The 24-year-old James Holmes, who shot dead 12 innocent movie-goers at the midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colorado, is a local resident of the community who only lived a few miles away from the theater. The gunman reportedly wore a bulletproof vest and mask as he opened fire with two pistols and a shotgun at the Century 16 Movie Theaters at the midnight showing of the latest Batman movie premiere.

A woman from San Diego who is believed to be the gunman's mom, spoke to ABC News. She was not aware of the shooting when she woke up and authorities have not contacted her yet. "You have the right person," she reportedly said. "I need to call the police... I need to fly out to Colorado."

Holmes was arrested in the parking lot of the massacre site and police searched his car immediately. Police also raided and searched his home and apparently found "buckets of extra ammunition" and some sort of chemical within the home.

While in police custody, Holmes reportedly spoke of some sort of "explosive" within his home.

Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said at least 50 other people were injured in the mass shooting, but tragically 10 are reported to have died at the scene.

Witnesses have described that the real life shooting began during a noisy shoot out scene in the new "Dark Knight Rises" movie. Many in the theater actually believed the real gunshots were just part of the film and did not realize their lives were in danger until it was too late.

The gunfire lasted for up to 20 minutes, according to some eyewitnesses.

"I don't know whose little girl that was, but my heart goes out to them. ... A cop came walking through the front door ... holding a little girl in his arms and she wasn't moving, she wasn't moving," one young man told KUSA.

Other witnesses described some victims as being hit by gunfire in the stomach, others in the cheek. One victim is believed to be as young as nine years old, according to one eye witness, Salina Jordan.

A 911 dispatcher, Cathy Canzanora, has told NBC News that at about 12:39 a.m. on Friday local time (2.39 a.m. ET) the emergency call center was suddenly flooded with calls from just about "everybody who had cellphones in the theater." The call center immediately dispatched police, ambulances and fire crews to the location.

"The Dark Knight Rises" is the third and final movie in the Christopher Nolan trilogy in the Batman franchise. The movie was just released for general public viewing from midnight on Friday, and thousands attended special midnight screenings across the country.

Video of the shooting aftermath:

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Colorado shooting