EP. 204: COLORADO - The “Dark Knight Rises” Movie Theater Shooting (PT. 2)

In 2012, a vicious and brutal shooting rocked the community of Aurora, Colorado, when violence erupted in a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises”. Join us today as we break down the tragedy minute by minute, explore the tragic events of that day and honor the victims that passed. - Listen to our new show, "THE CONSPIRACY FILES"!: -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5IY9nWD2MYDzlSYP48nRPl -Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/id1752719844 -Amazon/Audible - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ab1ade99-740c-46ae-8028-b2cf41eabf58/the-conspiracy-files -Pandora - https://www.pandora.com/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/PC:1001089101 -iHeart - https://iheart.com/podcast/186907423/ -PocketCast - https://pca.st/dpdyrcca -CastBox - https://castbox.fm/channel/id6193084?country=us - Stay Connected: Join the Murder in America fam in our free Facebook Community for a behind-the-scenes look, more insights and current events in the true crime world: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4365229996855701 If you want even more Murder in America bonus content, including ad-free episodes, come join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderinamerica Instagram: http://instagram.com/murderinamerica/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/people/Murder-in-America-Podcast/100086268848682/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurderInAmerica TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theparanormalfiles and https://www.tiktok.com/@courtneybrowen Feeling spooky? Follow Colin as he travels state to state (and even country to country!) investigating claims of extreme paranormal activity and visiting famous haunted locations on The Paranormal Files Official Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheParanormalFilesOfficialChannel - (c) BLOOD IN THE SINK PRODUCTIONS 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• 1:37Courtney Brown?

  It's a few minutes past midnight on July 20th, 2012. In the town of Aurora, Colorado, hundreds of people have made their way to the Century 16 Theater to watch the midnight premiere of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises. Many people in the theater have been waiting for this night for a while. People were dressed up in costumes, flaunting homemade signs, and some even showed up hours before just to get a good seat. As the lights dimmed, everyone grabbed their popcorn, soda, and candy, and they got comfortable. Some people even started a countdown. Five, four, three.

• 2:19Courtney Brown?

  Two, one. At the end of the countdown, the movie appeared on screen, and the crowd cheered with excitement. But little did they know, they were also counting down the moments until all of their lives would change forever. Because just a few minutes into the movie, a man that was sitting towards the front stands up and walks out of the theater's exit. Moments later, he would come back in through the exit door he had propped open. Except this time, he was wearing a gas mask, body armor head to toe, and he was holding a shotgun. Some people in the crowd noticed him, others didn't. But soon enough, all 400 people inside Theater 9

• 3:02Courtney Brown?

  would stop watching the movie before them, and instead, they would fight for their lives. So this is the story of The Dark Knight Rises mass shooting. I'm Courtney Brown.

• 3:14Speaker 05

  And I'm Colin Brown.

• 3:15Courtney Brown?

  And you're listening to Murder in America.

• 4:23Speaker 05

  It was about 18 minutes into The Dark Knight Rises, and the 400 people inside Theater 9 were completely immersed in the film in front of them. Even that early on, the movie was suspenseful and riveting, which is what the Batman movies are known for. If you were to have looked at the crowd, you'd see everyone's faces illuminated by the screen. They were eating their popcorn with their eyes darting back and forth as they watched the characters in action. Someone in that room had that very visual. As the hundreds of people were watching the movie, he was watching them.

• 4:54Courtney Brown?

  Inside Theater 9, there were rows and rows of seats that stretched all the way up to the back of the room. And on either side of those rows were two exits that would lead you back to the lobby. But soon enough, those exits would be blocked off. One by tear gas and the other by a man holding a shotgun. Some moviegoers would later say that the man looked like he was a character from Call of Duty. He was wearing a bulletproof vest, bullet resistant leggings, a bullet resistant throat protector, a groin protector, tactical gloves, a helmet, and a gas mask. And in that moment, he was standing at the bottom right hand corner of the room by the movie screen.

• 5:37Courtney Brown?

  But most of the people there were so into the movie, they didn't even notice him. However, they would soon see something fly across the room. It was a tear gas canister. At that moment, the entire room in unison turned their heads to see what was going on. A lot of people there said that they thought this was some kind of prank. A teenager acting up with his friends. One person even yelled out to the man.

• 6:03Speaker 05

  What are you doing? We're trying to watch the movie.

• 6:05Courtney Brown?

  Many people said that even after seeing this man in the corner of the room clad in tactical gear, they still didn't think they were in danger. Some people even thought it was some sort of promotional thing for the Batman movie. But soon enough, everyone heard this distinct hissing sound coming from the tear gas canister. And within seconds, the gas began to fill the room. It was in that moment where they knew this was no prank. This was no promotional stunt for the movie. And what would happen next would confirm that. After throwing the gas towards the left hand exit, the gunman picked up his shotgun, aimed it into the crowd of people, and pulled the trigger.

• 6:48Speaker 05

  One of the first people shot was 18-year-old A.J. Boyk. A.J. was a talented artist who could have made a living with his creations, but instead, he wanted to give back. He was eager to go to college and become an art teacher. He had just recently graduated from Gateway High School and was supposed to start college at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. But that was all taken away from him in an instant. A.J. had been at the theater that night with his fiance. Shortly before the film, the two snapped a photo of themselves smiling in their seats. It was the last photo they would ever take together. His fiance would later say that during the movie, "I could just see a silhouette, and it seemed like he had tactical gear on, cargo pants, a helmet, and a gun strap to his back." But the next thing she knew, shots were flying in their direction.

• 7:33Speaker 05

  A.J. was hit with a shotgun blast directly to his head. 14 pellets entered his brain, killing him instantly. And his fiance, who would survive the shooting, horrifically witnessed the entire thing unfolding right next to her.

• 7:47Courtney Brown?

  After that first shot rang out, Theater 9 quickly erupted into chaos. With gas filling the room, some people dropped to the ground. Others tried to run towards the exits. But the shots continued. The next person shot in the blast was 29-year-old Jesse Childress, who grew up in California. Jesse loved to bowl and play football. And at the time of the shooting, he was an Air Forceman who absolutely loved his job. Jesse was there that night with a group of his friends. He had even bought all of their tickets because he was so excited to share this night with them. When the shots rang out, Jesse heroically threw himself in front of his friend, trying to protect her. But in the process,

• 8:30Courtney Brown?

  the pellets from the shotgun tore through his heart and lungs, killing him. One of his friends who was with him that night said that she remembered seeing Jesse face down on the ground in a pool of blood. They started shaking him, asking if he was okay, but it was clear that he wasn't. And with bullets flying all around, his friends had no other choice but to step over his body and run to safety. The next person Killed in the shotgun blast was fifty-one-year-old Gordon Cowden. He was the oldest victim of the shooting. And sadly, he was there that night with his two teenage daughters. They would later say that their father was the most kind and patient man they had ever met.

• 9:14Courtney Brown?

  One of their favorite memories of him was when he stopped their car in the middle of the road to help a tiny prairie dog safely cross the street. That was just the kind of person he was. Now luckily, Gordon's daughters would make it out unharmed. But after witnessing the carnage of that night, they would never be the same.

• 9:33Speaker 05

  Now, at this point in the shooting, hundreds of people were frantically calling 911. But the first call officially came in at 12:39 a.m.

• 9:41Speaker 00

  3:15 and 3:14 for a shooting at Century Theaters, 14300 East Alameda Avenue. They're saying somebody's shooting in the auditorium. There is at least one person that's been shot, but they're saying there's hundreds of people just running around.

• 10:15Speaker 05

  As you can hear, it was hard to make out anything beneath the sound of gunfire. But finally, help was on the way. But before they could get there, more people would lose their lives. Another person that was hit with the shotgun blast was thirty-two-year-old Rebecca Wingo. She was the mother of two girls, Jewel and Jalen, and had worked in the Air Force as a Mandarin cryptolinguist. At the time, she was earning her degree. Rebecca was known to go out of her way to make everyone around her feel included at all times. Her daughters were absolutely devastated to learn about her death. When her ex-husband was asked how he planned to preserve Rebecca's memory, he gave one of the most beautiful responses, saying, "It's the kind of thing you'd never ask if you'd known Rebecca. It's kind of like asking, how would you make sure this remains a table?

• 10:59Speaker 05

  It's already made, so that's how it is, and that's Rebecca's force. That's the entropy. That's the gravity she has. If you've been in the room with her and you see how she is with the girls, you would know that she is already in them." Her loved one said she was so happy with the most beautiful soul. Now, after Rebecca was shot with the shotgun, the gunman then grabbed his rifle and sprayed bullets into the crowd. Rebecca Wingo was also hit during this gunfire.

• 11:24Courtney Brown?

