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Candles, flowers, and a Batman figure are shown at a memorial. Ted S. Warren/AP/Press Association Images

Colorado latest: victims named as police say suspect planned massacre for months

More on the suspect, the victims and police activities on the booby-trapped Paris Street.

THE 12 PEOPLE shot and killed during Friday’s movie massacre in Denver, Colorado have been named.

Sky News lists the victims as Veronica Moser-Sullivan (6), Jessica Ghawi (24), John Larimar (27), Alexander Boik (18), Jesse Childress (29), Jonathan Blunk (26), Rebecca Wingo (32), Alex Sullivan (27), Gordon Cowden (51), Micayla Medek (23) and Alexander Teves (24). The twelfth victim has been provisionally named as 27-year-old Matthew McQuinn. A coroner attributed all the causes of death to gunshot wounds.

Police in Aurora have said that the massacre had been planned for months by the suspect, James Holmes. Investigations got underway yesterday after bomb experts were eventually able to gain entry to the 24-year-old student’s apartment which had been booby-trapped with various rigged explosives and chemicals.

After examining the contents of the property, which included evidence of a number of deliveries that armed him for battle, police said the attack was planned with “calculation and deliberation”.

Police chief Dan Oates said that Holmes’s home was so well booby-trapped that it was designed to kill “whoever entered it”, which would have most likely been one of his officers. His team spent hours yesterday removing the explosives, including what bomb technicians called a “hypergolic mixture” and containers of accelerants.

“It was an extremely dangerous environment,” FBI special agent James Yacone said at a news conference, noting that anyone who walked in would have sustained “significant injuries” or been killed.

The suspect had four firearms on his person during the attack. Reports this morning indicate that one of them – a a semi-automatic assault rifle – jammed during the shooting, forcing the killer to switch weapons.

Police have said that a 100-round drum magazine was recovered at the scene. Such a weapon would be able to fire 50 to 60 rounds per minute.

“He had a high volume of deliveries,” Oates said. “We think this explains how he got his hands on the magazine, ammunition,” he said, as well as the rigged explosives in his apartment. Holmes had bought about 6,000 rounds of ammunition online in the months prior to the attack.

The suspect killer

By 6.30pm (US time) yesterday, residents of Paris Street were allowed back to their homes except for those who live in the same building as Holmes as police remained on scene to collect evidence. Some left at about 8pm carrying a laptop computer and hard drive.

While authorities continued to refuse to discuss a possible motive for one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent US history, details about Holmes’ background as a student and would-be scientist continues to trickle out.

Holmes had recently withdrawn from a competitive graduate program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado-Denver, where he was one of six students at the school to get National Institutes of Health grant money. He recently took an intense three-part, oral exam that marks the end of the first year of the four-year program there, but university officials would not say if he passed, citing privacy concerns. The university said Holmes gave no reason for his withdrawal, a decision he made in June.

“The focus of the program is on training outstanding neuroscientists and academicians who will make significant contributions to neurobiology,” the university said. The doctoral program usually takes five to seven years to complete, it said.

In a resume posted on Monster.com, Holmes listed himself as an “aspiring scientist” and said he was looking for a job as a laboratory technician.

The resume, first obtained by The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, paints a picture of a brilliant young man brimming with potential: He worked as a summer intern at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla in 2006 and mapped the neurons of Zebra finches and studied the flight muscles of hummingbirds while an undergraduate at the University of California, Riverside.

He also worked as a cabin counsellor to underprivileged children at a summer camp in Los Angeles in 2008. In a statement, Camp Max Straus confirmed Holmes had worked there for eight weeks. The camp provided no other detail about Holmes but said such counsellors are generally responsible for the care and guidance of roughly 10 children.

Neighbours and former classmates in California said although Holmes was whip-smart, he was a loner who said little and was easily forgotten – until this week.

Holmes is currently in solitary confinement at a county detention facility, held on suspicion of multiple counts of first-degree murder.

Police have dismissed reports that a second man helped the suspect.

