a night at the movies ended in tragedy. >> people running out of theater

shot. >> gunfire and tear gas filled the colorado theater. >> it sounded like madness to me. >> i remember thinking i'm not going to die in here. >> tonight new details about the alleged gunman have come to light as police step up security at theaters here and across the country. it is one of the worst mass shootings in american history. >> a graduate student many combat gear opened fire on a midnight showing of the new batman movie in aurora colorado. witnesses say he called himself the joker and planned the attack for two months. >> i have people running out of theater that are shot. >> reporter: we are learning more about the firestorm unleashed in this colorado movie theater. >> it's an act that defies

description. >> reporter: police say james holmes was wearing a gas mask when he burst through an exit door first tossing two smoke canisters and then opening fire. >> he was going up the stairs and shooting people at random. >> reporter: investigators say he had an assault rifle, a handgun and two glock pistols all purchased legally and through the internet he ordered more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition. >> he could have got off 50 to 60 rounds within one minute. and as far as we know it was a rapid pace of fire in that theater. >> i need officer on the east side -- >> reporter: chaos erupted victims scattered across theater and others scrambled to escape a scene that rattled even seasoned law enforcements. >> our cops went through a lot. as i told you this morning, they rushed people out of that

theater into police cars. >> reporter: when it was over, 12 people were dead and 58 injured. >> he was unloading into the crowd. it seemed to me to be purposeful and methodical. >> reporter: holmes was captured behind theater and his hair was dyed bright orange and he told the officers he was the joker from the batman series and his apartment was rigged with explosives and bomb squad is at the apartment tonight. >> is it a vexing problem how to enter the apartment safely. >> reporter: many in this close-knit community say they have never seen anything like the horror that unfolded here overnight. jay gray, nbc news, aurora, colorado. >> the gunman lived four miles

from the movie theater but the authorities cannot get into the apartment he booby trapped the apartment with guns and fireworks if officials can not disarm the apartment they have not ruled out the possibility of blowing the whole place up. here's what we know about the suspect now. he is 24 years old and grew up in san diego, california. his father is the manager of a software company and his mother is a nurse. holmes graduated from the university of california riverside. he was in the process 06 withdrawing from his masters program and he did not have a criminal record. >> rescuers rushed to get everybody out of theater. these are some of the calls for help. >> injury at a shooting at

century theaters. >> people running out of theater are shot. >> seven down in theater. >> we are loading the patients in the back of tv cars to get them transported. >> as you heard police were taking victims to the hospital in their police cars to get them help faster. the victim we learned most about is a 24-year-old who had written about surviving another mass shooting. her name was jessica ghawi. she witnessed a maul shooting in toronto last month and said after saturday evening i know how blessed i am for each second i am given. >> she is a fiery redhead and passionate. she had a passion for life and it showed in everything she did. >> no other victims' names have been released yet.

many movie theaters have stepped up security in the wake of the shootings audio. our coverage continues with shomari stone in silver spring with a look at the precautions taken there. >> reporter: we are in downtown silver spring and montgomery county police outside this theater. they are usually out here. but an officer told me there is a sense of heightened security. >> i kind of fear going to the movies. >> reporter: she has second thoughts about seeing the dark night knight after a shooting rampage in colorado. >> reporter: a are you scared of? >> the same thing being duplicated. >> reporter: 12 are dead and dozens are injured. police departments are stepping up patrols near the theaters. >> it's an added comfort to see the increased presence here. >> the police keep a close eye

on the crowd in silver spring. there are officers inside. the chief says the department is trying to calm fears. >> we have no indication ofmy issues in this area. we are trying to make the public feel safe. >> reporter: d.c. police are stepping up enforcement. >> the police department will be paying close attention in our movie theaters in washington, d.c. >> reporter: amc theaters banned masks and fake weapons. michelle bought her tickets. >> i don't think it's something it will happen in every theater. >> reporter: she is going to weight this out. >> next week until the crowd dies down. >> reporter: live in downtown silver spring i'm shomari stone, news4. >> warner brothers cancelled the

