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Evan Semon / Reuters
A woman reacts outside a townhouse complex following an overnight hostage situation in Aurora, Colo. on Saturday. Four people died including the gunman, according to police reports.
Updated at 4:45 p.m. ET: Two men and one woman were found dead inside a home in Aurora, Colo., after a gunman took them hostage early Saturday morning, police said in a news release. The gunman was shot and killed by police after hours of failed negotiation attempts.
Another woman who had been inside the house was able to escape uninjured and alert authorities, the news release said. The woman told police that an adult male still inside was armed and had fired shots inside the home. She said she saw three people in the home who appeared lifeless as she was leaving.
This marks another shooting tragedy for Aurora, a suburb still reeling from the summer shooting in which a gunman entered a theater, killing 12 people and wounding 58 others. Residents in the city had just been debating whether the movie house chain's owner invited the victims’ families to a special event marking the Jan. 17 reopening, with some threatening to boycott the event.
On Saturday, officers were called to a town home in the 16000 block of E. Ithaca Place shortly before 3 a.m. after reports of shots fired. Several nearby homes were evacuated for safety reasons and police sent out emergency notifications for the other residents in the area.
Officers took positions around the house and attempted to get in touch with the gunman, the news release said. Hostage negotiators arrived at the scene and were able to establish phone contact with the shooter. A SWAT team was also called at the scene.
Evan Semon / Reuters
Police survey the outside of a townhouse complex following an overnight hostage-taking incident in Aurora, Colo. on Saturday.
Police said phone contact with the gunman continued intermittently in the following several hours. Several times, the man was told by phone and by bullhorn to emerge from the house, but he apparently refused.
"He was behaving very irrationally throughout the incident and often hanging up on the negotiators," the news release read.
Around 8 a.m., SWAT members moved to the front of the house to break out a window, which caused the shooter to fire multiple rounds that hit the vehicle but did not injure any officers.
Police did not return fire, and shortly before 9 a.m., the gunman appeared in a second story window, firing again at the officers. Police returned fire, hitting the suspect, the news release said. Upon entering the home, police found the three deceased victims and the gunman was found dead in the upstairs bedroom.
Aurora Police Department Sgt. Cassidee Carlson said no names will be released until the coroner's office confirms the identities.
Meanwhile, a judge set a preliminary hearing for accused Colorado movie theater gunman James Holmes for Monday. The hearing is expected to last the entire week. Hundreds of people, including victims, their family members, and members of the public are expected to come.
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Leave a Comment:
Why do I suspect that the theater's "Special Event" to commemorate the tragic carnage is being promoted, financed and sponsored by the NRA? That extension of the American Nazi Party and Aryan Nation must be stopped before it's too late
Because you are a Mentally dysfunctional Liberal who is not under the proper supervision
Do I suspect that the "Special Event" to commemorate the tragic carnage everywhere is being created, fostered, promoted, and financied by the Bush/Obama administration? You bet I do. Even someone who is not a member of the NRA should be able to see this for what it is -- another fabricated 9/11 by our dysfunctional government.
206 people who are armchair detectives an I assume can read are solving this and offering solutions. Then they wonder why Congress is disfunctional and we allow it.
I like the name, and if it's for real I'm with you all the way.
In a government supposed created by and for the people, to say that our government is dysfunctional is simply saying that the American people are pretty scr*wed-up themselves.
@financed and sponsored by the NRA? That extension of the American Nazi Party and Aryan Nation must be stopped befor it's too late
So our Constitution is Nazi now?
Wow!
It has nothing to do with the Constitution. The NRA is a lobby for the gun and ammo manufacturers. They don't give a volture's dropping about the consequences of the products they design and freely sell to anyone wishing to buy; sane or insane, criminal or law abiding, patriot or terrorist.
How about my Coalition of Connecticut sportsmen?
What will you say about us?
Maybe we only have 35,000 members, but we are on the NRA side now too.
You obviously don't know anything about the issue, or business. Gun manufacturers and the NRA are some of the strongest law enforcement supporters in the world and constantly call for stronger enforcement of existing laws. And as a business, it would be stupid to not care about the consequences of their products since it could lead to the destruction of the business. That's like saying a toy company wouldn't care that their toys are killing kids because they'd rather make a million dollars this year than 100 million over the next ten years.
biggest supplier of weapons to mexican drug cartels - NRA supported gun manufacturers.
Sure, try to ban 30 or 100 round magazines...