  The next victim was 24-year-old Jessica Gaoi. She had just moved to Colorado, pursuing her dreams of being a sports writer, focusing on the sport of hockey. She went by the pen name Jessica Redfield, not just because of her fiery red hair, but because Redfield was her grandmother's maiden name. Now Jessica ran a blog under this pen name, and in it, she gave people a little glimpse into her life. There were funny posts about her struggles with dating and about her love of sports. But it's the last post she ever made that was the most striking. As it turns out, about a month before this, Jessica had been at the scene of another mass shooting in Canada.

• 12:06Courtney Brown?

  Here is what she wrote about that shooting in her blog, titled "Late Night Thoughts on the Eaton Center Shooting." It begins, "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 to shop ended up as a day that has forever changed my life. I was on a mission to eat sushi that day,

• 12:51Courtney Brown?

  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 I decided that a greasy burger 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 had just ate at, and opened fire in the food court full of people. Had I had sushi, I would have 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..."

• 13:33Courtney Brown?

  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 Sportscheck. The gunshots rang out at six twenty-three. Had I not gone outside, I would have been in the midst of gunfire.

• 14:03Speaker 05

  Jessica had been visiting her boyfriend in Toronto over the week of June second, when two suspected gang rivals opened fire on each other in a crowded mall. In total, seven people were shot and two were killed. Her proximity to such a tragedy changed her outlook on life entirely. She continues in her blog.

• 14:21Courtney Brown?

  I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw 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.

• 15:03Courtney Brown?

  After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given. I feel like I'm 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. End quote.

• 15:42Speaker 05

  That's how Jessica's final blog post ends. It was published just five weeks before she would be at the center of another senseless tragedy sixteen hundred miles away.

• 15:53Courtney Brown?

  A lot of people have experiences that they say are going to make them change for the better and live their lives more fully, but Jessica really did. In those five weeks between the two shootings, she went skydiving, went out with friends more, and she chased new job opportunities. In fact, on the day of the Aurora shooting, she was supposed to have a job interview with Mile High Sports Magazine. The senior writer there had seen her work and was wildly impressed. He had no doubt that she would be hired, but sadly, she never got the chance. Jessica was at the movies that night with her childhood friend, Brent Lowack. He had traveled all the way from Texas to spend some time with her that week.

• 16:37Courtney Brown?

  And according to him, Jessica was so excited to go see the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. Now, he didn't really want to go, but Jessica really wanted to. Here is Brent in his own words.

• 16:51Speaker 01

  After much persuasion, uh, she twisted my arm, essentially. She's like, I never thought I'd have to twist a guy's arm to go see Batman, but any which way, we, uh, we decided to go see the midnight release. And, um, turns out they were sold out of tickets as soon as we tried to buy them. Uh, she checked again and turns out there was a 12:05 showing, so we bought the tickets and, uh, eventually made our way to the theater later, theater later on that evening.

• 17:21Courtney Brown?

  Brent said that after getting their popcorn, they made their way into Theater 9, and it was completely packed. They decided to get seats near the right side of the room, but before the movie started, Brent said that there was definitely an excitement in the air.

• 17:37Speaker 01

  We were watching the previews. Um, I remember there was that new Superman movie that was supposed to be coming out. I remember one of the gentlemen in the audience was wearing a Superman shirt and he struck his little pose and we all laughed. Uh, we were just, you know, cutting up and having a good time, just getting ready for the movie and getting geared up.

• 17:54Courtney Brown?

  Brent recalled that during the movie, he saw something thrown across the room, followed by that hissing noise, and there was a brief moment of silence before all hell broke loose.

• 18:05Speaker 01

  I remember there was this brief pause as soon as it, it hit the, the area of people. And then this surreal effect happened, this, it's like a drop of water.

• 18:19Speaker 01

  Hitting and this wave of people just erupted away from where the object had been thrown.

• 18:28Speaker 01

  And I was kind of puzzled at first and then the first shot rang out and I was like, oh, this is actually happening. Of course, mass panic, chaos, people screaming. We stood up and we started to make our way to the right to exit our row. We got about one seat length down the way and I realized that people aren't moving out of the way fast enough and I pushed us to the ground. The whole time she was saying, "Call 911, call 911." She was in a kind of a laying down position for cover. I was kind of in a low-profile crawling position.

• 19:08Courtney Brown?

  As Jessica and Brent were lying on the ground, bullets started flying in their direction.

• 19:14Speaker 01

  So at that point, I started to feel the spray of popcorn and soda just all around.

• 19:23Speaker 01

  I noticed the, her tone changed entirely, transitioned from "call 911" to screaming. And I looked down to see that she'd been shot in her right leg.

• 19:38Courtney Brown?

  Jessica was shot in her knee and immediately Brent's training kicked in. As it turns out, he had just completed his EMT courses. So he knew what to do in this situation. The first thing was to stop the bleeding. So he applied pressure to Jessica's wound. But with the bullets flying all around them, there wasn't much more he could do. Brent knew that he needed to call for help.

• 20:03Speaker 01

  Again, there was a continued spray of popcorn and soda or whatever was going on. I felt, I tried to reach for my phone in my pocket and given my position, I wasn't able to do that. So I straightened out my leg. I kneeled up a little bit to gain access to my pocket to get my phone. And that was when I sustained a A shot to my left buttocks.

• 20:25Courtney Brown?

  With more bullets flying in their direction, Brent quickly called 911. However, he was met with a busy line as hundreds of calls were pouring in. So from here, he turned his attention back to Jessica. But this time, he noticed she was no longer screaming.

• 20:43Speaker 01

  Jessie had sustained a shot to the head, in which case brain matter was exposed. I crawled a little closer to her and I prayed over her. I didn't really know what to do. It just felt right. I just gave her the best send off I could. At that point, I felt that my own survival was my next priority. While I was laying there with Jessie, I looked up theater, the upper rows, and I saw someone stand up and run out. And I heard no shots fired out. So I figured at that point, if I'm going to move, now is my chance. So that's when I made my way to the end of the aisle.

• 21:25Speaker 05

  On his way out, Brent said he saw bullet casings all over the floor. There were people screaming that they had been shot. He knew he couldn't help them, but he yelled out, telling them to put pressure on their wounds. And that help was on the way. Eventually, he would make it out safely, but he knew that his friend Jessica was gone. So once outside, Brent called Jessica's mother to let her know what had happened. She had been shot six times. After surviving a near death mass shooting the month prior, Jessica was gunned down that night, murdered in the Aurora Theater. Her legacy is 24 years of making this world a kinder, warmer, and much more exciting place. The next victim shot and killed inside Theater 9 was 23-year-old Michaela Medic.

• 22:09Speaker 05

  A memorial said that Michaela was patient, kind, and encompassing all of the good this world has to offer. All that knew her would call her an enigma, easy to befriend and uneasy to be cruel to. Her comedic nature drew you to her and her stubbornness made you respect her. Always an ear to listen and a force to navigate her own journey. At the time, she was a student at Aurora Community College. She was also a photographer and a dreamer who loved adventures. At the time of her death, she was taking on extra hours at work to fund a solo trip to India. But that chance was taken away from her. Michaela was at the theater that night with six of her friends. They got there early to get good seats and they ended up sitting near the top of the theater.

• 22:50Speaker 05

  When the shots rang out that night, her friends were able to escape, but shortly before they did, they noticed Michaela dropped to the ground. They knew that she had been shot, but for hours after the shooting, her family ran around to different hospitals trying to see if she had made it out. But she hadn't. Michaela had been shot directly in her head, a shot that would have killed her almost instantly. So she never even made it out of the theater that night. She was dead on arrival.

• 23:16Speaker 00

  We are blessed to have had the opportunity of Michaela touching our lives.

• 23:20Courtney Brown?

  Now we are still just seconds into the shooting. Theater nine is in complete chaos. As the gunman continues firing towards the crowd of people. And the next person he shoots is twenty seven year old John Laramier. John was a member of the Navy. He was described as an old soul. He had a good sense of humor and he fiercely loved the people in his life. He was at the movie that night with his friends and his girlfriend Julia. He was so excited that before the movie, he and Julia went to Walmart to buy matching Batman shirts, a cape and a mask. Julia recalled that soon after the tear gas canister was thrown,

• 24:01Courtney Brown?

  someone screamed out poison and then terror rippled through the crowd. She told ABC quote, "Almost immediately it filled the entire theater. Your lungs start burning. You feel like your eyes and nose are bleeding even though they're not." End quote. Now Julia and John were close enough to the shooter to see those initial shots. And immediately John pushed Julia's head to the ground. He urged her to stay down and he shielded her body with his own. And even as he tried to protect her, he grabbed another one of his friends, forcing him under the ground as well. Julia remembered the smell of the theater floor. Cement. and worn carpet.

• 24:44Courtney Brown?