“There are multiple unconfirmed and inaccurate news reports about a second suspect,” said a spokeswoman, adding: “An associate of Holmes was interviewed this evening. There is no reason to believe that he is involved.”

The victims

Among the deceased victims was a 6-year-old girl and a man who died on his 27th birthday and a day before his wedding anniversary. Families grieved and waited at hospitals, which reported at least seven still in critical condition and others with very serious injuries that could bring permanent damage.

Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6, had gone to the movies with her mother, who is not yet out of danger after being shot. She was drifting in and out of consciousness in a hospital intensive care unit yesterday, bullets lodged in her throat and a gunshot wound to her abdomen.

“Nobody can tell her about it,” Annie Dalton said of her niece, Ashley Moser. “She is in critical condition, but all she’s asking about is her daughter.”

Another victim, 27-year-old Matt McQuinn, was killed after diving in front of his girlfriend and her older brother to shield them from the gunfire, said his family’s attorney, Rob Scott of Dayton, Ohio.

Alex Sullivan had planned a weekend of fun, first ringing in his 27th birthday with friends at the special midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises” and then celebrating his first wedding anniversary on Sunday.

Flowers surround a photograph of shooting victim Alex Sullivan at a makeshift memorial near the movie theatre. (Image: David Zalubowski/AP/Press Association Images)

“He was a very, very good young man,” said Sullivan’s uncle, Joe Loewenguth. “He always had a smile, always made you laugh. He had a little bit of comic in him.”

Sports reporter Jessica Ghawi was the first victim to be named. A journalist writing under the name Jessica Redfield, the 24-year-old was a Denver-based hockey blogger who worked with a local radio station. In a recent blog post, she had given details about being in the Eaton Centre in Toronto just seconds before a shooter opened fire.

Jonathan Blunk was a 26-year-old had plans to re-enlist in the US Navy and become a SEAL. He had already served three tours in the Persian Gulf and the North Arabian Sea between 2004 and 2009. He died in the shooting Friday after throwing himself in front of friend Jansen Young and saving her life, she told the Today Show. He told her to stay down.

Two active service members were also killed in the attack. Jesse Childress was an Air Force cyber-systems operator based at Buckley Air Force Base, Colo. Air Force Capt. Andrew Williams described the 29-year-old from Thornton, Colorado, as knowledgeable, experienced and respectful. “We’re going to miss him incredibly,” he said.

John Larimer was a Navy sailor based at Buckley Air Force Base, where he was a cryptologic technician – a job that the Navy says on its website should be filled by someone with “exceptionally good character, above-average writing and speaking skills, a good memory, curiosity and resourcefulness.”

Alexander J. Boik, known as AJ, recently graduated from high school and was to start classes at the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in the fall, The Denver Post reported. He was with his girlfriend at the cinema. She survived.

A tribute to movie theater shooting victim AJ Boik, is shown along with his photo, on a message table. (Image: Ted S. Warren/AP/Press Association Images)

As the attack in the movie theater unfolded, Matt McQuinn, 27, dove in front of his girlfriend and her older brother to shield them from the gunfire. He died protecting them, said Rob Scott, an Ohio attorney retained by the families of McQuinn and his girlfriend, Samantha Yowler.

Rebecca Ann Wingo had started a job several months ago as a customer relations representative at a mobile medical imaging company. She was 32.

Alexander C. Teves, 24, of Phoenix, earned a master’s degree in counseling psychology in June from University of Denver.

The death of Micayla Medek was heartbreaking, said her father’s cousin, Anita Busch. The 23-year-old lived in the Denver suburb of Westminster and attended Aurora Community College.

The oldest victim, Gordon Cowden, 51, had attended the movie with his two teenage children who were unharmed in the shooting.

Obama to visit families

US President Barack Obama is to travel to Colorado today to meet with the victims and the families of the deceased.

The studio behind the movie, The Dark Knight Rises, which was being shown in the theatre when the shooting occurred, said it would not release box office data this weekend out of respect for the victims.

The actor who plays Batman, Christian Bale, has issued a statement, expressing his horror over the incident. “I cannot begin to truly understand the pain and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them,” he said.

