'Batman' massacre witness plans lawsuit against theater, studio

A kid who witnessed — and narrowly escaped — last week's "Dark Knight” massacre in Colorado plans civil action against theater operators, movie producers and doctors of suspected killer James Holmes, according to a published report .

Torrence Brown Jr., 18, was inside Century 16 Theater in Aurora, Colo., when Holmes allegedly went on his bloodthirsty spree early Friday morning, killing 12 and wounding 58 in a mass killing that’s shocked the nation.

Brown said he was with his pal A.J. Boik, who was fatally shot in the chest.

In a soon-to-be filed lawsuit, Brown said his face-to-face meeting with grisly death caused him extreme trauma, according to a report today by celebrity gossip Web site TMZ.

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James Holmes' mug shot

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A.J. Boik

Brown and his lawyer Donald Karpel will claim the theater should have alarmed or guarded the emergency exit.

Holmes allegedly went into the theater with other moviegoers and then propped open the emergency-exit door open from inside, allowing him to get to his car and grab the small arsenal of weapons used for the horrific shooting.

The potential plaintiffs also plan to target Holmes doctors, arguing they should have more closely monitored the neuroscience student for medications he might have been taking.

And lastly, the near-victim plans to take on “Dark Knight” producers at Warner Bros., claiming that they should be held at least partially responsible for Holmes allegedly mimicking the flick’s dark and violent tones.

Holmes’ hair was painted a freakish orange and red. He called himself “The Joker,” an iconic “Batman” villain, according to NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.

"Somebody has to be responsible for the rampant violence that is shown today,” Karpel said.

Meanwhile, it was announced today that Warner Brosthat is among the donors that have given a total of nearly $2 million to a fund set up for victims.

The studio gave an undisclosed amount to the GivingFirst.org fund. The fund was set up to help victims of the theater attack and their families. A donation also was made by Legendary Pictures.

A Colorado state release said Tuesday the fund had reached nearly $2 million. State officials did not say how much was donated by Warner Bros. or Legendary Pictures, and how much was given by individual donors.

Holmes, 24, made his first court appearance yesterday and appeared dazed and out of it as prosecutors asked a judge for more time to contemplate the avalanche of charges he’ll surely face.

His San Diego parents, who adopted the brilliant-but-painfully shy Holmes, have not been cooperating with cops.

It’s still unclear why Holmes snapped that night.

He had painted his body and hair red before donning military gear and shooting up the theater, killing 12 and wounding 58, paralyzing some for life.

Before he left his apartment, he booby-trapped it to kill cops when they got there to investigate the loud music he had set to a timer, hoping the diversion would let him escape after he shot up the theater.

The massacre occurred during a midnight premiere of Batman’s “The Dark Knight Rises” — and he told cops he was the “Joker.”

Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms yesterday were probing how he assembled his fearsome arsenal of guns — including an AR-15 military-style assault rifle.

The loveless sicko had been spurned by three women on an online sex site since July 5. And he was about to get booted from his campus housing because he had dropped out of the University of Colorado.

A disgusted jail worker who served Holmes breakfast and lunch just hours after the massacre told The Post that the fiend didn’t lose any sleep — or his appetite — over what he’d just allegedly done.

The worker said Holmes wolfed down Frosted Flakes, a carton of milk and a blueberry muffin for breakfast, then slept like a baby.

“I’m thinking this just happened after midnight, and at 11 a.m., he’s taking a nap? I’m thinking, ‘Wake your ass up, dummy,’ ” he said.

Ian Sullivan, father of the youngest victim, 6-year-old Veronica Moser Sullivan, called Holmes a terrorist and said he should be prosecuted by the feds.

“We just enacted a bill that says if someone acts as a terrorist, he will be treated as such . . . Everything the president, the police, the FBI have said describe him as such,” the grieving dad said.

When Holmes opened fire, Allie Young, 19, was shot in the neck and started spurting blood in the theater, but best pal Stephanie Davies, 21, dragged her out of the carnage and applied pressure to the wound until help arrived.

“I saw Allie get hit and wasn’t going to have my best friend bleed to death in my arms,” Davies told The Post yesterday — a day after both met President Obama at Young’s hospital bedside.

Holmes, a brilliant but painfully shy loner, had been pursuing a doctorate in neuroscience at UC’s Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora before suddenly dropping out in June.

He had been given a $26,000 stipend from the National Institutes of Health, and investigators want to know if any of that cash went to purchase guns or explosives.