Bale visits Aurora shooting victims

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AURORA, Colo., July 25 (UPI) -- "The Dark Knight Rises" star Christian Bale Tuesday visited with seven people wounded in a movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colo., a hospital official said.

Bale and his wife, Sibi Blazic, went to the Medical Center of Aurora, where the hospital's interim president, Bill Voloch, said they visited with five people who are still in treatment for wounds and two people who came to the medical center from Swedish Medical Center, The Denver Post reported.

"The patients were really happy to meet Bale," Voloch said. "They are obviously big fans of his movies. They wanted to see Batman and were really pleased to see Bale.

"It was good for the patients. We hope it was therapeutic for them, and all the staff really appreciated him coming."

Bale and Blazic spent time with doctors, police officers and emergency medical personnel who were among the first responders when the shooting broke out early Friday at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises."

Bale and Blazic stopped by a memorial to victims and visited with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.

A spokeswoman for Warner Bros., which is distributing "The Dark Knight Rises," said Bale was "not representing" the studio in Tuesday's visit, the Post reported.

Bale's "Dark Knight Rises" co-star joined him earlier in expressing sympathy for those involved in the mass shooting.

"My most sincere sympathies go out to the families of the victims in Aurora," Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who plays a Gotham policeman in the blockbuster Batman movie, said via Twitter Monday.

"My heart aches and breaks for the lives taken and altered by this unfathomably senseless act," Anne Hathaway, who plays Catwoman, said in a statement during the weekend. "I am at a loss for words how to express my sorrow. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families."

"Words cannot express the horror that I feel. I cannot begin to truly understand the pain and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them," said Bale.

James E. Holmes, 24, is to be charged next week in the deaths of 12 people and the wounding of dozens more when he allegedly opened fire at the Century 16 Movie multiplex where the third and final installment in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy was showing in a midnight screening.