AURORA, Colo. — Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates spoke at the 11:45 a.m. press conference regarding the shooting at the Aurora movie theater premiere of “The Dark Knight Rises” that left 12 dead and 59 injured.
You can watch his comments in their entirety above. Below is a list of the updates he provided.
- Suspect James Holmes, 24, of Aurora, had one traffic summons for speeding in 2011. Other than that, he had no prior criminal record.
- Within one hour of the shooting early Friday morning, there were approximately 25 officers on the scene who apprehended Holmes.
- There were eventually approximately 200 officers on the scene several hours later.
- Holmes was apprehended with three weapons: one was left inside the crime scene. On his person, Holmes had an AR-15 assault rifle, a Remington 870 12-gauge shotgun and a 40-caliber Glock handgun. He had another 40-caliber Glock handgun in his car.
- The police have no capability of estimating the amount of shots fired. There were “many, many shots fired.”
- 71 people were shot — 12 are deceased. Two died at area hospitals, 10 died at the scene
- We are not looking for any other suspects, “we are confident that Holmes acted alone.’
- Some rounds penetrated into an adjoining theater — at least one person was struck by a bullet in the adjoining theater
- The suspect was dressed in all black, ballistic attire that included throat, hand and leg covering as well as head and chest protection.
- Anyone with additional information is being encourage to call a tip line at 303-739-1862. For those who feel traumatized, you can call a help line at 303-617-2300.
- The crime scene is large, and includes some cars in the parking lot. The police are working to get those cars released, but “we will be (at the crime scene) for some time.”
- Holmes’ Paris Street apartment is booby-trapped with trip wire, incendiary devices and chemical devises. Five buildings in the area have been evacuated.
- There were four showings of “The Dark Knight Rises” at the theater. All were sold out. Police interviewed close to 200 witnesses.
- Police are analyzing all social media — there are a lot of fake reports. Someone called a national media station and said he was Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates.
- Police were on scene within a minute to a minute and a half of the first call and apprehended Holmes at that point.
- Aurora police often station off-duty officers at the theater. They were not there last night
- “We’re not going to get into why (Holmes) did what he did. We don’t have that information,” Oates said.
- “There is pretty significant evidence he used the assault rifle, shotgun and handgun in the theater,” Oates aid.
- Oates said that he used to work for the NYPD, but he would not comment on the NYPD report that Holmes was dressed as the Joker from the Batman franchise. “He was dressed as I described,” Oates said.