Aurora, Colorado police department: "We stand with Orlando"
DENVER -- Messages of hope and support have been extended to the Orlando police officers who responded to this week's gay nightclub mass shooting by Colorado colleagues who know the horrors they faced.
Aurora Police Lt. Stephen Redfearn, who was among the first on the scene after a gunman opened fire at a movie theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora in 2012, came up with the idea for a video in which he, his chief and a dozen other members of his department say they stand with Orlando.
"Most everybody in the video was at the incident that night in Aurora," Redfearn said. He added that messages he received in 2012 from all over the world, particularly emails and social media posts from other officers, helped him. Orlando police need to know they will heal, too, he said.
In the video, patrol men and women, detectives, crime scene specialists and support staff speak one after another against a dark background. Aurora police spokeswoman Diana Cooley said that it came together in a few days after Redfearn raised his idea with Chief Nick Metz, and that it represents the entire 787-member department's response.
"We know what you're going through," Officer Tomas Campagna, who like Redfearn responded to the Aurora shooting, says to the camera. "And while at the moment it may seem hopeless, we know you're going to get through this as a community and as a police department."
Orlando police tweeted a link to the video, asked that it be retweeted and said: "We have no words to express our thanks."
In Orlando, 49 people died before gunman Omar Mateen was killed during the attack early Sunday.
Aurora is approaching the fourth anniversary of the theater shooting in which 12 people died. Last summer, jurors convicted James Holmes after a lengthy trial during which police officers and others relived the bloody confusion of the attack in their testimony. Holmes was sentenced to life in prison without parole for 12 murders and more than to 3,200 additional years for attempted murder and an explosives conviction.
The city of Aurora also has reached out to Orlando, city spokeswoman Lori MacKenzie said, adding it stood ready to do whatever was needed in coming months and years. She said support could include advice on addressing the psychological aftermath of a mass shooting. The Aurora Strong Resilience Center was established primarily to support theater shooting victims with free counseling, Bible study, tai chi, massage therapy and other programs.