AURORA, Colo. -- Ashley Moser drifted in and out of consciousness in the ICU, a bullet lodged in her throat and a gunshot wound to her abdomen. In her waking moments, she called for her 6-year-old daughter Veronica.
Nobody had the heart to tell the 25-year-old mother that Veronica was already dead, the youngest victim killed at a Colorado movie theater in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.
"All she's asking about, of course, is her daughter," said Annie Dalton, who is Ashley Moser's aunt.
Dalton said Veronica was "a vibrant 6-year-old. She was excited, she'd just learned how to swim. She was a great little girl, excited about life – she should be at 6 years old."
The little girl was among those who died when a gunman barged into a crowded theater in a Denver suburb, set off gas canisters and opened fire, killing 12 people and wounding 58 others.
Colorado authorities Saturday released the names of the victims killed in the rampage. There were eight men, three women and Veronica Moser-Sullivan, the youngest slain. Gordon Cowden was the oldest. He was 51. All died of gunshot wounds, according to the release by the Arapahoe County coroner's office.
One of the 12, Matthew McQuinn, has been tentatively identified and is awaiting final identification, though his family's attorney confirmed to The Associated Press that McQuinn was among those killed.
Rob Scott of Dayton, Ohio, said McQuinn died after diving in front of his girlfriend and her older brother to shield them from the gunfire.
His girlfriend, Samantha Yowler, was in fair condition after being shot in the knee. Her brother, Nick Yowler, was not injured.
The couple had moved to Colorado from Ohio last fall, Scott said.
For Alex Sullivan, it was to be a weekend of fun: He planned to ring in his 27th birthday with friends at the special midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" and then celebrate his first wedding anniversary Sunday.
Late Friday, Sullivan's family confirmed that police told them he was among those killed.
"He was a very, very good young man," said Sullivan's uncle, Joe Loewenguth. "He always had a smile, always made you laugh. He had a little bit of comic in him. Witty, smart. He was loving, had a big heart."
Micayla Medek, 23, also was killed.
Her father's cousin, Anita Busch, told the Associated Press that the news, while heartbreaking, was a relief for the family after an agonizing day.
"You can't go that long without knowing," she said. "I hope this evil act ... doesn't shake people's faith in God."
Navy cryptologist John Larimer went to the theater with three other sailors from nearby Buckley Air Force Base, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Jakuboski said. Larimer was shot and killed, and Jakuboski said losing Larimer felt like losing "one of my sons."
"Losing a sailor, whether it's in combat or whether it's in a horrific domestic situation like this, it's hard. It's tough," he said.
Larimer's family said his brother is working with the Navy to take his body home to Crystal Lake, Ill.
An Air Force reservist who worked at Buckley also was killed in the rampage. Sgt. Jesse Childress, 29, was a cyber-systems operator from Thornton, Colo., said Air Force Capt. Andrew Williams.
Williams described Childress as knowledgeable, experienced and respectful. He says Childress was athletic and played in a kickball and volleyball tournament on base. "He was always our star," Williams said.
A vigil was to be held Saturday night for Alexander J. Boik of Aurora. His family issued a statement saying that he was loved by all that knew him and was dating "a beautiful young lady" who was with him at the theater and survived.
"We want to try and focus on the beautiful lives that were ended and not the evil that is responsible," the family said.
The family of Cowden, another Aurora resident, didn't want to speak to the press Saturday afternoon.
After graduating from high school in Reno, Nev., victim Jonathan Blunk, 26, of Aurora, Colo., served in the Navy between 2004 and 2009 and most recently worked at a hardware store, according to close friend James Gill of Brighton, Colo.
Blunk had plans to re-enlist with a goal of becoming a Navy SEAL, said Gill, who lived with Blunk several years in the Navy and later in Aurora.
Gill described his friend as an avid outdoorsman and gun rights advocate.
"Pretty much every weapon the guy in the theater used he owned," Gill said. "If you asked if he was still alive, he would have said his only regret is he didn't have his sidearm with him and he couldn't do anything to stop him."
Victim Rebecca Ann Wingo, 32, had started a job several months ago as a customer relations representative at a mobile medical imaging company.
Shannon Dominguez, who worked with Wingo on weekends, said she was friendly with everyone and always seemed to be in a good mood.
"I didn't really know her well but she had a really bubbly personality," Dominguez said. "She was a pretty happy person. She just never really seemed ... like with work, she never got irritated. She was pretty happy to be here."
Alexander C. Teves, 24, graduated in June from the University of Denver with a master's degree in counseling psychology, the school said.
The university identified Teves' hometown as Phoenix. School officials said they had no other information immediately available.
An aspiring sports reporter who recently wrote a blog post about surviving a Toronto shooting was killed, the woman's brother said.
The death of Jessica Ghawi, who was also known as Jessica Redfield, was a "complete and utter shock," said her brother, Jordan Ghawi.
Jessica Ghawi, 24, moved to Denver from Texas about a year ago and friends and colleagues described her as outgoing, smart and witty.
Ghawi blogged at length about surviving the Eaton Centre mall shooting in Toronto that killed two people and sent several others to the hospital.
Jessica Ghawi wrote of the Toronto shooting: "I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders' faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don't know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath."
ABC on Sunday aired a clip of shooting suspect James Eagen Holmes. The clip showed Holmes discussing the idea of "temporal illusion" at science camp when he was 18.
"It's an illusion that allows you to change the past," he says.
To watch the video, click here.
Authorities have identified the 12 victims who were killed early Friday morning in the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting.
The deceased included an aspiring sports reporter, a 6-year-old girl and a man celebrating his birthday.
For more about the victims, read the AP's report.Audio of the first hour of the police and fire response to the Colorado shooting was made available this weekend via RadioReference.com.
