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Tragedy Strikes Colorado Town; U.N. Fighting is Destroying Syria; Remembering the Shooting Victims; More Victims Named in Shooting; Ban Ki-Moon Says Syrian Civil War Ruining Country & More Dead in Capitol; Are Movies Responsible for Initiating Violence; Why Did Shooter Booby-Trap Apartment; Movie Theaters Changing Security Plans

Aired July 21, 2012 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello everyone. I'm Don Lemon. Coming to you live from Aurora, Colorado, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Let's get you up to speed now on what's happening here in Aurora. A community still in deep shock today. The mayor of Aurora talked to reporters a few minutes ago. He's been meeting with victims of yesterday's horrific movie theater shooting. This is the mayor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR STEVE LOGAN, AURORA, COLORADO: One of the people that I met with this morning at the hospital is somebody who was hit with buckshot in his back, broken rib, punctured lung, broken collar bone. Came out his back at the base of his neck. He is doing well right now, believe it or not. And that's because he got to the hospital and because the doctors and nurses at the hospital do the best job that they can do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Now about the apartment where the suspect, James Holmes lived. Police say, it was definitely booby trapped, rigged with trip wires and some sort of explosive devices. There is still no all clear from the apartment.

CNN's Ed Lavandera live there right now for us. Ed, I'm going to talk with him in just a minute. Twelve people died almost 60 others were injured when that masked man sprayed a crowded movie theater with bullets. Twenty six people are still in the hospital in Aurora. Nine of them are in critical condition at this hour.

We're here in Aurora all night tonight. So, make sure you stay right here. Stay where you are for all the details as we learn them coming up this evening.

So, let's go to CNN's Brianna Keilar though, she is in Washington. She has some of the day's headlines. Hello, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Don. The worst drought in more than 50 years is crippling farmers in the Midwest. Half of the states in the region are reported to be in severe to exceptional drought, and that's the region that produces about 75 percent of the nation's corn and soybean crop. The drought is especially hard on live stock, many ranchers having to sell off their herds early.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says, the fighting in Syria is destroying the country and many Syrians would probably agree with him. The opposition says, at least 96 people were killed today as battles raged in Damascus and other hot spots. Dutch Journalist Sander Van Hoorn is in the capital.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDER VAN HOORN, DUTCH JOURNALIST (on the phone): A wider area of Central Damascus, it was life almost as usual. Now the last three hours a new development has been fierce fighting in the southern suburbs of Damascus. I can hear heavy shelling, I can hear gun fire and it's been going on with an intensity that I didn't see before in the nine days that I'm in Damascus right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: The rebels are making gains in other parts of Syria. They've seized key towns along the Turkish border and then another sign that the regime maybe crumbling two more defecting generals arrived in Turkey overnight. Officials say, about two dozen Syrian generals have now fled to Turkey.

And in Bulgaria, official say, a bus bomber who killed five Israeli tourists this week may have had an accomplice. The suicide bomber, the man highlighted here blew up the tour bus Wednesday at the Burgas International Airport. The driver also died and more than 30 people were injured. Officials tell CNN that a second suspect is a possibility but that has not been confirmed.

To Japan now, where the government is investigating reports that workers at the Fukushima Nuclear Power plant tried to deceive the public. Allegedly, they were told to use lead covers over their radiation detectors to hide unsafe radiation levels at the plant. This reportedly occurred December 1st, nine months after the plant was damaged by a major earthquake and tsunami.

And let's get you right back now to Aurora, Colorado and Don Lemon -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Brianna, we'll get back to you throughout the evening with the headlines of the day. I want to get over to our Ed Lavandera now. He's near James Holmes' apartment building as I mentioned earlier which is evacuated today because of something very frightening that police found. So, Ed, Aurora police say, they are sure as hell angry and that's a quote from them.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the reason they were saying that is because according to the police chief here in Aurora, there was a tripwire that was along the front of the door entrance into James Holmes' apartment, which is that red brick building you see just over my shoulder. The window that they had been looking in through is just on the other side of it. But there was a tripwire along that door and officials say that had someone just unsuspectingly opened that door that they would have been seriously injured if not killed because of all of the various explosives and other tripwires that are inside that apartment.

