Campaigns Halt to Mourn Tragedy in Aurora, Colo.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have put campaigning on hiatus after a deadly shooting occurred early Friday morning in Aurora, Colo.

The president, Vice President Joe Biden and First Lady Michelle Obama have cancelled all events Friday in light of the shooting that occurred at a movie theater in a suburb outside Denver, according to the White House press secretary.

President Obama pauses for a moment of silence.

Mitt Romney will use his Friday event to address the Colorado shootings, and wife Ann Romney's July 20 events have been cancelled, according to Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul.

Saul said that the campaign would be pulling all political ads out of Colorado until further notice. Obama's campaign will pull down all contrast ads in Colorado only, according to spokeswoman Jen Psaki. The campaigns did not indicate that they would stop advertisements in any other state.

The president asked Friday at a speech in Fort Myers, Fla., for a moment of silence from a crowd that had originally expected a typical campaign visit.

"But there are going to be other days for politics. This, I think, is a day for prayer and reflection," Obama said to supporters.

"We are praying for the families and loved ones of the victims during this time of deep shock and immense grief," Romney said in a statement released by his campaign.

-- Written by Joe Deaux in New York.

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