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Protesters rallied at Denver International Airport in January 2017 to demonstrate against President Donald Trump's travel ban.

Aurora Theater Shooting Survivor Grapples With Trump's Travel Ban

By Conor McCormick-Cavanagh

Jul 20, 2018

Zara Ahmed survived the Aurora theater shooting. But as a Somali-American, she must now confront the Trump administration travel ban.

Road to Change Brought Town Hall on Gun Violence to Denver

By Conor McCormick-Cavanagh

Jul 14, 2018

Activists emphasized that race must be part of the discussion.

Officers responding to the May 18 shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas.

Aurora Theater Attack Victim's Parents Visit Santa Fe, Texas

By Michael Roberts

May 23, 2018

After the May 18 assault at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, in which eight students and two teachers were killed and thirteen wounded, Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, who became gun law reform activists following the murder of their daughter, Jessica Ghawi, during the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, traveled to the scene with the goal of using their experience to help prepare those who lost loved ones for the many traumas to come.

The billboard targeting Representative Mike Coffman is located near Exposition Avenue and South Monaco Parkway.

Three Billboards Movie Inspires Attack on Mike Coffman and the NRA

By Michael Roberts

Apr 25, 2018

Inspired by the acclaimed movie Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, the parents of Jessica Ghawi, who was among twelve people killed in the July 2012 Aurora theater shooting, are behind a campaign to use outdoor advertising to shame Representative Mike Coffman and other opponents of gun-control legislation.

Booking photos of Nikolas Cruz and James Holmes.

Parkland School Shooter's Fans Echo Those of Aurora Theater Shooter

By Michael Roberts

Apr 3, 2018

Recent reports that Nikolas Cruz, who shot and killed seventeen people at Parkland, Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, has been inundated with fan mail and inspired the forming of alternately sympathetic and worshipful social media groups echo some of the disturbing responses that followed the July 20, 2012 Aurora theater shooting, when James Holmes took twelve lives and injured seventy other patrons at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises.

Lieutenant John Coppedge with a police-department recruit.

For Building Warriors, Culture Is Key to Mental Health of First Responders

By Lila Thulin

Oct 11, 2017

A 2015 survey found that 86 percent of emergency medical services personnel reported critical stress; a job that entails frequent exposure to others’ once-in-a-lifetime tragedies takes a toll. But now programs like Building Warriors are teaching that culture is key to the mental health of these first responders.

A screen capture from a video taken in the immediate aftermath of the Las Vegas mass shooting.

Mass Shootings: At Least 1,864 From Aurora Theater Tragedy to Las Vegas

By Michael Roberts

Oct 2, 2017

At this writing, at least fifty people are reportedly dead and hundreds more were wounded after a mass shooting attack by Stephen Paddock during a Jason Aldean appearance outside the Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas on Sunday night, October 1. These numbers make it the deadliest event of its kind in U.S. history, but hardly an isolated one. In the five years-plus since July 20, 2012, when twelve people were killed and seventy were injured during James Holmes's attack at the Century 16 theater in Aurora, 1,864 incidents like it have taken place, according to online estimates.

James Holmes's Post-"Satan's Lake of Fire" Moves Land Him in Pennsylvania

By Michael Roberts

Sep 28, 2017

Aurora theater shooter James Holmes has been on the move within the prison system since a 2015 attack on him by Mark "Slim" Daniels, who apologized in a letter to our Alan Prendergast for being unable to send the man who killed twelve people and injured seventy others at the Aurora Century 16 theater on July 20, 2012, to "Satan's lake of fire." Now, for the first time in more than a year, we finally know his location. At present, he's being held at the United States penitentiary in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.

Matt Vogl's Mental Breakthrough: From Suicide to a New Center

By Lila Thulin

Sep 26, 2017

Instead of ending his career, Matt Vogl’s raw honesty about his bipolar diagnosis and thoughts of suicide opened a new chapter. Four years later, he heads the National Mental Health Innovation Center, an Anschutz Foundation-backed, $10 million startup of his own design.