So, it has taken them more than 24 hours to finally get a handle on what is going on in there. They've had bomb technicians, bomb teams from various agencies that have been inside the department. They've been using robots to defuse everything. And a few hours ago, Don, they actually had a controlled detonation, a water shot that was used to kind of defuse the situation there and help them get a better handle on it. Because of that controlled explosion they say that they have now taken care of the major explosives in there and they're hoping to begin removing all of the devices that James Holmes had, they say, had set up inside that apartment.

That will take several more hours to do. They say it's still a very dangerous situation. They don't know exactly what kind of materials they're dealing with but these teams now a little bit more relieved that they're able to move around perhaps a little bit more freely to get that, all of that equipment, all and stuff out of there. So that they can do the work they do. Because Don, this is very important because they need to try to preserve as much evidence in there as possible. Obviously, they're very interested in getting a hold of James Holmes' computers or anything else that might help them figure out what the motive was in this massacre -- Don.

LEMON: Right. And Ed, do you know police are also saying that Holmes received large volumes of deliveries in the past three months? Why is that interesting to investigators?

LAVANDERA: Well, you know, even though investigators aren't putting out much in terms of motive, if they have any indication, yet they are quick to point out interestingly enough that they feel that a lot of this was very deliberately done. We've been told by law enforcement sources that over the last few months there was a great deal -- the four guns were bought legally in various gun stores around the Denver area.

He's also ordered some 6,000 rounds of ammunition online and also all of the equipment and all of the ballistic gear that he was wearing essentially from head to toe. Don, remember all the protective gear that he was wearing, a throat cover, leggings, body armor, gas masks as well as a helmet. So all of that stuff have to been purchased and was purchased in advance not to mention all of the stuff that has been and all of the materials that have been dumped inside of his apartment.

And authorities say that that is -- shows deliberation. Of course that has major implications down the line when this goes to trial if James Holmes decides to try some sort of mental defense in his case. Authorities and prosecutors are going to say, look. You went through a great deal of deliberation planning this out. This shows something that was well thought out not just some spur of the moment attack. LEMON: All right. Ed Lavandera, stand by. We'll be getting back to you throughout the evening. And make sure you join me tonight at 8:00 Eastern for a CNN special report on the Colorado theater shooting. Do you know too often when stories like this happen, much of the attention is focused on the bad guy. We're going to try and focus the attention instead on the victims of this tragedy. Be sure to join us tonight at 8:00 Eastern for that special.

What would make a smart, doctoral student snap? Well, we'll going to explore the possibilities with a human behavior expert straight ahead. And we're learning more about the victims of this horrible tragedy. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're learning more today about those who died in that awful shooting rampage. Our Nick Valencia is here. Nick, you have been learning about these people and have some of their stories. What are you hearing?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, we've been tirelessly working the phones all morning Don throughout the afternoon trying to get our viewers the latest information and confirm details. CNN has been able to independently confirm seven of the 12 deceased. But just last hour, "The Denver Post" naming one more victim, Rebecca Wingo 32 years old originally from Quinlan, Texas. She is a mother, also a local waitress at a crab shack according to her Facebook page.

Her father Steve Hernandez posting a message online confirming her death saying, "I lost my daughter yesterday to a mad man. My grief right now is inconsolable. I hear she died instantly without pain. However, the pain is unbearable." These are just some of the messages that we're hearing, Don, from numerous family members that I've spoken to in CNN National Desk as well as our wire team has spoken to throughout the morning.

Another one of those victims we confirmed earlier this afternoon. AJ Boik, a high school student at gateway high school there in local Aurora, Colorado. He went to the movies with his girlfriend and a friend. Both of them making it out alive. Unfortunately AJ perishing there in that theater. Friends held a memorial service for him late Friday.

