Aurora, CO (12293 E Iliff Ave)

The exterior before closure.

12293 E Iliff Ave was a Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza which opened on January 28, 1981, as a Showbiz Pizza Place with a Rock-afire Explosion, and closed on April 20, 1994, with a 3-Stage.

This location is infamous for the fatal shooting done by Nathan Dunlap on December 14, 1993, after hours.

This location is not to be confused with the Pizza Time Theatre on 634 Peoria St which opened in 1982 (Unknown Day & Month) & closed in 1984 (Unknown Day & Month) with a Balcony Stage or the current location on 14005 E Exposition Ave, which opened on November 2, 1999 with a Studio C Alpha, and is still open with the 2.0 remodel.

Stages

The store at first contained a Rock-afire Explosion show. It is unknown if they received the Showbiz Pizza Campground upgrade in the late '80s. It was changed into a 3-Stage between 1991 and 1992 due to Concept Unification. The 3-Stage remained until the April 1994 closure. It is unknown what happened to the bots following the store's closure whether they were recycled for parts, sent back to SPT, or trashed.

History

Aurora opened on January 28, 1981 as the 10th Showbiz Pizza Place to open. The Store opened with a Rock-afire Explosion like every Showbiz Pizzas did. Unfortunately, information on Aurora as a Showbiz is scarce.

Between 1991 and 1992, the location underwent Concept Unification and recieved the 1986 SPT remodel.[[|thumb|Responders outside of the store the night after the massacre.]]

December 1993 Massacre

In May 1993, a man named Nathan Dunlap started working at the Aurora store as part of the kitchen crew. He was fired following a disagreement about scheduled hours with one of the managers in July 1993. Dunlap frequently visited the store following his dismissal but according to his acquaintances and former coworkers, everytime he came, he grew angry and plotted to return to the restaurant and rob the place. On December 14, 1993, Dunlap came to the store around 9:00 PM, ordered a ham and cheese sandwich, and played a shooter game. (The game itself was V.S. Hogan's Alley.) Around 9:50 PM, when the store was just about to close for the night, when a couple were getting their prizes from the prize counter, he went to the men's restroom and hid there until closing to "amp himself up" for what he was about to do. 5 minutes after closing at 10:05 PM, he exited the men's restroom, pulled out a small caliber handgun, and shot everyone he saw. There were no customers in the restaurant at the time but there were five employees finishing up their night shift. His first victim, 20-year-old Sylvia Crowell, was shot in the right ear and mortally wounded while cleaning up the salad bar. Next, he turned and shot 17-year-old Ben Grant, who was vacuuming the carpet near the salad bar. He was shot near his left eye also mortally wounding him. 17-year-old Colleen O'Connor sank to her knees and pleaded for her life, but Dunlap shot her in the forehead. The second-to-last victim was 20-year-old Bobby Stephens, the only survivor of the shooting, who was shot in the jaw after coming back inside from a smoke break. (He wasn't actually supposed to work during the night.) Stephens said he heard the gunshot sounds from outside and assumed they were nearby children popping balloons. He was putting cooking utensils in the dishwasher when Dunlap came to the kitchen and shot him in the jaw. After being shot, he played dead as Dunlap left the kitchen. After shooting Stephens, Dunlap went to a office to find the night manager and final victim 50-year-old Marge Kohlberg who was counting up receipts from the night and was getting ready to go home. (It was her first day of working alone as a manager.) Nathan came in and forced her to open the safe to which she complied leading to him shooting her in the ear and grabbing the cash out of the safe. After noticing she was still moving, (Since he feared that she would recognize and identify him.) fatally shot her in her other ear. This time killing her. The manager who fired Dunlap was not in the restaurant that night.

