Theater Employee Wears Gas Mask to Dark Knight

An employee at a UK movie theater caused a stir Friday when he walked into a showing of the Dark Knight Rises wearing a mask, just hours after the shooting in Aurora, Colorado. "I was shocked and appalled," teacher Elizabeth Atkinson tells the Telegraph. She says he walked in during the previews and stood staring at the audience "wearing a gas mask … exactly as the gunman in Colorado was reported to have been dressed."

When Atkinson raised her concerns with the theater staff, "I was told simply that he was 'dressed as the villain, Bane.'" Atkinson says she understood that, but felt it was still "incredibly insensitive indeed in light of the recent shootings." The theater says it never meant to offend anyone. "Our staff are passionate about movies and often wear fancy dress on the opening day," a spokesman said. (More Colorado stories.)