Man stunned to learn neighbor was in theater during shooting

CASCADE -- A teenage girl from the small Wisconsin village of Cascade made it out of the theater in Aurora, Colorado after a gunman opened fire, killing 12 people and wounding more than 50 during the Dark Knight Rises midnight showing.

Katie Trakel traveled to Colorado with her family for the National Stuttering Convention. She's made friends from all over the country during the annual event. She went with a group of them to the Century 16 theater Thursday night.

Trakel was in Theater 8. The gunman chose Theater 9. She said she could hear the gunfire but thought it was special effects.

"We didn't think too much of it. Then (her friend) Gage and another friend, Steve, they ran out together. Gage looked at his arm like 'what's going on' and saw he'd been shot so those two went out," Trakel said.

Trakel's friend was shot in the arm but will be okay.

Back home in Cascade, Trakel's neighbor across the street says he didn't even know about the shooting until a neighbor called to say Katie was in the theater.

"My wife Peggy was on the phone and she's saying 'oh my God, oh my God' and I couldn't imagine what she was talking about. She told me and I was like 'oh my God,'" Breitzman said.

Breitzman says he's still stunned by the violence but looks forward to welcoming his neighbors home. He says the family is expected to come home Monday.

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