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Nancy Grace

Gunman Kills 12 in Colorado Movie Theater

Aired July 20, 2012 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seventy-one people were shot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nightmare at theater 9.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) and he`s in theater 9.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Horrific, horrific Friday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twelve are deceased.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the guy`s just standing right by the exit, just firing away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had his hair painted red. He said he was the Joker.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a massacre.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A gunman opens fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An AR-assault rifle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) very distinct, Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 12-gauge shotgun.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He opened fire in a theater.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And a .40-caliber Glock handgun.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Crowded with people watching the premier of the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just walked right through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need rescue inside the auditorium, multiple victims!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He started going up the stairs and reloading.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve got a child victim!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don`t know a motive right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need rescue at the back door of theater 9 now!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guy next to me actually got shot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Women and children are screaming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One guy who was on all fours crawling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had a gas mask on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Smoke coming out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was this girl spitting up blood.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He came in from the right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The night`s entertainment (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, hello, beautiful!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. We are live. Hundreds crowd into a sold-out Batman screening at the local cineplex. But when the lights go down, the evildoer is not on the screen, he is in the theater, overloaded with guns and ammo, including an AR-15 assault weapon, a 12- gauge and multiple Glock .40-calibers, dressed in solid black, gas mask, full body bulletproof gear.

At this hour, 71 confirmed shooting victims -- 71! The body count in limbo. As we go to air, dead bodies still exactly where they fell, gunned down at the movies. Eerie words from the killer, a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience, quote, "I`m the Joker."

We are taking your calls. Straight out to Nia Bender joining us there in Denver. Nia, what`s the latest?

NIA BENDER, CLEAR CHANNEL DENVER: The latest right now is trying to figure out exactly how they`re going to disarm this man`s apartment, which is in northern Aurora. He made it clear to them when they arrested him that he had explosives at his apartment.

Boy, he wasn`t kidding. He`s got a very intricate set of incendiary devices, as well as chemical devices, and they`re all rigged to trip-wires right now. So everybody`s been on the scene today trying to figure out exactly how they`re going to approach that.

GRACE: Susan Candiotti, CNN`s national correspondent, also joining us. You know, this was a midnight movie screening, one of the biggest blockbusters in movie history, "The Dark Knight Rises." But the reality is, Susan Candiotti, the shooter had plenty of time. The gunfire didn`t start until -- we`ve gotten estimates 15, 20, 30 minutes into the movie.

He had time to look around and see who his victims were. He knew they were largely teenagers, even a little baby one of his victims, Susan Candiotti. How did it go down?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A 4-month-old baby, as a matter of fact, Nancy. And not only did he have time to look over people in that theater, he also obviously had time to plan all this, to set a booby-trap up in his apartment and to plan out, allegedly, exactly what he was going to do.

So sources tell us and police tell us that when he got to the movie theater, the first thing he did was like everybody else, he bought a ticket. He goes inside. He goes to an exit door and props it open. And then, they say, he gears up. He puts on all that body armor. He gets his guns ready to go. And then...

GRACE: Susan! Susan!

CANDIOTTI: ... they say he starts to open fire.

GRACE: Susan!

CANDIOTTI: Yes?

GRACE: Susan Candiotti, nobody noticed a door propped open with somebody out in the hallway putting on full body protective gear and loading up with assault -- an assault weapon, a 12-gauge, for Pete`s sake? How do you hide that? Nobody noticed a thing?

CANDIOTTI: Well, we`re still trying to find out from witnesses what happened. But we know this, Nancy. He parked his car outside. So he came in possibly in the back. We`re not sure where that exit door exactly was inside that theater or how far he had it propped open.

We`re left to wonder at this point, was it just a little bit so that no one was able to notice it, or they were so focused on this film, because remember, it happened about 15 to 20 minutes into the movie when he started firing.

GRACE: Well, I just don`t understand how nobody noticed anything! To Jean Casarez, joining us. Jean, did he come in dressed in solid black? I mean, how did he get all this gear in? I know his Honda (SIC) was parked out in the parking lot. But what, did he do go out to the car and get it and bring it in, nobody noticed? Can anybody just come in the back door to the theater and open fire? Seventy-one shooting victims, Jean!

JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": That`s right. No, obviously, the door was opened, that exit door, to go out and to prop open.

