JOIN USNews of today's horrific shooting spree in a US movie theater spread quickly on social media, and video and pictures from the scene spread around the world within minutes of the deadly attack.
Within minutes, some on the scene began tweeting about the attack. Isaac J Ramos wrote: "There was a shooting at century 16 aurora about 30 minutes into the movie. Its crazy."
Domnick Bivins tweeted: "Woww Someone Just Shot Up This Batman Movie. . I Literally Just Seen A Little Girl Get Carried Out With Bullet Wounds Smh The Nerve Of Ppl."
A cameraphone video circulated on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx31jI5YnBo) with grainy images of the scene.
And an unidentified victim who apparently survived after being wounded posted a picture of his wound and T-shirt with a hole in it on the file-sharing site imgur (http://imgur.com/a/vtMhj).
Later, some expressed horror, and others said they were just glad to be alive.
"Movie theater just got shot up while we were watching Batman. I'm ok a little freaked out. Walking to Isaac's house with a group of friends," tweeted Jaime Marshall.
One of those killed was Jessica Ghawi, an aspiring sportswriter who recently moved to Denver and who escaped a shooting spree earlier this year in Toronto, according to KENS-TV, quoting family members.
"My friend Jessica Ghawi was killed in the Aurora Shooting -- she was an aspiring sportscaster -- she will be missed," tweeted Natalie Tejeda. "Just upset, angry, confused. So many lives, so many futures."
Ghawi, who wrote a hockey blog under the name Jessica Redfield, had commented about the Toronto shooting in a June 5 blog post.
"This empty, almost sickening feeling won't go away," she wrote. "
The gunman was wearing a gas mask when he opened fire in a crowded US movie theater screening the latest Batman film early Friday, killing at least 12 and wounding nearly 40, police and reports said.
The shooter was identified by US media as 24-year-old James Holmes.