No Security Guards On Duty At Aurora, Colorado, Theater On Night Of Massacre

The Colorado movie theater complex where The Dark Knight Rises shooting rampage occurred had no uniformed security guards on the scene even though the facility reportedly hires off-duty cops on Friday and Saturday nights to keep things under control.

AP has further details about the security situation at the Century 16 multiplex in Aurora:

Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates has said that the Cinemark in Aurora normally uses off-duty officers to provide security on weekend nights but did not have any working for the July 19 showings that went into the next morning. The theater does not have an unusually high record of complaints or crimes, police Sgt. Cassidee Carlson said.

The Dark Knight Rises rampage occurred at the Thursday midnight showing of the film, and the shooting actually started at about 12:30 a.m. Friday morning. Given that intense interest in premiere of the third installment of the Batman trilogy,  and expected large crowds of movie goers, some are asking why security wasn’t stepped up at the Aurora venue.

Theaters around the country have beefed up security for The Dark Knight rises performances. As The Inquisitr has previously reported,  there have been a number of suspicious incidents around the country attendant to The Dark Knight Rises screenings.

The Aurora theater’s parent company “declined to explain why guards weren’t provided in Aurora that night and declined to discuss safety policies in general.”

On the other hand,  as AP notes, there is no way for anyone to know for sure if a security presence could have stopped the Aurora gunman from launching his attack or if it would have minimized the tragedy.

After the dust settles, it would seem almost a certainty that the theater operator will face multiple civil lawsuits from victims and/or their families for negligence or under various other legal theories based on what it did, didn’t do, or should have done on the night in question. At least one lawsuit is already in the works.