You know, Nancy, information is coming in as we speak. Something we`re just learning here is that when he left his apartment to go to the movie theater, that he left on very loud techno-music. And so authorities are saying what they believe his intent was, was that it was so loud to disturb all the other neighbors in the apartment complex, that someone with a master key might go in to turn it down, and they would have been another victim.

Of course, that didn`t happen. But now days and weeks to undo that system he had in his apartment.

GRACE: Explain that again to me, Jean Casarez, because it`s my understanding that he left his apartment there near the university -- everyone, a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience, this guy -- apparently leaves his apartment totally booby-trapped so when police go in there to search, it`ll blow up on them. It could blow up the entire apartment complex.

What do you know, Jean? I understand cops -- give me that video, Liz -- cop putting cameras up the side of his apartment to look in before they send in the SWAT team, so they don`t blow the whole building.

What do we know about that, Jean Casarez?

CASAREZ: Well, what we know is that in regard to music, he left loud, blaring music going on when he left that booby-trapped apartment. And law enforcement believes the purpose and the reason was to lure somebody in to turn the music down and they would have been blown up.

But as you can see, law enforcement and federal officials much too smart for that. There they are on the outside of the residence, looking in to see exactly how they start to undo all the wiring that he allegedly did.

GRACE: Joining me right now, a neighbor of the suspect, the movie theater suspect. Bill Leung is with us, joining us from Denver. Bill, thank you for being was.

So what does it feel like the morning after to know one of your neighbors is allegedly a mass shooter and had his apartment booby-trapped so all of the neighbors could conceivably go up in flames when police came in the door?

BILL LEUNG, LIVES IN SAME APARTMENT BUILDING AS SUSPECT (via telephone): I mean, I don`t really know what to think. At the moment, I just feel kind of numb to the entire situation, you know?

GRACE: What is -- what are you learning there in the apartment complex about this guy? What has been observed, if anything? I mean, apparently, nothing really stood out before this shooting.

LEUNG: I mean, from what -- I never had actually met him or, like, actually, I think I might have saw him in passing once or twice. But I mean, he might have been going to his car. I might have been just walking to school. I never actually, you know, like, had any conversation with him.

But I guess one of my other, like, floormates, you know, one of my other apartment mates who lives on the same floor, he said he tried to say hi to him one time, but he kind of just dismissed him and brushed him off and didn`t really respond. So I guess, I mean, somewhat of a recluse.

GRACE: A recluse. Susan Candiotti, we`re speaking to one of the alleged shooter`s neighbors there in that apartment complex -- those apartment buildings almost exclusively university students, this guy a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience. You know, he is no dummy.

I know exactly where the ultimate defense is going to be headed. But he went to great lengths, Susan Candiotti, to amass all this gear, to prop the door open, to have everything out in the car. He assessed his victims. And apparently, when the movie is on, you know, all the previews in and the movie starts, he comes up the front -- it`s like a stadium type amphitheater movie, you know, that goes upward -- and here he comes with all his weapons as everybody is watching the movie.

They`re all watching, and then they see him coming up with the AR-15 assault rifle, coming up as they`re all watching. Apparently, a lot of the people thought this was some hoax, that it was part of the show.

CANDIOTTI: They did. Well, one of the first things that happened was he set off a canister that was either a smoke canister, a flash can or something with tear gas. So yes, you`re right, a lot of people in there said, We thought this maybe was part of the deal. And you know, some people were even dressed up in costume, and they thought, well, maybe someone was dressed up, and maybe that`s why he didn`t stand out, Nancy.

But all I know is that there was a flash, and the next thing you know, the weapons started firing. He started shooting. They said it didn`t look like he was aiming at anyone in particular, he just started shooting. One witness describes he first shot into the ceiling, and then lowered his weapon and shot into the ground.

And also, we learn this. He bought those weapons, according to our law enforcement source, in May, June and July. He was the purchaser. He bought them legally at some area stores there, right there around Denver, three different stores. And they`re looking at videos now to see whether they`ve got him on tape doing that, as well, Nancy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 315 and 314 (INAUDIBLE) shooting (INAUDIBLE) theater (INAUDIBLE) East Alameda Avenue. (INAUDIBLE) somebody shooting in the auditorium.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were watching the movie, and like, as one of the action scenes, like, you know, started up, like, gunshots were firing, and like, we heard, like, explosions or something, like, to our left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My friend sitting next to me turned. Part of a bullet hit her in the mouth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He started shooting off some rounds, and that`s when we realized it was serious. There was a lot of screaming. And it was -- it was shocking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m being told that he`s in theater 9. Get us some damned gas masks for theater 9! We can`t get in it!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police officers responded and found the gunman in the back of the theater, outside in the parking lot, near a car, in possession of a gas mask and at least a rifle and a handgun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Right now, 71 shooting victims, the dead bodies still laying where they fell inside that cineplex. A midnight screening of Batman "The Dark Prince Rises" (SIC) goes awry.

