AURORA, Colo. — Federal and local authorities disarmed the booby-trapped apartment Saturday of a man suspected in last week’s deadly mass shooting at a movie theater.
Authorities spent most of Saturday disabling the explosive devices in his apartment while at the same time trying to preserve evidence that might give them insight into the rampage.
Shortly after 1:30 p.m. Central time Saturday, Sgt. Cassidee Carlson of the Aurora Police Department announced that authorities had disarmed a lethal device at the entrance to the apartment of James Holmes, 24, the man arrested and accused in the attack.
Carlson did not describe how that was accomplished. “This apartment was designed to kill anyone who entered it,” said Aurora Po- lice Chief Dan Oates. “If you think we’re angry, sure as hell we’re angry.”
Police said Saturday evening that all explosive devices in the apartment had been removed and that residents evacuated from surrounding buildings could return home. But residents of the building where Holmes lived were kept out as FBI agents continued to collect evidence.
About 8 p.m., police left the apartment building carrying a laptop computer and a hard drive.
Federal officials said in a bulletin obtained by The Associated Press that they haven’t determined a motive for the attack and booby trap.
Initial shock and anger turned to raw, open sadness Saturday as police informed the last of the families whose relatives were among the dozen killed in the shooting early Friday during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises.
More than 50 people were injured, some critically.
At 12:01 a.m. Friday, theaters around the country began showing the much anticipated Batman sequel, which drew families and many young people out in droves.
Authorities in Colorado worked through the night to identify the shooting victims, and by Saturday morning, they had notified all of the families, dashing hopes that those missing had been spared. Eleven people were still hospitalized in critical condition late Saturday, authorities said.
The FBI and Homeland Security Department advised law-enforcement officials around the nation in an intelligence bulletin dated Friday that they have not uncovered information to indicate that more shooting rampages are being plotted.
Federal officials and Aurora police have said there was no indication that the shooting was connected to terrorism.
The authorities released a list of the names of the dead Saturday afternoon.
Among those identified were a 6-year-old, two active-duty servicemen, a 23-year-old community college student, a man celebrating his 27th birthday, and a sports blogger who only a month ago had narrowly avoided a shooting rampage at a Toronto shopping mall.
Candlelight vigils were held across Aurora on Friday night. A memorial for the victims was set up outside the movie theater, and one of the local high schools held another memorial Saturday evening.
“Cant believe your gone man,” Christopher Marmaro wrote on the Facebook page of Alexander Boik, who went by A.J., a 17-year-old who attended the movie with his girlfriend. “It breaks my heart.”
Near the entrance to the theater’s parking lot, a makeshift memorial of 12 candles sat in a row alongside piles of flowers. Up the hill from the theater, about 20 pastors led a vigil for 350 people, some hugging and crying. A sign read: “7/20. Gone Not Forgotten.”
President Barack Obama spoke of the shootings on his weekly radio address: “Such evil is senseless — beyond reason.”
“If there’s anything to take away from this tragedy, it’s a reminder that life is fragile,” Obama said. “Our time here is limited, and it is precious. And what matters in the end are not the small and trivial things which often consume our lives. It’s how we choose to treat one another, and love one another. It’s what we do on a daily basis to give our lives meaning and to give our lives purpose. That’s what matters. That’s why we’re here.”
Obama made plans to visit Aurora today to meet with families of the victims.
In the Republican response to the president’s radio address, House Speaker John Boehner said he had planned to speak about the economy but directed his attention to the shootings.
“Words cannot capture the horror, or make sense of something so senseless,” he said. “So I won’t try.”
Led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, law-enforcement agents began early Saturday securing the area around Holmes’ apartment, where they found a complex maze of wires and chemicals that they feared could be explosive. The apartment is a few miles from the multiplex where the shootings occurred.
On Friday, authorities evacuated residents in five buildings that surround Holmes’ building. Sixteen of the evacuated were taken to a shelter at Central High School, where 12 people joined them late Friday night after an unrelated fire at an Aurora apartment building forced them from their homes.
“We are confident this is a safe area with the evacuations in place,” Carlson said.
A “skillfully driven” robot had to neutralize oxidizer and fuel just inside the door, then an improvised explosive device, additional triggering mechanisms, wires and fuses, FBI special agent James Yacone said.
Federal authorities detonated one small explosive and disarmed another inside Holmes’ apartment with a device that emits a shock wave and water, Yacone said.
Holmes’ apartment appeared to have three types of explosives — jars filled with accelerants, chemicals that would explode when mixed together and more than 30 “improvised grenades,” Yacone said.
“What we’re seeing here is evidence of some calculation and deliberation,” Oates said.
The tripwires were rendered harmless, and police disabled aerial shells and other devices observed inside the apartment. Police said all the hazards were taken to a disposal site.
The authorities planned to make reverse 911 calls to alert members of the community as to what is going on.
“We don’t need to rush anything,” Carlson said. “There are still unknowns. We are not sure about everything that is in there.”
The shooting occurred 20 miles away from Columbine High School, where two teenagers killed 12 students and a teacher and then committed suicide in April of 1999.
When police arrested Holmes outside the movie theater, he warned them that his apartment was rigged with explosives, police said.
They swarmed his apartment complex about 2 a.m. Friday, evacuating neighbors and sealing off Holmes’ apartment.
The authorities said that in the past 60 days, Holmes had legally purchased four guns at local gun shops — an AR-15 assault rifle, two Glock .40-caliber handguns and a Remington 12-gauge shotgun — and acquired over the Internet more than 6,000 rounds of assorted ammunition.
Holmes was being held Saturday without bail at the Arapahoe County jail on suspicion of multiple counts of first-degree murder. He is scheduled to have an advisement hearing Monday morning. Then prosecutors have 72 hours to file charges.
Attorney James O’Connor, head of the public defender’s office that covers the sprawling 18th Judicial District from suburban Denver to the eastern Colorado plains, has been assigned to defend Holmes, Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said.
Information for this article was contributed by John Eligon, Marc Santora, Dan Frosch, Jack Healy, Erica Goode, Serge Kovaleski, Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Jennifer Preston of The New York Times; by Eileen Sullivan, Gillian Flacus, Mead Gruver, Kristen Wyatt, Steven K. Paulson, Ivan Moreno, P. Solomon Banda, Dan Elliott, Nick Riccardi, Colleen Slevin, Tom Hays, Brian Skoloff, Monika Mathur, Jennifer Farrar and Alicia A. Caldwell of The Associated Press; and by Vincent Del Giudice, James Nash, Jennifer Oldham, Stephen Merelman, Andrew Dunn, Chris Dolmetsch, Gillian White, Stacie Servetah, Christopher Palmeri, John McCormick, Kate Andersen Brower, Dan Hart, David Lerman, Catherine Larkin and Amanda J. Crawford of Bloomberg News.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 07/22/2012