At least 20 hurt after shooting during ‘Dark Knight’ screening in Aurora, Colorado

Updated at 4:40 a.m. ET: At least 20 people were hurt early Friday following a shooting at a movie theater near Denver, police said.

The incident occurred in Aurora, Colo., during a midnight showing of the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises,” a police official told NBC News.

Brenda Stuart, of 850 KOA radio, told Britain’s Sky News that “a lot of people thought the gunshots were part of the movie.”

“They heard what they thought were firecrackers,” she added, citing witnesses. “Then they saw the bullets flying.”

Eyewitness reports said the assailant may have been wearing a gas mask, Stuart said.
Tear gas went off in the Century 16 Movie Theaters at the Aurora Town Center following the gunfire, Stuart said. She added that bullets had passed from one theater into an adjoining one.

Police spokeswoman Cassidee Carlson said “the scene is still very active.”