Straight out to Dr. James Denton, trauma surgeon, Medical Center of Aurora, who actually treated many of these shooting victims. Dr. Denton, thank you for being with us.

DR. JAMES DENTON, AURORA MEDICAL CTR. TRAUMA SURGEON (via telephone): You`re welcome.

GRACE: Dr. Denton, many of us have hiked and skied in Colorado, absolutely beautiful. This is not the thing, I`m sure, that surgeons expect in the ER there. What happened last night?

DENTON: Well, initially, we got the first couple of patients, but -- that were not severely injured. And then our EMS colleagues made us aware of a mass casualty event that was going on. So we quickly started to recruit and activate our disaster plan as patients came in. And within about 20 minutes, we had 15 patients, many of which were critical.

GRACE: What was the scene there in the hospital like last night, with the ER patients flooding in from the cineplex?

DENTON: Well, it was initially a little bit chaotic, as you might imagine. But I would have to say that as the resources arrived, it became quickly organized and quietly professional in a fairly rapid fashion.

GRACE: What injuries did the various victims suffer?

DENTON: We saw a variety of gunshot wounds from -- ranging from what appeared to be handgun wounds to shotgun wounds to high-velocity rifle wounds. These involved the neck, the head, the thorax and the extremities.

GRACE: Dr. Denton, when did you learn what had happened?

DENTON: Well, information trickled in over an hour or two. We didn`t have any details initially. We knew that we had a lot of seriously injured patients and were focused on that. We were able to piece together from the wounds that probably someone used a variety of weapons and with very bad intentions.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Everyone, we are live there on the scene, a mass shooting, the first of its kind. These are called soft targets. Repeat, soft targets.

Out to Sergeant Ed Simpola (ph), commander of the Somerset (ph) County SWAT. But before I go to him, very quickly, Dr. Bill Manion, medical examiner in Philadelphia, explain the wounds that these victims sustained and why they are still laying -- why are they still laying there in the movie theater, dead on the floor, in the exact position where they fell?

DR. BILL MANION, MEDICAL EXAMINER: I`m not sure why. Maybe the investigators want to take photographs, document everything. Maybe there were -- there was another shooter there. I mean, so far they only have one. But maybe they`re just taking their time.

At the hospital, I know the labs also have to respond quickly. The blood banks have to respond. They probably called in blood from the Red Cross. So a lot of -- a lot of things have to come into play in one of these disasters.

GRACE: Joining me...

MANION: It`ll be...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Ellie, what can you tell us about the weapons that we know of? I`m still having a hard time fathoming how this guy managed to get into a cineplex, a packed theater, with all of these weapons. He had a -- he had an arsenal!

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Right, Nancy. He had an AR-15 assault rifle. You see it there in the picture. He also had a Remington shotgun, as well as two Glock .40-caliber (INAUDIBLE) Now, they do believe that three of those weapons, with the exclusion of one of the Glocks, they say they have evidence that three of those weapons were certainly used in that shooting.

Now, Nancy, he was also wearing all of this protective gear, even a throat protector, groin protector. And he had those grenades or some sort of smoke bomb (INAUDIBLE) as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody kicked in the emergency exit and started throwing gas grenades and started shooting people at random.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Took me a second to realize what was actually going on. And as people were running away, I hit the ground so I wouldn`t be hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Let`s go straight to the scene there in Aurora. Joining me, CNN national correspondent at the shooting scene, Ed Lavandera. Ed, let`s take it from the top. What happened?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, you know,, (INAUDIBLE) movie theater screening (INAUDIBLE) cineplex here -- (INAUDIBLE) we`re told by witnesses. Then all of a sudden, they saw the 24-year-old suspect, James Holmes, emerge from the exit door, which was just to the right of the movie screen, throw up two canisters (INAUDIBLE) little pops (INAUDIBLE)

GRACE: OK, Ed! Ed! Ed! Ed Lavandera, I`m having a really, really hard time hearing you. Let me get you to start over. Sorry about that. We`re having a really hard time with your satellite. Go ahead.