Aurora Theater Shooting 5 Years Later: 20 Stories We Posted the Day It Happened

By Michael Roberts

Jul 20, 2017

Five years ago today, James Holmes killed twelve people and injured seventy others during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises at the Century 16 theater in Aurora. In the 24 hours afterward, Westword published twenty stories that, when viewed in retrospect, capture the terror and confusion unleashed by this horrific crime.

DA's Regrets About Seeking Death for Aurora Theater Killer

By Michael Roberts

Oct 20, 2016

George Brauchler is seeking reelection as district attorney for the 18th Judicial District, but it's not exactly a race. The Democrats didn't bother putting up a candidate for the office, and even if they had, Brauchler, a GOP up-and-comer who flirted with a U.S. Senate run before changing his mind, would...

Donald Trump Jr. Aurora Theater Shooting Joke and 9 More Almost as Bad

By Michael Roberts

Oct 19, 2016

Donald Trump Jr. made plenty of news during his visit to Colorado this week — a lot of it embarrassing or worse. Junior was denied a campaign stop at the Sink in Boulder around the same time that remarks surfaced about a joke he'd made about the Aurora theater shooting. On...

Aurora Theater Owner Drops Demand That Victims Pay $700K in Legal Fees

By Michael Roberts

Sep 14, 2016

The wheels of justice grind slowly — especially when it comes to the Aurora theater shooting. In October 2012, we told you about a lawsuit filed against Cinemark, owner of the Century 16 theater where James Holmes killed twelve people and injured seventy others on July 20 of that year,...

James Holmes's Mom Breaks Silence: "This Is a Broken Woman"

By Michael Roberts

May 13, 2016

The parents of mass murderers often refrain from speaking publicly about their homicidal children for long periods of time. Note that Sue Klebold, son of Columbine killer Dylan Klebold, waited for nearly seventeen years after the 1999 attack to sit for TV conversations in conjunction with a book, A Mother's...

Aurora Theater Shooting Case Cost Colorado $4.5 Million — and Counting

By CU News Corp: Carol McKinley, Lo Snelgrove, Peri Duncan

Dec 23, 2015

No one knows exactly how much taxpayer money was spent on the Aurora theater shooting case, but the three-year investigation/trial was surely one of the most — if not the most — expensive in Colorado history. Figures obtained by CU News Corps from several public agencies reveal that the investigation...

End of Aurora Theater Shooting Trial: "Get the Defendant Out of My Courtroom"

By Michael Roberts

Aug 27, 2015

The first post in Westword's Aurora Theater Shooting archive was published early on July 20, 2012. It's very simple headline reads, "Videos: Aurora Century 16 Shooting at The Dark Knight Rises." Since then, we've published hundreds of posts about the horrific acts that took place that night, with topics including the first...

Aurora Theater Shooter James Holmes Sentenced to Life in Prison

By Melanie Asmar

Aug 7, 2015

James Holmes will spend the rest of his life in prison. On Friday, three and a half months after Holmes's trial began, a jury of nine women and three men delivered his punishment. Judge Carlos Samour read the verdicts just after 5 p.m. They were all the same. “We, the...

Aurora Theater Shooting Jury: Death Penalty Still on the Table

By Melanie Asmar

Aug 3, 2015

The death penalty is still a possibility for Aurora theater shooting gunman James Holmes. Starting tomorrow, the jurors in his trial are expected to hear from the loved ones of the twelve people he murdered in the attack. Their testimony will make up the third and final phase of the...

Inside the Courtroom As the Aurora Theater Shooting Verdicts Were Read

By Melanie Asmar

Jul 17, 2015

It was only a few minutes. But in the hushed courtroom, where nearly all eyes were on the judge Thursday afternoon, the wait for the verdicts seemed like it lasted many more. The jury had entered moments before with an armful of manila envelopes. Inside were 165 verdict forms, one...

Jury in Aurora Theater Shooting Case Must Decide if Gunman Was Insane

By Melanie Asmar

Jul 15, 2015

Did James Holmes know right from wrong when he walked into a sold-out Aurora movie theater nearly three years ago and began shooting? Or was he so mentally ill that he can't be held responsible for murdering twelve people and injuring seventy others? That's what a jury will have to decide...

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