I don’t usually post about news events, but I have been getting emails from people letting me know about a horrendous situation that occurred in Colorado. During a midnight premier of the new Batman movie, a gunman opened up fire. More than ten people have died. Many others are wounded. This tragedy hits close to home since we lived near this area for many years. Our thoughts are with the friends and family of the victims. If you would like to learn more about the incident, please check out this article. These events shock and disturb me. I don’t understand violence, especially when innocent children are killed. I really don’t know what else to say.
50 Year Project 
Just heard on the news here in England and so sad. I love Denver and Colorado is so beautiful, it is hard to think of such things happening there. But of course they do. I hate to go into dangerous waters here, but as long as there are guns freely available how can anyone be shocked? I know, the person not the gun does the crime….but you couldn’t possibly manage such carnage so efficiently and quickly without one! Sad for those who lost their lives, their families and the general population and for those who will forever be damaged by this.
The carnage is appalling. I can’t even imagine the feeling the people in the theater felt when they realized what was happening. So tragic and senseless.
Terrible and so sad. I cannot get my head round it, but then who can? It is as you say senseless and appalling.
I know how you feel…I just can’t understand things like this.
I have been watching on TV, his room was booby trapped and he was a medical student! He must have had a brain storm. Why indeed? so very senseless and sad. I loved your photos by the way and your blog re your family trip to England…hope you all enjoy it – sad about the weather, not usual believe me. Better weather in the week so I hope you all enjoy it.
Dangerous waters yes, but I have to agree with you – the person shoots the gun but if there wasn’t a gun to shoot … I also believe that today’s violent video games have an impact – how can they not when the message is to solve your problems with a gun?
Hi Jane, the weather yesterday was fantastic and we really did enjoy it.
And Lynn, it is dangerous waters. Our society is exposed to so much violence all of the time and it is hard to pinpoint the reasons why someone who is disturbed came to such a tragic decision. I’m sure the defense and prosecution will have many professionals giving their opinions. I hear he will be in court today.
It is and the guy looks as if he has lost his mind. Is he mentally ill?
That I don’t know, but it is hard to think a rational, sane person would do this. I haven’t followed the aftermath too much. I don’t like the way the press hounds people for “breaking news.”
He must be mad, he looked a bit as if he was heavily sedated in court. Tragic, for everyone.
It is tragic that some people hold human life so cheaply while I believe under the right circumstances we are all capable of killing in certain circumstances (for most of us only to protect our children) that so many find it so easy is scary, thoughts and prayers to the families of those grieving this morning
I hope we never have to find out what we would do to protect our loved ones. Thanks for commenting Paula. My thoughts are also with the families.
My alarm clock is set to “wake to music”, and since I get up right at 6am, it’s usually the news that I wake to. This morning the first thing I heard about was the shooting, and I just lay there in shock! I am soooo disturbed by the craziness in the world today. Those poor people were just trying to relax and have a good time, and now all that’s left is devastation! I can’t even begin to imagine what the families of the victims are now going through, and the survivors will never be the same again. What is it going to take for them to realize that gun control is necessary?!? Wow, I am still in shock!!
I couldn’t believe it when I received the first email. The poor families and survivors. So many lives ruined and for what. I’m shocked and depressed. What a horrible situation.
There are just some things in life that are beyond our comprehension. This is definitely one of those.
I agree Grace. Some events are just too horrible to understand.
I will never understand that kind of (what?) behavior. Couple of days ago a bomb kill 6 people (including a pregnant woman) on a bus, minutes after they have arrived on vacation here in Bulgaria. I was shocked, no, beyond shocked – I was stunned. There is no action, no cause, nothing in this world that could reason any kind of violence towards any human being, let along an innocent one. So news like these make me wonder what kind of world we live in.
This news always makes me so angry that others think they have the right to decide if others should die for their beliefs. I didn’t hear about the bomb. How horrible. Seriously, how can people inflict such harm and devastation on innocent people.