To listen to the recordings, click here (warning: extremely graphic content).
James Holmes' gun jammed during the attack, a law enforcement source told the Associated Press.
The claim was made based on leftover bullets found in a magazine at the crime scene, the official said. The jam likely caused the suspect to change weapons in the middle of the attack.
More on this story here.
Local station FOX31 reports:
Sources tell Justin Joseph someone made either a call or a text from the person of interest's phone threatening violence if James Egan Holmes was not released from jail. That call prompted police to issue an alert to find and detain him.
Click here to read more.
From the AP:
Holmes apparently had prepared the attack at the Aurora theater well in advance, receiving multiple deliveries by mail for four months to his home and school and buying thousands rounds of ammunition on the Internet, Oates said."He had a high volume of deliveries," Oates said. "We think this explains how he got his hands on the magazine, ammunition," he said, as well as the rigged explosives in his apartment.
"What we're seeing here is evidence of some calculation and deliberation," Oates added.
Read more here.
From HuffPost's Sam Stein:
The White House announced on Saturday night that the president will make a stop in Aurora this Sunday. The guidance, which does not say whether or not President Obama will make public remarks (as he did following the Giffords shooting), is copied below:
On Sunday, the President will depart the White House en route Colorado. The departure from the South Lawn and arrival at Buckley Air Force Base are open press. In Aurora, Colorado, the President will visit with families of victims of the shooting as well as local officials. In the evening, the President will depart Aurora, Colorado en route San Francisco, California. The departure from Buckley Air Force Base and arrival at San Francisco International Airport are open press.The President will spend the night in San Francisco.
The New York Times has more details about James Holmes, including details from his day-to-day life:
"...Mr. Holmes struggled through his first academic year at the University of Colorado, Denver, and had dropped out by this spring. Neighbors from his gang-ridden neighborhood in Aurora described him as a solitary figure, recognizable as one of the few white residents of a largely Hispanic neighborhood, and always alone. Alone as he bought beer and liquor at neighborhood shops, as he ate burritos at La California restaurant or got his car fixed at the Grease Monkey auto shop. Alone as he rode his bicycle through the streets."
Read more here.
The AP has a complete list of Aurora shooting victims. View it here.
A profile on a popular sex website appearing to be that of Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes is authentic ... so say sources connected to the website.As TMZ first reported, the profile appeared on the website adultfriendfinder.com just days before the "Dark Knight Rises" massacre. The profile included a cryptic message on the top which reads, "Will you visit me in prison?"
HuffPost's Sharon Carty reports:
When Peter Burns' cell phone rang at 2:15 a.m. Friday, he glanced at the caller ID with eyes blurred from sleep, and decided to ignore it.It was Jordan Ghawi, a family friend. He figured he'd just call him back.
But at 5:15, his phone rang again. This time colleagues from a radio station where he used to work in San Antonio were calling to tell him his friend, and their former intern Jessica Ghawi had been killed the night before at a theater in Aurora, Colo.
At a midnight showing Friday of the latest Batman movie in Aurora, Colo., a gunman, identified by police as 24-year-old James Holmes, opened fire killing 12 people and wounding 58.
Burns, a local morning radio talk show host with Mile High Sports in Denver, had to make a decision: Call out of work, or go on the air. He decided to fill his show talking about his friend to take the focus off the shooter.
"I decided I'll do every single interview if it means we can't get this coward any airtime," Burns told The Huffington Post.
Full story here.
Via HuffPost Denver:
At a Saturday press conference, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates provided details of Holmes' booby-trapped apartment. The place was designed "to kill whoever entered it."
"It was going to be a police officer... we sure as hell are angry," Oates said. "It's mind-boggling for me."
Two devices were set off in the afternoon, and the evidence "will continue to take some time" to gather, Oates said.
Read more here.
Via The Denver Post:
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) is lending a helping hand to those impacted by the Aurora shooting tragedy. All proceeds will go as a match to donations filtered from GivingFirst.org.
"His goal is to raise as much as he can," Cheryl Haggstrom, executive vice president of GivingFirst.org's parent organization, the Community First Foundation, told the Post . "At the time that he boarded the train, he had close to $200,000 in hand. We are thrilled that we can partner with him on this; it is going to make a tremendous difference."
Full story here.
Via The Associated Press:
NEW YORK — Hollywood studios aligned in a rare show of solidarity to give their weekend box-office reporting a rest because of the shootings in Colorado at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises."Sony, Fox, Disney, Universal, Fox and Lionsgate said Saturday that they are joining "Dark Knight Rises" distributor Warner Bros. in withholding their box-office numbers for the weekend.
Warner Bros. announced Friday that it would forgo the usual revenue reports until Monday out of respect for the victims and their families in the shooting that killed 12 and wounded 58 at the midnight show earlier in the day.
Full story here.
Friends have started a Facebook page to memorialize AJ Boik, a high school student from Aurora who they say was killed in Friday's shootings.
"AJ is a Victim of the Dark Night Rises massacre," the page reads. "Like to show your condolences."
Joanne Southard has probably never had a greater vindication of her gut instincts than her decision last April to refuse to rent an apartment to James Holmes.Now, in a building just a block away from the one the 55-year-old manages, Holmes' own apartment is a potentially lethal booby-trap filled with jars of unknown liquids, ammunition, tripwires and possible bombs.
Of course, at the time she rejected him, Southard had no inkling the neat and tidy young man in front of her had the potential to walk into a cinema and shoot 12 people dead.
Full story here.
After police successfully completed a controlled detonation of Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes' apartment, Aurora Police spokesperson Cassidee Carlson noted that the devices were "set up to kill." Police were dealing with dozens of devices, using a careful process to ensure that evidence was not destroyed in the process.
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