Cellphone video key in showing the world the terror of the Batman shooting in Colorado

Once again, it is a cellphone video that brings the terror, chaos and fear of a horrifying event right into living rooms around the world. We all awoke to the terrible news about the gunman who killed 12 and shot 71 people at the premiere showing of the latest Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado. In the days before cellphones made capturing these events possible, we would have had to rely on re-creations or our imaginations. Not that the images of events like the movie theater massacre are filmed clearly, but the out of focus images and constant movement bring the horror and chaos of the scene to us in a way that can't be duplicated by the spoken word.

The use of mobile social networking in relation to this tragedy also came up when some in the theater tweeted to friends about seeing the third installment of the Batman trilogy. One tweet read, "Going to see the final batman tonight! So EXCITED!!!". The most poignant mobile tweet came from Jessica Ghawi,an aspiring sportscaster who used her on-air name, Jessica Redfield, as her Twitter address. "Of course we're seeing Dark Knight ... people should never argue with me," the 24 year old wrote. In another tweet, she playfully made fun of a friend who didn't go to the movie, saying that it was starting in 20 minutes. Less than an hour later, Ghawi was dead, a victim of the senseless attack.

source: Twitter, CNN