Did Colorado shooter single out Cinemark theater because it banned guns?

[mmckee1952]

With 12 dead and 58 wounded, the July 20th shooting at the Cinemark Century 16 Theater in Aurora, Colorado was sure to result in a lawsuit. On Friday, the first suit was announced, claiming Cinemark has “primary responsibility.”The theater did have responsibility for the attack, but not for the reasons that the lawyers bringing the case think.

The lawyer bringing the suit, Attorney Marc Bern, with the New York city law firm of Napoli, Bern, Ripka and Scholonik, suggested the theater should have had security guards the night of the attack. Yet, checking bags or metal detectors at the front of the theater that night wouldn’t have prevented the attack. The killer brought his guns in through an emergency backdoor.

Read the rest of this article here.

 

[UATKP]

Very interesting article, MMckee, thanks for posting. John Lott is very articulate, and it looks like he did the research... wonder where he calls home?
Thanks again.

 

[gsim]

That is an interesting article. I would call into question a lot of the assumptions he is making. I used to live extremely close to where the shooter lived. I currently work in the same department as he did at UC AMC. The 1st major flaw is that Aurora is not a low crime area. The primary reason I moved is because of crime. In the 6 years I lived in Aurora I had my house robbed 2 separate times (the second time I was repeatedly robbed every time me or the police left for 3 straight days..a whole story unto itself). Aurora (A-town) is notorious in CO and metro Denver as crime ridden and filled with gangs.

The closest movie theater at 1.2 miles away is a latin movie theater that primarily shows 1-2 month old movies dubbed in spanish, typically barely attended.

Then there is largest theater over in stapleton which is huge, nice, and crowded. I suspect this theater was not chosen for a number of reasons. Parking is difficult and the shopping center is convoluted. I doubt he would have been able to park close enough to get in and out of a back door from his car armed without being noticed. If he planned on getting away afterward the larger theater is difficult to get out of, while the theater he did shoot up has relatively easy egress and long straight roads pretty close to nowhere or highways.

Researching on google maps and the internet might be cost effective, but it fails to get any real insight. I doubt the ability to carry in which theater came into play. The larger (stapleton) theater is quite a bit nicer and the few times I have been there I have seen security/police. The Cinemark theater he did shoot up is in a much rougher part of town. I'd imaging most busy nights there are probably several gang bangers/others armed in or outside that theater.

All the other theaters mentioned are pretty far away. 20 minutes away in Denver (sans traffic) would be clear on the other side of the city. I can get from my house to that theater in 20 minutes without traffic (but it is damn far).

I highly doubt other folks ability to carry really played into the shooters thought process, and it was likely more of where can get park near the back and get in and out easily.

One thing that did occur to me after the shooting was why didn't he choose work. The building that he works in is a 9 story research building with the east half controlled by card access and the west half being offices. Fire alarms are fairly common in the building and a lot of people rarely evacuate when they do go off. The shooter likely could have shot up floor by floor for a while before the police got there to stop him (most of the regular security are senior citizens). However, just this spring CU was sued and forced to allow carry by students and staff on campus by the CO supreme court. I feel like work might have been a target (the place that kicked him out of school) had they not been forced to repeal their carry ban. I'd bet that change of that policy probably saved some of my friends and co-workers lives.

I was fortunately to be out of the country when the attack occurred, but it has been quite a hassle dealing with the fallout of it both in the community, and at work. I just wish the shrink he was seeing had the guts to just get this guy committed before he went and did this.

 

[mmckee1952]

Gsim, I agree, great insight guy, once I heard the info about him getting booted off campus, I thought that would have been the place he would have gone, but, I’ll bet there’s a whole crap load of police there on campus, so he took least means of resistance. The fact that his lawyers are trying to get him off on the insanity plea is complety asinine, anyone who can plan the movie theater and booby trapping his apartment in minute detail months in advance and preform at a PhD level isn’t anywhere close to being insane, stupid maybe, but not insane period.

 

[missoak]

With few exceptions, most gun violence of this type, takes place where guns are prohibited.
Schools, are NO GUN ZONES in most states, yet a lot of carnage has gone on there.
Gun banning is not the answer. There has to be better ways to weed these morons out, &
prevent them from getting weapons in the first place.
The moral fiber in this country has gone down the tubes. When I was a kid, ( long time ago ),
I could walk into the hardware store here in town, & but any kind of ammo I needed, without question.
But I don't remember any one doing so & then killing a bunch of grade school kids with it.
I think folks in authority, should step up & say, "hey, this guy is not right. I should let someone know".
But for the most part everyone just wants to mind their own business, & let the chips fall as they may.