premier in paris. the director of the movie called the shooting devastating and appalling. coming up in a few minutes we'll report on the similarities between the attack today and the film. residents in northwest d.c. are cleaning up after the latest storm the homes and streets flooded for the third time in two weeks. darcy spencer is live with more. >> reporter: d.c. water is handing out these sandbags. residents are piling them up by the basements to prevent flooding. they say they need more than sandbags. they need answers. flooded street are not the only problem in this neighborhood. flooded basements are making for a huge and costly mess for

residents. there was flooding for the third time in eight days. when it pours these days, it floods. >> the water is high as here. my door is down here. a foot and a half in my apartment. >> reporter: brendan hill grabbed sandbags provided by d.c. water to prevent his basement from flooding a fourth time. christian gaines took this video of what he called a geyser pushing up a drain cover. >> it's not coming from the sky any more, it's from below the street. >> reporter: the utility is checking to see if the derecho could have dislodged something or created an obstacle in the system. >> we don't know. the fact we had three in eight days is an alarm bell to us. >> reporter: the residents are growing more and more frustrated. >> the root of the problem is that d.c. water has an

inadequate system in this area and failed to do anything about it. >> reporter: d.c. water was handing out the sandbags in the bloomingdale neighborhood and they are working to have backflow prevention valves installed in the homes. darcy spencer, news4. there is a threat of more rain this weekend. veronica now will tell us how much and when. >> it's not looking as bad for the weekend. not looking like the rainfall amounts i was seeing earlier for the weekend. we will have rain coming in but much improved for us, including this evening it was improved with the moderate rain moving out and the heavier rain in the south. la plata .18 inches in

gaithersburg .12 inch and andrews air force base nearly a quarter and nearly a half inch in annapolis. down through chesapeake beach off to the west we have moderate rains moving in. scattered storms to the west but we have more for the weekend. we'll talk about who gets what and when in a couple of minutes. >> thank you. our coverage of the tragedy in colorado continues. next the parallels between the movie and the massacre. and a law enforcement exercise that took on new meaning tonight. [ male announcer ] where did all the obama stimulus money go?

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this is a safe city and a safe state and a safe country. and we need to recognize that we can't allow people that are aberrations of nature to take away the joys and freedoms that

we enjoy. >> it's too early to know why the gunman chose a theater full of the people watching "the dark knight rises" for his attack but there are erie parallels between the franchise and the shooting. in this movie a masked villain uses guns and explosives on a football stadium and kills people in public at the stock exchange. the joker kills the audience of a television show in the graphic novel and a batman video game takes place in an abandoned movie theater. we hope you stay with news4 for our coverage of the tragedy in colorado. we'll have the latest tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. and for up to the minute information head to our website at www.nbcwashington.com. that shooting in colorado gave meaning to a mass shooting drill in prince george's county today. it was scheduled earlier. officials acted out a scenario

in a high school. they practiced with an armored s.w.a.t. vehicle and fake victims. they talked about how to best make officers visible in public places in order to help prevent shootings. heavy rain in charlotte, north carolina caved i part of the roof of a shopping mall today. shoppers heard a bang and noticed water pouring in. several inches of water were left standing in the mall. we know the name of a cab company manager killed in a dispute in southwest d.c. he was stabbed in the chest last night at the gold star cab company on q street. dennis was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead there. police are trying to find a suspect. the company was closed at the time but mechanics and other employees often stay late.

