All across the country Thursday night, thousands of people put on capes and costumes, rounded up friends and family and raced off to experience a celluloid fantasy about a tortured hero who devotes his life to fighting evil.
Inside an Aurora theater, though, the greatest evil wasn’t on the screen.
It came instead in the form of a man who swaddled himself in a cocoon of armor before taking aim at a theater full of unprotected teenagers, moms and dads, and little kids.
When the shooting in theater 9 early Friday stopped, 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes was in handcuffs, and 70 people were wounded.
Twelve of them died.
As their names trickled out over the past two days, in friends’ social media tributes, in anguished families’ pleas for information and, finally, Saturday afternoon, in an official list, portraits emerged of the lives they had lived, and would have lived.
Of the 12, the youngest was 6, the oldest 51.
Nearly all those in between were young adults, old enough to be crafting careers, serving in the military, raising families but young enough to get a thrill out of being first to see the summer blockbuster — and energetic enough to do it at midnight.
One was two days shy of his first anniversary, one a single mother. One of them had just earned his master’s degree and wanted to be a counselor.
They had all gone out for a night of fun, but more than one died trying to save someone else.
The greatest heroes weren’t on the screen.
Jon Blunk
26, Navy veteran
For Jansen Young, 21, the two constants during the movie-theatre massacre that ended 12 lives were the sound of gunshots and the feeling of her boyfriend Jon Blunk’s hands on her back.
AJ Boik
18, Student
His name was Alexander Boik, but to the hundreds who stood on the Gateway High School football field to remember him Saturday, he was AJ.
Jessica Ghawi
24, Sports journalist
Jessica Ghawi grew up a hockey fan in football-crazed Texas.
She followed that passion to Colorado to forge a career in sports journalism.
John Larimer
27, U.S. Navy sailor
Navy officials confirmed Saturday that Petty Officer 3rd Class John Thomas Larimer was among those killed in the attack at an Aurora movie theater early Friday.
Matt McQuinn
27, Worked at Target
Matt McQuinn died protecting his girlfriend.
As a gunman calmly walked up the aisle of an Aurora movie theater Friday firing at moviegoers, the 27-year-old Ohio native dived on top of Samantha Yowler.
Micayla Medek
23, Subway Sandwich Artist
Everyone knew her as Cayla.
Micayla Medek, 23, worked as a Subway “sandwich artist” – “I do everything lol,” she said on her Facebook page.
Veronica Moser-Sullivan
6, Grade-schooler
Veronica Moser-Sullivan will always be 6 years old.
The “vibrant, excitable,” blond-haired, blue-eyed little girl, who was bragging five days ago about learning how to swim, was one of the 12 people killed in the Aurora theater shooting Friday, said her great-aunt Annie Dalton.
Alex Sullivan
27, Bartender
Sullivan died on his 27th birthday. He and co-workers from a Red Robin restaurant had gone to the premiere. Sullivan was killed, and seven co-workers were injured.
Sunday would have been Sullivan’s one-year wedding anniversary.
Alexander Teves
24, Recently earned Master’s degree
Shooting victim Alexander Teves recently earned his master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Denver.
Tom Teves, Alexander’s father, confirmed his son’s death to ABC News.
Friends of Teves, 24, began posting on social media Friday night after learning Teves was among the 12 people killed in the Aurora movie theater shootings.
Rebecca Wingo
32, Worked at Joe’s Crab Shack
The father of Rebecca Wingo, 32, confirmed that his daughter died in the Aurora theater shootings in a post on his Facebook page.
Steve Hernandez wrote, “I lost my daughter yesterday to a mad man, my grief right now is inconsolable, I hear she died instantly, without pain, however the pain is unbearable.”
Gordon Cowden
51, Outdoorsman and small business owner
Gordon W. Cowden, 51, of Aurora was the oldest of the victims killed in the theater.
His family released this statement:
“Loving father, outdoorsman and small business owner, Cowden was a true Texas gentleman that loved life and his family. A quick witted world traveler with a keen sense of humor, he will be remembered for his devotion to his children and for always trying his best to do the right thing, no matter the obstacle.”
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Jesse Childress
29, U.S. Air Force Reserve
Nearly every day of the week, Jesse Childress spent his evenings playing sports with friends. Monday it was softball. Tuesday it was bowling. Another night, it was flag football. He trained for a Tough Mudder race, which he completed last month with nearly 30 other Air Force airmen from Buckley Air Force Base. Childress, who served in the Army before joining the Air Force Reserves, loved the obstacles, but hated the running.