NYT > Home Page: James Holmes Scouted Aurora Theater Before Attack, Prosecutors Say

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James Holmes Scouted Aurora Theater Before Attack, Prosecutors Say
Jan 9th 2013, 19:35

CENTENNIAL, Colo. − Prosecutors said Wednesday that in the weeks before James E. Holmes opened fire inside a crowded movie theater, killing 12 people and wounding more than 50 others, he went to the theater on a reconnaissance mission, using his smartphone to take photos of the interior and the exit door.

Daniel King, defense attorney for Colorado shooting suspect James E. Holmes, entered the courthouse in Centennial, Colo., on Wednesday for the third day of a preliminary hearing.

The authorities also found photos of weapons Mr. Holmes planned to use in the attack, prosecutors said, including a vest and a semiautomatic assault rifle. Another picture on Mr. Holmes' phone showed him assembling explosives that he used to booby-trap his apartment, prosecutors said.

The details about the photographs came on the final day of a preliminary hearing that will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to try Mr. Holmes, a former neuroscience graduate student. He faces more than 160 counts of murder and attempted murder.

The judge, William B. Sylvester of Arapahoe County District Court, set a hearing for Friday and is expected to issue a ruling by then. If Judge Sylvester determines there is enough evidence for a trial, Mr. Holmes could be arraigned the same day.

"He picked the perfect venue for this crime," Karen Pearson, the lead prosecutor, said in court Wednesday, summing up the prosecution's case.

"He didn't care who he killed or how many he killed," she said, "because he wanted to kill all of them, and he knew what he was doing."

Daniel King, Mr. Holmes' main lawyer, did not call any witnesses during the two-and-a-half day preliminary hearing, saying it was not the appropriate proceeding. He has signaled that he plans to pursue an insanity defense.

On Tuesday, an F.B.I. agent testified that if all had gone according to Mr. Holmes's plan, someone would have tripped a nest of explosives he had woven around his Aurora apartment, luring the police there from the nearby movie theater.

Special Agent Garrett Gumbinner recounted how Mr. Holmes detailed to investigators his plot to blow up his apartment as a diversion. When the police entered the apartment after the shooting, they found a virtual death trap. A tripwire skirted five feet from the door to a thermos filled with glycerin, which tilted precariously over a pan containing another substance that could have caught fire, said Agent Gumbinner, a bomb technician.

Three jars of homemade napalm had been placed around the apartment. Firework shells filled with smokeless powder and gasoline littered the floor. The carpet was drenched with gasoline and oil, the agent testified.

"He said he had rigged his apartment to explode or catch fire in order to send resources to the apartment," Agent Gumbinner said.

According to testimony on Tuesday, Mr. Holmes told the police he had timed his computer to blare music as he prepared to begin the attack at the theater, hoping to draw someone inside his apartment who would set off the explosives and draw first responders toward his home rather than the multiplex.

A second triggering device was set up near a trash bin outside his apartment, Mr. Holmes is said to have told the police. As Agent Gumbinner described it, Mr. Holmes explained that he had placed the device in a garbage bag, along with a boom box and a remote-control car.

His plan was for a CD from the boom box to blast music, attracting a passer-by, who might then fidget with the remote-control car and inadvertently set off the triggering mechanism, Agent Gumbinner said.

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