  She remembers the explosions around her, so loud that she lost the majority of her hearing. But most of all, she remembers feeling John's steady pressure urging her down out of the line of fire. Then at one point, the gunfire stopped. John lifted himself over the seats to see what was going on, and that's when he was shot. Julia would later say, quote, "He was holding on to me tight, and I could feel when he relaxed. I think that's when he died." End quote. After that gunfire, the group he was with decided to make a run for it, and they were not going to leave John behind. They ended up carrying his body down the stairs, but it's during that time when more

• 25:27Courtney Brown?

  gunfire started coming in their direction. John was dead weight at that point, so they had no other choice but to leave him. They ended up propping him on the stairs near the front, and by that time, John was already dead. It was later said that nearly every organ in his body was torn apart in the gunfire. But thanks to his sacrifice, Julia and the rest of his group would ultimately survive. Julia would later say, quote, "He was one in a billion to me and to a lot of people. I hope that his heroism and bravery can be honored and remembered forever." End quote. Here was his mother speaking with reporters.

• 26:08Speaker 05

  He was a wonderful young man. Now, during all this, the gunman noticed people running towards the exits, so he shot them. He would later say that he shot at people running towards the exits to make sure that others wouldn't follow. Three of these people who tried to run to safety were the Mora family. Angiatt Mora, his wife Rita, and teenage son Patria were in the theater that night when the shooting started, and immediately, their flight instinct kicked in. But as they made their way towards the exit, the gunman fired his rifle in their direction. All of them had been shot. Rita dropped to the ground. Her husband stopped to help her. She told him to go on without her, but he wasn't going to leave her behind. So he hoisted her onto his back and kept going. Their 14-year-old son Patria had also been shot.

• 26:53Speaker 05

  But even so, he stopped to help an injured man exit the theater. Once they were all outside, Angiatt looked at his son and saw a hole in his back. Even after being shot several times, he was still helping others. Luckily, their entire family would survive the shooting.

• 27:11Courtney Brown?

  Back inside the theater, another group of friends would be gunned down. Alex Sullivan, or Sully, as his friends called him, was there celebrating his 28th birthday, which was actually a tradition of his. Every year, he celebrated his birthday at the movies. But this year in particular was very special, because Sully absolutely loved superhero movies. He was actually the guy that stood up and made that Superman pose before the movie started. Now, he and his group had actually gotten there seven hours early to get good seats. And they ended up on the 12th row, right there in the middle. Sitting next to Sully was his wife Cassie, and down the row were 10 of their other friends,

• 27:56Courtney Brown?

  that were so excited for the night ahead. At 11:00 PM, Sully tweeted, "Oh, man. One hour till the movie. It's going to be the best birthday ever." On his Facebook, he posted, "Hashtag The Dark Knight Rises. OMG. Counting down till it starts. Can't wait. Going to be the best birthday ever." Now, shortly before the movie started, Sully actually traded spots with his coworker, Jaclyn Fry, and that very simple decision would leave her with survivor's guilt, and would later bring her to tears.

• 28:32Speaker 02

  I remember originally sitting in one spot, and then switching seats with my friend Alex Sullivan.

• 28:43Speaker 02

  And, uh, sorry.

• 28:49Speaker 02

  Um, I'm sorry, excuse me.

• 28:52Courtney Brown?

  Shortly after the shooting started, their group found themselves right in the middle of the gunfire. Sully was shot directly in his heart, killing him instantly.

• 29:02Speaker 05

  Alex Sullivan was known to be enthusiastic and positive. His wife Cassie told everyone that Sully was a natural at marriage. He was great at communicating, always kind and incredibly patient. The two had gotten married around a year before and were supposed to celebrate their first anniversary just two days after the shooting. Tragically, Cassie would spend that day alone, in shock and mourning. For his funeral, his family shared stories of him for six hours straight.

• 29:29Courtney Brown?

  Sully's friend Jaclyn, the one who switched spots with him, was also hit with gunfire.

• 29:35Speaker 02

  The next thing I know, I heard this very loud bang and I immediately was hit in the legs. And my friend Heather, sitting next to me, was also, I assume, hit by the same round because she yelled out. As I got down on the ground, somewhere between sitting and getting down on the ground, I was hit in the face with another round. And I don't really remember. I do remember laying on the ground and spitting out teeth and blood. And my four front teeth were shattered.

• 30:18Courtney Brown?

  While on the ground, she and her friends were all mingled up together. One friend was calling 911, another was putting a tourniquet on her leg. It was chaos. Now keep in mind, it was still dark in there. The only light was coming from the movie that was still eerily playing on the screen. There was also light from the flashes of the shooter's gun. Jaclyn said that she was laying on her stomach. The only thing between her and the gunman were the seats in front of her. And he continued shooting. Some of those bullets went right through the seats and grazed Jaclyn's back.

• 30:54Speaker 02

  When we first laid down on the ground, it was really loud. There was a lot of loud bangs. You know, I would have gunshots. And there was a lot of screaming, people running out. And then within a couple of seconds, it got kind of quiet. And the only thing you could really hear were the gunshots. I felt my own skin, like the burning.

• 31:23Speaker 02

  From the, from the gunshots, I smell blood and sulfur and smoke. It was pretty prominent.

• 31:32Speaker 05

  Hey, everybody. Courtney and I have a favor to ask of you. If you love Murder in America, you love our show, please leave us a five-star review wherever you listen to your podcasts, whether that's Apple Podcasts, Spotify. If you love our show and you want to help us grow, definitely consider leaving us a five-star review. Also, it helps the show so much when people share out links to our program. So if you're listening and you're loving what we're doing here, share us on your Instagram story, shout us out on X, post one of our shows on your Facebook, and let the world, your friends, your family, know that you're listening to Murder in America. It seriously helps us so much, helps us grow the show. We couldn't do this without all of you listening at home. Seriously, thank y'all. But let's get back to the story.

• 32:17Speaker 05

  As she laid there, Jaclyn said she remembered thinking that these were probably her last moments. But luckily, she would make it out alive. However, she would later say that as she left the theater, there were bodies everywhere.

• 32:30Speaker 02

  In the front of me, there were two girls, both, both lying presumably dead in their own, in, in blood, in their, in a pool of blood. And then to my, to my left was, to my left was, I'm sorry.

• 32:55Speaker 02

  My friend Alex Sullivan and, and he wasn't moving and his chest, his chest wasn't moving either.

• 33:06Courtney Brown?

  Another friend in that group of 12 was Farah Sudani. She said that as they all got down on the ground, she suddenly heard a pause in the gunfire. So she decided to stand up and make a run for it. However, at that very moment, the gunman turned his rifle towards her and he fired.

• 33:26Speaker 02

  I couldn't see anything, but I looked down. At the time, I was wearing a light gray t-shirt and I looked down and I could see just blood just starting. Pour for my abdomen. And then, um, when I realized I was hurt, I tried to, like, reach for Mike to get his attention, and then my intestines and my stomach actually fell out, and I had to bend down and actually catch my intestines and push them back in my body with my left arm.

• 33:58Courtney Brown?

  Farah said that from there, she laid back down and tried to stay calm. Her friend Mike came to her side and helped hold her intestines in her body, but it was hard. His friend Mike had been shot too, and there was blood everywhere, but here is what happened next.

• 34:16Speaker 02

  And then for some reason, I wanted to take my shoes off, so I took my shoe off my right foot, and I lifted up my left leg to take my other shoe off, and I saw that majority of my calf had been filleted off, basically, and it was only hanging on by a piece.

• 34:33Courtney Brown?

  Farah was so severely injured, her body started to lose strength. All she could do was lay there and wait for help, but as she did, she could hear everything going on around her.

• 34:45Speaker 02

  I didn't even have the strength to look around me and see if anyone was okay.

• 34:53Speaker 02

  And, um,

• 34:56Speaker 02

  I just remember looking, looking up, and I could see the room is filling with, filling with this, with the gas, with the gas. I could just hear blurts

• 35:09Speaker 02

  are shaking and screaming, and you could tell that people were getting hit when they screamed.

• 35:14Speaker 05

  Luckily, Farah would survive her injuries after seven grueling surgeries, but not everyone was that fortunate. The next victim gunned down in Theater 9 was 24-year-old Alex Tevez. Alex was there that night with his girlfriend Amanda and his friend Craig. Strangely enough, Amanda said that she had a weird feeling going into that night, but she didn't really know why. And then bullets started flying throughout the theater. She told ABC, I was really, really confused at first about what was going on, so confused, but Alex didn't even hesitate, because I sat There for a minute, not knowing what was going on, and he held me down and he covered my head. And he said, "Shh, stay down. It's okay. Shh, just stay down." So I did.

• 35:56Speaker 05

  Alex covered Amanda with his body as the theater echoed with the horrible shotgun blasts, screams, and cries of loved ones watching their family and friends die before their eyes. Their friend Craig, who had joined them, hid with the both of them. At some point, Amanda looked down at her hands, and she saw something she would never forget.

• 36:14Speaker 02

  My hands, and I realized they were just in a pool of blood. And I yelled for Alex, and I started shaking his tummy. And I just kept shaking him and calling his name, but he wasn't answering me.

• 36:30Courtney Brown?