Jesse Childress is also among one of four service members that were wounded in that mass shooting by suspect James Holmes. Jesse Childress is described by his family member as an active duty U.S. Air Force reserve man, a 27-years-old. His family lives in Colorado. And Don, like many of the family members, they didn't find out until very late last night. In fact that is one of the complaints according to some of the family members we've spoken to that they have with this whole process that has played out.

John Larimer is another, one of those servicemen that were shot. He also died. Also 27-year-old just like Jesse Childress. He was in the navy less than a year. In fact, this was his first post there just outside of Aurora, Colorado. Had not seen combat duty yet. His family was notified as well of his death late last night, they wrote to CNN. I spoke to his father in Illinois, Scott Larimer, who is obviously very upset and distraught. He said, we send our thoughts and prayers out to families of other victims and those still recovering in the hospital. We love you, John. And we will always miss you.

Matt McQuinn was the fifth person that we've been able to confirm. Matt McQuinn, like many others, again, his family agonizing for hours only to find out that he had died. He's just got a remarkable story, Don. He shielded his girlfriend according to witnesses from those bullets of James Holmes taking the bullets instead of his girlfriend. He was not able -- the girlfriend there was not able to confirm his death, unfortunately, because of the strict HIPAA laws. She is not related to him. Just making matters worse. All the more worse for his girlfriend, who all, you know, probably is very much showing grief right now.

Alex Sullivan, 27-year-old celebrated his birthday there last night. We're looking at video on Friday when his parents had no idea where he was at. They were canvassing Aurora, Colorado only to find out late last night that he died. He was celebrating his 27th birthday there as I mentioned at a midnight showing there of "The Dark Knight Rises" and he was working at the theater in fact but not that day. Chose to go on his off day. His friends describe him as a gentle giant. Funny guy. Smart, loving. With a big heart.

Micayla Medek. Micayla Medek also 23, also listed among the dead. She is described by her father's cousin where CNN confirmed her death through her father's cousin described as very spiritual and an independent girl who was great fun. I don't know if you can believe this, Don. But it took her family 19 hours, 19 hours to find out that she had died. Her family obviously very upset about the delay and the process of confirming her death.

Jessica Ghawi, one last person to tell you about Jessica Ghawi, she has become sort of the quintessential face of this shooting. She was an aspiring sports broadcaster who had moved from Texas to Denver. She took a fatal bullet to the head and died -- Don.

LEMON: So, Nick, I was trying to jump in there because when you said, it took her family, Micayla Medek family 19 hours, I met her sister Amanda at the hospital yesterday when I first got here. And she was hysterical, she couldn't find her sister. One her sister told me was that she was in the theater with her friends and she got shot and her phone was still in the theater at the time and they were trying to get her, revive her and that was the last that anyone had seen her.

So, it took them almost 24 hours to find her. And they even -- they were going from hospital to hospital, and calling agency to agency. But when you have, you know, 70 people injured of course it's going to be hysteria and some things are just going to take a while. Nick Valencia, thank you very much.

VALENCIA: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: I appreciate your reporting right now. He was a doctoral student in the neuroscience program. Top honors in college. What would make someone like this snap? If he just snapped? We'll going to talk with our human behavior expert, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Friday's mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater has shocked people around the world. To most of us, we can just get our heads around. We can get our heads around somebody doing something like this.

Our human behavior expert Dr. Wendy Walsh joins me now. Let's talk about the alleged shooter in a moment Dr. Wendy. First, this story seems to affect everybody in some way. Why do moments like this hit us so hard?

DR. WENDY WALSH, HUMAN BEHAVIOR EXPERT: Because human beings are blessed with empathy and compassion. We are all parents. We are brothers. We are sisters. We are cousins. We are husbands. We are wives. We imagine what it would be like to happen to our family and we have great grief for others because we're all connected, Don.

LEMON: Yes. And let's talk about the shooter now or the alleged shooter. We don't really know much about the young man in custody. But when you saw his pictures, you heard the details about him, what did you think? Did anything catch your attention?

