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CNN Saturday Morning News

Colorado Mourns After Mass Shooting; Remembering the Shooting Victims; Suspect's Apartment May Hold Clues; Battle for Damascus Ramps Up

Aired July 21, 2012 - 11:00   ET

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

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RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: From Aurora, Colorado, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye.

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GOV. JOHN HICKENLOOPER (D), COLORADO: We are clear that we are going to rise back and lift ourselves above this.

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KAYE: Aurora mourns as it tries to come to grips with this mass shooting at a movie theater. We are putting names with faces and learning new information this morning about the victims' identities.

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CHIEF DAN OATES, AURORA, COLORADO POLICE: It is a very vexing problem how to enter that apartment safely. I personally have never seen anything like what the pictures show us.

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KAYE: And right now, police and the ATF are at suspect James Holmes' apartment building. We have some live pictures for you now. They're trying to figure out how they are going to get inside and get past those booby traps that they say he set.

Shock, anger and disbelief as the community tries to make sense of a mass shooting inside a crowded movie theater. It was supposed to be a night of fun; 12 people are dead, 58 others injured. And the cover of today's "Denver Post" sums up the feeling here -- "Our Hearts are Broken."

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PEOPLE: How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me --

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KAYE: Hundreds of people came together last night in front of the theater for a vigil to mourn and remember those that were lost. And we're still learning more about the suspect, 24-year-old James Holmes. Take a look at this picture. It comes from the adult sex site AdultFriendFinder. Police believe that this may be a picture of Holmes, but investigators haven't confirmed it. Sources did say, though, that Holmes had dyed his hair red before the attack.

Our Poppy Harlow is at Holmes' apartment building where police and the ATF, as we just showed you, are on the scene, and Nick Valencia is learning more about the victims.

But let's start with Nick. Nick, you have some information about the victims of this tragedy, more names coming in this morning.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We do. We're getting details that slowly and slowly are trickling into the CNN NEWSROOM. As you just heard if you were tuned into the last hour, our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr confirming Staff Sergeant Jesse Childress of the U.S. Air Force. If you remember, Randi, four servicemen in all shot and wounded -- they were wounded I should say on early Friday morning in that Aurora, Colorado, movie theater shooting.

But we've just confirmed Staff Sergeant Jesse Childress of California. He was a member of the Air Force Reserve, active duty. His family telling CNN that they were notified at about 1:00 a.m. this morning of his death.

John Larimer, Petty Officer with the U.S. Navy, also among the list of deceased that CNN has been able to independently confirm. He's a 27- year-old, was in the U.S. Navy for less than a year and was serving his first post there in Colorado. The family notified about his death last night.

We spoke to -- I spoke to his father, Scott, from Crystal Lake, Illinois. He said "We send our thoughts and prayers out to families of the other victims and those still recovering in the hospital. We love you, John, and we will always miss you."

Matt McQuinn also being listed among the deceased. Like many others, his family waiting those agonizing hours before finding out that he was dead. His girlfriend was with him at the movie theater, as was her brother. And in fact, we're hearing reports that he shielded his girlfriend from that suspected shooter, James Holmes, shielding his girlfriend, him taking the bullets, Matt McQuinn, that is and him perishing there in that movie theater.

Again, his condition not known. And to make matters worse, his girlfriend, because she's not related to him, she was not able to find out about his condition.

Alex Sullivan -- I want you to look at this picture, as well -- Alex Sullivan "a gentle giant" being described as a gentle giant. Just a terrible situation here for -- this is his father looking for him. Just like many others, for hours his family members did not know the condition of Alex.

In fact, Alex worked at the theater, but was not working there that night. He was supposed to celebrate his 27th birthday and on Sunday, tomorrow, was his first wedding anniversary. Just a very sad situation there for the Sullivans.

CNN has also been able confirmed Micayla Medek, a 23-year-old woman. She was also shot and killed. A picture there, being described as a person that's very connected to God, an independent girl who was great fun. It took her family, Randi, 19 hours -- if you can imagine -- 19 hours to find out that she had been killed.

And Jessica Ghawi, another one of the faces that we've seen a lot over the course of the last 24 hours, somebody that has become the sort of the quintessential figure here, if you can say that, of these shootings here.

