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The Latest: Attorney says attack could not have been stopped

CENTENNIAL, Colo. - The Latest on closing arguments in a civil trial over whether the company that owns a Colorado movie theatre should have done more to prevent a shooting that left 12 people dead. (all times local):

4:15 p.m.

An attorney for the owner of a Colorado movie theatre where 12 people were killed in a shooting rampage says there's no way it could have foreseen the attack.

Cinemark attorney Kevin Taylor said Wednesday the suburban Denver theatre had no history of serious crime or violence, making it impossible to have predicted James Holmes' violence. He made the comments during closing arguments in a civil trial over whether Cinemark should have done more to prevent the 2012 shooting during a midnight premiere of a Batman film.

Taylor acknowledges there were no armed guards at the theatre, but he says the company never had problems at other movie premieres.

He also showed jurors photos of Holmes' weapons and body armour, arguing it showed his determination to carry out the attack.

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4:01 p.m.

An attorney for victims of the Colorado movie theatre shooting says the attack that killed 12 people could have been prevented if the theatre had had better security.

Lawyer Marc Bern made the comment during closing arguments Wednesday in a civil trial over whether theatre owner Cinemark should have done more to prevent the 2012 rampage. Bern says Cinemark should have had armed guards at the crowded midnight premiere of a Batman film and a silent alarm that would have sounded when James Holmes slipped into an auditorium and started shooting, among other safety precautions.

Bern says that in an age of mass shootings, the nation's third-largest theatre chain should have been able to foresee the possibility of violence at a summer blockbuster that was expected to draw more than 1,000 people.

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1:39 a.m.

Closing arguments are expected in a civil trial over whether the company that owns a Colorado movie theatre should have done more to prevent a shooting that left 12 people dead.

Attorneys could make their final appeals to jurors on Wednesday. Jurors are being asked to determine whether, in an age of mass shootings, Cinemark should have foreseen the possibility for violence during a packed midnight movie premiere in July 2012.

James Holmes is serving a life sentence for the attack, which also left more than 70 others injured.

Twenty-eight survivors and families of the dead sued Cinemark in state court, arguing the theatre had no armed guards, and security was otherwise lax.

Cinemark attorneys say nothing could have stopped the heavily armed Holmes. They say mass shootings are still too rare to have been predicted.

News from © The Associated Press, 2016
The Associated Press

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