Depraw, you have the NRA confused with Obama and Holder.
jeffers............
remember those toys made by mattel that had leaded paint. they were made in china specifically because they could use leaded paint which was cheaper and they could reap more profits. so much for your theory.
clownhead.........
get over your loss. smile. you're a clown.
clownhead...........
that was bush's program. obviously you still can't read.
Obama could've done away with it but he didn't. Instead, he tried to keep it hush hush so he could try to say that gun owners were supplying the cartels. Busted.
pats2012
@financed and sponsored by the NRA? That extension of the American Nazi Party and Aryan Nation must be stopped befor it's too late
So our Constitution is Nazi now?
It was the Germans who confiscated guns, then start killing thousands Jews
this state is increasingly violent and filled with drug addicts and viiolent crimiinals. in the last two weeks in my area a number of people have been shot. although when the cops kill them it's a good thing. anyways so we had a woman whose son was blown away by cops get her ar and then steal a car. they chased her but she crashed before she could implement her plkan to outgun them. ar's are designed for combat ya know. so even though I own guns they are tools of death and should be treated as such and not worshipped as a relgious ideal. tools of death. that's what they are. everyone who owns one , shoould just admit and say that is the way it is. stop being pussies. 'guns don't kill people people do' haaa haa , no people using guns have killed a million americans in the last 40 years alone. we know it and accept it. so I have to laugh at all these gun owners who complain when people point out that guns make it easy to KILL people. LOL. that's what they are used for. KILLING. get a life. haa haa. doesn't mean that most of us who own guns will use them that way but some people will and that's the way it is. and by the wya 80% of all murders are done with a gun by someone the victim knew. so you are more likely to get it from someone you know rather than a stranger. with a gun. so that's the facts , it's the way it is. no slogans will change it. and they won't take them away so lets all be honest about it. people use guns alot to kill people. we accept it , and it's not gonna change is it? nope. so you don't need to join the nra , or whatever and waste your money. you can own a gun and if you choose to use it to kill people you will pay for it. that's the way it is. I hate all these stupid 'cars kill people why don't they complain abou that. things I got on facebook. lame. guns kill people . that's the way it is. ANd if someone breaks into your house you may have to use one. it's america land of the drug addicts after all.
"it's america land of the drug addicts after all. "
You forgot to add the bat $hit crazy looney toon element that is free to run amuck unchecked until they finally snap with the end result being situations like THIS.
So anytime anything bad happens in this town it's a national headline now? What happened to Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, L.A., New York, Baltimore.....just to name a few. Media fodder just to get attention. Yes, I realize by the simple fact of%2
Oh, those places get some of the press too because they are places where the killers came from. You forgot to list San Diego which is where Aurora's theater shooter came from.
Excuse my comment since this I am a total piece. I failed to include the killings going on constantly. It's the small that pull publicity, not those who need actual help and reform. Douche bag.
I think it's high time we put some serious thought into doing something about the rampant mental illness that is running amuck unchecked, along with some seriously harsher punishment for those that misuse firearms. But what the hell, that just makes wayyy too much sense. Don't it?
I agree, along with holding owners responsible to keep the safe.
Spare us your hypocrisy. You oppose Obamacare which will give access to mental health millions who can't afford it. Actually, you probably advocate serious budget cuts to programs for the poor which contain the most deranged minds so comon among the homeless
"along with holding owners responsible to keep the safe."
I totally agree SD.
"You oppose Obamacare which will give access to mental health millions who can't afford it. Actually, you probably advocate serious budget cuts to programs for the poor which contain the most deranged minds so comon among the homeless"
You're talking out your ass Moooochele.
REALLY?
I used the online calculator to see what Obamacare FORCES me to pay. Almost $400 per month!
THAT is why many have no insurance now!
I'll pay $400 per month for full health care.......better than having the public pay for it with higher premiums.
WELCOME TO.........."THE UNITED GUNS OF AMERICA"
Oh give it a rest warped-one.
woodysr............
"WELCOME TO THE UNITED GUNS OF AMERICA"
Warped,
In checking your history, you only post anti NRA, anti 2nd and generally ignorant, shallow rants against firearms. I won't waste my time reading your pap so "Ignore" is for you! Why not reciprocate?
I live close by, and what they don't tell you in this story is: Aurora isn't the best part the Denver Burbs, What use to be a black area is being run over with mexes, alot of which are illegals...So Hey, Somebody got shot? "it's expected" don't ban guns, ban Aurora...
The ethnic melting pot of the world, aka America, is the most violent society on earth simply for that very reason. Humanity was never intended for the mixing and mingling of races like what goes on in the ethnic melting pot America has become. Just my honest opinion.
