Boyfriend of Darien Visitor Escapes CO Shooting [UPDATE]

Update 4:06 p.m.:

President Obama has ordered the U.S. government to fly flags at half staff until sunset on July 25 as a memorial to those who died in the Aurora, CO massacre.

Obama also discussed the situation in remarks published on the White House website:

"[Even] as we learn how this happened and who's responsible, we may never understand what leads anybody to terrorize their fellow human beings like this. Such violence, such evil is senseless. It's beyond reason. But while we will never know fully what causes somebody to take the life of another, we do know what makes life worth living.  The people we lost in Aurora loved and they were loved. They were mothers and fathers; they were husbands and wives; sisters and brothers; sons and daughters, friends and neighbors. They had hopes for the future and they had dreams that were not yet fulfilled."

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has made the following announcement:

"Governor Dannel P. Malloy, in response to a proclamation from President Barack Obama, has directed all U.S. and state flags in Connecticut to fly at half-staff until sunset on July 25, 2012 honoring the victims of the tragic shooting in Colorado.

"'What happened in Colorado is a traumatic and terrible event—the victims and their families are in our prayers today, and our thoughts are with the people of Colorado.  We join them in their anguish and their outrage at this senseless act of violence, and offer our support during this very difficult time.'"

Original article, 12:23 p.m., Friday:

Jade Tittman, 18, was up in the wee hours this morning with a friend during a visit to Darien when she started reading Twitter messages about the shooting at an Aurora, CO movie theatre, not far from her home in Littleton.

[According to an article on the New York Times website, the death toll in the shooting is 12, with dozens injured.]

Then, at about 3:30 a.m., she got a call from her boyfriend, also 18. He told her was there in the back of the theater when the gunman, dressed all in black, walked through an exit door at the front and started firing.

Her boyfriend told her he was able to get out, but a friend of his had been shot and was being treated in a hospital.

At first, her boyfriend told her, he thought the gunman was doing something promotional as part of the premier midnight showing of the Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises," that the crowd was there to see.

"He said that he [the gunman] first shot up in the air, and then he shot all around—he didn't have a particular target," Tittman said. "He [her boyfriend] was really scared. He was really shocked that it was actually happening, and he didn't know if he was going to get out without being shot at."

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Tittman said she herself had never been to that movie theater, only to the shopping mall it's attached to, about 15 miles from her home.

"It's really scary to me, because I was looking to move to near there," she said. "This, obviously, is changing my mind. It's getting a little crazy."

Tittman has been staying with her grandmother on Patricia Lane during her visit, and her mother previously lived in New Canaan. She expects to be returning to Denver early next week.

"It's really sad that you have to worry about going to movies—be worried about what's going to happen," she said.

Correction: The street where Tittman is staying was wrongly identified in an earlier version of this article. She is visiting Patricia Lane, not Hecker Avenue.

Editor's note: This article originally was posted at 12:23 p.m. The time stamp has been changed for layout purposes on the Home page of Darien Patch.