  Next, Amanda turned to their friend Craig, and as soon as she did, she knew exactly why her boyfriend Alex wasn't answering. Craig's face was covered in Alex's blood, flesh, and brain matter. Alex had been shot directly in the head. At that moment, Amanda was told to leave the theater, but she didn't want to leave Alex behind.

• 36:54Speaker 02

  I didn't want to leave. Craig was reaching his hand out to me, telling me to go. And the people behind me were telling me to go, too. And I didn't, I didn't want to leave him there. I told Craig no at first, and he's...

• 37:14Speaker 02

  He said, "No, we have to go. You have to go." So I grabbed Craig's hand, but I grabbed Alex's hand, too. I wanted to take him, I wanted to try and take him with me. I had to run out with Craig holding his hand, and I had to drop his, Alex's hand.

• 37:36Speaker 05

  Sadly, Amanda would never be reunited with Alex. He was one of the 12 victims inside Theater 9. He was described as kind, funny, and loving, willing to give every bit of himself to help others. He graduated from the University of Denver with a master's in psychology, which he used to conduct counseling sessions with troubled youth, offering Crisis counseling, individual and group sessions. He and his girlfriend Amanda had just moved in together and he wanted to propose soon. Amanda said, "We can't even go an hour without missing each other terribly." I think their love and the grief his death left in its wake is summed up by this fact. A year after the shooting, Amanda hadn't moved a single item he put down in their apartment. His clothes were still in a pile on the floor.

• 38:21Speaker 05

  Their boxes were still in the corners, unpacked, and his water bottle was left on the counter, exactly where he had set it down on the night of the shooting. She told OWN Network in a series of interviews.

• 38:32Speaker 02

  "We had planned a beautiful life, just a beautiful life, and someone stole that from us."

• 38:39Speaker 05

  Soon after the massacre, Amanda took Alex's last name as her own to honor their relationship in the direction it had been heading.

• 38:47Courtney Brown?

  At this point, we are still just minutes into the shooting, and the gunmen continued firing at people inside Theater 9. The next victim would be 27-year-old Matt McQuinn, who was there with his girlfriend Samantha and her brother. Now Samantha would later say that when the shots first rang out, she thought they were just fireworks.

• 39:08Speaker 02

  "It was just confusion. It smelled like fireworks, so I just kept saying, 'It's okay, it's just fireworks.' It's just a promotional thing." After I was convinced it was fireworks, we were just slouched in our chairs, not all the way down yet.

• 39:21Courtney Brown?

  Samantha said that as they were ducking down, she heard Matt say, "Ow, that hurts." She then felt some pain of her own. When she looked down at her knee, she saw blood. So together, they all got down on the ground. Matt hovered over her. At that point, Samantha realized she was bleeding pretty heavily, so she pressed her sweatshirt against her knee to stop the bleeding.

• 39:46Speaker 02

  After that, there was a lot more gunfire and confusion. And then, I was trying to check on Matt, so I was shaking him and saying his name, saying Matt, over and over. And then around that point, my brother's also holding me down, just because we didn't know where, what was happening, where anyone was. And I was shaking Matt, and he took a deep gasp, and then after a few times, he kind of seized a little and stopped. Around that same time is when I noticed a green laser. I observed a green laser through the smoke. So I got quiet.

• 40:26Speaker 02

  And then at that point, the shooter got kind of quiet. I stopped for a second. The people started running down this aisle, out that way. And I observed whether running, like, the gunshot scene was closer to me.

• 40:41Speaker 05

  Samantha said that at that point, the shooter started shooting at the people who were running. So she knew it wasn't safe to get up and leave. Samantha recalled that the movie was still playing in the background. Sitting directly in the seat in front of her, she saw someone with a gunshot wound to the head. Then she looked back at her boyfriend, Matt.

• 40:58Speaker 02

  So Matt was still on me and his glasses were crooked and his eyes were closed. And it's just some bubbled skin on his neck and injury. But at that point, I was just hoping he was unconscious.

• 41:09Speaker 05

  Samantha eventually made it out. She was hoping that her boyfriend would be okay, that he would be taken to the hospital and they would later be reunited. But that isn't what happened. Matt had been shot three times. Later that night, when Samantha woke up from her knee surgery, she learned that he had passed. Matt loved to golf, loved music, and was incredibly close with both his family and Samantha's. They had been together for three years. And just before the shooting, the two had moved to Colorado to start the next phase of their life together. But that would all change.

• 41:41Courtney Brown?

  Nearby was another couple, Jansen Young and her boyfriend, 26-year-old Jonathan Blanc. The two had been planning to see this movie for months. They got there hours before so they could find good seats. Jansen would later say that as soon as the gunman threw the tear gas, Jonathan jumped into action. He immediately grabbed me and said, "Jansen, he pushed me down." Behind the seats in front of us and said, Jansen, we have to get down and stay down. Jonathan's frantic words mingled with the sound of shotgun blasts. And he quickly pushed her underneath the seats they had just been sitting in. He covered her body with his own.

• 42:22Courtney Brown?

  Jansen said she closed her eyes and hung her down, clinging to her boyfriend. And in that moment, she felt shrapnel exploding all around her and smelled the metallic tang of blood. When she finally looked up, John was still beside her. But with her heart sinking, she realized he wasn't breathing. Jonathan was hit with bullets in his head and body. The bullets came from behind, hitting him in the back of the skull. The others entered his lower back, hitting most major organs.

• 42:53Speaker 05

  Born in Reno, Nevada, Jonathan was a man on a mission. He joined the Navy as soon as he could with the goal of becoming a Navy SEAL. To reach that goal, he privately took EMT class and was training to become a police officer in order to have better chances of becoming a SEAL. But he wasn't just a career man. He had two children from an early marriage, whom he loved dearly. And he always made it a point to show up inside the home, not just outside it. He cleaned, did the dishes, and did mechanical repairs. His girlfriend, Jansen, said he was "the greatest man I ever knew." The two met when Jansen spotted him working as a security guard at the mall. After five hours of working up the courage to approach him, she slipped him a piece of paper with her number on it.

• 43:35Speaker 05

  Over a year after the shooting, Jansen was given John's items, and in his wallet was that very note that she had given him. He had kept it on his person all that time. Before the shooting, the two had been talking for quite a while about tying the knot. As the days had carried on and their love grew, it seemed like their dream wedding was closer than ever. But then the shooting happened, and Jonathan never made it out. He left behind two daughters. Jansen would later say that she was the one who had to inform them of their father's death. Heartbreakingly, one of his girls responded, "Daddy promised me he would be here for my birthday. Is he..." Something that I love in life are flavors that are salty and sweet. I mean, there's nothing better than a dark chocolate bar with sea salt on it.

• 44:16Speaker 05

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• 45:01Speaker 05

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• 45:40Speaker 07

  Witness the beginning of the revolution. Hey Mitch, you've been trying to take down these games from the start. Film for IMAX. Make them remember you. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Leaping, November 20th, rated PG-13.

• 45:53Speaker 04

  Bonjour, compadre. It's the Priceline Negotiator. How do I negotiate so many great travel deals? My greatest gadget, the Priceline app. It's got hotel deals, flight deals, rental car deals, all of those deals in a bundle. Deals, game day deals, concert trip deals. No one deals more deals than Priceline. Hold your horses, there's more. The app lets you filter hotels by neighborhood, vibe, star level, and amenities like pools and spas and beachfronts. And, wait, I'm not done. Stop cutting me off.

• 46:23Speaker 05

  Coming.

• 46:25Courtney Brown?

  Sitting next to Jansen and Jonathan was Pierce O'Farrell and his friend Kerry. Here is what he recalled of the shooting.

• 46:33Speaker 04

  I saw the shooter emerge from here and he was wearing a gas mask. He was wearing armor from head to toe. Um, he was holding a big gun in his hand and um, honestly, I just kind of froze in that second and I watched him open fire into the front rows there. Um, he fired a couple of rounds and my immediate thought was I just gotta get down. So I looked over to Kerry and uh, saw that he was looking around kind of to the left and not, I could tell he didn't see where the shooter was or anything. I just said, we gotta get down and we laid down in front of our seats. Um, his feet were in the aisle, my feet were pointing this way and so we were kind of head to head and uh, the shots got closer and closer.

• 47:18Speaker 04

  And honestly, in that moment, all I could do was pray.

• 47:21Speaker 05

  But soon enough, Pierce felt bullets hitting his body.

• 47:24Speaker 04

  So the first shot I took, um, were fragments from a shotgun that hit me in the left toes and it really felt like it, it just blew my toes off. And at that point, I kind of curled up in the fetal position and then Kerry told me that he had been shot. I told him that I'm shot too.

• 47:45Speaker 04

  And at that moment Kerry and I were laying like this and then I remember looking up and seeing the laser bouncing around and uh, then almost instantly I felt the next shot. He had taken aim and he shot with the pistol round. I didn't look up at that moment, but I knew that I'd been shot. Um, the bullet entered in my arm, shattered my humerus in half. Honestly, at that moment, it was just complete chaos. I remember round after round after round firing and um, I really thought that uh, that I was gonna die. I laid there and I'd been shot three times at that point. I took another assault rifle round in my same left foot.