WALSH: Well, I read a lot online about people that knew him early in life. And they called him socially awkward but a nice guy if you got to know him. It was difficult to get to know but once you did, he was witty and fun. One high school friend said that she found it weird that he always rooted for the villain rather than the hero in some of these action movies.

I don't know what he was suffering from but definitely something happened this spring because it was in May that he began accumulating ammunition and guns and bomb making equipments and that's also when he began the process of quitting or extracting himself from his PH.D program in neuroscience because of bad grades. So, this is a really bright guy who suddenly in one semester took a downturn. So, something was going on.

LEMON: Yes. Something -- yes, obviously. You said to one of my producers which I found interesting that his interest in neuroscience may be significant. Why is that?

WALSH: Well, universities are well aware, Don, that a small percentage of people who are attracted to psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience are actually there because on some level, they know something is up and they're trying to heal themselves. And universities try very hard through interviews and personal statements to try to exclude those people or steer them, counsel them into another program if you will. But he may very well be interested in, have been interested in this subject matter because on some level he knew that there was something wrong with his brain physiology, his brain chemistry. LEMON: Some of the stories that we have been hearing from this tragedy, bravery, selflessness, even in the most horrible moments, something so amazing rises to the surface of many people. Is that usually training or is that strength or is it just within us?

WALSH: You know, we talked about this before when we've had other tragedies, Don. Is that some people in shock cower, freeze. Other people become highly activated and protective. It's instinctive and everybody has their own way. Of course it can be aided with training. But I was just so proud of all the men out there and the stories you heard of shielding women, shielding children, blocking them with their bodies.

You know, men have been taken such a beating in our media in recent years. We hear about unemployment and male depression and erection problems and deadbeat dads. And to see men at their finest being amazing protectors and doing what guys do best, I mean, I had tears in my eyes listening to some of these stories. It was great.

LEMON: Yes. So did some of the investigators and medical workers out here as well telling stories of bravery and heroic. Thank you, Dr. Wendy. We appreciate it.

Straight ahead, we'll look at the background of the 24-year-old suspect police have in custody.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: One of the mysteries surrounding the theater shooting suspect is his personal background. He has been described as clean cut, responsible, and smart. But hardly anyone seems to have known him well. And those who do know him say, they never noticed anything suspicious.

CNN's Drew Griffin, part of our investigative unit is checking on his story and has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He had been living not far from this movie theater for the past year because it was also close to the University of Colorado medical school where Holmes was a graduate student in Neurosciences. According to the school he was in the process of withdrawing as a student last month. The school frankly won't tell us much about his grades, the classes he took, or anything else. We do know he did give a student lecture this past March on something called MicroRNA biomarkers.

If you look it up, it's about an emerging area of Neuroscience, the study of nerves that relate to cancer research, and the school says, Holmes worked in a paid position there as well. But no details. Before that, it was a middle, upper class upbringing in California. High school in San Diego and under graduate degree from the University of California in Riverside in 2010. School administrators there said, he had an outstanding academic record. UNIDENTIFIED MAN: He was an honor student. So academically he was at the top of the top. You know, he really distinguished himself from an academic point of view during his four years with us. Graduating with highest honors.

GRIFFIN: So, how is this honor student, this PH.D candidate, this budding neuroscientist suddenly becoming completely different person dressed and according to police armed to kill?

CHANCELLOR TIM WHITE, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE: The suspect was dressed all in black. He was wearing a ballistic helmet, a tactical ballistic vest, ballistic leggings, a throat protector, and a groin protector, and a gas mask and black tactical gloves.

GRIFFIN: Was the person delusional? Was there mental illness involved? As we try to piece this together, I want to share with you what New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly had released on what he learned of the suspect that may have a tie to the actual movie.