Her brother, Jordan, has been very active on social media. There is a trending hash tag right now #ripjessica. She was an aspiring sports broadcaster, an aspiring reporter who had moved from Texas within the last year. She died after taking a bullet to her head, according to witnesses there. Her dream of becoming a sports broadcaster cut tragically short.

Ironically, also, she was on scene in Toronto last month when a mall shooting broke out there. She survived that only to perish in Aurora -- Randi.

KAYE: Nick, thank you for that. Certainly trying to pay tribute to those that we've lost, such disturbing stories. Nick Valencia, thank you very much.

Right now the fire department, the ATF and several other agencies are on the scene at the suspect's apartment, James Holmes' apartment. We have some live pictures for you from our affiliate KCNC at the apartment, which is only about four miles away from where I am here at the movie theater, where the shooting occurred.

Poppy Harlow is at the suspect's apartment. Poppy, tell us what's happening there right now.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Randi, as you took live the police presser here that just happened less than an hour ago, what they are doing now is they're getting ready for what they're calling controlled detonation of what sources tell me are about at least a dozen IEDs, so homemade bombs inside this apartment.

They're going to send another robot inside to try to disarm what is a trip wire, a booby trap meant to set off these devices. They'll disarm that, then they'll possibly -- according to our Susan Candiotti and her sourcing -- possibly put a bomb expert in full gear, send them inside. The sergeant who held that police presser had no timeline. They hope to get in somehow within the next hour, but no idea of how long this will take.

Obviously, we, the media, are still right across the street from the apartment. They believe that the evacuations they've done thus far are enough to do this safely. They'll let us know if that changes, but we had a chance to talk to the sergeant in the presser about some big questions about accelerants that could cause massive fires with that -- with detonations.

Take a listen to that.

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HARLOW: The question on what the unknowns. I was told by a law enforcement official they believe there are liquid accelerants, some black powder in jars thought to fuel any fire. The question is, if you are doing detonations, how do you know how contained they could be?

SGT. CASSIDE CARLSON, AURORA POLICE DEPARTMENT: We are aware of some -- some jars that may contain some accelerants. And -- and the -- the mutual aid and the work that's happening with the partnerships of everybody involved. We've got the bomb guys. Right next to them is the fire guy. So, the communication there, the incident command is amazing.

So all of those things are being taken in consideration before any move is made. Before a bomb guy makes a decision, he consults a fire guy.

HARLOW: And there are chemists there, too, I've been told, to decipher what some of the accelerants may or may not be.

CARLSON: Yes. We have -- we have national experts here to handle all that.

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HARLOW: They've got experts. They've got chemists. They've got FBI, ATF, local PD, firefighters; they've got everyone on the ground here, Randi. Any devices they do remove from this apartment they would take off site detonate elsewhere, and then the third step would, of course, be the investigation.

So Randi, they have to be very careful of all of the things inside the apartment that you're seeing those live aerial pictures of. They have to be careful, because anything they find, or hopefully not destroy, would be used as part of the investigation as evidence.

KAYE: Yes and as those live pictures are showing us, with the fire engines there and the hook-and-ladder, they were out there as well yesterday, because it's really the only safe way that they can to get a look at what's going on inside that apartment.

But let me ask you about this, because this sounds like this was pretty sophisticated. Were there timers attached to these devices to detonate when the first people came into that apartment?

HARLOW: So I think no one will know for sure until an individual goes in there, but what I'm told by a very reliable law enforcement source is that they do not believe there are any timers attached to these devices. They believe they were really rigged, booby trapped, so that victims, people, first responders would set them off. But again, yes, they told me this is unusual because it is set up very -- in a very sophisticated way. They believe that the person that set this up had a lot of knowledge of how to do it. They say this was not quote, "crude" as they would typically see in a similar situation. So this is someone who knew what they were doing.

And again, what you're looking at is these live pictures coming from our affiliate KCNC of the aerial of James Holmes' apartment, the suspected shooter. Again just four miles from the mall where that tragedy happened -- four miles, Randi, from where you are right now.

KAYE: Yes and there we see it, that third-floor apartment there, much of the debris as they've knocked out the windows yesterday so they could get a closer look inside, as we continue to show our viewers these live pictures.

Poppy Harlow, thank you for your reporting.

