A 20-year-old man was arrested in Bolivar, Missouri after admitting he bought firearms and 400 rounds of ammunition with the intent of shooting patrons this weekend at a screening of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2 — an attack that, had it been carried out, would have echoed the Aurora, Colorado tragedy . Blaec Lammers, who was charged on Friday with first-degree assault, making a terroristic threat and armed criminal action, told police that he bought a ticket to Breaking Dawn — Part 2 for Sunday with the intention of shooting people at the theater. According to the police report, however, he changed his mind and instead plotted to make his attack at a local Walmart so that he’d have access to additional ammunition if he ran out. The report also indicated that Lammers had never before shot a gun and that he was off his medication, although it did not offer specifics in terms of the latter. Lammers’ mother contacted police when she became concerned that he might be planning an attack similar to the Aurora, Colorado shooting at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises in July. Per the Springfield News-Leader (via Deadline ): An officer approached Lammers at the Bolivar Sonic and he agreed to come to the police station to be interviewed. During the interivew, Lammers said he had purchased two assault rifles for hunting, the statement said. As the conversation progressed, police asked Lammers about recent shootings that had been in the news. “Blaec Lammers stated that he had a lot in common with the people that have been involved in those shootings. Blaec Lammers state that he was quiet, kind of a loner, had recently purchased firearms and didn’t tell anybody about it, and had homicidal thoughts,” the statement said. Read more at the Springfield News-Leader . Related Story: You Will Never Feel Safe In A Movie Theater Again Revisit Movieline’s Coverage of the Aurora Tragedy Here. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Dammit, and he’s still alive??? Aurora Dark Knight Shooter James Holmes Tries To Commit Suicide In Jail According to TMZ reports : James Holmes — the shooter in the Aurora movie theater massacre — was hospitalized after several “half-hearted” suicide attempts … this according to law enforcement. According to cops, Holmes ran headfirst into a jail cell wall on Tuesday … and while he sustained injuries … they were not life-threatening. Holmes also reportedly stood on the bed in his cell and fell backwards … in an apparent attempt to crack his skull open. He failed. Holmes — who killed 12 people and injured 58 more during his July 20 shooting rampage — has since been released from the hospital. Awwww, jail life is pretty tough huh azzhole? Google where your major arteries are so you’ll be better prepared next time. We’re sure the victims’ families back in Colorado won’t miss him if he’s successful one day. Image via AP
Dave Mustaine’s claim that President Obama is responsible for the Aurora, Colo., shooting tragedy last month are ridiculous, says victim Carli Richards. Richards, one of the 70 people who was shot in the theater that night (and one of the 58 to survive it), hit back at Mustaine’s conspiracy theory today. After hearing that Mustaine said Obama staged the Aurora shooting to push an anti-gun agenda, Richards said the rocker likely just wants attention: “Some people think the President is a good scapegoat but he didn’t shoot me,” she said. “It’s obviously absurd and people who make up conspiracies just want attention .” “Everybody is emotional at this time and needs to blame somebody I guess.” “I don’t think they realize the consequences of not being responsible for your own actions and James Holmes needs to be held accountable for his, to whatever extent the criminal justice system deems fit.” Speaking of the actual person responsible, Richards, 22, previously said she’d like Holmes to die a slow, painful death , as lethal injection is too humane. What do you think: Death penalty for Holmes? [Photos: WENN.com]
Dave Mustaine’s claim that President Obama is responsible for the Aurora, Colo., shooting tragedy last month are ridiculous, says victim Carli Richards. Richards, one of the 70 people who was shot in the theater that night (and one of the 58 to survive it), hit back at Mustaine’s conspiracy theory today. After hearing that Mustaine said Obama staged the Aurora shooting to push an anti-gun agenda, Richards said the rocker likely just wants attention: “Some people think the President is a good scapegoat but he didn’t shoot me,” she said. “It’s obviously absurd and people who make up conspiracies just want attention .” “Everybody is emotional at this time and needs to blame somebody I guess.” “I don’t think they realize the consequences of not being responsible for your own actions and James Holmes needs to be held accountable for his, to whatever extent the criminal justice system deems fit.” Speaking of the actual person responsible, Richards, 22, previously said she’d like Holmes to die a slow, painful death , as lethal injection is too humane. What do you think: Death penalty for Holmes? [Photos: WENN.com]