The massacre in Aurora was one of the deadliest in the US, and the worst mass shooting since the November 2009 attack at Fort Hood, Texas, when an Army psychiatrist killed 13 soldiers and civilians and wounded more than two dozen others.

In Colorado, it was the deadliest shooting since April 20, 1999, when two students opened fire at Columbine High School in the Denver suburb of Littleton, killing 12 classmates and a teacher and wounding 26 others before killing themselves.

-Additional reporting by AP and AFP

Yesterday:Obama pays tribute to movie massacre victims>

Booby-trapped: bomb squad to try and enter suspect shooter’s apartment>

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30 Comments
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    Mute Matt Donovan
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 10:38 AM

    Something seriously wrong with the world when it is possible to order 6000 rounds of ammunition seemingly as easy as you would order a book or DVD online. Let’s see what the pro gun lobby has to say now.

    221
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    Mute Adrian O'Donnell
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 10:48 AM

    http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/denver-massacre-an-argument-for-more-guns-560100.html

    And some gun advocate nut job reckons it is a strong case to relax gun law in America! Insane!!!

    63
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    Mute Linda Leavy
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 10:54 AM

    Was just going to say, surely that set off alarm bells with someone!!! That much ammunition being delivered to a residence???

    70
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    Mute Aine Nibhern
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 11:17 AM

    Was anything learned from Columbine? Obviously not.

    And now Michael Moore, maker of “Bowling for Columbine” has spoken out
    about the possible cause of the violence there, not too far away from the current tragedy:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04UqzYOdGNs

    A paper by Dr Peter Breggin claims that “anti-depressants”/SSRIs can lead to suicide, violence
    or mania: http://www.breggin.com/31-49.pdf

    The times that are of particular danger is starting off on the drug or coming off it. Never stop
    medication cold turkey due to withdrawal. A Psychiatrist who is not afraid to tell the drug,
    David Healy, has done a lot of great work in this area.

    I also admire the work people like Ivor Browne, Pat Bracken and also Terry Lynch (who
    wrote Beyond Prozac 11 years ago):

    pg 62. “Doctors speak with confidence about the currently accepted treatments – anit-depressants like Prozac, Seroxat…in ten or twenty years, will the treatments which today’s experts speak of so highly have been found out? Will they be found to be useless, harmful or addictive like most of the ‘treatments’ of the past?”.

    In light of the recent $3 billion lawsuit against GSK, the largest in the history of America,
    this is quite alarming. Seroxat = Paxil ~ made by GSK. Big Pharma tend to use a number
    of different names for the one drug.

    “Of course, it’s far too early to make any conclusions. But it is never to early to raise questions about how we can prevent future tragedies” ~MindFreedom

    23
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    Mute Katie O'Brien
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 7:20 PM

    Aine, I’m curious, what exactly has the use of psychoactive drugs got to do with this? while the guy may have been on prescription drugs, its not mentioned, surely the bigger question is how he got hold of so much ammo and explosive

    5
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    Mute Shanners
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 10:45 AM

    That’s a heart breaking article. Selfless acts of bravery by those who took bullets to save friends.

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    Mute Brian Rogan
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 10:43 AM

    Heart breaking to see so many young innocent people killed for absolutely no reason. And what went wrong inside that man’s head to make him do something like this? As mad as it might sound, part of me has sympathy for the killer too, to see a young intelligent person go off the rails like that is very sad, there was obviously some mental issue involved.

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    Mute pagan
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 10:45 AM

    Surly its time for the people of America to look at its gun laws again.How many people have to be shot dead for the pro gun lobby groups to cop on.What’s going to be next,putting in xray machines and mettle detectors in all cinemas and shopping malls.RIP to all that died.

    58
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    Mute Conchubhair MacLochlainn
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 11:00 AM

    Just out of interest, where the hell did a PhD student get access to the sort of cash needed to equip himself for this?

    57
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    Mute Samantha Sherrington
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 10:59 AM

    Heartbreaking for all the friends and families. Matt’s right, there’s something very very wrong with the world when this kind of thing is made so incredibly easy to orchestrate.