Police are scheduled -- we want to remind you, to hold a news conference at 4:00 p.m. Eastern today to give the very latest on this investigation and CNN will, of course, bring you that live.

And CNN's Don Lemon will host a special tonight, special coverage of the "Colorado Theater Shooting". That you can find at 8:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.

Investigators are trying to get into the suspect's apartment today, as we've been telling you, but it is not going to be easy. They may even have to set off an explosion to make it safe to enter. We'll have the details for you.

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KAYE: One man and four guns that is all it took to kill 12 innocent people and wound 58 others here in Aurora, Colorado. We have some live pictures that we want to show you from our affiliate KCNC.

Just about four miles from here, you're looking at these live pictures of the suspect, James Holmes, his apartment building. Investigators are there, the FBI is there, ATF is there. They are trying to figure out how to get inside that booby-trapped apartment there on the third floor of that apartment building. They're still just trying to figure out how to get safely inside that suspect's apartment.

James Holmes told them that it was booby-trapped, and this morning they're saying that they may actually have to set off what they call a controlled detonation to make it safe to enter.

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OATES: I see an awful lot of wires, trip wires, jars full of ammunition, jars -- jars full of liquid, some things -- things that look like mortar rounds. We have a lot of challenges to get in there safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAYE: Former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes joins me now from Washington. Good morning, Tom.

TOM FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Hi, Randi.

KAYE: Let's talk about this detonation. How do you -- how do you see this working?

FUENTES: This is a very difficult situation. I've been at bombings where the original construction of the bomb was designed to set off other devices, and other devices did not go off, other mortar shells or ammunition or, you know, other aspects of it.

So, this is not a sure-fire thing that a controlled detonation will actually detonate every single device that may be rigged up in that apartment, if they are, in fact, prepared to explode. So, at some point, someone's going to have to physically enter that premises, an expert going in there. They can put on the bombing suit and all the protective gear in the world, which may not save them when they go in.

But ultimately, someone is going to have to go in and make a determination as to whether every device in there has been neutralized.

KAYE: And what's especially tricky here is you sort of have the fine line between wanting to get rid of the stuff but also wanting to preserve it, because this could turn out to be key evidence in the trial of James Holmes.

FUENTES: Right. Normally, an investigation like this, key evidence is the person's computer, so you can determine what Web sites he visited, what e-mails he may have been sending, who he was communicating with, who his friends and colleagues might be. You know, that kind of evidence is critical in the investigation to establish whether he had other partners or other help.

And you would also like to know which type of explosive manufacturing system was used. Did he get it off a particular web page which designed, you know, how to wire these devices up or set up pressure switches or other mechanisms to detonate it? Unfortunately, a controlled detonation or an accidental, full detonation inside that apartment may destroy that information forever, which is a critical piece of information, not so much to convict him, because I think they'll have enough evidence from the car and from the theater and other information, and the fact that this apartment, you know, who else would have rigged up this apartment but him? But information as to others that may have taught him how to do this or that may be sympathetic with him, that's pretty critical information to know.

But on the other hand, you're talking about the safety of police officers and federal agents. You're talking about the property there, that whole building may go up in flames. It's a very difficult decision; very, very tricky operation.

KAYE: Yes, it certainly is, and we wish them the best of luck. We'll be watching it throughout the day as they figure out when and if they'll get in there today.

Thank you, Tom, appreciate that.

FUENTES: Thank you, Randi.

KAYE: I will have much more from Aurora in just a moment, but right now I'm going to send it back to Gary Tuchman who is in Atlanta, who has some other news of the day. Good morning -- Gary.

TUCHMAN: Randi, good morning to you.

And other stories we're following this morning. Police investigating the disappearance of two young cousins in Iowa change their focus.

But first, if you're leaving the house right now, just a reminder, you can continue watching CNN from your mobile phone. You can also watch CNN live from your laptop computer. Just go to CNN.com/TV.

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TUCHMAN: We will keep you updated throughout the day on the latest developments on the deadly shooting at a Colorado movie theater, but first, there are some other stories we're covering.

They've been missing for more than a week now, and police in Evansdale, Iowa, are calling the disappearance of two young Iowa cousins an abduction. 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins and 10-year-old Lyric Cook vanished just over a week ago after taking a bike ride. Police searched a nearby lake where the girls' bikes were found, but they did not find anything.

