Colorado shooting: Leaders in Congress pledge support for Aurora

WASHINGTON -- Congressional leaders set aside their partisan differences to pledge federal support for those in the Denver suburb where a gunman opened fire at a movie theater, killing 12 people.

“Confronted with incomprehensible evil, Americans pull together and embrace our national family more tightly,” said House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). “I join President Obama, and every American, in sending my thoughts and prayers to the victims of this awful tragedy.”

“We will all stand with them, as one nation, in the days ahead,” he said.

Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the GOP leader, canceled a midday press conference in the Capitol following what he called a “senseless massacre,” and some congressional campaign events elsewhere were being postponed.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the House minority leader, said “the federal government will be a partner” with local officials.

Colorado Sen. Mark Udall, a Democrat, called the shootings “senseless and tragic.”

And Colorado’s Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, called it a “horrible, senseless, abhorrent act.”

The shooting took place at a midnight opening of the Batman movie “The Dark Night Rises.” Police say a 24-year-old masked gunman entered the theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora and opened fire early Friday, killing at least 12 people and wounding at least 50 others.

lisa.mascaro@latimes.com