LAVANDERA: (INAUDIBLE) it`s very windy here today, so I apologize. You know, the theaters were packed with people. There were four movie theaters screening the movie of the Batman premiere last night. And the movie was just about 10 or 15 minutes into it, from what we`ve been told by witnesses, when they saw the exit door just to the right of the movie screen in theater number 9 open up.

And the man came in, threw up two canisters, and they heard the explosions and they could (INAUDIBLE) the tear gas or some sort of irritant that was in those canisters, and then the shooting erupted.

Now, depending on which witness you talk to, you know, how -- how long that lasted has been a very confusing point for many of the witnesses who experienced this, you know, quite understandably, given what they went through.

But at some point, you know, the gunfire stopped. And one witness told me that, you know, the shooter just kind of nonchalantly stopped and was walking around and then went back outside. And within a couple of minutes, he was taken into custody without incident with the police officers that had descended on the scene.

GRACE: I understand when police approached him, he says, I am the Joker?

LAVANDERA: Right. Absolutely bizarre. You know, as one law enforcement source told me today, you know, as we tried to kind of, you know, piece together motive or what might be behind all of this or the mindset of this person -- you know, one source just stopped me in my tracks and said, Look, you`re trying to get me to explain the mind of a deranged killer.

So you know, obviously, law enforcement is grappling with that today. But at some level, this suspect is talking with law enforcement sources. He went on to tell them about the booby-trap that was set up at his apartment. And that is what, as we speak, law enforcement is dealing with. They haven`t even been able to get into his apartment, which is not too far from this movie theater.

GRACE: Question -- Ed Lavandera joining us there at the scene of the shooting. Why are the bodies still in the movie theater right now where they fell?

LAVANDERA: Well, from what the police chief here at Aurora told us a little while ago, they still -- it is a gruesome crime scene inside that theater, that they have ballistics testing and other, you know, testing that -- evidence gathering that they want to do, to be able to do all that.

You could tell that it was a sensitive situation, that they`re trying to expedite that as quickly as possible and get these bodies out of that theater and turned over to family members so they can, you know, carry on with funeral arrangements and that sort of thing. But it has taken a great...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: A midnight screening, a sold-out theater there in the local suburbs, the cineplex packed, when all of a sudden, the crowd realizes the evildoer is not on the screen with Batman, he is in the theater, where he unleashes an arsenal of firepower on a largely young audience, even a tiny baby the victim of the shooting. Right now 71 shooting victims. The body count still in limbo.

Joining me from the movie cinema where the movie shooting occurred, CNN national correspondent Ed Lavandera.

Ed, what I don`t understand is how did this guy got into the cinema with all this ammunition, described ammunition if you could, didn`t anybody notice the door s cracked open and somebody is putting on S.W.A.T. gear?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, that`s a very good questions, Nancy. That`s what the police have trying to dig on today. I have just been told a short while ago by a law enforcement source on this investigation that what it appears at this point happened, is that James Holmes, the 24-year-old suspect, bought a ticket, went into the movie theater without any of the weaponry or the ballistic gear that he was covered in, went into the theater as if he was just another movie goer. But at that some point, snuck out the exit door, remember, these exit doors are closed from the outside so that, you know, people can`t just sneak in the movie theater.

So, at some point, snuck out that door. It`s believed that he left it kind of propped open, went to his car, which was parked at the back of the movie theater, put on all the gear, which was essentially ballistic gear and a gas mask from head to toe. He was well protected, grabbed all of the weaponry that you talked about, the assault rifle, the shotgun, and a handgun, and then went - and those two canisters of presumably teargas and went back inside the movie theater. But it doesn`t that anyone - at one point he might have left that popped open, how he did that without raising any suspicion, I just don`t have an answer for that right now.

GRACE: Question, Ed, what do we know about this guy, other than he was a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience?

LAVANDERA: As you mentioned, he was a student here at the University of Colorado, he lived in a nearby apartment. He`s got family members that live in Southern California, and we haven`t had any luck in trying to speak with them today. But, you know, we don`t know much about what these motives might have been. And that`s what we`re working the hardest on to try to figure out at this point.

GRACE: Well, of course the state doesn`t have to prove motive if and when this goes to trial, ED Lavandera.