To Syria now. There's word that Syrian forces have launched an all- out assault on opposition strongholds in the capital of Damascus. Witnesses say the city is now largely isolated by checkpoints and by tanks. Opposition groups say people are asking for help because things like medicine are starting to run out.

I spoke to my colleague, Ivan Watson, earlier. He said rebels are controlling a checkpoint at the Syria/Turkey border.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There were a trickle of travelers coming through, some of them Syrians clearly supporting the rebels, waving victory signs; others Turkish businessmen who are angry that their trucks that have been stranded on the other side have been torched in the fighting and subsequent looting there.

And one man saying there's no more Syrian border there anymore, no Syrian officials to stamp his passport when he went through. That rebel hold of this strategic entry point could be shaky, though, because we're hearing from all of those travelers that there's a Syrian government army location only a mile or two away from there, so there could be more fighting around this key entry point into Syria -- Gary.

TUCHMAN: So, Ivan, you're saying it's a trickle; it's not a flood yet of people?

WATSON: No, no, a trickle at the Turkish border. And it's very different from what you see at Syria's border with Lebanon. There, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees counted between 8,500 and 30,000 Syrians coming across the border in a 48-hour period. Most of this coming after the fighting erupted in the Syrian capital starting last Sunday. Clearly, people being driven out by the first serious fighting in the Syrian capital since this uprising began 16 months ago.

TUCHMAN: I mean, this has been an incredibly violent week, Ivan. Where do you see the momentum right now? Is it with the government? Is it with the rebels? Is it impossible to tell?

WATSON: Clearly, the rebels have gotten some momentum and a push and a bonus from their side after this incredible bombing on Wednesday that killed now four senior officials in the Syrian government -- the defense minister, the deputy defense minister, the head of the national security bureau, who died of wounds yesterday, it was announced on Syrian state TV, and notably, the brother-in-law of the Syrian president himself, Bashar al Assad.

Now, what's interesting is that there was a state funeral for these officials on Friday, but the Syrian president and his brother were not at the funeral, according to Syrian state media, even though their brother-in-law was one of the people that was buried there. That's either a sign that they don't feel safe to go out, that they're worried for their own safety, or perhaps they're not in the capital anymore.

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TUCHMAN: CNN's Ivan Watson. Well, more details emerging on James Holmes, the man suspected in the Colorado shootings. We'll hear from people who know him.

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KAYE: Quiet and really smart -- people who knew the suspect in the Colorado movie theater shooting say that's the young man they knew. Suspect James Holmes grew up in the San Diego area. And Richard Allen from our affiliate KFMB spoke with some who knew him there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just a shock. You know, you never think that you know somebody who's going to commit such a horrible crime.

RICHARD ALLEN, REPORTER, KFMB: This young woman, who asked not to be identified, attended a prestigious summer internship at the Salk Research Institute with alleged mass murderer James Holmes back in 2006, when Holmes was an upperclassman at West View High School.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was a very quiet person. He didn't talk to us. I think all of us were very excited to be there, so we were friendly and talking about college plans, but he never really wanted to associate with us.

ALLEN: Those who knew Holmes say they didn't know him well, and while strikingly intelligent, he kept to himself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: James seemed to be a very quiet, nice guy, you know -- no problem at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was quiet, yes, quiet and really smart.

ALLEN: After graduating West View High School and UC Riverside with a degree in neuroscience, Holmes had enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Colorado but was in the process of dropping out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Appreciate all your prayers and support.

ALLEN: While James Holmes' mother remains secluded in the Rancho Penasquitos home after James' father left early Friday morning for Colorado, the family has asked for privacy through their attorney.

LISA DAMIANI, HOLMES FAMILY ATTORNEY: Very, very sad day. They're, you know, working with and communicating with authorities, and really, that's all I can say.

ALLEN: While police say Holmes had purchased the weapons he allegedly used in his killing spree in Colorado, the 24-year-old had apparently shown an interest in weaponry while visiting San Diego over the past year.

DAVID CASPAR, SAN DIEGO PAWN SHOP OWNER: I and a couple of the employees recognized him immediately.

ALLEN: David Caspar owns Hillcrest Palm Brokers and remembered the shy Holmes coming in on more than one occasion to check out the store's firearms, though he never purchased one there. One employee even remembers him as polite.

