TEN people have been shot dead at a Batman film premiere near Denver, Colorado, according to reports.
A masked gunman shot dead ten people and initial police estimates say he wounded 30 to 40 others at a showing of Batman film The Dark Knight Rises.
Local radio reported people running screaming from the Century Aurora 16 Movie Theater in a mall in the suburb of Aurora.
The gunman reportedly opened fire after 30 minutes of the showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" and also set off a smoke or tear gas bomb.
Donna Hayes-Johnson, news producer at WFHP was reported on Twitter as saying multiple children were among the dead.
Brenda Stuart, from 850 KOA Radio, told Sky News: "This started with a midnight showing of the new Dark Knight movie and the theatres were packed that were showing this movie.
"People inside tell us they thought it was part of the movie. They heard what they thought were firecrackers, loud bangs and all of a sudden they saw the bullets flying.
"Police officers are carting the injured to the hospital in their own cars, not waiting for the ambulances."
A makeshift hospital was set up at the mall to treat those wounded in the attack, and injured people were taken to several hospitals.
Fox News reported there were two gunmen involved and one was reportedly in custody.
Police closed off surrounding parking lots as sniffer dogs were brought in to search for a suspected explosive device.
A bomb-searching robot was deployed by police, according to eyewitnesses.
The Denver Post had earlier reported that expectations had been at fever pitch in the city, with several cinemas preparing to unveil the film to the public at midnight.
Fans had been queueing for the premiere since 10am yesterday.
Tickets for a showing at the UA Colorado Center for the midnight showing sold so fast that a 3.30am showing had been hurriedly added.
Anticipation among film fans has been growing for months following the smash-hit success of Christopher Nolan's earlier films Batman Begins and Batman: The Dark Knight, starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger.
On Wednesday the film review aggregating website Rotten Tomatoes blocked users from making comments on reviews of the final chapter of the Batman trilogy after the responses to the few negative reviews it has received got out of hand and hostile fans became abusive and started making threats against the reviewers.
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