Outside the re-opened Aurora mall, where a gunman shot and killed 12 people in the multiplex movie theatre, mourners made a makeshift memorial.

Keisha Mosley was one of the community's residents who went to lay flowers. She said: "This hit home and I'm hurt.

"I'm hurt, I'm angry. I don't want to be angry because I have kids and I don't want to teach them retaliation or anything like that, but in the same breadth, how do you cope with this?"

Kim Talbot said she always considered her community safe.

She added: "I would have never questioned my son going to the movies. If he were to ask me that night can he run down here and go to the movies with his friends, I would've said, 'absolutely, not a problem, I'll see you when you get back.'"

The mall was closed on Friday, but opened for shoppers on Saturday with the cinema remaining closed until further notice.