AURORA | Carving out an identity always frustrated Aurora. A sprawling suburb with no real center, the city for years longed for something to define it, to shake off the image of just another sea of beige housing developments. July 20, 2012, changed all of that.
❖ Toting a deadly arsenal and decked out in military-grade armor, a lone gunman stormed an Aurora theater, indiscriminately blasting rounds from an assault rifle and shotgun into a terrified crowd. The rampage spanned just 72 seconds, but left 12 moviegoers dead and dozens more wounded.
❖ Beyond the carnage and suffering, the massacre stripped Aurora of its anonymity. Like Virginia Tech before it and Newtown after, Aurora post-July 20 is “one of those places,” forever bound to the American gun violence that shocks the world from time to time. City leaders won’t fret again that Aurora is a bland, forgettable suburb engulfing the plains east from Denver.
❖ Now, Aurora is “that place.”
❖ As the one-year anniversary of Aurora’s worst day looms, the costs of the shooting — both emotional and financial — are only now coming into focus.
Below are links to a package of stories written by the Aurora Sentinel staff and bolstered by Denver Associated Press editions. Some of the stories appear in this month’s edition of The Aurora magazine, a product of the Aurora Sentinel, and this week’s edition of the Aurora Sentinel.
FROM THE AURORA SENTINEL THIS WEEK
7.20 Aurora’s Day of Remembrance
7.20 Aurora looks back, beyond 7/20 massacre
7.20 Q&A with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on that day, and decisions made afterward
7.20 Temporary memorial, permanent memories
7.20 OPENING A HOME FOR HEALING: Resilience center offers to help traumatized victims and public
7.20 Tab for Holmes case court security grows with trial
7.20 Colorado gun-rights rally at Aurora 7/20 remembrance called ‘slap in the face’
7.20 A year after shootings, Holmes still an enigma
7.20 A look at the court case against James Holmes one year after the shooting
7.20 July 20 theater massacre anniversary events
7.20 Year after Aurora theater attack, gun debate rages
7.20 Beer fest to honor Aurora theater victim
7.20 Has Aurora shooting affected screen violence?
EDITORIAL: The lack of real change since massacre is a milestone of sadness
PERRY: Holmes slaughtered innocents, but we murdered reason after theater massacre
Tooning into the Aurora Massacre one year later
FROM THE AURORA MAGAZINE THIS MONTH
7.20.2012 THE PRICE WE PAID: The personal toll
7.20.2012 THE PRICE WE PAID: The physical toll
7.20.2012 THE PRICE WE PAID: The emotional toll
7.20.2012 THE PRICE WE PAID: Our identity
7.20.2012 THE PRICE WE PAID: Our city
7.20.2012 THE PRICE WE PAID: Our children
7.20.2012 THE PRICE WE PAID: Our community
7.20.2012 THE PRICE WE PAID: Ourselves
7.20.2012 THE PRICE WE PAID: Message triggers a new attitude toward guns
7.20.2012 THE PRICE WE PAID: Q&A with Gov. John Hickenlooper
7.20.2012 THE PRICE WE PAID: Around the world
7.20.2012 THE PRICE WE PAID: Going forward after a tragedy (edit)