AURORA | Jurors in the Aurora theater shooting trial heard details about the autopsies performed on several of the 12 killed in the July 2012 attack on Thursday.
Arapahoe County Corner Kelly Lear-Kaul, who performed autopsies on six of the victims, said each one died from gunshot wounds — each the victim of homicide.
Using a mannequin to describe the injuries, Lear-Kaul detailed the types of wounds each victim sustained and the projectiles recovered from some of them.
James Holmes is accused of killing 12 and wounding 70 others during the attack. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and prosecutors are seekign the death penalty.
The jury also heard another 911 call from inside the theater, this one made by Kevin Quinonez, who was one of the first people to call 911 from inside the theater that night. On the recording, several shots from a high-caliber weapon can be heard in rapid succession.
Jurors also heard more Thursday about what police found in Holmes’ booby-trapped apartment.
Aurora police Detective Tom Wilson said officers found a piece of poster board between Holmes’ refrigerator and trash can that had the same No. 1 with an infinity symbol on it that police also found on a calendar in his bedroom. On the calendar, the symbol was written on July 20, the day of the theater attack.
The same symbol appeared in a notebook Holmes mailed to his therapist the day of the attack.
Wilson said police also found pill bottles with antidepressants sertraline and clonazepam in Holmes’ apartment. Both medications had been prescribed to Holmes by Dr. Lynne Fenton, his psychiatrist at University of Colorado.
The jury also heard Thursday from two people who were inside the theater that night.
Lauren Shuler was in the Navy at the time and stationed at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora. She said she went to the movie with a group of five friends, which included John Larimer, one of the 12 people killed in the theater that night.
Shuler said when the gas canister went off she thought it was a promotion for the movie.
“I thought it was something for the midnight showing, something special,” she said.
She was hit by shrapnel during the chaos and said she had to step over a body on her way out of the theater.
Shirley Clark, who was 19 at the time, cried as she told the jury about the chaos.
“I just remember everybody screaming and crying,” she said.
Judge Carlos Samour, Jr., questioned a juror who was suspected of dozing off during testimony from an employee of Fandango, the company Holmes used to buy his movie ticket. The woman told the judge that while her eyes may have closed, she didn’t fall asleep and was alert. The woman admitted that parts of the testimony have been pretty dull, but said she remains focused. Samour said he believed the woman and she remains on the jury.
Court is in recess until Tuesday morning, May 26, because of the Memorial Day weekend.