CASPAR: It's not every day that you find out a multiple mass murder has been in your business, and to find out that he used firearms in the commission of his crime and that he had been in here looking at firearms is kind of a little bit unsettling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Bomb and chemical experts are at Holmes' booby-trapped apartment this morning. We have some live pictures from our affiliate KCNC. Folks there trying to figure out how to get inside. As you can see, they've broken into that third-floor apartment. They have some fire-fighting equipment there on the scene, just trying to keep the folks safe and see how to detonate the explosives that he used to booby trap that apartment.

They may have to set off a controlled detonation, we're told, to get inside safely. It is dangerous and rigged with plenty of explosives.

We are also waiting on a news conference from the medical center of Aurora. That is scheduled to start in just a few minutes. A night of entertainment turns into unspeakable tragedy, and we will track the timeline of the theater massacre in Colorado.

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KAYE: Welcome back, bringing you up to date now on the movie theater attack here in Aurora, Colorado. Twelve are dead, 58 others injured. Two of the injured are still in critical condition. Twenty-four-year- old suspect James Holmes is in custody.

Here's CNN's Anderson Cooper with a timeline of terror.

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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST (voice-over): It's about 12:30 am, 20 minutes or so until the sold-out premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises."

A gunman dressed head to toe in bulletproof gear and a gas mask throws a canister of what may have been tear gas into the room through the exit door, which he'd propped open earlier after purchasing a ticket to the movie and sneaking out of the theater.

The canister ignites, causing confusion among theater-goers, who don't yet realize the danger they're in.

DONOVAN TATE, WITNESS: When this popping started happening, I thought it was like fireworks or firecrackers, like someone playing a prank or a joke or something, you know. But and then some smoke started rising in the lower right corner of the theater.

COOPER (voice-over): Witnesses say the gunman enters the theater, first fires at the ceiling, then turns his gun on the crowd.

JESSICA SEEGER, WITNESS: When he straight from the air, he came down with his gun in my face, he was about three feet away from me at that point. In that instant, I honestly didn't know what to do. I was terrified.

COOPER (voice-over): The terror spreads. Eyewitnesses describe the gunman as, quote, "calmly firing into the crowd."

CHRIS RAMOS, WITNESS: But somehow, I got my little sister, I grabbed everything, just throw her on the ground, hiding below like, the chairs, and the guy's just standing right by the exit, just firing away. He's not aiming at a specific person. He's just aiming everywhere, trying to hit as many people as he can.

All I remember was like I was down on the ground, I was covering myself and right when I was like going up, trying to see the guy, like, just, the tear gas was getting me, my eyes were like watery, like I was like crying.

Like my throat felt weird and it felt like I was bleeding from my nose. Like it was hard to breathe, so I kept on going down, like ducking down, telling my sister to go forward, pushing her forward, while there's like guys, or girls like running like on top of me, like jumping away from the seats, and just trying to escape. The guy was firing, like, he was shooting, lasted probably about a minute or two minutes.

COOPER (voice-over): The gunman doesn't discriminate. Children are also shot. This mother is wounded in the leg as she tries to escape the gunfire with her 4-month-old son and 4-year-old daughter.

PATRICIA LEGARETTA, WITNESS: I just grabbed the baby and I just drug, I just grabbed my daughter and just got her out as fast as I could and just ran out.

I didn't turn around, I didn't look behind me. I just got out. And then there was a moment where my daughter tripped, and I just pulled her up and I was just dragging her, I was just thinking we've just got to get out (inaudible), I've just got to get out the doors and he (inaudible) kids. Just get my kids out of here. It was just so horrible.

COOPER (voice-over): At 12:39 am, the first calls come in to 9-1-1.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 315 and 314, first shooting at Century Theaters, 14 300 East Alameda Avenue. They're saying somebody's shooting in the auditorium.

COOPER (voice-over): Police arrive within 90 seconds to soon learn that 71 people have been wounded. This cell phone video shows panicked and bloody victims streaming out of the theater.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) shot (inaudible) comes out.

COOPER (voice-over): Inside, 10 people are dead.

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got seven down in Theater 9! Seven down!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got a child victim. I need rescue at the back door, Theater 9, now.

COOPER (voice-over): Two more victims later die at the hospital, bringing the death toll so far to 12.