RAY KELLY, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: We have some information. I believe most of it is public. It clearly looks like a deranged individual. He had his hair painted red. He said he was the joker.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That was CNN's Drew Griffin reporting. He is a popular movie actor who is familiar with playing bad guys on the big screen. We'll going to talk live with Steven Baldwin about violence in movies and whether it's a factor in tragic incidents like one that played out right here. That's straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

LEMON: This story absolutely still developing. Happening more than 24 hours ago, but we are naming more victims in this tragic shooting.

Let's go to our international world headquarters in Atlanta.

Nick Valencia, what do you know?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Don, CNN can now name a ninth victim as a result of this fatal mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, 24-year-old Alex Teades (ph) of Phoenix, Arizona being the ninth victim. You had 12 victims in all, perished that day. Teades (ph) is described by his aunt as being a graduate school student that just completed his work there. Again, originally from Phoenix, Arizona. He was living in Aurora doing graduate work and is described as an avid Arizona basketball fan and leaves behind two brothers. Again, this just in to CNN, 24-year-old Alex Teades (ph) of Phoenix, Arizona who was living and studying as a graduate student in Aurora, Colorado, is the ninth victim. CNN now can independently confirm died on Friday -- Don?

LEMON: Another family grieving.

Thank you very much for that, Nick Valencia.

We want to go to CNN's Brianna Keilar for other headlines.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, the worst drought in more than 50 years is crippling farmers in the Midwest. Half of the states in the region are reported to be in severe to exceptional drought. This is the region that produces about 75 percent of the nation's corn and soybean crop. This drought is especially hard on live stock. Many ranchers having to sell off their herds early.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says the fighting in Syria is destroying the country. The opposition says at least 96 people were killed today as battles raged in Damascus and other hot spots.

Dutch journalist, Sander Van Hoorn, is in the capital.

SANDER VAN HOORN, DUTCH JOURNALIST: A wider area of central Damascus it was life almost as usual. Now the last three hours, new developments, have been fierce fighting in the southern suburbs of Damascus. I can hear heavy shelling and gunfire. And it's been going on with an intensity that I didn't see before in the nine days that I'm in Damascus right now.

KEILAR: Rebels are making gains in other parts of Syria. They've seized key towns along the Turkish border. And in another sign the regime may be crumbling, two more defecting generals arrived in Turkey overnight. Officials say two dozen Syrian generals have now fled to Turkey.

And in Bulgaria, officials say a bus bomber who killed five Israeli tourists this week may have had an accomplice. The suicide bomber, the man highlighted here, blew up the tour bus Wednesday at the Burgas International Airport. The driver also died and more than 30 people were injured. Officials tell CNN that a second suspect is a possibility but that has not been confirmed.

Let's head back now to you, Don, in Aurora, Colorado.

LEMON: All right. Brianna, thank you very much.

As reports come out that the alleged theater shooter may have dyed his hair red and called himself the Joker, we've been hearing questions like this. This one from filmmaker, David Kronmiller.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID KRONMILLER, FILMMAKER: I work in the industry. I'm a director, actor, I've played a killer. I don't know what feel about what's happened. I think we, in our industry, have some responsibility, not for James Holmes', you know, behavior. He probably would have been -- you know, gone this route no matter what the movie was at the time. But did we give him a blueprint? Did we show him how to do it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So originally, actor, Stephen Baldwin, was going to come on and talk about your new movie until these shootings.

What is the movie?

STEPHEN BALDWIN, ACTOR & FILMMAKER: "Loving the Bad Man," is what it's called, about a lady who suffers a tragedy in her personal life and overcomes it.

LEMON: I want your unique perspective. You just happened to be in the area. You've played bad characters in films and been in many violent films.

BALDWIN: Sure.

LEMON: Basically, what Kronmiller, the filmmaker, was saying is maybe there is some responsibility Hollywood has and in some way we are initiating some of this. What do you think?

BALDWIN: I think it is fair to say media, movies, video games, things like that do desensitize a lot of people in situations like this. I think you can't fully credit that for situations like this. This guy obviously snapped. He planned this thing. Makes no sense. Evil has entered into the picture here.

LEMON: Right.

BALDWIN: And this guy has just gone crazy. It's tragic.

