Fourteen murdered, fifty injured at Batman premiere in Colorado.

[UPDATE] Death toll down to 12, thank God; police have identified the murderer as James Holmes. No reports on motives, which will stop nobody from riding their favorite hobbyhorse on this.

This is just awful, especially since those numbers will undoubtedly go up.

A gunman wearing a gas mask set off an unknown gas and fired into a crowded movie theater in suburban Denver theater at a midnight opening of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises,” killing 14 people and injuring at least 50 others, authorities said.

Moviegoers didn’t know what was happening and some thought the attack was part of the show.

Prayers for the victims and their families, of course.  The murderer is in custody; first reports suggest ‘lone nut’ (no sign of assistance); and ‘brain tumor’ (ability to plan and use camouflage/body armor apparently unaffected) rather than ‘jihadi scumbag’ (caught alive) or ‘paranoid schizophrenic’ (no manifesto).  Or, of course, he just could be an evil, malignant bastard.  Sometimes they just are.

Moe Lane