Denver, USA, July 20 (IBNS) A masked gunman barged into a movie theatre and shot dead 12 people after blinding the audience throwing smoke bombs on Thursday midnight during the premiere show of latest Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises at Aurora on the outskirts of Denver in Colorado.
His action almost eponymous with the nomenclature of the movie the unsuspecting audience was watching, USA witnessed a dark night of horror let loose by a maniac killer who also wounded 38 others at the Century 16 Movie Theaters at the Aurora Town Center of USA.
The gunman identified as 24-year-old James Holmes was arrested.
A rifle, a handgun and a gas mask were recovered by cops at the scene of the mass killing.
Holmes also told police that he had huge explosives stored at his apartment and soon the authorities cleared the building at East 17th Avenue and Peoria Street in Aurora.
US President Barack Obama condoled the massacre saying he and his wife Michelle Obama were "shocked and saddened".
"As we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one American family," he said in a statement and pledged all assistance to the wounded.
The movie theatre in the mall is on the outskirts of Denver in Colorado.
The theatre was packed for the show.
The local channel quoting witnesses said the gunman threw a smoke bomb and then fired indiscriminately after barging inside the theatre 9 through the emergency exit door.
Police said there is no reason to believe that there was a second gunman.
The shooter was heavily armed, police said.
An eye witness recalling the horror to a local channel said he saw the gunman enter through an exit with a gas mask like cover in his face.
He threw gas canisters inside the theatre after breaking inside by through the door.
Then he fired indiscriminately, which eventually killed 12 people.
Another witness said owing to the smoke no one could see anything and there was utter chaos as the gunman went on spraying bullets.
The wounded are undergoing treatment at the University of Colorado Hospital and some of them have critical injuries.
Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probing the shooting said it did not appear that the gunman had terrorist links.