montgomery county ride on bus service has released plans through next week. the company stopped running 30 of the buses after yet another fire this past wednesday in silver spring. there have been at least a dozen fires on those buses since 2009. the county says it will run a normal schedule this weekend and a holiday schedule on monday and tuesday. normal service resumes on wednesday. a rate hike for pepco customers in maryland but not as much as expected. that would have meant a $5.50 increase on the monthly bill. but now the increase will increase to $2 a month. the commission says that pepco didn't deserve the increase citing the response to last month's storms and a history of

substandard performance. veronica is here with more on our weather. we will not have the drama tonight? >> not tonight or this weekend. saturday will feel like spring. >> that feels good. >> clouds and showers and cool. i know, right. but our friends in baltimore got rocked with heavy rain. just like we have areas near the water that flood easily, same thing there. a lot of streets were closed by the water. so they are trying to clean up in parts of the area today up in baltimore. look at the radar. you can see baltimore is currently dry. the showers are east around easton and cambridge. and those are moving away from the area. around d.c. we are dry. showers manassas to warrenton

and rain making its way through culpepper county. that is sliding east and southeast and a huge batch of rain to the south. richmond, norfolk, elizabeth city are seeing the rain right now. the weather system will sit down there and down to the south. your thunderstorm chances are higher. 82 is the high temperature today. rainfall of .10 inch. the deficit for the month is a quarter inch. for tomorrow we will see occasional showers and again it's going to be cool. it's going to be cloudy. northeast wind with a few clouds. 78 to 81 between 2:00 and 6:00 p.m. there is the weather system

moving through the area and a low pressure moving down to southeastern virginia that is where the heaviest rain will be this weekend. for us occasional showers coming through. here is 6:00 a.m. in the morning. showers light in the area i don't think we'll have anything too heavy but everyone will see scattered showers and i only think we pick up a couple hundredths of an inch of rain or a tenth of an inch tomorrow and more off to the west on sunday. high temperature tomorrow morning, 66 to 72 degrees. that easterly wind picking up to 10 miles an hour by the afternoon. your shower chance 40% for the afternoon. a higher humidity down to the south and a high temperature for your sunday there, 86 degrees. next week in the low and mid-90s. saturday right now looking and feeling like spring.

sunday right now more sunshine and still i think the best day out of the weekend if you will be itching to get outside. >> but weather like springtime sounds like incentive. >> yes. >> sport

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so they didn't let rain stop them at nats park. >> they ain't scared of rain or the braves either. stephen strasburg has never pitched on his birthday.

dan is in london now. >> we should be saying that. >> this ain't my job. this is dan's job. but he is in london, so here we go. in 2010 he won the day after his birthday. last year he was still recovering from tommy john's surgery. today, though he was on the mound for his 24th birthday. while he got nice presents from his teammates, the braves were not playing nice. bottom of the first, two on, two out, mike morris crushes this ball 465 feet to center. the longest home run in nationals history. ryan zimmerman another three-run shot. nats on top 6-0. they would go up 9-0 on that

one. but the braves down 9-8. michael bourne drills this to right. two runs score on his triple. it's the second blown save for clippard. but it ain't over until it's over. bottom of the ninth. solo shot. headed to extras. the braves just went ahead 11-10 in the 11th. the game ain't over yet. orioles and the indians top of the third 4-1 o's. three-run shot, orioles up. taking this one deep to right

600th career home run he broke a tie with sammy sosa for seventh on the all time list. to golf where americans sit in the top two of the top three spots in the british open. after 36 holes of golf tiger woods is in third place. he has won three times. brandt snedeker is the leader. he has never made the cut in a british open. but after back to back impressive rounds, both are in great position to hoist the jug the claret jug i think it is, if you didn't know brandt snedeker you better know him now. got the line, got the speed, got the cup, the leader.

tiger woods on the prowl. there is tiger. he's in the bunker. that's not a big deal for tiger. holing out of this one. you know what he does after this one. tiger shot a 3 under, 67 for the round. he is third going into the third round.

the nat lost 11-10 to the braves in extra innings. >> cool tomorrow and mostly cloudy and showers but no storms. ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> announcer: it's "the tonight show with jay leno," featuring rickey minor and "the tonight show" band. tonight, jay welcomes -- from "the watch," ben stiller, from "damages," actress rose byrne,