The Watch (nee Neighborhood Watch ) truncated its title to avoid conjuring the February killing of Trayvon Martin and its plot contains no major similarities to the teen’s controversial death. But in the wake of the Aurora, Colorado mass shooting — which may have spawned at least one would-be copycat thwarted today in Maryland — some of the violence-based laughs in the Ben Stiller-Vince Vaughn comedy might hit too close to home for some moviegoers. The comedy, about a suburban schmoe (Stiller) who starts a Neighborhood Watch gang after the murder of a friend, invokes the cultural conversation about violence that has been stirred anew by recent events. “There weren’t walkouts at my particular screening, but in a moment where Jonah Hill’s military-obsessed character Franklin threatens a group of teenagers with a pocket knife, muttering that he’ll ‘kill each and everyone of [them],’ the cringes reached audible levels,” writes Hollywood.com’s Matt Patches , noting audible discomfort among moviegoers at a screening he attended. Like the Columbine shooters and last week’s Aurora gunman, Hill’s character is a young white male with a violent streak on the fringe of society, who has a cache of firearms, including a semi-automatic rifle, stashed at home and is all too eager to use them again. Violent impulses mixed with societal frustrations are given a target when the Watch is called into action to battle their enemies — in this case, extraterrestrial aliens. “Franklin’s entire persona is eerily similar to those that have lashed out in the past: he’s a high school drop out, reject of the police academy, and object of bullying by the socially normal people around him,” Patches continues. “He wants to serve justice, but he’s inherently violent. Hill plays Frankin for comedy, and in another moment in history the act would be hysterical, but in the wake of tragedy it’s simply uncomfortable.” “[When] we see bloodshed early on in The Watch , it stings more than it amuses,” writes Salt Lake Tribune critic Sean P. Means in his review of the film. Hill’s character goes from comic relief to a figure that “instead makes us wince.” Over at the Huffington Post, writer Jonathan Kim echoes the uneasy sentiment. The problem isn’t that violent movies cause violent behavior, he says, but that America’s gun-happy culture is so often reflected in its media. “If American entertainment is seen as too violent, I see that as a reflection of our gun- and military-worshipping culture, not the cause of it,” Kim offers . “And if people copy the violence they see in movies, the problem is not the movies, but people who can’t tell fantasy from reality, and the ease with which our gun laws allow those people to arm themselves to the teeth. The Watch is obviously fiction, but sadly, when unstable people can buy such powerful weapons, we need to do more than just hope that they’ll only be aimed at bad guys and aliens.” Ultimately most critics seem to agree that The Watch hardly earns the attention or scrutiny it may receive from Aurora parallels; it’s currently at a dismal 13 percent at Rotten Tomatoes , while Movieline’s Michelle Orange called it slight and ephemeral entertainment. But beyond that, I’d give writers Seth Rogen, Jared Stern, and Evan Goldberg enough credit to have purposefully written Hill’s character as a commentary on the kind of gun-loving disaffected young man that could, under other circumstances, follow a much darker path. Raw and shaken sensibilities didn’t stop audiences from attending The Dark Knight Rises last weekend, but tracking approaching this weekend was flagging. As the national conversation about guns and violence and film rages on — and with most fans having already seen the event film — are audiences less enthusiastic to flock to theaters, post- TDKR ? And if they do go to the multiplex for the latest Ben Stiller comedy, are they prepared to process shades of Aurora’s gunman in Jonah Hill’s angry, armed loner-turned-hero? Just be warned: If you’re going to the movies this weekend looking for escape from the real world, The Watch may hit closer to home than you anticipated. Then again, if Ben Stiller and Co. can inspire discussions about violence and gun control in America amid the broad guffaws, penis jokes, and one-liners, that might be a good thing for all involved. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The ‘Dark Knight Rises’ actor was spotted on Tuesday (July 24) at the Medical Center of Aurora South. By Josh Wigler Christian Bale visits a shooting victim in Aurora on Tuesday Photo: Denver Post
Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates spoke angrily about ‘Dark Knight Rises’ shooting suspect’s intent to kill police at rigged apartment. By Kevin P. Sullivan Police use a video camera to inspect shooting suspect James Holmes’ apartment Photo: AP Photo
In the wake of the Colorado shooting, there’s still reason to see the final installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. By Amy Wilkinson Christian Bale in “The Dark Knight Rises” Photo: Warner Bros.