• 48:29Speaker 04

  And it was just round after round after round. It seemed like it was going on for an eternity. Eventually, the shots stopped and Kerry was the first one to peek his head up and he said, "Let's make a run for it." So we stood up from our spot in the ground and honestly, gosh, it took all the strength I had just to stand up. At that point, I believed I'd been shot in the back because the pain just radiated through my entire left side of my body.

• 48:57Speaker 04

  I stood up and Kerry was in front of me and he made his way down the stairs and I kind of followed him. But right about this last stair, I just kind of tripped over it and collapsed face first right by the bottom of the stairs there. And honestly, at that point, I just, I didn't have the strength to get up again. Kerry was shaking me saying, "Pierce, we gotta go, we gotta go." And I was thinking, "This is it. I mean, I'm gonna die here." And I remember thinking, "Kerry, you just get out, get out and save yourself." Since I wasn't responsive to him, he exited the theater. And I just laid there. I laid there and I waited.

• 49:40Speaker 04

  At one point, I felt that dark presence standing over me. I was laying face down with my eyes closed and I could just, I could hear people screaming, people calling 911. I could hear the movie still running. I heard someone shout out, "Turn off the movie." And I just laid there.

• 50:02Speaker 05

  Despite the extensive injuries, Pierce would survive. Many of the survivors said that they had to step over bodies the entire time they were making their way out of the theater. They said there was popcorn all over the floors, as well as shoes, people's drinks, and blood. Some people who weren't even injured in the shooting said that they were covered in people's blood from the massacre, just from the blood spatter of the people around them. Another survivor was named Petra Hogan. She was there with her friends Ethan Rodriguez Torrent and Stephen Barton. Petra had actually drifted off to sleep when the movie started, and she woke up to a nightmare.

• 50:39Speaker 05

  I immediately knew that I was in a shooting and that there was a possibility of being shot. And so, because we were in the middle of a row and the theater was... Packed, there was nowhere to go. And so I remember putting my left arm on the seat in front of me as I began to get down behind the seats. And then I blacked out. When Petra came to, there was chaos everywhere. I remember coming to in face down behind the seats in a pool of sticky, thick liquid.

• 51:23Speaker 05

  I could continue to hear gunfire and I could hear screaming

• 51:30Speaker 05

  and running. I remember feeling my throat was burning and itchy and I couldn't breathe through my nose. And I felt like I couldn't breathe at all. And so even though I continued to hear the gunfire, I was trying to stand up because I couldn't breathe and I thought that would help me.

• 51:59Speaker 05

  But Ethan realized what I was trying to do and climbed on top of me to keep me down behind the seats.

• 52:09Speaker 05

  I remember after stopping to fight with Ethan to get up, I remember thinking, yeah, it's probably not a good idea to stand up while there's gunfire going on. Then she blacked out again, coming to a little while later. The theater was quiet. And Ethan asked if I could, if I could get out of the theater, if I could crawl to the end of the row. And I said, I think I can. And so we, we army crawled to the end of the row. When I got to the end of the row, I stood up,

• 52:54Speaker 05

  which was a little difficult for me.

• 52:58Speaker 05

  And I didn't realize there was an exit at the back of the theater. So I began walking down the steps of the theater.

• 53:10Speaker 05

  And that's when I saw a body in a seat at the end of the row in one of these lower rows.

• 53:22Speaker 05

  Petra said that the first thing she thought of was whether or not she could help them. However, after taking a closer look, it was obvious that they were dead. As Petra was leaving the theater, she noticed that her friend Ethan was on his way out with her. When he stood up at the end of his, at the end of the row,

• 53:43Speaker 05

  he, he called to me to come with him to exit out the back of the theater. Because we didn't know how many people had been firing weapons. We didn't know where they were.

• 53:57Speaker 05

  And so we, we walked up the stairs to the back of the theater, which was

• 54:08Speaker 05

  hard for me to do and I didn't know why at the time. Petra didn't realize it at the time, but she had been shot in the arm and the nose, but she would ultimately survive. Another group in the theater that night was Aline Young and her friend Stephanie. When the shooting started, she dropped to the ground and kind of blacked out. But here's what happened with her and Stephanie once she came to. I woke up and there were people running on top of me. She tried to get me to stand up and I realized that I couldn't. My entire like right side of my body just wasn't responding. And then I realized that I couldn't breathe. So I just kind of laid there and tried to find a position that I could breathe. I had been shot in my neck and also in my lungs, so I was

• 54:52Speaker 05

  Pretty like choking and drowning on my own blood. I just remember Stephanie calling 911 when she realized that I couldn't stand up. And then when she saw I just, like I said, tried to find a position that I could breathe. And then when she turned her attention to me and saw what had happened, she came over and put her hand on my neck because she was, she saw I was bleeding so much. Aline would survive her injuries. Now, the next survivor we're going to talk about was actually in the theater next door, Theater 8. Michaela Hicks was enjoying a movie with her friends, Lisa and Lori Schaefer, but during their movie, they suddenly hear the sounds of gunfire. However, it wasn't coming from the movie. It was coming from the theater next door to them.

• 55:34Speaker 02

  At first, we thought they were firecrackers or fireworks. And at that point, we realized something was not right in the movie theater. Shortly after we heard the fireworks or the, what we later learned were gunshots, I felt my face get hit on the right side and immediately my hands cupped under my face like this. And one of my bottom teeth was in my hands as well as a great amount of blood. I informed Lori and Lisa that were sitting next to me that I had been injured some way and we needed to get help or get my face cleaned up and try to figure out what happened.

• 56:17Speaker 02

  And we started to walk down the stairs of our movie theater. And as we approached the two double doors to Theater 8, a young man said, stay inside the theater because we do not know where the shooter is. And so at that point, we did not exit the double doors. And so we tried to exit out the back emergency exit.

• 56:41Courtney Brown?

  But after going outside, they saw absolute chaos. There was people running around everywhere, bloody victims lying all over the ground. It was such a horrible scene, Michaela and her friends actually went back inside Theater 8.

• 56:58Speaker 02

  I remember my friend Lori pulling the fire alarm. A young man handed me his jacket in order to wipe up some of the blood on my hands and face. And we were trying to get a hold of 911 operators and trying to figure out the best way to leave the building.

• 57:17Speaker 05

  Luckily, Michaela would survive her injuries.

• 57:22Courtney Brown?

  Back inside Theater 9 was another family who was there with children. It was Jamison Tauss, Ashley Moser, her daughter, six-year-old Veronica, and their 13-year-old niece, Kalen Bailey. Now Ashley had just gotten an ultrasound to see her unborn baby, and she was ecstatic. And her daughter Veronica was also so excited to have a little sibling. It had been a hard year for their family. Veronica's father had just recently lost his battle with leukemia. But Ashley's pregnancy felt like a new start and the promise of hope in a challenging time. Going to the movies to see a midnight premiere felt like the perfect way to celebrate, surrounded by all of her loved ones.

• 58:07Courtney Brown?

  Now Ashley would later say that she didn't realize the Batman movies were so violent, or else she wouldn't have brought her six-year-old daughter to the showing that night. In fact, once the preview started, she realized that this probably wasn't a good idea for them to be there. But there was no turning back. Now Jamison, who was with them, said that during the movie, he remembered seeing the gas can fly through the air. And here is what happened next.

• 58:36Speaker 01

  I was looking over there when, uh... All of a sudden, I'm stunned by something, and I look down, and there's blood all over me. After I noticed that I was bleeding, my head was gushing blood.

• 58:53Speaker 01

  I looked up towards the front of the theater, and it was starting to get real foggy. I noticed a green,

• 59:02Speaker 01

  light infrared laser going through the fog towards my left side of the theater. And I noticed a figure holding a gun.

• 59:18Speaker 04

  Looking at people. I observed the shooter wearing some sort of armor. He seemed calm to me. After I watched the shooter shoot a few rounds, maybe two rounds, towards my left, I looked over and I saw people running down the stairs to the far exit away from the shooter. I saw one person dragging themselves across the floor towards the exit like they were wounded in their leg. I'm not sure exactly why they were dragging their leg. And then I noticed the shooter shooting towards those people.

• 59:56Courtney Brown?

  Now, sitting by Jamison was the pregnant Ashley Moser. And as the shots exploded through the theater, Ashley turned to grab her six-year-old daughter, Veronica. In the process, Ashley was shot twice in the abdomen and the neck. Here is what she remembered.

• 1:00:14Speaker 02

  Mom, as soon as I stood up, I just remember getting hit in my chest. And I remember falling, then landing on top of her.

• 1:00:26Courtney Brown?

