Mass shooting at Batman movie screening

Fourteen people are dead, and around 50 have been injured after a gunman opened fire at a crowded movie screening of the new Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises in Colorado in the United States.

The gunman, wearing body armour and a helmet, opened fire at the premiere of the movie in Aurora.

A witness says a man wearing a riot helmet kicked through the door holding a shotgun, and began walking slowly up the cinema stairs firing randomly at people.

There are reports the attacker then set off what appeared to be a smoke bomb or a teargas bomb.

A makeshift medical centre was set up in the carpark, and police officers piled victims into their cars to take them to hospital.

A 24-year-old man is in police custody.

Police apprehended the man in the carpark at the back of the cinema shortly after where he did not put up a fight.

They took a rifle and a shotgun from him, and he reportedly had a third gun still inside the theatre and told police of explosives he had at his apartment.

Some movie goers initially thought the noises were special effects, until they saw people covered in blood.

Photo: NZ Herald