    32
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    Mute Ruairí O'Mahony
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 10:46 AM

    What a horrific story.

    27
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    Mute Barry Basstard
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 11:00 AM

    I agree in principle on the right to bear arms infact I wish we had the same right over here, but what shocks me to my core is just how utterly unregulated the whole thing is its just waaaay too easy to get a lot of ammo in a short space of time . That is the real problem not the guns themselves but the ease of access . There should be a red flag situation when any individual tries to buy more than a certain amount in a certain time frame, that way the guns can be used for personal protection and hunting and not mass murder.

    26
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    Mute William Grogan
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 12:33 PM

    More guns=more deaths. If you buy a gun to ptotect yourself there’s a bigger chance you or someone else like yours will be killed by accident. Regulation would not have stopped this murderer killing. All guns should be banned except shotguns.

    12
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    Mute Pemi Pocket
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    Jul 23rd 2012, 2:36 AM

    You know, we shouldn’t have to bear arms against anyone- but if you must, you certainly don’t need what he had. For such a supposedly advanced country, they have no interstate or statewide database for meds or guns etc- come on America- get your act together- 12 beautiful and good people lost needlessly and why- because the NRA thinks that the right to bear arms should continue and they are strong enough to influence politics- ridiculous. Am so saddened by this- in US now and the stories coming out show bravery and fear and confusion and anger etc. I hope the powers that be DO something and LEARN something.

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    Mute Seanie Quirke
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 11:32 AM

    Its a disgrace that a 6year old was permitted to go to the film in the first place come on child should have been at home in bed not lieing in a morgue questions should be asked how this could happen. and until the goverment relise that there gun laws are a joke its easier to buy a gun then a beer come on wheres the sence in that.

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    Mute Ferg Breen
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 4:40 PM

    Questions should be asked as to how this could happen?!
    Seriously? You want the parents of a murdered 6 year old to be taken into custody and questioned as to why they took their kid to a cinema at that time? Maybe not the wisest of decisions BUT nothing illegal or wrong with what they did and they are in no way to blame for what happened to their little child.

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    Mute Pemi Pocket
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    Jul 23rd 2012, 2:41 AM

    In USA this is common. Children at the cinema is very common- I remember the first time I went over there to the late show, I was shocked too but many people do it because they either can’t afford babysitters or have no family nearby to help- I don’t think it matters what age was there- any death/injury at any age like this is a tragedy.

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    Mute Adrian de Cleir
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 12:10 PM

    It’s a numbers game. Suppose in one country, 1 in every 1000 people get their hands on guns, and another country, 100 in every 1000 people do so, which one is more likely to have the lunatics easily committing massacres.

    Why aren’t the Americans out protesting about their gun laws as a result of this?
    Are they that blind that they can’t see what’s obvious to the rest of the world?

    18
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    Mute libby
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 2:07 PM

    This is beyond heartbreaking. Reading about these people who were just on an ordinary night out, so many accomplished people, their lives wiped out and those left behind traumatised. My heart really goes out to James Holmes’ family too, their lives are also ruined.

    16
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    Mute Pemi Pocket
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    Jul 23rd 2012, 2:48 AM

    Well said- this boy is sick- but I feel so bad for his parents. I am more disgusted with those who allowed the ability for this to happen. As a parent of 2 young adults, we do our best to raise them, educate them, turn them as best we can into good, kind and productive adults, to even imagine all that taken away in whatever manner is unthinkable-

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    Mute Nigel O'Neill
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 12:38 PM

    Part of this is the result of far right gun advocating nut job Republican policies!!!!
    Watch The Republicans come out and defend the gun laws now without any shame, as so many of their members are NRA members even!! They are scary peoples!!! Not looking forward to election time

    12
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    Mute Ann Blake-Tracy
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    Jul 23rd 2012, 3:02 AM

    You have dismissed Aine’s comments above & yet you will find she has the answers in this case & many others. I say that after working for 22 years to stop these senseless massacres. I have worked the most high profile cases in the world: Columbine, comedian Phil Hartman’s murder/suicide, Andrea Yates, the Atlanta Day Trader … you name it & I was there.