TATE: There was this one guy who was on all fours crawling. There was this girl spitting up blood. There were bullet holes in some people's backs, some people's arms. There was this one guy who was stripped down to like just his boxers. It looked like he had been like shot like in the back.

COOPER (voice-over): While police and emergency workers helped the victims, the suspect is spotted, standing by a white car in the parking lot of the theater.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need a marked car behind the theater, stable side, the suspect in a gas mask. Everyone hold the air one second. Cars, where that white car in the rear of the lot, is that the suspect?

Yes! We've got rifles, gas masks. He's detained right now, I've got an open door going into the theater.

OK, hold that position, hold your suspect.

COOPER (voice-over): Within seven minutes of the first 9-1-1 call, the gunman surrenders to police. He's identified as 24-year-old James Holmes, a student in the process of withdrawing from the University of Colorado's neuroscience Ph.D. program. Holmes, who lives just four miles from the movie theater, tells police he's left a bomb in his third-floor apartment.

CHIEF DANIEL OATES, AURORA POLICE DEPARTMENT: We are not sure what we're dealing with in the home. They appear to be incendiary devices. There's some chemical elements there, and there are also some incendiary elements. They are linked together with all kinds of wires. As a layman, I -- it's not something I have ever seen before.

COOPER (voice-over): Police won't speculate on a motive for Holmes, who's now in custody awaiting his first court appearance on Monday -- Anderson Cooper, CNN, Aurora, Colorado.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And once again, I just want to point out what we're showing you on our screen here. We have a little box that we've been showing you. These are the live pictures that we want you to keep an eye on, along with us, of the suspect's apartment just about four miles from here in Aurora, Colorado, about four miles from the movie theater.

Because they are planning on going in, authorities are planning on going in and trying to secure the apartment, they've already gone in with a robot. There is a web of explosives and trip wires there. They could go in at any moment, any time now, to try and detonate a controlled detonation, as they call it, just to try and get in there safely for the folks to see what evidence might be in there.

So, we're just watching that along with you, in case you're wondering what that might be. Now, of course, we may never really understand why people snap, but we'll always wonder if there were signs. Earlier, I spoke with clinical psychologist Jeff Gardere about the possible signs of social isolation or even behavioral problems that we can look for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: We see the patterns from all of these mass shootings. The FBI has put a profile together, and this individual, Holmes, is starting to fit that profile, and there were warning signs that we do know of for this individual and for other individuals.

As you talked about, the seclusion, the isolation, the rage, the anger. And what we see most often is this slow decompensation into mental instability.

The problem here, Randi, is that many young people who are having these issues, because they may not have hallucinations, therefore, they're not admitted into psychiatric hospitals, they're not a danger to others at the time, and the parents are literally pulling their hair out because they don't know how to get those kids to get the help that they need.

The kids don't want to get on the psychotropic medications because they have such side effects, and of course, they don't want other kids to know or other young people to know that they're having these mental health issues.

KAYE: Yes, and in this case, the Colorado suspect's own mother said that she knew he did it. She wasn't at all surprised. I mean, but he hasn't been charged yet, and his own mother's basically convicting him. Is that something that surprises you at all? I mean, are there usually family problems when you see something like this develop?

GARDERE: It doesn't surprise me at all. When we go back and we do the psychological autopsies on these cases, we find out that the parents themselves have been tortured because they see that their kids are having these schizoid kinds of issues, and by schizoid I'm talking about someone who may be delusional or getting to be delusional, and we're seeing that in this individual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: I want to interrupt that interview there with Jeff Gardere and take you straight to the press conference underway now, the live press conference at the Medical Center of Aurora. They took 18 patients in after the shooting. Listen to the update.

We're learning what a benefit it is to have a trauma system the way we do, such high professionalism, expertise, a lot of collaboration. I mean, this is why the EMS, the police, the hospitals, the surgeons, the ERs, the fire departments train and drill. They don't ever want to have to use it, but I think in speaking to the folks who were here since 1:00 am yesterday, it was precise.

I mean, it happened the way it was supposed to. I know some communication -- there were some gaffes in communication, but that comes with chaos, you know, from the city and everywhere else, but I think this demonstrated a terrific trauma system, and this is a level 2 trauma center, and it worked very well.

