Alex Sullivan attended the midnight movie to celebrate his 27th birthday, his family said in a statement.

 

“The Sullivan family lost a cherished member of their family today,” the statement said. “Alex was smart, funny and, above all, loved dearly by his friends and family.”

 

In the hours after the shooting on Friday, Mr. Sullivan’s father could be seen on local television channels. He went from camera to camera holding up a black and white photo of his son, begging for help in finding him.

“Somebody find him and call us,” he said in one video. “Today is his birthday, for God’s sake.”

 

In a blog post, Ryan Frost, a friend, remembered meeting him at a comic book event in Denver in June.  Mr. Sullivan’s friends called him Sully, and he was a huge fan of comic books, Mr. Frost wrote.  “We joked about how our wives put up with our comic books and all of our other nerdy stuff,” Mr. Frost wrote.

 

 

Aurora theater shooting: Alex Sullivan's life is framed in touching memories