Aurora, Colorado, residents mourned the 12 killed in Friday’s attack. By Amy Wilkinson Friends, family and Aurora residents gather at a vigil to mourn the victims of the “Dark Knight Rises” shooting Photo: Kevork Djansezian/ Getty Images
“Good morning, shooters,” came the tweet from @NRA_Rifleman . “Happy Friday! Weekend plans?” Funny you should ask. The tweet was soon deleted by whoever maintains the National Rifle Association-affiliated Twitter account, likely (but un officially) the reaction to an outpouring of protest over the insensitivity of such a query mere hours after James Holmes allegedly opened fire in an Aurora, Colorado, multiplex , killing 12 and wounding 50. Moreover, it was a stupid question because we know everybody’s weekend plans, curled up with the cultural imperative to “process” the event: To blame, to pray, to reflect, to understand . Was it linked to The Dark Knight Rises , whose feverish midnight showing served as the flashpoint of the massacre? Was it an outgrowth of generations of mediated violence — a gory cocktail of TV shows, video games and shoot-’em-up blockbusters? Was it just a 24-year-old nutjob wanting to hurt, maim and kill for no other reason than to simply do it? Whatever. It’s all those things and more and none of them all at once, because it doesn’t really matter. Not if we’re being honest with ourselves. The victims don’t matter. The shooter doesn’t matter. The motive doesn’t matter. All that matters is us, sitting here wringing our hands over the same nightmare we’ve seen and “processed” again and again and that has finally hit us where we always knew it would: At the movies. A confined space comprising hundreds of strangers in the dark, all vulnerable, oblivious to their surroundings. A literal sitting target in a nation where the National Rifle Association cheerfully greets 16,000 Twitter followers on the same morning that an actual, real-life American Rifleman murdered a dozen compatriots, injured 50 others and got us all talking once more about the omnipresence of gun violence — until no one can settle on accountability and we get bored and stop talking about it. Then it happens anew. Again, though, you know that story, and you know that we do nothing. So welcome to the new reality: You will never feel safe in a movie theater again. You will suppress fears and go anyway , because “I can’t let the [insert menacing perpetrator of violence here] win. You will go in groups that help you feel saf er . You will pass through metal detectors and spot armed police and/or part-time security sentinels roaming the multiplex lobbies and corridors. You will arrive early to get a seat close-by an exit, but then second-guess your position because Holmes is said to have entered through an emergency exit, and what if a gunman or other rampaging homicidal maniac enters behind you and you don’t see him? And eventually you will go back to whatever strategy you had before Aurora, because it’s easier to be complacent than paranoid. What choice do you have? Consider Jessica Redfield, who was shot and killed this morning at the movies. Redfield kept a blog where she described in eerie, devastating detail having narrowly missed last month’s shooting at Toronto’s Eaton Center: More people joined the crowd at the scene and asked what happened. “There was a shooting in the food court,” kept being whispered through the crowd like a game of telephone. I was standing near a security guard when I heard him say over his walkie talkie, “One fatality.” At this point I was convinced I was going to throw up. I’m not an EMT or a police officer. I’m not trained to handle crime and murder. Gun crimes are fairly common where I grew up in Texas, but I never imagined I’d experience a violent crime first hand. I’m on vacation and wanted to eat and go shopping. Everyone else at the mall probably wanted the same thing. I doubt anyone left for the mall imagined they witness a shooting. I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders’ faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath. For one man, it was in the middle of a busy food court on a Saturday evening. It would be her final post, and it once again raises the most crucial yet unresolved