  When Ashley was hit, she dropped to the ground. Her body was right over her daughter Veronica. But horrifically, she didn't feel any movement beneath her. Ashley was so injured herself, she couldn't even get up off Veronica. And then, everything went dark. Now, sitting next to them was their niece, thirteen-year-old Kalen Bailey. She had just watched Ashley get shot. And as she was laying there, she realized that six-year-old Veronica had been shot as well. So, in a desperate attempt to save her family, Kalen called 911. Here is that 911 call, but trigger warning, it is very hard to listen to.

• 1:01:08Speaker 00

  Crime in progress or life-threatening emergency? Yes, sir. I'm just a student. I'm just a student. Okay, is this the Century 16's Peter Stewart? Do you know anybody who's been shot? Yes, I do. Okay, who's been shot?

• 1:01:24Speaker 00

  Who is, who do you know that's been shot? Um, my, my cousin. Okay, where are they right now? They're on the floor. Are they breathing or they...

• 1:01:39Speaker 00

  Ma'am, do you know if they're breathing and do you know if they're conscious? One of them's not breathing. Either one of them are breathing? One of them is breathing. Okay, the one that's not breathing, I need you to go up to him and... Is he laying on the ground? He's not. Okay, he's on the floor on a hard rock surface. He's on a hard surface. Okay, remove anything from under his head and kneel by his side.

• 1:02:05Speaker 00

  Kneel by his side and remove anything from under his head. I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't. Okay, what speed are you in?

• 1:02:15Speaker 00

  I'm, I'm on, I'm on number nine, I'm in number nine. Okay, do you see any officers near you? No, there's not, not. Okay, I need you to go to your cousin that is not breathing and go by his side and kneel.

• 1:02:30Speaker 00

  Okay. Place your hands on, on his forehead and the fingertips of your hand under his chin.

• 1:02:37Speaker 00

  Push down his forehead and lift up under his chin until his head tilts back and the chin points up. I can't hear you, the music is so loud. Okay, I need you to look into his mouth, do you see anything in his mouth? Do I see anything on the ground? In his mouth. I can't hear you, I can't hear you. Okay, ma'am, that's okay, can you put your ear to his mouth and see if he's breathing? Well, obviously he's not, I, I can hear him, the chest is not. Okay, his chest is not moving and he's not breathing, correct? Okay, we need to start chest compressions, I'm gonna walk you through the steps, are you ready? No.

• 1:03:15Speaker 00

  We need to start chest compressions and I will walk you through the steps, we need to start CPR.

• 1:03:23Speaker 00

  Ma'am, we need to start CPR.

• 1:03:28Speaker 00

  I can't tell you how to do it, okay, I'm gonna walk you through the steps. What? I'm gonna walk you through the steps for CPR.

• 1:03:38Speaker 00

  I can't hear you. Okay, is there an officer next to you?

• 1:03:48Speaker 00

  I understand that and I need, I need if the president has been shot and is not breathing, we need to perform CPR on him.

• 1:03:59Speaker 00

  I cannot hear you, man.

• 1:04:05Speaker 00

  The police are with you?

• 1:04:08Speaker 00

  Okay, are you with the police? Okay, thank you. Thank you, bye.

• 1:04:13Courtney Brown?

  Now, keep in mind, we are still just minutes into the shooting. And at this point, as the gunman is firing into the crowd, his rifle jams. And he doesn't know what to do, so he steps into the hallway to try and fix it. But it's still not working. Meanwhile, people take this opportunity to run right past him to safety. He continues trying to fix the gun, but he ultimately decides to give up, leaving his rifle right there on the floor. Horrifically, it was later found that there were still 218 rounds left inside. Imagine the damage he could have done if it wouldn't have jammed. Now, from here, he grabs his Glock, firing at people as they try to run to safety.

• 1:04:58Courtney Brown?

  However, he eventually goes back outside, possibly to grab more weapons and supplies. But it's around this time, just three minutes after the shooting started, when first responders arrive on scene.

• 1:05:13Speaker 00

  453, I have a party shot here, I need rescue hot. We got another person outside shot in the leg, a female. I got people running out of the theater, they're shot.

• 1:05:21Courtney Brown?

  When the officers pulled up to the scene, it was unlike anything they had seen before. People were dragging bleeding friends and family members out of the theater, leaving blood trails all behind. People were scattering, running for their lives, and begging for help on the sidewalk in the back of the parking lot. But then the officers see a man, wearing tactical gear, standing by a white sedan parked outside. At first glance, some officers thought he might be a cop, but after taking a closer look, he wasn't acting like that. Like a cop. All of the other first responders were running around helping people. And he was just kind of standing there, watching.

• 1:06:05Courtney Brown?

  So that, coupled with the fact that he was wearing a gas mask, showed them that he was likely the shooter. At the time, the gunman was leaning up against the car, resting his arms. The officers then noticed a semi-automatic handgun on the top of the car. So from there, they pointed their guns at him, and he immediately surrendered.

• 1:06:27Speaker 00

  I need a march car behind the theater, Sable Side. Got a suspect in a gas mask, that white car in the rear of the lot, is that a suspect? Yes, we got rifles, gas masks. Okay, hold that position, hold your suspect.

• 1:06:41Speaker 05

  With the suspect apprehended, the officers finally go to enter the theater. But they also didn't know if there was more than one shooter. They were prepared to take down another gunman inside if there was one. But immediately upon opening Theater 9's door, they were hit with tear gas.

• 1:06:58Speaker 00

  Somebody's spraying gas in here, too. Do we have gas masks available? Any units that can bring gas masks to Theater 9, again, we need gas masks. Get us some damn gas masks for Theater 9, we can't get in it.

• 1:07:11Speaker 05

  Two minutes later, at 12:47 a.m., they finally make their way inside.

• 1:07:16Speaker 00

  We need rescue inside the auditorium, multiple victims. I got seven down in Theater 9, seven down! I need a medical crew and I, I've got one victim of this, ready with you. I've got a child victim, I need rescue at the back door, Theater 9, now!

• 1:07:31Speaker 05

  If you love murder in America, you love mysteries, you love true crime, you love murder stories and the unknown. Then I have a new show for you. It's called The Conspiracy Files, and it's hosted by me, Colin Browan, from Murder in America and The Paranormal Files. On The Conspiracy Files, we explore everything from bizarre deaths to freak paranormal events, pedophile rings, government corruption, ritual sacrifice. No topic is untouched on this show. Everything that we talk about on The Conspiracy Files is backed up with fact, I release- Reference sheets with every single episode that we do, so you guys know everything we're talking about is confirmed to have happened and be real.

• 1:08:13Speaker 05

  It's a completely different type of show than anything else you've ever seen about conspiracy theories. Instead of a bunch of conjecture and theories, we're presenting you people with facts, telling you the story, walking you through the story, just as detailed as we do with Murder in America, and then letting the listener decide what they think. Anyways, you should definitely give it a listen. It's called The Conspiracy Files. The links are in the description of this show, and you can find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And now, let's get back to our story.

• 1:08:49Speaker 05

  After entering Theater 9, the officers are finally able to turn the lights on, turn the movie off, and tend to the victims. And one of the first things they see is Jamison Toes, who was begging them for help. Here's what he would later say. I have a pregnant woman that's down, that I have a six-year-old that's down. And I was basically screaming at them to get them attention as fast as possible.

• 1:09:16Speaker 05

  They came down, they immediately came down to help us. They checked, they checked their pulses. And Ashley had a pulse, but Veronica did not. So they picked up Veronica and they took her down to the stairs and down towards the exit, which I followed. The first responder that was carrying her, he began to give her CPR on the floor.

• 1:09:40Speaker 00

  We need rescue inside the auditorium, multiple victims. I've got a child victim, I need rescue at the back door, Theater 9, now.

• 1:09:48Speaker 05

  One of these first responders was Officer Grizzle. Here's his account of what happened. So it was so chaotic. I remember checking the ones, most ones I checked were dead. I remember, of course, the one that I'll always remember is the little girl.

• 1:10:05Speaker 05

  I had to step over her, because I knew she was gone.

• 1:10:09Speaker 04

  It continued on.

• 1:10:13Speaker 04

  Which is absolutely the hardest thing I had to do, but going back on my training, I had to save the ones that I knew I could try and save. So with the absolute

• 1:10:24Speaker 04

  knowing that this was far beyond what we're capable of, I exited the theater and I got hold of Sergeant Redford. I said, "When you start getting these people to the hospital now."

• 1:10:37Speaker 04

  And what did you do? I went to my patrol car. I emptied it out of what I could to make more room for as many people as I could put in there. I got into it, I drove it up to the rear of the exit, and I started loading people into my car.

• 1:10:52Speaker 05

  Officer Grizzle said that one of the people he transported was Ashley Moser and Jamison. Jamison was so distraught about leaving six-year-old Veronica behind, he nearly jumped out of the police car.

• 1:11:04Speaker 04

  We tried to jump out the car as I'm running code, lights and sirens to the hospital because he wants to go back to get his daughter. So I have to not only drive, now I have to grab him by his shirt and hold him in from jumping out of the car. Knowing the entire time that I just wanted to tell him, "She's gone, she's gone," but I couldn't do it.

