In the early morning hours of Friday, at shortly after midnight, a scene of horror unfolded, gunfire broke out, after the carnage, 12 people lay dead and another 50 were injured in an Aurora Century 16 theater.

About 20 minutes into a screening of the new Batman film, “Dark Knight Rises,” a lone gunman tossed a tear gas bomb into the theater from through an emergency exit door. He followed the noxious grenade into the theater. Wearing a gas mask, he opened fire on the crowd as a gunfight scene played on the theater screen.

Earlier reports placed the dead at 14, but that number was later lowered to 12 by the police at the scene of the mass slaughter. Ten people died at the scene, while another two would die later from their wounds. The youngest victims treated from the bloody episode were a three-month-old baby and a six-year-old little girl.

As people tried to escape through the exits, he opened fire on them, then slowly went up the aisle raining deadly bullets as he moved through the theater.

After the carnage, police arrested a man in his 20s who was identified as the theater shooter. He was found in a car behind the building where he carried out his violent mission. There was no evidence of other gunmen, and the police believe that he acted alone. He was found with a rifle, handgun and gasmask.

The shooter was later identified as 24-year-old James Holmes. There was no motive given for the violent act.

The state of Colorado is no newcomer to occurrances of mass violence and slaughter, it was in this same part of the state that the “Columbine shootings” occurred. In April of 1999, two students, 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold went on a murdering spree in a school in Littleton, 15 miles from where this newest shooting occurred. After killing 12 of their fellow students, and a teacher, they turned their weapons on themselves in the school library.

Aurora is on Denver’s east side. It has a population of 327,000 people.