So, again, introduce Dr. Bob Snyder. He's a trauma surgeon. He just did some rounds with the patients. He can give you updates on our numbers and status. OK?

DR. BOB SNYDER, TRAUMA SURGEON, MEDICAL CENTER OF AURORA: Thanks, Linda (ph). This morning, we made rounds on all the patients that were admitted to the trauma service as a result of this mass casualty incident. The patients that we have in the hospital right now are all doing fairly well.

As Linda (ph) said, it was a relatively quiet night last night. We did not have any incidents that required any emergency procedures or anything of that nature. I know Dr. Denton (ph) had alluded to the fact that the first 24 to 48 hours after an incident like this, we're looking for missed injuries that wouldn't necessarily show up right away. And thankfully, we have not found any missed injuries.

Everything that we made a diagnosis originally is what we're still working with right now. We still have seven patients in the hospital. We have three patients on the regular floor, our trauma floor. We have four patients in the intensive care unit. Of those four patients that are in the intensive care unit, two of them remain in critical condition, but they are stable.

And things that we're looking for this morning as far as blood pressure and oxygen levels, all, thankfully, are doing all right. We actually have plans of moving one of our patients in the ICU out to the floor today.

Linda (ph) is correct in that it is going to be a long day for a lot of people. The initial adrenaline rush of having something like this happen, both for the families and the patients themselves, is starting to wear off, and today is the day that there's going to be some realization that there is going to be some serious long-term issues that people are going to have to deal with.

We have staff in place as far as mental health counselors to work with the patients and their families, and we are going on a case-by-case basis to try to address their needs as best we can.

QUESTION: Did any of the patients have (inaudible)?

SNYDER: All the patients that we received at our hospital have survived to this point. The injuries that we are currently dealing with, at least at this time, do not appear to be immediately life- threatening.

QUESTION: How is your staff doing? Linda (ph) mentioned the psychological state of some of the staff as well.

SNYDER: It's a difficult situation any time when you have such a sudden influx of patients so critically injured. You try to distance yourself professionally from a situation like this, but these are young people, young families. It's difficult not to put yourself in their situation. And in that regard, it's been difficult for staff members to kind of deal with what's going on.

QUESTION: Has it been emotional on the floor, behind the scenes from patients?

SNYDER: I can speak to the mood this morning, and that -- an initial pass-through this morning, things look like they're relatively stable. I mean, there's -- the emotions are fine and, I mean, nobody is falling apart on the floor as of this morning.

I'm sorry?

QUESTION: (Inaudible). What is the age range? Can you discuss that?

SNYDER: We have -- 16 is our youngest and our oldest is 31, if I have that correct. QUESTION: When you say that they were going to come to the realization that some of their issues are going to be things they deal with the rest of their life, what are you --

SNYDER: Without getting into specifics, since that's really something that's going to be better answered in the future here, we have injuries ranging from head injuries to chest injuries to belly injuries to injuries to the arms and legs. It pretty much runs the gamut of multiple gunshots.

And some of the injuries that we're dealing with and the patients are dealing with right now are going to be permanent.

QUESTION: Can you describe the folks that have, you said multiple gunshots. Is it more than two or three in some cases?

SNYDER: In some cases, yes.

QUESTION: How -- what is the most?

SNYDER: I do not know.

QUESTION: Do you know what type of caliber weapon (inaudible)?

SNYDER: I do not know. I know it was a range of different weapons as far as handguns to shotgun injuries.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) here at this hospital?

SNYDER: Here at this hospital, that's right. As to the specifics, no, I couldn't really answer that question.

QUESTION: Was there anyone that appeared to be hurt by explosives? Shrapnel?

SNYDER: The injuries that we're dealing with are primarily gunshot injuries. So, chemical injuries, shrapnel injuries, we're really not seeing those to the patients that we have admitted to the hospital.

QUESTION: In a normal year, how many gunshot victims would you guys see in a month or a year?

SNYDER: Tracy (ph), throw me a number.

TRACY (PH): Oh, gosh, I don't know a number.

SNYDER: It's not an unusual occurrence to have penetrating trauma, so knife wounds or gunshot wounds. For better or worse, we have a lot of experience taking care of patients like this.

