Seated toward the front of Auditorium I, Pierce O’Farrill pointed to the walkway a few feet in front of him. “That’s around where a SWAT team guy found me and then dragged me to safety,” he said.

It had been almost six months earlier to the day, and O’Farrill returned to the renovated movie theater where he was shot three times in a mass shooting.

“This is weird, man,” said O’Farrill, his eyes glancing around. “I’m glad to be here, and, obviously, I’m glad to be alive.”

Hundreds attended a night of remembrance Thursday as the Century Aurora reopened its doors. The smells of fresh popcorn and the smiles of theater staff offering up soda and boxes of candy greeted those looking to heal.

Since the July 20 mass shooting where 12 were killed and 70 were injured at a midnight premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises,” the complex had sat vacant.

Many who entered Thursday were there, or had family present, that fateful night.

“This isn’t only the place we lost Alex,” said Tom Sullivan, whose son was killed in the mass shooting. “This is the place we also live. We love to come to the movies.”

In the days leading up to the night of remembrance, officials with the city of Aurora said they distributed 2,000 tickets to victims, first responders, volunteers and employees from several metro-area hospitals.

Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan called the evening one that showed the resilience of a community forever changed after the massacre.

“Today, we take another step forward,” Hogan told a theater packed with families, police and local politicians. “We must put aside our differences for a greater good and avoid the use of violence to solve problems.”

Hogan said the city of Aurora had received “an outpouring of support literally from around the world.”

“Now it is time to show the world who we are,” he said. “Aurora is strong. Aurora is caring. We will move forward with hope and confidence of better days to come.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper, who followed Hogan in delivering remarks at the 40-minute ceremony — which was followed by a showing of “The Hobbit” — acknowledged that not everyone will heal the same in a community forever scarred by the tragedy.

“Some wanted the theater reopened; some didn’t,” Hickenlooper said. “Certainly there’s no right or wrong way of healing. … For many here tonight, though, this is a part of healing.”

Since the event was announced, several families of victims said they would boycott the reopening ceremony, calling it a “publicity ploy” by Cinemark — the theater’s owner — to divert public scrutiny. They say that in the wake of the tragedy, Cinemark has never reached out to them and personally offered condolences.

An August survey conducted by the city of Aurora found that a large majority of residents wanted the theater to reopen. In an open-letter response, Cinemark said it would comply and vowed to remodel the structure.

Tom Jenkins, who works in the nearby mall, said Thursday he wanted the theater bulldozed.

“I find it disrespectful” for the theater to reopen, he said. “In my view, it’s like building a playground on a cemetery.”

But for some, the night was important to the healing process.

“If it doesn’t reopen, he (the gunman) wins. Plain and simple,” Alex Milano, 19, who was in Theater 8 the night of the shooting, said before the memorial event.

Milano attended Thursday’s ceremony with his girlfriend and immediate family.

Meanwhile, outside the multiplex, Eugene Hahn, 20, who was sitting in the second row when a hail of bullets rattled the theater, striking him in the hip and knee, said he wanted to return so he could see for himself how things had been renovated.

He said he and his girlfriend would stay for the screening of “The Hobbit” and likely would return for more movies.

“You could say that lightning doesn’t strike twice,” he said. “It may, or it may not. But you can get shot anywhere.”

In the moments after the brief ceremony, Sullivan walked the aisles of the theater and thanked many of the police who arrived at the theater that night.

“It’s been tranquil,” Sullivan said after the short ceremony. “Being here brings comfort to me. And hopefully it brings some to others who attended.”

Kurtis Lee: 303-954-1655, klee@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kurtisalee

Staff writer Jordan Steffen contributed to this report.