• 1:11:22Courtney Brown?

  Now Ashley had been shot several times, so she barely remembers anything from here. Once taken to the hospital, she was told that she was paralyzed and that she had lost her baby. Ashley was obviously devastated, but then she learned that she had lost her other baby as well, six-year-old Veronica.

• 1:11:42Speaker 02

  I was told that she had, that she didn't, that she had passed away.

• 1:11:48Speaker 05

  Earlier that night, Police Sergeant Mike Hawkins had picked Veronica up off the ground. His body was shaking with so much adrenaline that he couldn't feel anything at all. He didn't know if the little girl in his arms was dead or alive, but he was going to do anything he could to try to save her. He ran out of the theater, cradling her body to his chest, calling for rescue over and over. By the time he burst outside, he realized that she wasn't breathing. A touch to her neck confirmed the truth. She was dead before he had even picked her up. Veronica Moser. was excited to enter the first grade. She had just learned to swim weeks before the shooting. And as we stated earlier, she couldn't wait to be a big sister. She was known to be curious, a bookworm, and above all, friendly.

• 1:12:31Speaker 05

  Everyone who knew Veronica recalls that she loved life and loved everyone. She didn't have a best friend because she considered everyone in her class her best friend. Sergeant Mike Hawkins may not have known all this about Veronica, but looking down at her body, he knew that the world had lost something precious and special. Devastated, he set her down on an ambulance gurney. He knew she was gone, as did the medical staff, but he couldn't bring himself to set her on the ground or leave her on the sidewalk. Carrying Veronica was so traumatic for Sergeant Hawkins that in the years after, he couldn't carry his own daughter up the stairs to bed because it brought back memories of Veronica's weight in his arms. He would later speak to Veronica's family about his experience.

• 1:13:14Speaker 04

  It was important to me that they knew that that she was taken out by daddy and that I have a daughter that age and I'm very cognizant of what was lost.

• 1:13:31Courtney Brown?

  Now, back at the scene, first responders are still trying to help the wounded. Upon entering Theater 9, officers came across a couple named Caleb and Katie Medley. Katie was nine months pregnant. Before the shooting started, the couple decided to come to the movies. They were expecting it to be one of their last date nights before the baby arrived. However, it would ultimately be one of the worst nights of their life. Shortly after the shots rang out in the theater, Katie looked over to see her husband's face completely covered in blood. He had been shot directly in his eye. In all the screaming and terror, there was nothing anyone could do.

• 1:14:13Courtney Brown?

  Katie clung to her husband, whom she believed was dead. But then she saw some movement. Katie would later say, quote, "I decided to slowly stand up and I saw that Caleb was actually breathing. He was choking on all of his blood." To save the love of her life and father of her child. She began pouring water over his face in an attempt to clear out the blood that he was choking on. Then seconds later, first responders came into the theater. They would later recall that Katie was at her husband's side, sobbing and pleading with him not to die. The police had to physically pull her off Caleb and rush her out of the theater. But leaving her husband behind was the hardest thing she ever had to do.

• 1:14:58Speaker 02

  We, I could stay or go, but because I was so pregnant, I had to save our unborn child because I knew if, I thought Caleb was going to die and I thought to myself, that's going to be the last piece of him that I have. I have to save him. So I grabbed Caleb's hand and he actually squeezed my hand and I told him that I loved him. And that I would take care of our, of our baby if he didn't make it. We ran towards the exit and we jumped over people that were laying on the ground. I don't know if they were alive or not, but we jumped over their bodies and we ran to the exit and

• 1:15:41Speaker 02

  I was wearing flip flops. So I remember as we were running out the exit door that there, I slipped in blood and the cop actually caught me because it was a lot of blood.

• 1:15:54Courtney Brown?

  From there, Katie was brought outside. She watched as the police continued pulling victims out of the theater. With each person they pulled out, she was hoping to see her husband. And then finally she saw him.

• 1:16:08Speaker 02

  I remember that they pulled Caleb out onto the sidewalk and that I could see that he was still breathing. But they had to lay him on his face because of all the blood that was just pouring. And so they didn't want him to aspirate.

• 1:16:23Speaker 05

  From there, Officer Grizzle transported him to the hospital in his own patrol car. Here's what the officer would later say.

• 1:16:32Speaker 07

  Significant amounts of trauma to his face. He was unrecognizable. I thought he was gone. But then I could hear him breathing, so he's not gone. Covered in blood, moaning, gurgling on his own blood, aspirating. He made some of the most awful noises I've ever heard. I could tell he was dying. I could tell he was gurgling on his own blood. And then he would stop, and then I heard nothing. So I yelled at him. And I yelled, "Don't fucking die on me. Don't fucking die on me."

• 1:17:17Speaker 07

  And he would start breathing again, and I would start breathing again. And I'd continue. And then he would stop again. And then I would yell at him. "Don't fucking die on me. We're almost there." And he started breathing again. And then I got to the hospital.

• 1:17:36Courtney Brown?

  Caleb Medley was quickly rushed into emergency life-saving surgery. And Katie was left with a horrible task. Calling their friends and family to tell them that Caleb had been shot in the head. Heartbreakingly, as she placed each of those phone calls, everyone assumed that Katie was calling to let them know she was going into labor. Everyone answered the phone excitedly, only to be met with the news. Caleb had been shot in the head, and she didn't know if he was going to make it. Now Katie also went to the hospital that night. And during her husband's brain surgery, she went into labor, all alone without her husband by her side. But fortunately, by some miracle,

• 1:18:20Courtney Brown?

  and the hard work of law enforcement and medical teams, Caleb survived. He would remain in a coma for about a month, but when he woke up, he finally got to hold his son. However, Caleb is permanently disabled. He lost his eye, and he has a hard time speaking. So their family was changed forever.

• 1:18:41Speaker 05

  Back at the scene, the first responders continued to tend to the wounded. Police Sergeant Mike Hawkins said that this was the worst 20 minutes of his entire life. Tasked with making sure no one else was wounded, he had to push by victims who were clawing at him, begging for help. It was one of the toughest decisions he ever had to make. Ignoring calls for help, trusting that backup was en route to save them because he couldn't. There was an entire sea of wounded people bleeding out on the sidewalk, in the parking lot, and in the lobby. But there weren't enough ambulances.

• 1:19:12Speaker 00

  I need rescue, a stage, in the Dillard's lot. I need as many ambulances as we can to the Dillard's lot. I want my fire trucks there also, and I'll start bringing them into triage people and get them out. I'm taking one male to the hospital in my car.

• 1:19:26Speaker 05

  Throughout the entire night, officers were loading victims into their patrol cars.

• 1:19:31Speaker 00

  If I've got one ambulance here, where my ambulance is at? Do I have permission to start taking some of these victims via car? I got a whole bunch of people shot out here, no rescue. Yes, load them up, get them in cars, get them out of here.

• 1:19:43Courtney Brown?

  Slowly but surely, everyone who still had a pulse was taken to the hospital. And once that last ambulance drove away, they were left with a devastating scene. Blood covered the concrete. Outside of Theater 9's door was the rifle used in the attack. The gunman's car was still eerily parked outside, with his gas mask on the ground next to it. But the scene outside was nothing in comparison to the scene inside. Once the tear gas had finally started clearing, the true devastation of the shooting was revealed. The total death count was 12, 13 including Ashley Moser's unborn baby. But two of the victims actually died later in the hospital.

• 1:20:27Courtney Brown?

  So that night, there were 10 bodies still at the Century 16 Theater. The floors were completely wet from people's drinks and the victims' blood. Also on the floor were bullet casings, popcorn, shoes, and cell phones. Horrifically, as investigators worked the crime scene, those cell phones rang and rang and rang. After word got out that there had been a shooting, the victims' loved ones began calling them to make sure they were okay. But some of those phone calls would never be answered.

• 1:21:00Speaker 05

  Now luckily, unlike some shootings we have covered, the Aurora police quickly sprung into action that night. But even so, the devastation that this gunman caused in just two minutes was unimaginable. Many of the responding officers really struggled after the shooting. They had trained for almost everything under the sun, but this was a whole new beast.

• 1:21:21Speaker 01

  Yes, we had trained for a active shooter event. We had not fully trained for a mass casualty event. We had not trained for what to do when someone's intestines were spilled out. We had not trained for that.

• 1:21:37Speaker 05

  Now, earlier that night, 140 doctors and nurses at hospitals around Aurora had gotten word that a mass shooting had taken place. So they were prepared for the carnage that was to come. Here's Denver Seven's interview with some of these doctors and nurses.

• 1:21:52Speaker 03

  My pager stated mass shooting, that's all it said on there. I saw patients all over the hallways in beds. I saw staff that were covered in blood because they were pulling patients out. Once patients started arriving, it was really just, you didn't have time to reflect, you just had time to act.

