By Stefano Esposito Staff Reporter sesposito@suntimes.com July 20, 2012 5:20PM
Police cars in front of the Century 16 theater in Aurora, Colorado where a gunman opened fire during the opening of the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" killing at least 15 people and wounding 50 others on the morning of July 20, 2012. The shooting suspect in custody after at least 12 people were shot dead and around 40 were wounded at a movie screening in the United States has been identified as 24-year-old James Holmes, US media said Friday. Television networks cited the FBI as saying that Holmes, from the town of Aurora, Colorado, scene of the midnight shooting at a screening of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises," did not appear to have any known terrorism connections. AFP PHOTO/JONATHAN CASTNERJONATHAN CASTNER/AFP/GettyImages
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Updated: July 20, 2012 6:11PM
A man originally from Crystal Lake was in the Colorado movie theater when a gunman burst in — and his family has not been able to reach him since.
Scott Larimer knows for certain that his son, John Thomas Larimer, was inside the Aurora, Colo., theater during the rampage, but Friday afternoon, he couldn’t say whether John Larimer was “alive or dead.”
“We have literally have been calling for 15 hours,” said Scott Larimer, who lives in Crystal Lake. “We cannot get any help from the military, the police, the hospitals, the Red Cross. ... We cannot get a single answer if he is alive or dead. ... We are more than frantic.”
John Larimer is in the U.S. Navy and is stationed in Aurora, Colo. He was attending the new Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises.
Investigators says the gunman wearing a gas mask and black SWAT gear opened fire inside the crowded movie theater, killing 12 people and wounding 59 others.
“I know for a fact that he was in the theater,” Scott Larimer said, cutting short a telephone interview with a Sun-Times reporter. “Right now, my wife is beside herself.”
