Christian Bale, the star of the latest box office hit ‘Dark Knight Rises,’ visited Aurora, Colorado on July 25 to visit the victims of the “Batman Shooting.”

Early the morning of Friday, July 20, twenty-four year old James Holmes entered theater 9 in the Aurora Cineplex and started shooting. He killed twelve people and injured another 58 at the premiere of the final film in the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy. Holmes was arrested the same night and will face the death penalty if he is found guilty of all of the charges. Recently the judge ordered that film crews be banned from the courts during the hearing.

Christian Bale originally just released a written statement about the tragedy stating: “Words cannot express the horror that I feel. I cannot begin to truly understand the pain and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them.”

On July 25 Bale paid a special visit to Aurora with his wife, Sibi Blazic. The couple put flowers on the memorial to the shooting victims that is nearby the theater. According to Access Hollywood most people left him alone either because they did not recognize him or wanted to leave him in peace.

Bale also visited the hospital and thanked the medical staff and the police. He was able to visit five victims in Aurora’s local hospital and also met with two others who were bused over from the Swedish Medical Center in ambulances. He spent about fifteen minutes with each person and stayed about a total of two hours, flanked by security and police.

According to hospital personnel Bale wanted to keep his visit out of the press and to not turn the visit into a publicity ploy. A Warner Bros. spokeswoman reported that Bale was not representing the studio, just himself.

Janie Bowman-Hayes, assistant vice president of surgical services at Swedish Medical Center said, “he just said he wanted to come to thank all of us because he has been thinking about this. He knows the whole world has been thinking about this. He took it upon himself to come and thank us.”

Bowman-Hayes added, “He did this out of his heart, and you could really tell. It was so sincere. It was just, ‘thank you’.”

Bale visit may have been influenced by an online campaign in which people encouraged the star to go and visit the victims. Other visitors to the hospital have included members of the Denver Broncos and President Barrack Obama.

Image Courtesy of cinemafestival / Shutterstock.com

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About the author

Alexa Robinson
I am a student at Florida Atlantic University in Jupiter, FL studying Philosophy and History. I am also a foil fencer and am interested in politics, cinema, music, books, and environmental issues. Reporting from St. Petersburg, Florida.

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