AURORA, Colo. — Following a shooting at a screening of the movie “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colo., in which 12 people were killed and dozens more injured, witnesses started to come forward and describe what happened.
Jennifer Seeger, who was sitting in the first few rows, shared with FOX 31 what happened the moment the suspect entered the theatre.
“He came in from the door about four or five feet away from me,” she said. “He came in, and I thought he was a prop. He threw some smoke grenade of some sort.”
Still, Seeger thought it was all part of the movie.
“Then he shot at the ceiling,” she said. “That’s when everybody — just pandemonium.”
Related: 12 Dead in “The Dark Knight Rises” Movie Screening
Shocked and horrified, Seeger said she didn’t know what to do.
“Then he pointed at my face with that gun,” she said. “I was like a deer in head lights. I didn’t know what to do, so I just jumped.”
Jennifer took cover behind the seats, but heard the suspect shooting people behind her.
“I felt gun shells on my forehead, burning,” she said. “There was gun powdered.”
She said the suspect didn’t say anything. He just shot people.
“He was walking up the stairs, and people were running for their lives and he would just shoot them,” she said.
Seeger said she and the people around her crawled behind the seats. She said they planned to play dead if the gunman returned to their area.
“There were so many bodies on the stairs,” she said. “They weren’t moving. I don’t know if they were dead or alive. … I’ve never seen so many people just get slaughtered for no reason.”
Once out of the threatre, Seeger said she bumped into a man who had been shot in the back.
“He was moaning and groaning,” she said. “I took his pulse and it was low.”
Seeger said she tried to drag him out, but the people around her were afraid the gunman was going to return.
“I just dropped him. I left him there,” she said.
Shortly after the shooting, police arrested 24-year-old James Holmes near his car in the parking lot of the theatre. He was dressed in riot gear, but did not resist arrest, police said.
This is a developing story. Read updates here.