After Dunlap left the kitchen, Stephens got up from the floor and noticed that he was covered in blood after being shot. He stumbled out the dining room and made his way out through the fire exit. There, he saw his injured coworkers on the floor. The alarm went off but he ran as fast he could to a nearby patio light that he saw. He told the homeowners that there was a shooting at the restaurant and to call 911. Dunlap on the other hand, left the restaurant through the front doors feeling satisfied on what he just did. He stole $16,000 from the safe along with some CEC keychains and tokens and went to his friend Carl Wilson's house and told him what happened. Then, Nathan started counting the money and asked Carl if he give him an alibi. He called his girlfriend Tracy and said he was at the restaurant where he was fired from playing some video games. Eventually he'd go to her house to hell her what he did. Carol Dunlap (Nathan's mother) heard about what occurred and went to the restaurant with other concerned bystanders and the victims parents. The store's parking lot was full of police cars and ambulances (Carol did comfort O'Connor's mother.) She had no idea that one of her sons was responsible for the shooting. The investigators talked to Stephens and put two and two together that it was Dunlap who did it. Bobby was aware of what was happening and could pinpoint who it was. After hearing all of this, they decided to talk to Carol Dunlap. At first, she thought that there was no way that Nathan would do something like that and if they think that he did, she could him to get things taken care of. So, Carol called him and told him to get home right away to talk to the cops. Nathan wasn't in a rush though and decided to take a shower and wash his hands with peroxide to get rid of evidence. He asked Tracy if she could hide the clothes and gun to which she did. She hid them behind her grandparents shed just up the road. Nathan also put $7,000 underneath of the freezer. he then left her house and went back to his house where the police questioned him along with swabbing his hand for gunshot residue and took his clothing in for evidence. The next morning, Dunlap left his house early and went to another friend of his Charles Walters. Walters showed him what was going on at the nearby location to which Dunlap said that it was him who did it. Walters also said that Dunlap had another friend with him when he committed the crime and killed the night staff. (The friend wasn't arrested or charged or named.) Crowell was rushed to the hospital but she did make it and took her off life support little after 9:00 AM on December 15, 1993. On December 23, 1993, Dunlap was charged with for counts of first degree murder. Carol Dunlap talked to the news after learning he was charged. She was quoted as saying "I want the victims families to know that I am in as much pain if not more and I want them to understand what I mean by that. That my son is accused of committing four four brutal murders and I have to deal with the rumors and innuendos. They're in my prayers and I hope where and theirs." Three years later in 1996, the trial would begin and it was going to be very troublesome. Nathan tried to escape from prison, got tattoos, and threatened a witness. On May 17, 1996 (Chuck E Cheese's 19th Anniversary) the trial took place. After a 3 and a half hours of the trail, he was given the death penalty. The death penalty was changed to life in prison without parole in 2020 for unknown reasons.

Closure

Showbiz Pizza Time expressed great sorrow for the senseless tragedy that occurred in December 1993 and offered assistance to the victim's families following the shooting. They also announced that the store would be closed indefinitely. They had plans to reopen the store with a reopening ceremony and a new remodel. (Most likely Phase I) Most of the victim's family members were okay with the store reopening but they were outraged because they told them to keep the store's reopening a secret. The store permanently closed on April 20, 1994, likely out of respect for the victims' families and due to the horrible tragedy that happened months prior. (It was also thought that they closed it mostly either public backlash or bad press.) After the the location closed, they were in talks on what they should do with the building. One idea was for it to become Family Resource Center which didn't happen. The building was split up into 3 different stores a few years later.

As of Febuary 2024, Panera Bread occupies the left side of the space, a Kaesong Korean BBQ in the middle, and an Affordable Dentures & Implants on the right side.

Gallery

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  The exterior after the shooting

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  A close up look at the exterior after the shooting

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  An image showing part of Aurora's prize counter and games, as well as the showroom

Animatronics

Animatronic	Serial Number	Whereabouts
Chuck E. Cheese / Rolfe DeWolfe	10-80 1-3	Unknown
Pasqually / Dook Larue	10-80 2-3	Unknown
Mr. Munch / Fatz Geronimo	10-80 3-3	Unknown
Jasper T. Jowls / Beach Bear	10-80 4-3	Unknown
Helen Henny / Mitzi Mozzarella	10-80 5-3	Unknown
Billy Bob	10-80 6-3	Unknown
Pizzacam / Looney Bird	10-80 7-3	Unknown
Munch Jr. / Choo Choo	10-80 8-3	Unknown
Building / Sun	10-80 10-3	Unknown
Moon	10-80 11-3	Unknown
Antioch	N/A	Unknown
Wink	N/A	Unknown

Trivia

• The store had a unique sign that reused the Showbiz sign frame and added the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza logo inside of it.
• The apartment complex that Stephens ran to are still around today.
• One of Dunlap's friends spent all the money that he stole from the location.
• Dunlap's brother Garland Dunlap used to work at the store.