But Ed, what do we know, what if anything was he doing during the shooting, because it`s my understanding, he comes up from basically the front of the cinema where the screen is, as he starts coming up the stadium seating, and everybody sees him but there`s a lot of people there dressed up in costumes and so forth.

What did people think was happening? And did he say anything during the shootings?

LAVANDERA: I have talked to close to ten witnesses today and I haven`t hear anybody say that he said anything, that he just appeared very calmly. He wasn`t trying to shoot anybody directly. He just shot from the top to the bottom of the movie theater. That it was all very, you know, calm and deliberate. It wasn`t frantic in any way except for, you know, the people who were trapped in that movie theater and had nowhere to go. And after that gun fire erupted, it became a very chaotic scene. But it doesn`t appear that he said anything or lashed out in any way, before he started firing.

GRACE: Where is you right now?

LAVANDERA: We`re a couple hundred feet from the front of the movie theater. The law enforcement police have this entire parking lot cordoned off and several streets around the movie theater blocked off and that`s the way since throughout the day. In fact there are still dozens and dozens of cars from movie goers who were in the theater last night, who can`t get their cars out. They have to leave their cars in the parking. They have been going through all the cars, the investigators have throughout the day. But, you know, it`s almost like it`s a little frozen snapshot from about midnight last night with all these cars from dozens of movie goers sitting in the parking lot. That`s what we can see.

GRACE: Ed Lavandera, where is he, the alleged shooter right now?

LAVANDERA: I was told by the police department of Aurora, he`s right now sitting in the municipal city jail here in the city of Aurora.

GRACE: Is he in protective custody?

LAVANDERA: I`m sorry?

GRACE: Is he in protective custody?

LAVANDERA: I don`t know. You know, the police chief was asking about that. he was walking off and was pretty tired of answering the first round of initial questioning. So I would imagine, given the magnitude of the situation that he`s in some sort of solitary area. He`s talking at least. (INAUDIBLE)

GRACE: OK, Ed, Ed, I`m losing you. With me is Ed Lavender are, CNN national correspondent there at the scene of the shooting.

Joining me right now is a witness there inside that cinema, Paul Ottermat.

Paul, thank you for being with us.

PAUL OTTERMAT, EYE WITNESS (via telephone): Hi, how are you.

GRACE: I`m good. I`m good. And Paul, I got to tell you. I never - I never heard of anything like this in our country anyway. What happened? What did you observe?

OTTERMAT: OK. So, I was in the front left side of the theater, about three rows back, but in that bottom area. He came in on the right-hand side on the front, there`s an emergency exit there. There wasn`t an emergency exit to the front and to the left. But there was one behind us.

But he came in and he was wearing a black gear with bullet-proof vest and gas mask and everything. He came through the door and for a second, I thought I didn`t know what exactly was going on. And you know if there`s a weird publicity stunt or something like that. But then, he threw can of tear gas, I immediately felt the burning in my eyes. As soon as the gas started didn`t even reach me, but I could feel the tingle.

Then he shot into the center of the crowd and then fired a couple more shots and by that time he had ducked down to the floor, me and my girlfriend who has seen the movie with me. We crawled out the -- to the other exit on the left, just behind us. The people on the upper levels had to climb down over that -- over that area to get around, it took a while to get out, but we got out right away, and we ran through the lobby and we heard four or five more shots while we were running through the lobby.

When we got outside, we met up with somebody who was right in front of the door. His name is Isaac, and he was separated from his group and he thought somebody in his group was shot. So we took him over to the air force base which is nearby there, and he dropped him off. And my girlfriend dropped her phone during the scramble out of the initial theater, and a man following us out, he was just up there in the upper level, but just right near that exit as well. He was able to get out right after us and he saw his wife`s phone and picked it up. He returned that to us today, he was a very nice man.

GRACE: With me is Paul Ottermat. He was there in the cinema when the shooting broke out.

Paul, a lot of people think that this was some sort of stunt, but it was only when the tear gas was emitted that you believed it was no stunt. What happened with the crowd? When did they realize what was happening and what did they do?

OTTERMAT: Well, first it kind of went silent when he threw the tear gas, but when he started firing shot into the crowd, there was a lot of screaming and hysteria, and everybody ducking to the ground and trying to get out.

