. Strickland was planning to speak with New Hampshire House Minority Leader Terie Norelli (D) about Mitt Romney's tax returns.
Read more
-- John Celock
Bizarre coincidence: This wasn't victim Jessica Ghawi's first time at a mass shooting. According to the Westword, "She was present at a Toronto mall shooting in early June at which one person was killed and seven wounded." A passage from her blog post describing that experience:
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.
Ben Leung, a 27-year-old pharmacy student, said he lives on the first floor of the same building as the suspect. In a phone interview Leung said only people affiliated with the University of Colorado at Denver are allowed to live in the building.
Leung said he went to bed shortly after midnight, then awoke when police in riot gear banged on his door and told him the building was being evacuated. "At that time I had no idea what was going on." Leung said he does not know the suspect at all.
"At the moment I guess I'm numb," Leung said. "I don't really know what to think, really."
-- Arthur Delaney
"Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy.
We ask that the media respect our privacy at this difficult time. We are still trying to process this information and appreciate that people respect our privacy."
James Holmes' mother, Arlene, has been given security by the San Diego police, KPBS.org reports. Police were seen in front of Arlene Holmes' house in the Rancho Penasquito neighborhood Friday morning. Police Chief William Lansdowne says the detail is there for her protection and to assist in the Colorado investigation.
- John Celock
The activist and filmmaker posted this statement on his Facebook page
Having spent much time in the Aurora/Denver/Littleton area over the years, I am too sad about this most recent tragedy to comment at the moment, other than to say this:
I fear anthropologists and historians will look back on us and simply say we were a violent nation, at home and abroad, but in due time human decency won out and the violence ceased, but not before many, many more died and the world had had its fill of us.
Thoughts, prayers, and whatever comfort can be found for the victims and their families...
Are you seeing heightened security in your area?
Tell us offthebus@huffingtonpost.com and include your phone number if you are willing to be interviewed."
HuffPost's Jennifer Bendery Reports:
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said Friday that the shootings that took place in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater hours earlier were a result of "ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs" and questioned why nobody else in the theater had a gun to take down the shooter.
During a radio interview on The Heritage Foundation's "Istook Live!" show, Gohmert was asked why he believes such senseless acts of violence take place. Gohmert responded by talking about the weakening of Christian values in the country.
"You know what really gets me, as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of a derelict takes place," Gohmert said.
Read more here.