Did I post this here yet?
Hey Dems.... Remember this?
One year after signing the Brady Law, White House lobbying also played a role in the passage of the 1994 Crime Bill, which included the assault weapons ban. The law banned certain semi-automatic firearms with two or more specific design features, and also prohibited the manufacture of ammunition magazines that held over ten rounds.
Although initially heralded as a victory for Clinton and Democrats in congress, it proved costly. The bill energized the NRA and Republican base, and contributed to the Republican takeover of both houses in the 1994 mid-term elections. Many Democrats who had supported Clinton's gun control measures were ousted, including Speaker Tom Foley. Clinton acknowledged that he had hurt Democrats with his victories.
Clinton continued to push further regulations of firearms in his second term, especially after the Columbine High School massacre. Little success came out of his efforts though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_control_policy_of_the_Clinton_Administration
Is there a point hidden in there somewhere?
Yup...
We finally got a reason to wake up from our apathy and fight for our rights again...
Was Monica helping Bill at the time? What was Hilliary up to back then?
pats........
gun violence went down under Clinton. In fact it went down 40%. It dropped 8 years in a row. so what is your point?
Want a point? Try this:
All these anti-gun people have NEVER explained this to me.
When I was young and anyone could buy any gun, even by mail in CT, the stats from the FBI were this:
Connecticut Crime Index Rates Per 100,000 Inhabitants
Violent: 33.6
Murder: 1.0
Now with some of the toughest gun laws In the nation:
Violent: 272.8
Murder: 3.6
PLEASE explain how all these new laws made us safer in Connecticut!
And PLEASE explain how the Democrats trying to pass even more will help us now even one tiny bit!
They cannot. But even IF they could they wouldn't. It doesn't fit their insane agenda of destroying America one jack-booted step at a time.
"All these anti-gun people have NEVER explained this to me."
And they never ever will. The agenda is to ban firearms, it is not to stop violence. Once firearms are banned and the constitution and the bill of rights are made null and void, then, and only then can the democrat backed global elitists usher in their one world government, and that is what ALL of this is about. at some time in the future we will either have to go to war with them and crush them like a bug, or live under their dictatorial rule. Period.
Just another day in the USA. When will these stupid, redneck gun lovers admit that it's time to do something.
They're already doing something everyday!
Sorry, couldn't resist and you did make a valid statement.
Guess what? The "stupid, redneck gun lovers" that you are referring to are responsible for about 1% of the violent crime in this country. What law-abiding gun owners are saying is that they shouldn't be blamed or punished for the actions of street gangs, convicted felons, and drug dealers in the big cities.
People like you, who obviously have the mentality that a company should fire all 1,000 employees because one of them shows up late all the time, are a big part of the problem in this country. Your ignorance of the situation and refusal to acknowledge and address the real issues result in more problems.
" When will these stupid, redneck gun lovers admit that it's time to do something."
We have. We want something done about the crazy element of society that is being allowed by you dems to run amuck unchecked. And we also want something done about the lax penalties on criminals. That's where we stand. Sorry you and your ilk doesn't see it that wazy.
Just wait a little bit, someone will say the gunman had a Bushmaster AR15.
The founding fathers could never have envisioned TV, or media outlets making martyrs out of murderers. We don't let them publish the names of female rape vics, and we shouldn't let them post the names (or pictures) of murderers. Want to be famous? Kill people. MSNBC will put your name and picture on the front page, and keep it there for weeks.
Hey clown, what about this from 1986?
The Connecticut state Constitution states “Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself"
Wonder what the FF's would have thought of all those dead kids at Columbine
bob........
They would probably rewrite the 2nd amendment. They would also add a new amendment that would make it easier to get some of these jerks out of congress.
They would ask why the teachers hadn't shot them.
I don't know. But they didn't have telephones, televisions, or the internet back then so I guess the libs had better do away with freedom of speech(expression)!
Let’s say for sake or argument that you (anti-gun folk) are
at a supermarket and a nut job comes into the store and starts firing away at
the customers. Here you are face to face with the guy pointing the weapon at you
and you are moments away from meeting your maker, when a law abiding permit
toting guy or gal pulls out his or her weapon and puts the wacko down just
before he puts one between your eyes. So what do you do?
A- Chastise
the individual that just saved your life for carrying a handgun?
B- Or thank the person for just saving your
bacon.
