Two new lawsuits against Cinemark were filed Friday on behalf of three victims of the shooting tragedy who claim that the theater's operators did not have a security guard on the night of the shooting or an alarm on the door.
"The lawsuit is based upon Cinemark's failure to provide for the safety and security of its theater and its patrons," said the attorney representing the victims in the suits, Christian Habas, in a news release. "Readily available security procedures, security equipment and security personnel would likely have prevented or deterred the gunman from accomplishing his planned assault on the theater's patrons."
The lawsuits were filed in U.S. District Court on behalf of Denise Traynom, Brandon Axelrod and Joshua Nowlan the same day Cinemark announced its plans to reopen the theater in 2013. Traynom and Nowlan were injured by the gunfire while Axelrod injured himself trying to leave the theater.
"Any person who wished to make a surreptitious and unauthorized entry into the theater could easily determine that the lack of security personnel and lack of any alarm on the door at the right, front by the screen of Auditorium would allow them to leave the theater, and re-enter without fear of being discovered, interfered with, monitored or stopped," the lawsuits state.
Suspected gunman James Holmes, 24, is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 on July 20.
The lawsuit claims that Cinemark was negligent for failing to provide security personnel for the special midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises," that it failed to have an alarm system in place or anything to notify the theater that someone had left the theater and re-entered, alleges that the employees did not help to evacuate the theater and that the lights in the theater were kept low during the gunfire with the movie playing in the background.
Read the lawsuit below in full:
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