He is a survivor.
A Southbury man was among those shot inside an Aurora, Colo. movie theater early Friday morning when a gunman opened fire on the crowd, killing 12 people and wounding 58 in one of the deadliest shootings in recent U.S. history.
Stephen Barton, 22, of Southbury, remains in an Aurora hospital Friday night after suffering gunshot wounds to his neck and chest as well as some superficial wounds to his arm and surrounding areas, according to Barton’s brother David, of New York City.
Stephen had surgery to remove shotgun pellets from his neck and chest earlier Friday and, according to David, was recovering with his parents at his bedside.
“I was able to speak with him around noon our time,” said David. “He was in good spirits and said that he feels alright.”
According to a report on Syracuse.com, the website for the Syracuse Post Standard newspaper, Stephen recently graduated from Syracuse University and was on a bike trip across the country with a friend and fellow Pomperaug High School alum, whom the Post Standard identified as Ethan Rodriguez-Torrent, a Yale University student. Rodriguez-Torrent was in the movie theater but was not injured, according to the Post Standard report.
David did not have any information on the shooting itself or the scene inside the movie theater.
“When I've spoken with him it's been strictly focused on how he is doing and his condition,” he said.
The suspected shooter, James Eagan Holmes, was taken into custody following the shooting. He was believed to have been carrying four weapons, including an assault rifle, a shotgun, and a .40-caliber Glock, according to the Huffington Post.
From his hospital bed, Barton told NECN he knows he came very close to dying; shot in the neck, he told the cable news reporter that if not for a few millimeters, he probably wouldn't have made it out alive.