questions that face us every time this scenario erupts, whether at Eaton Center or Winnenden or Columbine or Utøya Island or Virginia Tech: What will it take for us to stop never imagining we’ll experience a violent crime first hand and accept the ever-increasing likelihood of that prospect? And if we accept it, what, if anything, will prompt us to change it? Not violent knife crime or violent bomb crime, either, but violent gun crime — the kind that took Redfield’s life and which even she acknowledged as an afterthought from her upbringing in Texas, where one representative’s answer to this morning’s massacre was not to address the crisis of gun violence but rather to actually lament , “[W]as there nobody that was carrying a gun that could have stopped this guy more quickly?” I’m not going to go spelunking through the murky logic of the pro-gun crowd or the phony, fleeting outrage of millions who sit by spinelessly, deigning to confront the gun scourge only after it has taken another 12 or 20 or 80 souls they never knew. I’m not going to dwell on the barbarism of a society that extols the Second Amendment as gospel but would just as soon argue against an uninsured gunshot victim’s constitutional right to health-care coverage. (And anyway, every one of those survivors receiving care in Aurora today surely has a full-time job with excellent benefits, right? Right? ) Furthermore, if decades’ worth of school shootings and hundreds of dead kids can’t force appreciable change, then why would one multiplex tragedy in Colorado result in anything different? Here’s why: Because you’ll never feel safe in a movie theater again. Call it a silver lining if you want (or can), or just call it cold, calculated industry politics, but Aurora transcends our familiar gun-culture stalemates in that very specific way: A billion-dollar industry long accustomed to treating its customers like shit without consequence has been jolted into recognizing a threat that it can’t just sweep under the rug. Elected leaders and civic bureaucrats and unions can get away with sabotaging education all they want , up to and including neglecting and ignoring the budding sociopaths who roam the halls and streets with guns. Missing the point is part of their DNA. Hollywood, meanwhile, can see the massacre’s ghosts aloft in a shadow lengthening hourly over its domain, and even if every person in America took in a movie tonight in solidarity, the reality of that act as a reaction against fear as opposed to the pursuit of entertainment — of cinema’s enduring spiritual thrill — compromises everything this billion-dollar industry is built on. Like those in the NRA, the captains of this billion-dollar industry also have a lobby in Washington. And when you see envoys for the Cinemark theater chain, the National Association of Theater Owners and the Motion Picture Association of America enacting their own solidarity , and when you see stock values drop and security costs surge (the latter of which, as noted, won’t actually help you feel any safer in a movie theater, but hey), you can expect that lobby to apply the same volume of muscle we’ve seen exerted by gun owners, retailers, manufacturers and the rest of the firearms lobby for years. Only then, when the forces collide, might we have some actual development in how we truly deal with gun violence. And even that is assuming both can be honest about the psychic ravages and legacies of violence , from which they have profited enough to be so powerful in the first place. Unless, that is, any of us feel like actually doing something worthwhile with all our fashionable defiance — actively diminishing and someday, generations from now, eradicating the kind of gun violence that actually followed Jessica Redfield from Texas to Toronto to Aurora and to which she was so inured that she never imagined it could happen to her. “I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end,” she wrote. “When or where we will breathe our last breath.” It really shouldn’t be in a movie theater, but I guess we’d better add it to the list of possibilities. Wouldn’t want to disrupt those weekend plans, you know? Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter . [Photo: Shutterstock ]