LEMON: I looked at some of your old interviews and you have talked about violence in films before, and you've been very vocal recently, taking a stand against vulgar and content in movies. Do you think people are directly affected by the violence, sort of? I don't know. It's kind of similar to the first question I had, that we don't even realize that it's almost like it's subliminal and it's OK?

BALDWIN: Yes. Back to what I was saying a little bit ago, particularly video games. There is a desensitizing that happens I think with a lot of people. I don't think that's the case here. This guy obviously is nuts. It's a bad situation.

I'd like to just say for myself that I'd like to ask the entire country to be praying for Aurora right now. I think that's going to be something that is going to bring back a lot of hope and make a lot of healing happen around here. This is beyond everyone's comprehension.

LEMON: And to be clear, as we reel from what happened here in Aurora, we're not pointing the finger at the movie makers.

BALDWIN: Not at all.

LEMON: I want to read a statement from the director of "The Dark Knight Rises," Christopher Nolan. He says, "I believe movies are one of the great American art forms. And a shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important, enjoyable pastime. The movie theater is my home and the idea someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me."

So, still, there is a responsibility, even though it may not be directly. Maybe it's a chance for us to all step back, and even in media, even what we do.

BALDWIN: Sure.

LEMON: All of us to step back and take a look.

BALDWIN: And even in regard to Second Amendment people and guns and all of that. You know, this guy purchased 6,000 rounds in the six to eight weeks prior. Perhaps -- I don't know. I'm a gun advocate. I am. And obviously this is tragic. I don't want to go there with the whole guns aren't the problem thing. I believe in personal protection myself. But I think that maybe in the future as part of the Patriot Act --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Should you be able to buy 6,000 rounds in a short amount of time?

BALDWIN: With these things continuing to happen, now, even as a gun enthusiast it's making me say, maybe there needs to be a change.

LEMON: All right. So as a gun enthusiast, you know, the NRA gun rights, advocates, whatever, they're going to be listening and, oh, my gosh, Stephen Baldwin --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: No, no. I --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: What do you say to them?

BALDWIN: Listen, it's like I said, guns and weapons are part of our police force, military. They protect us. In the right hands, they do good. In the wrong hands, we stand here today. But I definitely think maybe there should be new thinking with the technology we have, to monitor people when these types of situations occur.

LEMON: People say the people who designed and wrote our Constitution, what they didn't think about, they didn't know about these semiautomatic weapons that can give of hundreds of rounds very quickly.

BALDWIN: Sure.

LEMON: Do you believe that? And the second part of my question, do you think the gun lobby is too strong maybe in Washington? BALDWIN: Listen, I think -- as you know, our nation advances and things change and things like this -- listen, I'm not going to deny that when things like this happen, it needs to be re-evaluated. There is no question. I don't think it's right for people who are common- sense logical, you know, law abiding citizens, to not have the right to bear arms and defend themselves. I agree with that. I'm one of them.

LEMON: I don't think anyone says that shouldn't happen. Just the amount of it.

BALDWIN: Right.

LEMON: And the ease, how easy it is to get it. Right?

BALDWIN: I think as we progress, we always have to step back and evaluate in the future what that means.

LEMON: Yes. Very good. You're very careful.

(LAUGHTER)

You're very honest. It made you rethink yourself.

BALDWIN: Yes. I think -- again, with the Patriot Act, there's monitoring and surveillance that's allowed to happen. I think that a red flag should have gone up when this guy bought 6,000 rounds of something in such a short period of time.

LEMON: Absolutely.

Thanks for being honest.

BALDWIN: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: We appreciate you dropping by. And the film again is?

BALDWIN: "Love and the Bad Man." I just want to say hey to everybody in Cheyenne, for Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, and everybody from westernwishes.org. I'm down there doing something for a nice charity called Western Wishes. They let me come up here and talk to you.

LEMON: It's good to talk to you.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

Stephan, stand by. We'll talk to you after we get to this.

