Colorado gunman named as 24-year-old local man - update

THE GUNMAN WHO opened fire in a Colorado movie theatre has been named as 24-year-old James Holmes.

The shooting took place just after midnight at the Century 16 cinema in Aurora, near Denver during a screening of the new Batman film The Dark Knight Rises.

Holmes is understood to be a local resident and he was detained by police outside the theatre.

Thirty-eight people were injured in the shooting and 12 were killed.

Earlier…

AGENTS IN FULL SWAT gear have surrounded the home of the gunman detained by police after the mass shooting at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado.

The shooter was apprehended after he opened fire at Century 16 movie theatre. He had walked into the theatre during a screening of  The Dark Knight Rises, threw gas cannisters, believed to contain tear gas, around the cinema and then opened fire.

Police have revised the death toll to 12, and say thirty-eight people have been injured – a three-month-old baby is among the injured.

The gunman indicated that there were explosives at his apartment building at the junction of 17th Avenue and Peoria Street in Aurora.

Denver Bomb Squad has now arrived on the scene and twenty people have been evacuated from the building. They told reporters that police officers entered the building and said there may be explosives.

A large area has been cordoned off and the Denver’s FBI chief has confirmed that the suspect indicated that he had explosive material in his home.

Prank call

Meanwhile the Twitter identity of a prank caller who rang a local news station pretending to the the police chief Dan Oates. The prank caller indicated that a fifteenth person had died:

The caller has been identified on Twitter as Captain Janks.

Colorado shooting: 12 dead, three-month-old baby among the injured>

“He wasn’t giving anyone a chance to get out”>