The person who picked up our cell phone, he said he was leaving right after he picked up the cell phone, the people behind him got shot. So he was trying to shoot at the exits after a while. He just started shooting into the crowd at the start but, he was trying to shoot at the exit as well.

GRACE: So he was shooting at people that were trying to flee?

OTTERMAT: Yes, he was.

GRACE: Was he saying anything, Paul?

OTTERMAT: He didn`t say a word. He walked in kind of casualty. From one heard from the police report, he came in and left through that emergency exit door, came back through it all armed in to the theater. But when he -- so when he entered with all of his guns, he just casualty walked up, cracked the tear gas, threw it and started aiming his gun. And it was --

GRACE: Paul, was it at any particular moment in the movie? For instance, was it at a moment where there gun fire or pyrotechnics of some sort in the movie?

OTTERMAT: No, not for us. We were at the 9:05 showing. That was theater -- I`m sorry, the 12:05 showing in theater nine. But theater eight was about a little bit further in the movie. There was about ten minutes ahead of us in the movie.

GRACE: Paul, did you ever think you could die?

OTTERMAT: But they were hearing gun fire at that time. But we were not. It was it was just talk between Bruce Wayne and :Alfred.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I was sitting down in my seat, I noticed a person came up to the front row, to the front right and sat down. And as credits were going, I noticed that he got a phone call, so he went out the emergency exit doorway which I thought it was unusual to take a phone call. And it seems like he probably pried it open or probably didn`t let it latch all the way. Soon as the movie started, somebody came in --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Let`s go straight to the scene, joining us is Ed Lavandera.

How do you go out and buy tear gas, how do you go out and buy an assault rifle and AR-15? And then somehow manage to get it in and nobody sees it? Who are the victims, Ed Lavandera that we know of so far?

LAVANDERA: There were a couple of people from San Antonio who happened to be here who were some of the shooting victims, we`re still in the process of just trying to grasp just, you know, with 71 people wounded or killed, this is a long list of people.

And one of the initial things we have been trying to track down from law enforcement sources is where these weapons came from. We were told by a law enforcement source that all of these weapons, all four of them were bought legally during the last six months. He didn`t walk in, as I was talking about earlier, he didn`t walk in with these weapons into the theater when he bought tickets. He went back out to his car and reloaded and then came back in. So, he was only in that theater for a brief number of seconds before he started firing.

GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joining me tonight, Peter Odom, defense attorney, Renee Rockwell, defense attorney. Eleanor Odom, former senior attorney with a national D.A. Association, death penalty qualified.

All right, Eleanor, weigh in.

ELEANOR ODOM, DEATH PENALTY-QUALIFIED PROSECUTOR: Well Nancy, clearly I don`t think it`s any stretch of the imagination to say this is a death penalty case. Look what you have. You have got 12 deaths, and there may be more, unfortunately. What else do you have? You have aggravated assault on all of these other people who were injured. Aggravated assault by pointing your weapon at those other people that weren`t and didn`t suffered injured. There`s charge after charge. And you have a lot of witnesses, Nancy, and a lot of evidence.

GRACE: Renee Rockwell?

RENEE ROCKWELL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: You know what else you have, Nancy, a crazy person. Looks like it`s premeditated, does not mean he has not crazy. I see a mental defense here.

GRACE: Peter Odom, isn`t true that everyone is now claiming mental defense, because there`s really nowhere else you can go and that`s all you can say?

PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, a mental defense works when there`s a documented history of mental illness, and where there a no other motive. This case screams of a mental defense. This, as Ed Lavandera said, this is the product of the deranged mind.

GRACE: You know, Eleanor, every time somebody is caught red-handed, I mean, there were people in there, videoing him. You heard the defense insanity. He even booby-trapped apartments to thwart police. He rather take down the whole apartment building than police get evidence. That`s not crazy.

ELEANOR ODOM: No. It shows that it`s methodical planning, Nancy. He knew what he was going to do from the very minute and he wanted to kill more than just the people in the theater.

GRACE: Right now, everyone, CNN heroes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JO CRAWFORD, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: When I was 13, my dad was very violent and attempted to murder my mom. It wasn`t until I was a 55 that I came to work in a shelter and met the woman who had fled Chicago with two young children, she had no documentation. She did not legally exist.

She said can you help me? I need $40 to get all the documentation. It is totally forbidden, but I gave her the two $20 bills and I`m thinking I just changed three lives with $40. I had no idea that I had actually changed my life as well.

