Chuck E. Cheese has long been a place where parents take their children for a good and affordable time. This simple restaurant is complemented by arcade games, amusement rides and animatronic displays. It is synonymous with family fun. But on a crisp winter night in Aurora Colorado in December of 1993, this family style restaurant was the scene of a mass shooting that highlighted just how easily a gun can rip through a workplace.
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Sources:
Rocky Mountain News, 5 March, 1996 – “Dunlap’s Sister Tells of Family Terror, Mental Illness, Abuse Made Home Life Hellish”
The News-Sentintel, 17 December, 1993 – “Service Scheduled for Slain Boy”
Rocky Mountain News, 17 December, 1993 – “Massacre Suspect Warned of Revenge”
Rocky Mountain News, 17 December, 1993 – “Handgun is No Stranger to The Streets”
Rocky Mountain News, 17 December, 1993 – “Mourners Give Christmas to their Four Slain Friends”
The Denver Post, 17 December, 1993 – “A Mother’s Story”
The Gazette, 18 December, 1993 – “Bullets Don’t Match HAndgun Seized in Killings”
The Gazette, 19 December, 1993 – “Police Arrest Second Teen in Pizzeria Slayings”
Rocky Mountain News, 19 December, 1993 – “Suspect in Killings Waited for Chance”
Rocky Mountain News, 22 December, 1993 “Public Defender Can’t Represent Dunlap”
USA Today, 29 December, 1993 – “The Gun Business”
Rocky Mountain News, 5 February, 1994 – “Rampage Survivor Felt Thankful but Alone”
Rocky Mountain News, 10 February, 1994 – “Slay Suspect told of Guilt, Friend Says”
Rocky Mountain News, 18 February, 1994 – “Cops Jail 3rd Suspect in Massacre”
The Gazette, 19 March, 1994 – “Pizzeria Slaying Suspect Said He’d Waste Girlfriend, Cellmate Says”
Rocky Mountain News, 9 April, 1994 – “TV Station Airs Slay Suspect’s Criminal Past”
The Gazette, 9 July, 1994 – “Suspect in 4 Killings Ruled Competent”
Rocky Mountain News, 11 December, 1994 – “1993 Massacre Still Painful for Families One Year Later”
Rocky Mountain News, 20 December, 1994 – “Chuck E Cheese’s Victim Says Dunlap was Gunman”
The Denver Post, 21 December, 1994 – “Dunlap’s Girlfriend Saw Cash, Cop Testifies”
Rocky Mountain News, 22 December, 1994 – “Judge Orders Dunlap to Stand Trial in Pizzeria Murders”
The Denver Post, 20 December, 1994 – “Survivor: Dunlap Shot Me”
Rocky Mountain News, 1 March, 1995 – “Man Charged as Accessory in Slayings”
The Denver Post, 23 March, 1995 – “Judge Tries to Streamline Dunlap Case”
Rocky Mountain News, 25 October, 1995 – “Killings Haunt Start of Robbery Trial”
Rocky Mountain News, 8 January, 1996 – “Pain of Shootings Last Even After 2 Years”
Rocky Mountain News, 6 February, 1996 – “Chuck E Cheese’s Slayings Called Revenge”
The Denver Post, 6 February, 1996 – “A Whydunnit Instead of WhoDunnit”
The Denver Post, 6 February, 1996 – “Case Against Dunlap Outlined”
The Gazette, 7 February, 1996 – “Defendant Placed at Scene of Slayings”
The Gazette, 8 February, 1996 – “Witness: Dunlap said ‘I Did It’”
Rocky Mountain NEws, 9 February, 1996 – “Girlfriend Says Dunlap Had Gun After Slayings”
Rocky Mountain News, 10 February, 1996 – “Dunlap Admitted Killing 4, Had Bag of Cash, Friend Says”
The Gazette, 13 February, 1996 – “Dunlap Set on Killings, Friend Says”
Rocky Mountain News, 14 February, 1996 – “Manager Testifies Against Dunlap”
The Gazette, 15 February, 1996 – “Victims Shot at Close Range”
Rocky Mountain News, 17 February, 1996 – “Witness Says Dunlap Told Him to Lie”
The Denver Post, 21 February, 1996 – “Dunlap Gunman Pizza Parlor Worker Shot in the Face”
Rocky Mountain News, 8 March, 1996 – “Outcome Doesn’t Ease Pain, Families Say”
Rocky Mountain News, 25 April, 1996 – “Dunlap Confesses to Killing Workers at Chuck E Cheese’s”
Rocky Mountain News, 28 June, 2003 – “A Jury in the Dark?”
Audio Sources:
“Eye for an Eye – Death Row Stories”
“Capital Punishment – Decision to Kill: Nathan Dunlap”
