2:45 p.m.
James Holmes bought his ticket to the “Dark Knight Rises” 12 days before police say he opened fire inside a midnight opening of the film.
Aurora police Detective Matthew Ingui testified Monday that Holmes bought the ticket online July 8 for the July 20 showing.
During Ingui’s testimony, prosecutors showed surveillance video from inside the Century Aurora 16 theater that shows Holmes walking into the cinema and wandering around the concession stand before walking into theater 9.
Holmes was wearing a ski cap and a button-down shirt unbuttoned over a dark T-shirt in the video.
Monday marked the first time video from inside the cinema was shown to the public.
Ingui said there is not surveillance video from inside theater 9, where police said Holmes opened fire. There also isn’t video from outside the theater showing Holmes at his car or entering the theater.
Ingui said when he went in the theater after the shooting, the scene appeared to be frozen in time, with blood splatter, popcorn, discarded shoes and human tissue scattered about.
“It was almost like a snapshot had been taken,” he said.
He also said witnesses told police the shooter calmly walked with purpose during the rampage.
Inggui testified for about an hour Monday before Judge William Sylvester called a brief recess. He expected to resume testimony after the break.
12:30 p.m.
Two Aurora police officers choked back tears Monday as they testified about the scene inside the Century Aurora 16 theater.
Officer Justin Grizzle, who was one of the first officers on scene that night, said when he ran into the theater, he almost slipped on a large pool of blood near the exit door.
“There were several people, several bodies throughout the theater laying motionless,” Grizzle said.
Seconds after he ran into the theater, Grizzle grabbed some of the wounded and rushed them to a nearby hospital in his patrol car. Grizzle worked as a paramedic before becoming a police officer, but said it didn’t take an expert to realize that the wounded needed immediate help.
“Anybody could realize that we need to go now,” he said.
In total, Grizzle made four trips to hospitals, rushing six wounded victims to the emergency room.
“I didn’t want anyone else to die,” he said.
The first victims Grizzle rushed to the hospital were Ashley Mosier and her husband. Mosier, who was wounded in the head and torso, sat in the back seat with another officer while her husband sat in the front seat.
“He kept saying ‘Is my wife going to live? Is my wife going to be OK?’” Grizzle said.
Mosier’s 6-year-old daughter, Veronica, was killed inside the theater and Grizzle said Mosier’s husband asked repeatedly where his daughter was. At one point, as Grizzle sped to the hospital, the man opened the passenger door and tried to jump out so he could go back for his daughter.
Grizzle grabbed the man by his shoulder and pulled him back in while holding the steering wheel with his other hand.
Later, Grizzle took Caleb Medley to University of Colorado Hospital, imploring him along the way to keep breathing.
“I said ‘Don’t f–king die on me, don’t f–king die on me,’” he said.
Grizzle’s cruiser was covered in blood by the end of the night, he said, and he could hear pools of blood sloshing around his floor as he drove.
Grizzle testified for a half hour Monday morning.
After Grizzle testified, Sgt. Gerald Jonsgaard took the stand.
Jonsgaard spoke in a very matter-of-fact way about the weapons police found at the scene and his actions after he arrived at the theater. But when he spoke about Veronica Mosier, Jonsgaard paused to fight back tears.
When he tried to find a pulse on the girl’s neck, Jonsgaard said he couldn’t feel one. But another officer thought he might have felt a pulse and they sent the girl to a makeshift triage area officers had set up outside the theater. The girl later died.
When the call of shots fired at the theater went out over the police radios, Jonsgaard was just a few blocks away near East Alameda Avenue and South Potomac Street.
He arrived at the theater in about 90 seconds and took a position south of the theater at the loading dock of a nearby business.
When he saw Holmes oustdie the theater wearing a tactical helmet and gas mask, Jonsgaard said he initially thought it was a SWAT officer.
“My first thought was, ‘How did this SWAT officer get here so quickly,” he said.
Only after he saw other officers arrest Holmes did Jonsgaard realize it was the shooter, he said.
Inside the theater, Jonsgaard said police found two weapons. Near the emergency exit for theater 9, which prosecutors have said Holmes used to get into and out of the theater, officers found an AR-15 assault rifle laying on the ground.
Jonsgaard said he initially thought the gun could belong to an Aurora police officer because the department issues similar weapons. But when he looked closer, the gun was outfitted with a laser sight different from the sights APD uses.
He also saw a Remington 870 shotgun with an extended magazine about 15 feet from the rifle.
On the ground, there were several .223 shell casings from the AR-15 as well as a handful of bullets that had not been fired. There were also green shotgun shells and shells from a .40 caliber handgun littering the floor.
Jonsgaard said he saw several high-capacity magazines full of ammunition, including 30 and 40-round clips for the AR-15, as well as a drum-style magazine that he called a “snail.”
In Holmes’ car outside the theater, Grizzle said he saw a semi-automatic pistol in the passenger door map pocket. On the roof of the car was another pistol, this one outfitted with a laser sight.
Much of Monday’s testimony has focused on Holmes’ odd demeanor when police contacted him.
Grizzle said he asked Holmes if he was alone, and Holmes didn’t respond.
“He just looked at me and smiled,” he said.
Jonsgaard said he was watching from a few hundred feet away when Officer Jason Oviatt took Holmes into custody. Holmes’ arms shot into the air when officers ordered him and he seemed to cooperate.
“It was instant and exaggerated,” he said.
10:35 a.m.
CENTENNIAL | The officer who arrested James Holmes minutes after the July 20 theater shooting said Holmes was oddly cooperative with officers.
Officer Jason Oviatt said when he first saw Holmes standing behind theater 9 of the Century Aurora 16 building he thought the man wearing a ballistic helmet and gas mask was a police officer. But because Holmes was standing still, not in any hurry, Oviatt said he quickly determined he wasn’t an officer.
“The overall picture of him didn’t match with a police officer,” he said.
Then, Oviatt and another officer ordered Holmes to the ground and cuffed him.
Oviatt said Holmes followed all of the officers’ commands and didn’t resist at all.
“He was completely compliant, there wasn’t even normal tension with him,” Oviatt said.
Oviatt was the first witness called to the stand during Monday’s hearing. He testified for almost an hour and said Holmes seemed detached when police contacted him.
The second witness to testify was Officer Aaron Blue, who helped Oviatt arrest Holmes.
Blue said Holmes volunteered information about explosives at his apartment without the officers having to ask. Holmes called the bombs “improvised explosive devices” and told police they would go off if officers tripped them.
Blue said that after arresting Holmes, he and another officer rushed one of the victims, Jessica Ghawi, to the University of Colorado Hospital in the back of Blue’s cruiser.
Ghawi had been shot in the head and leg, Blue said, and Blue held her head in the backseat of his car while another officer drove to the hospital.
Ghawi later died, one of 12 people killed in the theater that night.
The hearing is scheduled to resume at 10:40 a.m. Several other Aurora police officers are in the hallway, likely waiting to testify.
Holmes appears to be listening more intently than he has in previous hearings. Holmes was seen listening to witnesses and looking at exhibits.