'Batman shooter' came from area popular with FIl-Ams

SAN DIEGO, California – As police searched the Colorado apartment of suspected mass murderer James Holmes, media in San Diego waited outside the house of Holmes’ parents hoping to speak to Arlene Holmes, the mother.

A woman in what appeared to be in nurse scrubs did leave the home. She did not speak as she was escorted by police to her car. Neither police nor neighbors would confirm if she was Arlene Holmes.

With a high concentration of Filipinos in the region, San Diego's Rancho Penasquitos area is nicknamed "Pinoy-quitos."

Filipinos said the upper-middle-class area is known for good schools and friendly neighborhoods.

Realtor Daughlet Ordinario once lived around the corner from where Holmes grew up. Though she walked the area frequently, she never noticed him.

“My heart goes to the victims of the massacre. Yes, I used to live on Bavarian, which is the cross street of Sparren. We used to pass that everyday, our children passed that to go to school,” Ordonario said.

Cecil Camaclang has lived in the area for 30 years and his walking routine also takes him past the Holmes residence on Sparren Avenue.

He said he has never noticed the family and said that nothing as tragic as the Colorado movie theater massacre has been linked to his neighborhood.

“It's really shocking the way it happened. You'd never expect a guy who come from Rancho Penasquitos to be going over there,” she said.

Two miles away from the Holmes residence, locals at a popular Filipino hangout, Orient Valley Filipino cuisine, said they can't believe that a Rancho Penasquitos resident could be capable of such violence.

“It does make you have a little sense of just looking over your shoulder right now like who's this guy what's he going to do, just goes to show you don't really know somebody just by looking at him,” said Miles Leones.

Balitang America has spoken to Filipino Westview alumni who said they remember Holmes as the quiet, smart kid.

These recent Westview graduates, meantime, said the crime is even more shocking because students in their school have a reputation of staying away from trouble.

“It's just weird coming from our school because everyone is perfect you'd think. Everyone is smart, taking AP,” said Shyla Vasvoni, a Westview graduate.

Holmes remains in police custody after he was reported to have shown up at a midnight screening of the latest Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado and opened fire at the packed theater, killing 12 people and hurting 59 other moviegoers.

At least one Filipino-American Ryan Lumba was among those injured.

Though the gunshots were fired a thousand miles away, the pain and concern is strong in Holmes' hometown, with many of the locals now questioning what could turn a quiet kid from a quiet neighborhood into a suspected mass murderer.

Source: ABS-CBN

All 12 fatalities in shooting at Batman screening named

AURORA, Colorado — The names of the 12 people gunned down at a Colorado screening of the new Batman movie were released Saturday, with a six-year-old girl, a teenager and two US servicemen among the victims.

James Holmes, a 24-year-old postgraduate student born in San Diego, is accused of killing the moviegoers and wounding 58 others at the shooting in Aurora city near Denver while "The Dark Knight Rises" was being shown.

Arapahoe County Coroner's office said all 12 victims died of gunshot wounds and named the youngest as Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6.

"She was beautiful and innocent," the girl's great aunt Annie Dalton told The Denver Post, recalling how the blonde child "loved to dress up and read, and was doing well at school."

Veronica's mother, who is 25, was shot in the neck and abdomen and is in critical condition at Aurora Medical Center. She is drifting in and out of consciousness and is unaware that her daughter is dead, said the newspaper.

The oldest victim was named by the coroner as Gordon Cowden, 51.

The others killed included John Larimer, 27, who joined the US Navy in June 20122, and Jesse Childress, 29, who CNN said was also on active duty as a US Air Force staff sergeant.

Aspiring sportscaster Jessica Ghawi, 24, also died in the rampage at the midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises," the final part of movie director Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.

Ghawi's brother, Jordan, spoke to CNN.

"The more air time these victims have, the less time that man has his two seconds on television," he said, calling Holmes "a coward."

The other victims were Alex Sullivan, a bartender who was celebrating his 27th birthday, Micayla Medek, 23, Jonathan Blunk, 26, Rebecca Wingo, 32, Alexander Teves, 24, and Alexander Boik, also known as A.J Boik, 19.

The 12th person killed was listed by the coroner as Matt McQuinn, 27, whose body was presumptively identified but is awaiting definitive identification.

Victim support counselor Carol O'Shea said a painstaking process had been followed to ensure that families were notified first and in person.

"We are reaching out frantically and as quick as we can to try to get those resources to people and notifying people as quickly as we can," she told reporters.

Many of those wounded in the shooting will suffer long-term consequences, according to Bob Snyder, a doctor at the city's medical center.

The movie theater attack has revived a debate over gun control in the United States, and drew condemnation by President Barack Obama and his election rival, Republican Mitt Romney.

In Aurora, people gathered late Friday for two vigils as it emerged that Holmes bought more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition on the Internet, and four guns, in the two months before the massacre.— AFP