You are so right, you know! About my news – a bus with Israeli tourists exploded in Wednesday at Burgas airport. 6 was killed. Horrible, barbaroius….I really don’t know what else to say…
My thoughts are with their friends and family as well. There is so much pain and suffering in this world it really makes me think.
This is so sad. It is all over the news this morning. Twelve dead and fifty wounded. What is our world coming to. We are scheduled to see the movie tomorrow. A little afraid. Can’t understand this type of violence.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
I can understand why you are nervous. I sincerely hope that your movie going experience is only pleasant, as it should always be. No one should live in fear, no matter where they are in the world. I only wish this was always the case. Thanks Francine for commenting and I wish you a wonderful weekend.
It is really dreadful, is he crazy , if so then there just too many crazies around these days
😦
They have it all over CNN at the moment.
But I remember hearing and I think it was yesterday that Rotten Tomatoes got a death threat because somebody wrote a negative review about Batman.
I hadn’t heard of the death threat against Rotten Tomatoes. I’m shaking my head. People should be allowed to have their opinions and not have to fear for their lives. I think the gunman must be crazy and/or severely disturbed, how else could someone perpetrate such an atrocious act. Such needless slaughter and for what cause.
I lived there during Columbine…this news hits me that is for sure.
I was in grad school in Fort Collins when Columbine happened. I know what you mean, the news hits home. Colorado is such a lovely place filled with so many wonderful people. I can’t believe this has happened.
So very sad, so very incomprehensible.
I agree.
This kind of stuff makes me sick tI my stomach. Remember Norways attack last year? Or Colombine another Colorado tragedy. What is wrong with the world and the needless endless. Jolene of war and random shootings is beyond me. Yes it is often easy to blame our gun culture and violent movies but violence and hatred has gone on since mankind. Slavery, colonialism, the Native Mericans, the Holocast. Tragic. Terrible. Let’s all hope for a better world and my heart goes out to those parents who lost their children.
Violence has been always been a part of human history and it is such a sad fact. These tragedies always upset me. Yes, let’s hope and work towards a better world.
I will never understand it as long as I live. The shooter was in med school–how could he end so many lives when he was learning to save them? Those poor families. . . .
So many questions that will probably never be completely answered. I worked at BU Med School when the Craiglist killer was arrested. I didn’t get how a med student could do that then and I don’t get it now. What happened to do no harm?
Exactly. The amount of rage in these people must be at staggering levels.
My thoughts & prayers go out to the people there, it s so sad that this has happened 😦
So sad and incomprehensible for many of us.
I totally understand your unbelief and not understanding. It is hard to imagine how someone gets to the place where they feel that doing something like this is the way to go. It makes me sad. I am praying for them all—- including the shooter.
I saw the news hounding the shooter’s father–I wish our society would learn to leave people alone to grieve. This is tragic for so many.
I have not watched as much of the coverage as I sometimes do just for that reason. I know they want to get the story but I can not even imagine the pain that his family is going through as well as the families of the victims. It is just heartbreaking.
I read this at lunchtime, I just don’t know what to say.
I know how you feel Gilly.
True. This is was an awful, horrific event. My heart and prayers go out to the victims and their families.
I don’t know how people recover from such an event, but I do hope they find some peace and comfort in the future.
I rather agree with the comment Jane made to start with. If you have angry people who are mentally unstable and they have easy access to fire arms these things are going to happen.
The premeditated terrorist violence comes under a different category in my view.
Killing and maiming in pursuit of a political aim seems an accepted method throughout the world.
Whatever the cause, the victims’ lives are lost and the pain for their friends and family will be hard to bear. Let’s hope none of these events spawns more violence in retaliation.
I’m with you Isobel, I really hope this doesn’t spawn any copycats. Enough people have suffered and for what purpose. I don’t even know if I want to follow his trial. How can anyone justify this.