Let’s say for sake or argument that you (anti-gun folk) are
at a supermarket and a nut job comes into the store and starts firing away at
the customers. Here you are face to face with the guy pointing the weapon at you
and you are moments away from meeting your maker, when a law abiding permit
toting guy or gal pulls out his or her weapon and puts the wacko down just
before he puts one between your eyes. So what do you do?
A-Chastise the individual that just saved your life for carrying a handgun?
or
B-Thank the person for just saving your bacon.
It’s that simple folks. If you choose not to carry a handgun
then that is great. But don’t criticize or attack the ones who do, they might
just be the one to save your life or a member of your family when the stuff
hits the fan. It’s the individual that makes the decision to kill. The gun is
just a convenient means in which to do it. That doesn’t make the gun evil…only
the person who uses it for that purpose.
Hey let's pretend a Martian comes in with an atomic disintegrator, while you're at it.
The best solution is not to have guns. Funny how we're the only advanced country with a quotidian massacre problem
Bob do you mean to tell me that you and your ilk truly believe that if all the guns were confiscated from the law abiding public that the criminal element would just somehow miraculously become unarmed as well? If you do, you are crazy as hell buddy.
david.........
you are at sleep at night. you have a gun on your night stand. a gun toting wacko sneeks into your house. you don't hear him. you are suddenly awaken by a shot. your daughter(Godforbid) is shot and killed. you didn't have a chance to hear her fight or scream because she was killed instantly by the gun. now who do you blame?
david.........
you are at sleep at night. you have a gun on your night stand. a gun toting wacko sneeks into your house. you don't hear him. you are suddenly awaken by a shot. your daughter(Godforbid) is shot and killed. you didn't have a chance to hear her fight or scream because she was killed instantly by the gun. now who do you blame?
david.........
you are at sleep at night. you have a gun on your night stand. a gun toting wacko sneeks into your house. you don't hear him. you are suddenly awaken by a shot. your daughter(Godforbid) is shot and killed. you didn't have a chance to hear her fight or scream because she was killed instantly by the gun. now who do you blame?
it's that simple folks...........if the perp didn't have a gun the victim might of screamed and been heard possibly saving her life.
Anyone who doesn't take the precautionary measures to make sure that a criminal cannot enter their home in the niddle of the night w/o being detected? Sounds like a fantasy land dreaming liberal to me.
I'd say you have delusions of grandeur
Holmes better be found sane to stand trial. Colorado hasn't had a hanging in a while. Maybe it is time.
Or they could ship him to Utah where they still use firing squads. As far as anti gun bravado is concerned, sellers of guns and ammo, use your heads. If you see someone, squirrelly looking, coming into your store to buy even a hundred rounds of 9mm or 223 ammo, just say no thanks, pal!
What ever happened to common sense as well as gun safety?
Let's see...you're in business to see guns and ammo. Someone comes in waving lots of money. Squirrely can't compare to green
Tom, executions have never stopped further killings from happening. Now if you want to shoot killers just to feel better, then have at it. Just don't say it will deter fruther killings.
As for not selling guns or ammo to "squirrelly looking" people, even they have the absolute right to buy and use guns. All I hear and read is that gun controls (like registration, training and safety) don't lessen the chance of killings and cannot be imposed under the 2nd Amendment. What I hear is that 2nd amendment rights are absolute.
Let's see...Columbine, Aurora twice...maybe the NRA should move their HQ there. Human hunting seems to be a popular use of guns.
Maybe The Democrats should move to Waco then.
The paperwork on the AR-15 components cited in the affidavit showed they were in fact legal semi-automatics; however, Aguilera told the judge: "I know based on my training and experience that an AR-15 is a semi-automatic rifle practically identical to the M-16 rifle. [...] I have been involved in many cases where defendants, following a relatively simple process, convert AR-15 semi-automatic rifles to fully automatic rifles of the nature of the M-16. [...] Often times templates, milling machines, lathes and instruction guides are used by the converter."[29] Aguilera stated in the affidavit and later testified at trial that a neighbor had heard machine-gun fire. However Aguilera failed to tell the magistrate that the same neighbor had previously reported the noise to the local Waco sheriff, who investigated the neighbor's complaint.
"Paul Fatta, who was also involved in the failed takeover of the group in 1987, told The New York Times that Koresh and he had visited the sheriff after the surveillance had been spotted and claimed that the sheriff's office told them their guns were legal"
More children, and even pregnant women, died thanks to government trying to enforce gun laws back then than died in Newtown!
And if they ever try to conficate there will be a WHOLE LOT MORE!