• 1:22:08Speaker 07

  Went from life support to tubing someone's chest to holding someone's intestines.

• 1:22:16Courtney Brown?

  There was one little girl who I will always remember. Both her parents had been shot and the little girl was crying for her mom. And I just went up to her and I said, you know, I'm a mom. If you want to come to me, I'll hold you. And she completely came to me and wrapped her little arms around me.

• 1:22:32Speaker 05

  Luckily, the little girl's parents would survive. Many of the doctors and nurses said that this night was by far the hardest night of their entire careers. In one hospital, they received 22 victims with gunshot wounds. And because of their hard work, every one of those victims survived. But in total, over 70 people were injured, some who were left permanently disabled.

• 1:22:55Courtney Brown?

  Now because this shooting happened after midnight, many people around Aurora and the nation as a whole didn't even know about the tragedy until the next morning. I will never forget hearing about it. Back then, mass shootings weren't as prevalent. The Sandy Hook mass shooting hadn't even taken place yet. That would occur about five months later. So the thought of a gunman walking into a theater and gunning down a room of nearly 400 people was chilling. Up until that moment, theaters were a safe space for people, and then they weren't. And as everyone watched the news the next day, our hearts were broken for the city of Aurora. Here was the press conference the following day.

• 1:23:39Speaker 04

  I really want to start by saying how proud I am of the men and women of the Aurora Police Department and the Fire Department. Mike Garcia for the Fire Department, the chief of the Fire Department is also here with us. Okay, uh, we gotta straighten out some numbers. There are a total of 70 injured in this event, and as of this time, 12 dead. Uh, still, the number is 10 in the theater. The last of the bodies were removed from the theater a little after 5 o'clock this afternoon. Little information about our subject and the weapons he obtained. In the last 60 days, he purchased four guns at local Metro gun shops, and through the internet, he purchased over 6,000 rounds of ammunition,

• 1:24:21Speaker 04

  more than 3,000 rounds of 223 ammunition for the assault rifle, 3,000 rounds of 40 caliber ammunition for the two Glocks in his possession, and 300 rounds for the 12-gauge shotgun. This evening at 4 o'clock, members of the Police Department and the many supporting agencies that have provided victim service advocates to support us met with approximately seven family and friends, 70 members of family and friends who have not had an accounting of their missing loved ones. We met with them for approximately 90 minutes. We discussed all our efforts to identify the 10 bodies in the theater

• 1:25:06Speaker 04

  and did the best we could to deal with their grief and anguish. We are hopeful that sometime-

• 1:25:13Speaker 05

  In the next hour, we will get a confirmed list of the ten deceased, and we will begin the agonizing process of meeting with those families and confirming what has happened to their loved ones. Police Chief Dan Oats would later say, "Our cops went through a lot. As I told you this morning, they rushed people out of that theater into police cars. One of the things we're working on is how we're going to deal with our own trauma, and we spent some time today with our three department psychologists, and somehow in the next couple of days, when this has slowed down, one of our highest priorities is to deal with our own officers and how they cope with this event. If you think we are angry, we sure as hell are angry about what has happened to our city, what has happened to the wonderful people who lived here."

• 1:25:56Speaker 05

  Now, soon after this, the names of the victims were released to the public. Jessica Gawi, Alex Sullivan, Alex Tevez, Veronica Moser-Sullivan, Baby Moser, Matt McQuinn, John Laramo, Jonathan Blunk, A.J. Boyk, Jesse Childress, Gordon Cowden, Michaela Maddick, and Rebecca Wingo. And later that day, President of the United States Barack Obama released a statement that read, "Michelle and I are shocked and saddened by the horrific and tragic shooting in Colorado. Federal and local law enforcement are still responding, and my administration will do everything that we can to support the people of Aurora in this extraordinarily difficult time. We are committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice, ensuring the safety

• 1:26:40Speaker 05

  of our people, and caring for those who have been wounded. As we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one American family. All of us must have the people of Aurora in our thoughts and prayers as they confront the loss of family, friends, and neighbors, and we must stand together with them in the challenging hours and days to come."

• 1:27:00Courtney Brown?

  That evening, a candlelit vigil was held to honor the victims of the tragedy. Hundreds of people showed up, and all everyone could do was hug each other and cry. But in these horrific times, when we are reminded of how scary the world can be, we also see the best of humanity. The town of Aurora really came together to make sure the victims, their families... and first responders felt supported. Following the shooting, the Aurora Victim Relief Fund raised over $5 million. That money was split between the 12 victims' families and the five survivors who quote, "suffered permanent brain damage or permanent physical paralysis," end quote.

• 1:27:43Speaker 05

  In the weeks after the massacre, the 12 murder victims were all laid to rest, and the community of Aurora all came together to show their respect. Thousands of residents from across the city were in attendance. Their funerals were paid for by Cinemark, which is the parent company of Century 16 Theaters. Now, following the shooting, Century 16 actually closed their doors for a while. Many people in the community wanted it demolished, as they believed the horrors that took inside would be too hard to forget, but they didn't. After six months of cleaning and renovation, they opened their doors again on January 25, 2013. After the massacre, Christopher Nolan, the director of The Dark Knight Rises, released a statement that said,

• 1:28:25Speaker 05

  "Nothing any of us can say could ever adequately express our feelings for the innocent victims of this appalling crime, but our thoughts are with them and their families." Now, again, the gunman didn't choose this movie to send any sort of message. He simply picked it because he knew a lot of people would be in attendance. But from then on, that film would forever be associated with one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history. Christian Bale, who played Batman in the film, also released a statement that read, "Words cannot express the horror that I feel. I cannot begin to truly understand the pain and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them." Days later, he even traveled to Aurora to visit victims who were in the hospital.

• 1:29:08Courtney Brown?

  But from here, Aurora, Colorado would do its best to pick up the pieces. It's hard to fathom the devastation that these cities face after these massacres. And you don't know how it feels until it happens in your city, to your community. But the devastation of this crime had a ripple effect. There were 400 people inside Theater 9 that night. 400. People who were directly traumatized, 400 people who had to run for their lives, who looked death right in the eye. 12 of those people would never live to see another day. And those victims' family members, who were with them that night, watched their loved one die right in front of them.

• 1:29:52Courtney Brown?

  Seventy people would be injured in the attack, some of whom still face health problems all these years later. And even for the people who weren't injured, their lives would never be the same. Simply being at the Century 16 Theater that night has left people with deep-rooted trauma, PTSD, survivor's guilt, and they carried the weight of that with them and the months and years that have followed. Then there's the first responders. The images they saw that night in the theater will stick with them forever. What was supposed to be a place of fun and entertainment turned into a war zone within a matter of seconds. And like with any mass shooting, everyone had the same question: Why?

• 1:30:37Courtney Brown?

  Why would somebody do this? Following the shooting, everyone in America was counting down the days until justice was served. Now, I was going to wrap up this series in two parts before our summer break, but the shooting alone with all of the victims' testimonies that I included in here ended up taking a lot more time than expected, and I felt like they deserved an episode of their own. One that had nothing to do with the horrible man responsible. But there is still so much more to this story, so we are going to do Part 3 next week. In that episode, we will talk about the gunman's arrest, his booby-trapped apartment, interviews

• 1:31:17Courtney Brown?

  with psychiatrists, his behavior in jail, and finally, his trial. Then at the end of next week's episode, we are also going to talk about the aftermath of the shooting and some of the good that came from such darkness. So make sure to join us on that one.

• 1:31:34Speaker 05

  In honor of today's episode, we will be making a donation to Every Town for Gun Safety, which is a movement and organization that works to end gun violence in America.

• 1:31:48Speaker 05

  Hey everybody. Thank you for listening to today's episode of Murder in America. Courtney and I are glad to have you guys here and we have wanted to tell this story for a long time. There are so many details in this story that are just so infuriating and our hearts, obviously, as with every case that we cover, go out to not only the victims that died in this horrific event, but also to the survivors who pulled through and managed to escape this tragedy with their lives. We have one more part to this series before our midsummer break where we're going to be off all of June, but next week we will be back to finish out the series with part three. If you don't like the ads in the show and you want to get early ad-free access to our episodes, please consider joining us and supporting the show on Patreon. Like I just

• 1:32:33Speaker 05

  said, on Patreon, you can get access to early drops of the main feed episodes, ad-free versions of the episodes, and bonus content. If you've never signed up for our Patreon today, if you sign up, you can get access to over 100 bonus episodes of the show. These are full-length episodes of Murder in America with Courtney and I, telling stories the exact same way that we do here on the main feed. So if you love the show and you want to help support what we do, please consider joining us and our community over there. Also, please don't forget to leave us a five-star review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen to your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @murderinamerica to see photos from every case that we cover. And yeah, thank you guys so much for joining us this week. Courtney and I will be back next Friday with

• 1:33:17Speaker 05

  our final episode before that month break. And yeah, thanks again, and we'll catch y'all next week.

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