    Why? Because I am an expert witness in antidepressant adverse reactions.

    These drugs are almost identical in action to PCP, Angel Dust, & should be classed as dissociative anesthetics rather than antidepressants. Hopefully in seeing the similarity to PCP you would understand the out of character bizarre violence associated with the drugs. For our database of cases used for several medical studies, you can Google ssristories. I could name off cases & details for hours without stopping there are so many.

    Antidepressants are known to produce “homicidal ideation” as well as “suicidal ideation.” Ideation is continuous, ruminating thoughts & plans … of either killing others or yourself coupled with many varied methods of doing just that. To us that appears to be pre-meditation, but it is not. These are drug-induced thoughts & actions.

    People having reactions to these meds stockpile weapons of every kind. In fact when I went to view the Columbine evidence room with the first boy who was shot I was looking for the baseball bats – you will almost always find those in the pile of weapons. (Yes, of course they were there!) Ban guns, but it will do no good because they will just kill in other ways. Remember when Michael Moore made his movie Bowling for Columbine? He blamed guns for causing Columbine, but he got a copy of my book on these drugs from one of the victims who was in his movie. After reading it he made the following statement & the world needs to heed his words: http://www.drugawareness.org/articles/michael-moore-cause-of-columbine

    Learn from America’s mistakes before you have to learn from your own!!!!!!

    11
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    Mute Aine Nibhern
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 10:56 AM

    “Of course, it’s far too early to make any conclusions. But it is never to early to raise questions about how we can prevent future tragedies” ~MindFreedom

    “Antidepressants and School Shootings, Suicide, Addiction” :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XHNJyti1gE&feature=player_embedded

    9
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    Mute Aine Nibhern
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 12:10 PM

    Psychoactive medication, in particular “anti-depressants” can lead to suicide, violence or mania. Several honest doctors have spoken out about it. Big Pharma is hiding the truth. The youtube video posted above shows that several past tragedies in America were probably linked to the use of psychoactive drugs.

    The “chemical imbalance” theory has never been proven. People are dying and lives are been destroyed by these damaging drugs. I know of several cases personally and also know someone that developed Manic Depression/Bipolar while on the drug Cipramil. Which is an “anti-depressant”/SSRI. Even the Diagnostic and Statistics manual, the DSM, which is the “bible” used by Psychiatrists says this.

    One the Psychiatrists that is not afraid the tell the TRUTH is Peter Breggin. Peter Breggin testifies before the Veterans’ Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on February 24, 2010 on the link between the use of “anti-depressants” and violence, suicide or mania:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SBJfZtB_3cc

    20
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    Mute Katie O'Brien
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 7:23 PM

    seriously, your pissing me off…. stop trolling!!

    5
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    Mute Lizzy Anne
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 3:59 PM

    Gun control alone is no panacea. Norway has much stricter gun control than the US but a year ago had a massacre. Ireland has very strict gun control and yet people are regularly shot, often apparently for trivial reasons or in error.

    7
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    Mute John Lawless
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 4:17 PM

    The number of gun deaths in most countries pale in comparison to the number in the US. I’ve spoken to people who are from there and they’re convinced they need to get more guns to protect themselves. They refuse to believe the guns and their society as a whole are the problem.

    4
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    Mute Emmet Boyle
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 1:27 PM

    Why can’t we torture people like this psycho?

    I believe you must respect the human rights of others if you want to be entitled to them yourself!

    5
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    Mute Adrian de Cleir
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 2:49 PM

    Your second sentence is the reason he shouldn’t be tortured.

    Consider yourself lucky you weren’t born a crazed deluded serial killer capable of such massacre. How about we spend time figuring out how someone can end up like this so it won’t happen again, rather than torturing the people that do.

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    Mute Eoin Meany
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    Jul 22nd 2012, 5:19 PM

    What is torturing someone going to achieve?

    5
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