James Holmes: Stealer of Lives
Just recently, on the first day of the release of The Dark Knight, a senseless and very tragic thing happened right here in this country in the peaceful state of Colorado. The city of Aurora (population 325,078, 2010 census) is one of the principle cities of the Denver Metropolitan Area. This city is where the event took place. This occurrence was so heart breaking that President Barak Obama had to be alerted (ABC News). Overall, 11 people were killed, 12 others are in critical condition, and several dozen are injured (USA Today). The Dark Knight, a new movie expected to have a massive first day sale turnout, was released at midnight of July 20th 2012 (Yahoo News). The name of the suspect in this mass murder case is James Holmes. Holmes is a 24 year old graduate student in the Neuroscience department of University of Colorado (USA Today). According to Dan Meyers, communication director for the University Of Colorado School Of Medicine, Holmes was not in medical school. He was just a graduate student who worked in the medical school research facilities on campus (USA Today). In the sold-out movie theatre, Holmes dressed himself up in full-body armor (black bullet proof gear, helmet, gas mask, goggles, black gloves, vest, leggings and a groin and throat protector), dyed his hair red and told the police he is the Batman villain known as “The Joker” (CBS News). A suspected number of 70 people were shot by Holmes. He even went as far as to throw tear gas at the crowd (CBS News). A federal law enforcement official said 4 weapons were found when Holmes was arrested – an AR 15 assault rifle, a Remington shotgun and two 40-caliber Glock handguns. All these weapons were purchased within the past six months at Denver and Aurora area gun shops (ABC News). It’s been over 24 hours and the Colorado police are still working their way through Holmes student apartment, which they say has been completely bobby-trapped (ABC News). There is evidence to believe that Holmes has been planning and preparing this assault for a while now. Ordeals like this cannot go unpunished. Holmes needs to be disciplined severely as a warning for every other psychotic persons out there thinking of doing similar tear-bringing things. Managers need to set up protective measures that can prevent or reduce the number of casualties in situations like this. Outcomes that result from occurrences like this can land a major blow on a business, the movie theater in this case.
Adam Ford, “Questions remain over mass shooting at Batman screening in Colo”. CBS NEWS. July 20, 2012. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57476379/questions-remain-over-mass-shooting-at-batman-screening-in-colo/?pageNum=2&tag=contentMain;contentBody Jason Sickles, “Movie theater gunman had been stockpiling arsenal”.
Yahoo News. July 20, 2012. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/police-press-motive-denver-area-movie-massacre-232932177.html Lana Zak, Enjoli Francis, “Couple in Colo. Theater ShootingEscape With Baby and Toddler in Tow”.
ABC News. July 20, 2012 http://news.yahoo.com/couple-colo-theater-shooting-escape-baby-toddler-tow-162024554--abc-news-topstories.html Trevor Hughes, Marisol Bello and Haya El Nasser, “A closer look at Aurora shooting suspect James Holmes”,
USA TODAY. July 21, 2012 http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-07-20/colorado-shooting-holmes/56373668/1
I was surprised to hear about this on Friday morning. I went to the midnight premiere of this movie Thursday night, and I have an aunt that lives in Aurora so the story hit home with me. I agree with you that these kinds of acts can have a huge negative effect on businesses. Public attractions like this movie theater have to start thinking about increased security measures like lighting, security guards, and metal detectors. These costs will be passed on to their suppliers (film studios) and their customers who pay to get into these theaters. It cost me $22 for 2 tickets to the movie on Thursday night, and I'm not sure that I would have paid much more than that. These kinds of ignorant acts have a terrible effect on their community, both morally and financially.
ReplyDeleteI find that I am thinking twice about even attending places like movie theaters, concerts, professional or college games, etc. because of senseless violent acts such as this. You never know when and where something like this may happen. I have never been checked for any type of weapon or anything else when attending a movie, and am barely checked when attending concerts, games, rodeo, etc. I fully expect to have to go through metal detectors before attending movies or any other event in the near future because of this tragedy. Increased security will add cost to movie tickets (and probably even the Junior Mints and popcorn), which are already pricy, making it more expensive for the average person to go the the movie or even other events. Less people will go because it's too expensive or they don't feel safe, and that will hurt business and affect jobs and profits. Public attractions and events will have to invest in more and stronger security now and the cost will be passed on to the public who attends. Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe increased cost for security is the reason that I have to pay $5 for a coke and $8 for a hotdog at Reliant Stadium!
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