Why would the suspect booby-trap his apartment and then warn police? We'll talk to a veteran law enforcement officer next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: I'm Don Lemon, reporting live in Aurora, Colorado. At that very movie theater, just over 24 hours ago, a man went on a rant and shot 70 people, injured 70 people, killing 12 of them. 10 of them laid there for hours and hours inside that movie theater and two died at the hospital. There are many more victims of this. The loved ones who are having to deal with this tragedy, thousands and thousands of people, families all across this country of the victims that were inside that theater.

You know, we had been talking about these explosive devices that are supposedly inside the apartment of this young man belonging to that suspect.

Let's talk about it more now with Alex Manning. She is, one of our regulars. She is back in Atlanta. A 15-year veteran of law enforcement, I should say, and an instructor at the Georgia Police Academy.

Alex, thank you for joining us.

Why would a guy who was going to open fire in a theater booby-trap his own apartment? Could it be to maybe hide evidence or just because?

ALEX MANNING, INSTRUCTOR, GEORGIA POLICE ACADEMY: Sure. Hot evidence, obviously injure police officers. First, I thought maybe it was a diversion tactic. For instance, there would be this tragedy here, an explosion, which would have all public safety officers there, and then they get the 911 calls from the cinema that there is something happening there.

LEMON: Yes. So if he is trying to cover his tracks, right, as to what he was doing here, then once he is in custody why would he tell police that he booby-trapped the place?

MANNING: Maybe to prove or to watch it all go down where he can show he's smarter than the cops. You know, this explosion, if this still happens, he can show himself, I'm smarter than the cops. It still blew up. They couldn't defuse the bombs that I set up.

LEMON: What about the weapons? I'm sure you heard me talking about the guns with Stephen Baldwin. All of them purchased legally. Is there any way to prevent people who may have issues like this suspected shooter from getting guns at -- prior to the run-in with police before they'd go shoot up a place?

MANNING: Well, Don, nobody obviously had saw this coming, so you wouldn't have been able to predict what he would do. He got it legally. You can tighten gun laws. However, people are going to have a -- determined to get a gun are going to get a gun. They're going o get it legally. They're going to get it illegally. This guy was obviously educated and smart enough that he could have harmed them with the bombs he was making. He didn't need a gun. He was going to find a way to hurt people.

LEMON: So do you think it's when people say -- and I've been looking at social media, after that interview with Stephen Baldwin, when they said, Don, it is -- some people say it is the guns. It is the guns. It's not necessarily guns but automatic weapons and people should not have such easy access to them. Even if he had bought, you know, 6,000 rounds of ammunition a year ago, that's still a problem. Is it the guns or is it the person?

MANNING: I think it's the people, Don. He was going to find a way to harm people. If his parents didn't see it coming, if people didn't see it coming, he was going to find a way.

I think we need to look at our mental health system. Obviously, he is mentally ill but he is pure evil. He is pure evil. That doesn't get diagnosed until after the fact.

LEMON: Yes, sadly.

Alex Manning, thank you. We appreciate it.

MANNING: Thank you, Don.

LEMON: A survivor chokes back tears as he describes how he and his new wife ducked for cover as bullets sprayed over them. You'll hear it just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JO CRAWFORD, CNN HERO: When I was 13, my dad was very violent and attempted to murder my mom.

(on camera): Hi, baby.

(voice-over): It wasn't until I was 55 that I came to work in a shelter and met a 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." And it is totally forbidden, but I gave her the two $20, 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.

(on camera): This is what you want. And this is what you deserve.

(voice-over): 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.

CRAWFORD: You are so -- (CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, 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. She enabled me to buy a sewing machine, and I realized I should be a person who not only receives help, but gives help.

CRAWFORD (on camera): I am so proud of you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Me, too.

CRAWFORD (voice-over): One woman can make a difference, but women working together can change the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Back now live in Aurora, Colorado.

Earlier, I spoke with a victim of the shooting, still recovering in her hospital bed. Her name is Christina Blache. She told me that she served in Iraq, one tour there. And I asked her if the theater shooting was anything like she'd seen in a war zone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Can you forgive him, the gunman?

