As Friday's hearing was wrapping up after the announcement that the arraignment hearing for accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes had been postponed until March 12, a father of an Aurora victim reached his boiling point and verbally lashed out at Holmes.
"Rot in hell Holmes," Steve Hernandez shouted out. Hernandez is father of Rebecca Wingo, a 32-year-old woman who was shot and killed by an armor-clad gunman who opened fire upon unsuspecting movie-goers watching a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" on the night of July 20th.
9News reports that Judge William Sylvester called everyone back into court and expressed empathy for Hernandez and his outburst, but also with a request.
"I am terribly sorry for you loss. I can't begin to image the emotions that are raging," the judge said to Hernandez, but asked: "Can I count on you from now on to make no more outbursts?"
"I can promise you no more outbursts," Hernandez responded, 7News reports. "I understand, and I meant no disrespect to you or the courts," Hernandez told the judge.
It was an emotion-filled week for families of victims who listened to heartbreaking testimony, learned new details about the detailed planning that went into the shooting and listened to 911 calls from desperate people inside the theater as gunshots drowned out their pleas for help.
911 dispatchers said in court that during a 10-minute span shortly after midnight on July 20, they received 41 emergency calls from the Aurora Century 16 movie theater. However, they also said that most of those calls were tragically drowned out by gunfire, Fox31 reports.
The first emergency call that dispatchers received illustrated the sheer magnitude of horror that was playing out in the theater that tragic night. About 20 minutes after "The Dark Knight Rises" began playing, a 911 call came from Kevin Quinonez and police said they counted 30 gunshot booms audible during that 27-second clip, The Associated Press reports.
Judge Sylvester ruled late Thursday that the prosecution had presented enough evidence to order Holmes to stand trial for charges that allege he shot and killed 12 people and wounded 70 others at the Aurora Century 16 theater, according to The Associated Press.
Holmes, the onetime University of Colorado doctoral student of neuroscience, is charged with more than 160 counts including murder and attempted murder.
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