Waco? Yes, where child molesters killed 4 cops? Seems you like the idea.
bob..........what pats is saying is that even child molesters like Koresh need to have their 2nd amendment rights protected. As for the children he held hostage, well the 2nd amendment doesn't mention them.
Everyone has seen Michele 666 Bachmann's insanity on TV. Would you trust her going into the House of Representatives with a gun? Sure as hell I would not. Neither would I allow Sarah Palin. "Two who flew over the cooko's nest"
I don't care about them at all. I am not even a Republican.
But I will do all I can to chase any Democrat, or Republican out of DC forever that supports this gun control garbage that only makes things worse!
Maybe if the shootings were not so sensationalized the gunmen would not feel the urge to "take people with them." Let's face it, these guys are losers who would normally just shoot themselves in their garage...
Now - if we just had a good guy in every home with a gun - or maybe two good guys and two guns - why, this would have never happened.
We just do not have enough guns.
That is the problem.
Of course.
Everybody needs to be X-Rayed, and a policeman in every home, to protect us of course. Hey, it worked for the airlines, I don't think any us Americans will run an airliner into buildings again. Right Ollie?
What the hell they drinking in the water in Aurora? Won't be long that the USA will become the Wild Wild west again. So what state should we designate as the "bad Lands". Crazy I tell you, just plain crazy!!!
It's all that pot that we are growing here.
I thought pot was supposed to mellow you out? Why is everone so uptight out there? LOL
True, but you get this awful urge for munchies and no hostess ding dongs to fill that urge.
Good news that the criminal is dead!
However why did the armed police who all the libs think are the only answer to self-protection not save the lives of the other three persons?
Terry...
Because they were apparently relatives all together at the time of the assault--no home invasion or Martian invaison--just your everyday family murder and or suicide
Why did a gun owner kill 3? Why were the cops even needed?
But the police should have been there to protect the family. Isn't that why the idiot libs say only police need firearms? The police are magically going to protect all citizens?
Are you gun owners going to call the police to sit down at a family dinner to prevent a family shooting? When are you gun lovers going to acknowledge your greatest risk to you and your family is your own gun? (unless you are a gangbanger)
I'm moving this down here for all to see.
derpraw said: "gun violence went down under Clinton. In fact it went down 40%. It dropped 8 years in a row. so what is your point?"
I replied:
Want a point? Try this:
All these anti-gun people have NEVER explained this to me.
When I was young and anyone could buy any gun, even by mail in CT, the stats from the FBI were this:
Connecticut Crime Index Rates Per 100,000 Inhabitants
Violent: 33.6
Murder: 1.0
Now with some of the toughest gun laws In the nation:
Violent: 272.8
Murder: 3.6
PLEASE explain how all these new laws made us safer in Connecticut!
And PLEASE explain how the Democrats trying to pass even more will help us now even one tiny bit!
pats ......
you answered your own question. let's see if anyone else can find the answer. it is in your dialogue.
Simple Patsy,
Surprised you don't get it.
The gun laws are inconsistent across states and private party sales. We are awash in gun and drowning in them compared to when you were young. More guns = more gun deaths. Very simple indeed.
Gun control laws save lives:
theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/01/the-geography-of-gun-deaths/69354/
Gun control laws save lives:
theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/01/the-geography-of-gun-deaths/69354/
Does that link include anything in it about gun laws saving lives in Chicago?
Thsanks Bob,
Answers a lot of questions about gun violence
Colorado is a total mess right now and legalizing marijuana will increase the crime rates in this state and possibly increase the violent crime rate even more. Sad!
This person was probably trained by the same people who trained the theater shooter. It's all a Democratic plot to get the public in an uproar over guns.
Why do you think these mentally challenged people are going on shooting rampages all of a sudden? They are being coerced by someone with an ulteior motive.
It's not necessarily the dems per se Frank, but the new world order global elists like Michael Bloomberg, whom the dems worship, and their desire to take this nation down in order to put into place their much coveted and sought after one world government. They know that they will never succeed until they abolish the constitution AND bill of rights, and that is exactly what their motive is.
That's true, and guns stand in their way. There is no way, short of nuclear weapons, that any country in the world, including our own, can defeat us if we are armed as the Constitution dictates.
time to help the nut cases.
Liberals are beyond help, too late!
Liberals aren't the ones who view body counts as bad publicity. Just who is it that needs psychiatric help? Is it the people who grieve for the dead or the people who get irritated with them for being foolish enough to die? I actually read one post that called a victim of gun violence a stupid c*nt for not getting out of the way of the bullet. I call that pretty sick.