CHRISTINA BLACHE, SHOOTING VICTIM: Can I forgive him? Probably not today, not tomorrow, eventually. I'm a pretty, I guess, laid-back and kind of outgoing person. Yes, I like to move on. I don't like to keep dwelling on the past. So eventually, yes, I'd be able to forgive him. Not just right now. He killed somebody I cared about and he injured a heck of a lot of my friends so, for right now, no. Down the road, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: That was actually a different part of our conversation when I asked her if she could forgive the shooter. She said, eventually she could. But when I talked to her about the war zone, what she said was, no, it wasn't like anything she had ever seen in a war zone, because when you go to war zone, you expect that you could possibly lose your life. When you're sitting in a movie theater, she says you're not prepared for it.

Back to our top story, the investigation into the massacre at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. One survivor, Brandon Axelrod, choked back tears as he explained how he and his new wife, Denise, and best friend, Josh, ducked for cover. Axelrod and his new wife were slightly injured by shrapnel, but his friend, Josh, was shot in the arm and the leg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON AXELROD, SHOOTING VICTIM: I'm actually -- I'm really OK. Me, my new wife, and my best friend, Josh, went into the movie together. It was right after the opening action scene. It was quiet and the canister or whatever, going across the theater and then the fizzing of it, and then the shooting. Just the gun going off -- Josh helped me protect my wife and he got shot. It's just, it wasn't expected. But I'm glad he was there with us, because the three of us together, you know, we piled on each other and we kept each other safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So many sad stories that are coming out of these tragedies.

Up next, we are going to talk about movie theaters changing their security plans in light to have this mass shooting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Because of the shootings, many theaters are now reviewing their security plans.

Here's CNN's Mary Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vehicles are now posted outside of New York City theaters showing "The Dark Knight Rises." The NYPD is not responding to any specific threat, just hoping to prevent any copy cats.

RAY KELLY, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: We're just concerned that perhaps someone seeking notoriety will attempt to do something similar. We always hear that when a high-profile event happens. So we're doing this to sort of raise the comfort level of people who are going to the movies.

SNOW: At one multiplex theater outside New York City, security goes far beyond comfort level. It's been using metal detectors for more than two decades.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's more of an inconvenience, actually, going through the metal detectors, but after what happened yesterday, I do feel more safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I actually feel safer, you know, coming to movie theaters knowing there's a metal detector. I feel more safe.

SNOW: The detectors were installed in 1990 after gunfire broke out during an argument on the opening night of "The Godfather III." At the time, one person was killed and three people injured. The Valley Stream Theater, according to a security consultant who worked on the security plan, was one of the first movie theaters in the country to install the detectors. He says certain factors were considered.

ALAN SKLAR, CREATIVE SERVICE, INC.: We looked at crime statistics in and around the area to see what type of crimes have occurred. Is it a high-crime area? Does it justify certain level of technology or, you know, additional measures that might not be needed in another area?

SNOW: In the mass shootings in Aurora, authorities say the gunman entered through a fire exhibit. Former FBI assistant director and CNN contributor, Tom Fuentes.

TOM FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR & CNN CONTRIBUTOR: In the case of a metal detector, it would have done no good because this person, you're not talking about someone who brought weapons in through the front of the theater, through the ticket taker entrance or anything like that.

SNOW: Individual movie chains decline to discuss specific security measures, but their umbrella group, the National Association of Theater Owners, said in a statement, "Members are working closely with local law enforcement agencies and reviewing security procedures."

(on camera): The National Association of Theater Owners says it doesn't have a number of how many theaters in the U.S. use metal detectors. One immediate change in security though here at AMC theaters is that movie goers will not be allowed in the theater wearing costumes or masks.

Mary Snow, CNN, New York.

LEMON: Thanks for watching. I'm Don Lemon, in Aurora, Colorado.

A live SITUATION ROOM with Wolf Blitzer begins right now.