These photos capture just how lucky a terrified survivor of the Denver massacre was to live to tell the tale.
Christopher Rapoza of Brooklyn, New York, posted an image of his blood-stained shirt on image sharing site imgur, with a bullet hole visible around heart-height.
'I am one of the 50 wounded in the aurora theatre shooting,' he wrote on the site, under the tag-name 'themurderator'.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
Harrowing: Christopher Rapoza's shirt after he narrowly escaped death in Friday's Denver shooting
'Here are a few photos of my lucky but nonetheless terrifying brush with death. My thoughts go out to those less fortunate than me.'
The breathtaking photograph is one of three posted by Rapoza, alongside a close-up of where the bullet pierced his skin and a third of him lying in a hospital bed.
'No one will believe me until I post the picture, but I was there and I was shot... Well, grazed really.
'I'm doing all right just a little shook up. Me and my girlfriend waited until it seemed the shooting was finished so we were some of the last people out of the theatre and there was a lot of blood.'
Just after the shooting, at around 4am, Rapoza wrote on Facebook: 'Perry and I were just at a midnight showing of Batman in Colorado when some f***ing psycho decided to open fire on the crowd.
'I was grazed in the back with a bullet but am fine. Perry is unscathed, but unfortunately has lost her shoes. A lot of other people weren't so lucky.'
Shot: Rapoza posted a photo of his gunshot wound
'I've been inspected by a number of paramedics and they've given me the okay to get to the hospital for stitches on my own.
'Just wanted to get it out there now so that everyone knows I'm okay.'
Rapoza was one of 38 injured when a masked gunman broke into a Denver cinema on Thursday night, shooting dead at least 12 people, including children, during a late-night screening of the new Batman movie.
James Holmes, 24, kicked down a door to enter the packed theater in Aurora, Colorado, dressed in black and wearing a gas mask and bullet-proof vest.
He threw a smoke grenade and waited for it to explode before he started firing randomly into the audience with what is believed to an assault rifle and at least two handguns.
Injured: Rapoza, of Brooklyn, New York, remains in hospital
Many of the victims are now fighting for their lives, the youngest just three-months old. A 12-year-old is believed to have been the youngest killed in what is being described as the worst mass shooting in the state since the Columbine School Massacre in 1999.
81,001 have viewed Rapoza's photos since he posted them on imgur at around 8am on Friday. He has been a member of of the site for four days.
He initially pledged to do an 'AMA' or 'ask me anything' on the site after leaving hospital but has since written that he has changed his mind.
'I have a horrible feeling it would devolve into something I would not want to have anything to do with,' he posted on Reddit where he has linked to his photo stream.
Rapoza joined the social network 28 days ago and chose his 'themurderator' tag long before the shooting took place.
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