Wow. This news is horrible and dreadfully sad. Last night, as thousands of fans were enjoying the midnight premiere of Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated end to the Batman trilogy, one fan stood up and opened fire on a theater of unsuspecting moviegoers. Eye-witnesses have said that the shooter opened fire about 20 minutes into the movie, and apparently it was a very intense scene. Most people in the theater weren't exactly sure what was happening, and some thought that it was the movie itself, not an actual shooter in the room. The man, later identified as James Holmes (24, white, American) was wearing a gas mask and a bulletproof vest. He had at least two weapons on him, one shotgun and one handgun, and threw gas canisters into the theater before opening fire.

The tragic news affected me much more than I thought it was. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I feel as if this event is always going to overshadow the final Batman, and will make people extremely worried about going to midnight shows in the future. It makes me think: Can shit like this happen at Comic-Con, or other huge events, where thousands of unsuspecting people gather and are victims to one or two crazy people. As of now, there has been no motive released from the police. They have the shooter in custody, and are trying to get into his apartment and see if he has any explosives in there.

What is going to happen now? Will movie theaters have to take new safety precautions? Will there be new policies about instituting metal detectors.. It's a scary future now, and I'm sure I'm going to get long lectures from my mother about my safety every time I go see a movie at midnight.. It's sad, scary, and very real, because, hell, that could have been any of us in that theater. We could have been sitting there, enjoying one of the greatest movies of our lives, and all of a sudden, BAM, a guy is shooting up the theater.

As you can probably tell, I'm confused and saddened by this horrific event. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims and those injured. I hope that the killer is brought to justice, and we can grow stronger from this terrible experience. This particular post doesn’t have any point other than the fact that I wanted to get my thoughts out of my mind and on paper.

I'm still in shock. I hope everyone has a safe weekend. I'm curious to see if/what changes movie theaters will have to make in order to make sure this never, ever happens again. And if you're seeing Dark Knight Rises, be safe, and enjoy it. Don't let this one, sick fucker ruin this weekend for you.