It's -- again, what we've been seeing is that the sudden number -- the high number of patients suddenly showing up in our ER is what makes situations like this so exceptional, and it is why we practice our disaster drills and our mass casualty incidents, just in a case that you hope doesn't show up shows up. QUESTION: Some of these are going to be permanent, are you talking with (inaudible) hospital now and (inaudible) people that are going to be transferred to (inaudible)?

SNYDER: At some point, I would anticipate these patients are going to be requiring transfer to a rehab facility. It is a little early on in the course of things to be talking to specific facilities about that.

QUESTION: Is it the patients themselves realizing that they're going to be (inaudible) or is it the families?

SNYDER: It's across the board. It is both of them, right. Some of the patients that we have right now are being -- particularly the critically ill patients in the intensive care unit, they are being sedated to a certain degree, so how much they have been able to process, it's a little difficult to tell for 100 percent, but the families are there at the bedside, and they are fully aware of the injuries that we're dealing with.

QUESTION: Are they all conscious? I mean, sedated but conscious to a point?

SNYDER: Yes. Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: You've been listening there to an update from the Medical Center of Aurora. If you'd like to continue watching this live update, you can catch it at CNN.com/live.

But the update is that they had a quiet night at the medical center and they still have four patients in the ICU. Two are critical but stable, but the good news is they do hope to move one of those ICU patients to the regular floor at some point. Once again, you can catch the rest at CNN.com/live. We'll have much more live from Aurora, Colorado, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back to Aurora, Colorado. We want to take you live now with some live pictures we're getting from our affiliate KCNC. You're looking at the suspect's apartment, the suspect in this horrible shooting.

James Holmes lived on the third floor of that apartment building about four miles from this movie theater complex. They're trying to figure out how to get inside that apartment safely. Apparently it's been booby trapped by the suspect. He told authorities that when he was questioned. They may be able to get in there within the next hour or so. They sent some robots in.

They want to do something called a controlled detonation. They would, of course, clear out the area, stop traffic in that area and do something like a reverse 9-1-1 call to let folks know that they might expect some type of explosion. We'll continue to watch these live pictures. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye. I want to take you back live now to the Medical Center of Aurora, where one of the victims in this shooting is speaking. His name Brandon Axlerod. Let's listen in.

BRANDON AXLEROD, WITNESS: (Inaudible) a bunch. It 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. And, you know, luck or faith, whatever you want to call it kept us alive.

And, you know, Josh (ph), while we were hugging each other in the aisle, got hit in the arm. And at some point, because he's so tall and lanky, he got hit in the leg as well.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) classic (inaudible)?

AXLEROD: Yes, our -- we were wedged, all three of us, between our seats and the seats in front of us. My wife got hit by what I think was the armrest when it exploded in -- like a big chunk came. It hit her in the lower back. But we were minor injuries compared to --

QUESTION: In chair (inaudible)?

AXLEROD: Yes, that's what it felt like. I mean, we were all piled together and just kind of trying to look through the seats where the people in front of us had put the armrests down. There wasn't a lot of things to see. It was very dark. Like the movie itself was in a lull at that point. And it's just --

QUESTION: (Inaudible) the shooter, did you see him at all?

AXLEROD: No, actually just the flash like --

QUESTION: (Inaudible)?

AXLEROD: Yes, just -- we gauged where the danger was coming from by the bursts, the flash. And when we saw him move, we tried getting Josh (ph) up. My wife had taken off her shirt and we had wrapped his arm and we were going to try and get him up.

But at that point no one had come in the theater yet, no police or anything like that. So we ended up seeing him walk the opposite direction from where we were.

QUESTION: Did you see the flash?

AXLEROD: Yes. And I picked her up and kind of threw her in the right direction and we went outside. And as we were coming out, the police were going in, so...

QUESTION: When the shooting stopped, did it seem like somebody (inaudible)? KAYE: You've been listening there to the victim Brandon Axelrod. More chilling moments from inside that movie theater. You can continue watching that press conference live on CNN.com/live. We'll have more from Aurora after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Such an emotional morning here in Aurora, Colorado, as we're continuing to learn the names of those that were lost and the survivors still question why they were the lucky ones to get out alive.

We'll continue to follow this. We'll be live here from Aurora, Colorado, once again tomorrow morning on "CNN SUNDAY MORNING." I'm Randi Kaye. Thanks for watching. CNN NEWSROOM continues now with Fredricka Whitfield.