New York boosts security after ‘Batman’ shootings

Police are pictured outside of a Century 16 movie theater where as many as 12 people were killed and many injured at a shooting during the showing of the Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado, Friday. AP

NEW YORK—New York City police announced Friday security was being stepped up at movie theaters showing the new Batman film after a deadly shooting spree at a screening in the US state of Colorado.

“As a precaution against copycats and to raise the comfort levels among movie patrons in the wake of the horrendous shooting in Colorado, the New York City Police Department is providing coverage at theaters where the ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is playing in the five boroughs,” police chief Raymond Kelly said in a statement.

The announcement came hours after a masked attacker opened fire at a packed premiere of the movie near Denver, killing at least 12 people and wounding almost 40.

Chaos erupted when the gunman tossed some kind of grenade into the audience at a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises,” then shot at terrified patrons as they scrambled for the exit.

Local police arrested the alleged killer—identified by US media as 24-year-old local man James Holmes—at the rear of the theater, in Aurora, a suburb of Denver.