My name is Jo Crawford and I ask women survivors of domestic violence to dream their best life and I give them the means to accomplish the first step.

This is what you want and this is what you deserve. The women are all out of a relationship for at least six months, they have to be free of alcohol and drugs and they have got to have a dream.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to go back to school to do social services, to be a social worker.

CRAWFORD: It`s not a gift. She agrees to pay it forward to three other survivors.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m going to be helping three ladies get their GED. Thank you!

CRAWFORD: These women need to know that they deserve their dream and have the power to create it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got so much help which enabled me to buy a sewing machine and that made me realize that I should be a person that not only receives help but also gives help.

CRAWFORD: I am so proud of you.

One woman can make a difference, but women working together can change the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: A shooting like no other in this country. Right now, 71 victims that we know of.

Joining me right now, Sergeant Ed Ciempola, commander of the Summerset County SWAT.

Sergeant, thank you for being with us. I know that you have heard reports of what went down in that movie theater. Explain to me what this guy was wearing, how could he get it in and what were all of these devices for?

ED CIEMPOLA, COMMANDER, SUMMERSET COUNTY SWAT.: Well, first thing, thanks for having me on, Nancy. And also my heartfelt and sincere sympathies out for the families who lost people.

Why did he have those things on? Well, first thing, I understand it was somewhat of a costume party which may have helped him actually get ingress into the theater. He also had a tactical vest on and Kevlar leggings and groin protection and a neck protection which told me that he was looking to - looking at there was going to be a battle, there was going to be some sort of fight at the end of this. He was looking that he was going to engage armed police officers at the end of this incident.

GRACE: Sergeant, you are wearing, for our viewers` benefit, a uniform similar to the one the suspect wore. Tell me -- explain to our viewers what you got on.

CIEMPOLA: Yes, I have a level three tactical vest that`s worn by our SWAT operators in Summerset County and probably very similar to many of the vest worn by tactical operators throughout the country, probably throughout the world.

And it`s level three. It is designed to defeat -- it`s designed to defeat pistol rounds and also certain rifle rounds. One of the rifles, this is very similar to the rifle he was carrying. This is actually an air soft replica of the rifle that James Holmes was carrying. And it is a 223 m-4 rifle, which we have here. This, with the trauma plate you would actually defeat that particular round, if it hit the trauma plate in the center of the chest. Similar to the weapon he has is a Remington pump shotgun. This is a police shotgun, but it`s 12 gauge, very high-powered rifle. And it is -- it`s for a lot of fire power and to deal with lots of people at the same time.

GRACE: What is a flash bang, if you could tell our viewers that?

CIEMPOLA: Flash bang is a distraction device. What we use a flash bang for is to fire to making entry in a room, we throw that in to distract somebody and actually disorient them to give the tactical operators the advantage when they make entry into the room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Straight back to Sergeant Ed Ciempola joining us. He is commander, Summerset County, SWAT.

He was swearing solid black. He had bulletproof gear, neck, groin, legs, chest, you name it protective helmet. Why? And that`s pretty professional to come in and use a flash bang?

CIEMPOLA: Well, yes, I think that was part of his strategy. I mean, he has obviously plan and spent a lot of time planning this whole thing out. Part of his strategy was to go into a target-rich environment like a movie theater, knowing this was a premiere night and to actually throw the flash bang, attract everyone`s attention, get them standing up and now he has a bunch of people running for the exits where he has a very target- filled room.

GRACE: Commander, don`t move.

To Doctor Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst and author. Weigh in, Bethany.

DOCTOR BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST, AUTHOR, DEAL BREAKERS: Well, he is right about them running toward the exit because these mass murders love to have the fish in the barrel affect. This guy is highly organized, meticulous, intelligent. He feels wronged by society in some pathological way. So his vendetta is against society.

Unlike the serial killer who has a vendetta or wants power against an individual, this is against society. He`s homicidal drama queen and that`s why he wore all that equipment.

GRACE: Tonight, our prayers with the victims and the families.

Let`s stop and remember army specialist Anthony Lightfoot, 20, Riverdale, Georgia, killed Afghanistan, bronze star, purple heart. Buried, Arlington. Loved animation, gaming, leaves behind a loving family.

Anthony Lightfoot, American hero.

Thanks to our guests, but especially to you for being with us. I will see you Monday night you 8:00 sharp eastern. And until then, good night, friend.

END