Police say US theater attack suspect acted strangely during questioning

Source:Xinhua Published: 2013-1-9 15:53:27

Recordings of gunfire and cries for help were heard in court Tuesday as prosecutors played emergency calls made during a deadly Colorado theater attack.

The recordings were heard during the second day of a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence for James Holmes to stand trial for the July 20 attack at an Aurora movie theater.

Prosecutors are seeking to portray the massacre as premeditated while defense lawyers aim to show that Holmes is mentally ill.

Holmes, a former neuroscience graduate student, faces 166 felony charges for allegedly killing 12 people and injuring 70 others.

A stone-faced Holmes sat motionless while prosecutors played two of 41 emergency 911 calls made from the theater during and after the massacre

The first call, which lasted 27 seconds, captured the sounds of 30booming gunshots. The second call came from 13-year-old Kayla Bailey, who was kneeling beside her two wounded cousins.

"I can't!" Bailey screamed as a 911 operator tried to "walk her though" administering CPR to the victims. One cousin, 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan, was already dead. Victims and family members in the packed courtroom wiped tearful eyes.

ATF Special Agent Steven Beggs told the court that beginning in May, Holmes acquired 6,295 rounds of ammunition, four guns, tear gas grenades, tactical military gear, and a large amount of explosive material and chemicals.

"Is there any process for stopping a severely mentally ill person from purchasing these items?" defense lawyer Tamara Brady asked Beggs during cross-examination. Beggs replied no.

Defense lawyer Daniel King pointed to the first time Holmes was questioned at police headquarters, just hours after the shooting, as a sign of his abnormal behavior.

While in the interrogation room, Holmes tried to stick a staple into a electrical outlet and used paper bags placed on his hands -- to find traces of chemicals or gunpowder -- as puppets, Aurora Police Detective Craig Appel testified.

Two police officers testified that Holmes' eyes were abnormally dilated but they did not think he was under the influence of any drugs.

Aurora Police detective Tom Welton testified that Holmes had joined two Internet dating sites - Match.com and AdultFriendFinder.com - in the two months before the shooting. On the sites' main "dating headline" Holmes wrote, "Will you visit me in prison?"

Prosecutors said Holmes' purchases prior to the massacre were used for the theater shooting and to booby-trap his nearby apartment.

FBI agent Garrett Gumbinner testified that Holmes told him he hoped an explosion at his apartment would divert police from the theater attack.

Gumbinner testified that Holmes purchased explosive materials glycerin and potassium permanganate, and installed a trip wire to trigger an explosion or fire in the apartment should someone open the door.

Prosecutors showed photographs of bombs that Holmes allegedly made using homemade napalm and live ammunition that were set to explode using "smokeless powder" and "quick fuses."

Holmes also saturated his apartment carpeting with gasoline and oil, and had made thermite, a substance that burns so hot that water cannot extinguish the fire, witnesses testified.

Holmes also had a secondary plan to make sure his apartment went up in a fiery blaze by using a remote control signal from a plastic car he placed outside the building, testimony revealed.

Gumbinner testified Holmes placed the car on top of a boom box set to play loud music. Holmes hoped a passerby would investigate the noise and inadvertently activate the remote control car and ignite the incendiary devices inside his apartment, Gumbinner said.

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