WASHINGTON, July 20 � A masked gunman today turned the much-awaited premiere of the latest Batman movie in a US cinema hall into a �horrific� bloodbath, spraying the audience with bullets killing 12 people and leaving 50 others injured in the worst mass shooting incident in the country since 2007, reports PTI
The gunman, dressed in black, wearing a gas mask and a full body armour, marched into the packed theatre in Aurora, a suburb of Denver, Colorado, during a midnight showing of �The Dark Knight Rises� starring Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway.
He entered the theatre through the emergency exit lobbing two canisters that instantly filled the theatre with smoke and then used his automatic rifle to carry out a macabre dance of death.
Citing FBI, American TV networks said the gunman has been identified as 24-year-old James Holmes from Aurora.
Police said 10 people were killed at the scene, while they put the overall death toll to at least 12. Earlier police had said at least 14 people had died but later revised the toll.
A shocked President Barack Obama called the shooting �horrific�, after being told about it shortly before 5:30 am (1530 IST).