Maybe it’s lucky we cannot understand it, it proves we wouldn’t be able to act like this. My friend said that this was typical for the US because there were so many guns available. I have to contradict that. Maybe it is typical for the US, I don’t know but I know that due to the very special military servive we have in Switzerland every man between the age of 18 and 35 has a gun at home and you hardly ever hear of things like that. It happens very often in Germany though.
I think it’s a mix of many things that makes people go crazy.
In any case it is appalling and whathever the reason, it’s a horribly sad thing for the victims and their families.
I didn’t know that about Switzerland. That is interesting and adds new light to the argument. But I think you are right, there are so many variables that lead to such a disaster and it is too difficult to determine the causes. Recently the trial of the Norwegian killer has been on TV and I think Norway has stricter gun laws, but I’m not an expert by any means on gun control in any nation. All I know that it is such a tragedy and I will never understand the actions of certain individuals.
What an awful tragedy! How does one get access to so many weapons? My heart goes out to the victims families.
And why do these weapons have the ability to inflict so much damage in a short time.
It is difficult to find the words to describe an event when we can’t quite understand it.
I agree with you completely.
So tragic and incomprehensible. It’s still hard to believe what has happened.
It will take time for the community to heal and much more for the friends and family.
Just horrible… It makes me sick thinking that someone could do this.
I can’t even imagine how someone can do such a thing.
When you think of a reason that someone would actually do this, nothing comes to mind. It’s really quite sad to think that people like this live among us.
Yes it is. I’m sure much more will come out about the shooter in the next few months. However, what we learn won’t help much about this situation. I feel for all of the loved ones.
It is so sad. But I am not so sure you can blame it on guns being available or video games. I watched an interesting doco on this once. It compared Canada to the USA. Both have societies that have guns and video games…but what was interesting was that the question was asked…what role does the media play in such atrocities ?? The media in the USA compared with Canada uses scare tactics on a much larger scale. By that I mean they are always highlighting the bad…not that the Canadian media ignores bad news stories but they do focus more on good news than the USA does. I found that to be an interesting point and one that could be quite valid as these types of crimes are much more prevalent in the USA than in many other countries. That said…there are many countries that show violence in many other ways. Subjegating those of other religion, sex or race. What really saddens me is that we as a species are so violent. There seems to be an attitude of almost righteousness about such things.
I can believe that about the news in America. I remember watching it and wondering if everything in the world was as horrible as they said. They hardly ever report happy news. I’m not sure if they think that is what Americans want to hear about or if that is how they think they attract viewers. I know I stopped watching the news, especially local news, and I hear many others have done the same. I don’t want to live my life frightened and depressed all of the time.
It is a horrible fact that humans are prone to violence. All throughout history this has been the case. My grandfather always said, “The more I get to know people, the more I love animals.” I think I take after him.
I think I understand your grandfather. it’s funny…there are so many amazing people in this world. Yet for some reason the violent evil ones seem to come to the fore everytime. I have been thinking a lot lately about apathy. New Zealanders (I do love ’em) are so apathetic. It makes me weep with frustration when I see them huddled in the background of our society allowing bad things to happen (I am on an anti government rant here) and mumbling: “Things will never change/who am I to think I know better/what’s the point?” As a member of the human race I have to say I wonder if I will ever understand them.
I feel a lot of younger Americans feel that way as well. When I worked at a high school I tried convincing many of the seniors to vote but they wouldn’t since they said their vote didn’t count and why bother. You’re right, too many bad people dominate the news. We need to learn more about the good things people do. That would inspire me more.
It sure would inspire me more…
I don’t know what to say too… Why these things happen, what’s going on, I can’t understand. I was so sad when I heard it. Weapons, all kind of weapons should be banned… By the way dear TBM, I loved your grandfather’s words. Thanks and Love, nia
It doesn’t make sense at all to me Nia. So much destruction…it makes me sad.
A man I do Civil War Reenacting with lost his son in that shooting (one of the 12). They’re still working with the military to be able to return his body. It really brings it home when tragedy affects someone you know and care for.
That is so sad. My heart goes out to him. No parent should ever have to go through such a thing.