Operators of the Aurora theater where 12 moviegoers were slain this summer had no security guards on duty the night of the shootings and no plans for keeping anyone from sneaking out of or back into the theater, according to two new lawsuits filed Friday.

The lawsuits, filed in federal court in Denver by three victims of the theater shooting tragedy, allege a pattern of lax security at the Century Aurora 16 theater that enabled the attack that also wounded 58 patrons. They are the first lawsuits to be filed in relation to the shootings.

Cinemark, the owner of the theater, is named as the suits’ defendant.

“The lawsuit is based upon Cinemark’s failure to provide for the safety and security of its theater and its patrons,” attorney Christina Habas, who represents the victims who filed the suits, said in a news release. “Readily available security procedures, security equipment and security personnel would likely have prevented or deterred the gunman from accomplishing his planned assault on the theater’s patrons.”

A spokesman for Cinemark did not return a phone message.

One of the suits was filed by Joshua Nowlan; the other was filed by Denise Traynom and Brandon Axelrod. Nowlan and Traynom were hit by gunfire. Axelrod injured his knee and ankle as he fled from the shooting.

According to the complaints, the theater had no security guards on duty for the midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises,” though guards had been at the theater on July 19, a Thursday.

Security personnel, including off-duty Aurora police officers, normally staffed the theater only on Friday and Saturday nights, even though the theater had a history of assaults, robberies and at least one gang-related shooting, the lawsuits allege.

The lack of security guards allowed the gunman to continue shooting inside the theater for several minutes unconfronted, according to the complaints.

The exterior door to the theater that the shooter exited through and propped open did not have an alarm, the lawsuit states. And theater employees did not monitor the parking lots behind the theater, where the shooter is believed to have moved his car and armed himself before re-entering through the propped-open door.

“Any person who wished to make a surreptitious and unauthorized entry into the theater could easily determine that the lack of security personnel and lack of any alarm on the door at the right, front by the screen of (the) auditorium would allow them to leave the theater, and re-enter without fear of being discovered, interfered with, monitored or stopped,” the lawsuits state.

The suits do not specify an amount of money the plaintiffs are seeking, but note that the damages in each case exceed $750,000.

In her news release, Habas, an attorney at the firm Keating Wagner, said attorneys at other law firms are also preparing lawsuits on behalf of other victims.

John Ingold: 303-954-1068, jingold@denverpost.com or twitter.com/john_ingold