‘That’s when he shot me,’ Aurora theater shooting victim tells jury

CENTENNIAL | The Aurora theater shooting trial continued Thursday with powerful testimony from a victim who said the gunman shot him from just five feet away, as well as the jury’s first look at the assault rifle used in the rampage.

Dion Rosborough went to the theater that night by himself, but told jurors he also planned to go later that weekend with a group of friends.

“I love super hero movies,” he said.
Rosborough said after the shooting started he tried to run but fell onto a man laying on the ground in a fetal position. As he tried to flee he saw a figure wearing a helmet, body armor and holding a gun shooting into the crowd.

The shooter didn’t seem to be in a rush as he fired, Rosborough said, and walked slowly as he shot movie goers.

The shooter came within about five feet of him, Rosborough said, and he thought he was going to be shot so he covered his face.

“That’s when he shot me,” he said.

Rosborough said he thought he had only been shot once in the shoulder but wondered why he was coughing up blood.

Eventually, Rosborough said, he thought the shooter left so he jumped up and ran out the exit.

Later Rosborough learned he was shot in the shoulder and lower back, shattering his shoulder, puncturing his lung and causing nerve damage that will make walking normally difficult for the rest of his life.

Rosborough was one of three survivors who took the stand Thursday in day 13 of the trial. James Holmes is accused of killing 12 and wounding 70 more during the July 20, 2012 attack.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Agent Sarah Burnett also testified Thursday, saying that she examined the AR-15 rifle police say Holmes used during the attack.

Burnett, who held the rifle clad in plastic evidence packaging for the jury, said when she lifted the gun off the ground at the theater, a 30-round magazine fell out because it hadn’t been inserted properly.

That’s significant because it means Holmes tried to use a second magazine after the 100-round drum magazine malfunctioned and caused the gun to jam, according to testimony.

Burnett said there was a round in the chamber as well, and had she touched the trigger the gun would have fired. That .223-caliber round in the chamber had a green tip on the bullet, something Burnett said often signifies that a bullet is armor-piercing.

The 30-round magazine in the gun likely didn’t work because it was over loaded, Burnett said. She said ATF agents only load a 30-round magazine with at-most 29 rounds because 30 can cause the gun to jam.

“I thought it was because it was overloaded,” she said.

The day before, prosecutors showed the jurors the 12-gauge shotgun they say Holmes used that night.

Through the first 13 days of trial prosecutors have mixed at least some victims into each day’s testimony, even on days otherwise dominated with details about Holmes’ time at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus or his booby-trapped apartment.

On Thursday, prosecutors called Rosborough, Carli Richards and Heather Snyder. Richards told jurors she was struck by shotgun pellets in her arm, leg, back and chest. Snyder told the jurors she was there that night with a large group that worked at an Aurora Red Robin restaurant. The group was there to celebrate the birthday of a co-worker, Alex “Sully” Sullivan. Sullivan was one of 12 killed that night.

Snyder said she was struck in her hand by buckshot, which lead to her fingers being amputated. She lost her index finger and middle finger on her right hand, injuries she showed the jury by raising her hand high above her head. She was also shot in the arm and knee.

The jury also heard detailed testimony about the more than 200 shotgun pellet and bullet holes that littered the theater after the July 2012 rampage.
Aurora Police Crime Scene Investigator Maria Pettolina testified that she found 240 different strikes on movie theater chairs, walls, cup holders and the floor. She also found a metal railing with a rifle bullet hole in it.

Some of the bullets went through the wall of theater No. 9 and into theater No. 8, Pettolina said.

Lawyers for accused shooter James Holmes objected a few times to photos of the bullet holes, including one which showed the bottom of a theater chair smeared in blood, saying that it’s needlessly graphic or repetitive. But Judge Carlos Samour Jr. overruled each objection.

Pettolina’s detailed and often repetitive testimony stretched for three hours Thursday morning and was supposed to continue Thursday afternoon. But prosecutors opted to reschedule her testimony so they could hear from victims who traveled from out of state to testify as well as victims who had family members who traveled from out of state to watch their testimony.

Jurors also heard from a custodian of records at Google who discussed some Holmes’ email activity before the shooting. The custodian, Despina Papageorge, said she provided investigators with records from two of Holmes’ Gmail accounts, dSherlockb@gmail and ClassicJimbo@gmail.

Prosecutors didn’t discuss details about what they found in the email accounts during Thursday’s testimony, but District Attorney George Brauchler referred to them at length during his opening statements, saying the email conversations he had in the months leading up to the shootings showed he was sane.

Jurors then heard from Joel Jaffe of Shomer Tech, a company in Washington that sells military equipment online. The company sold Holmes road stars, hand cuffs and a military first-aid dressing in the months before the shooting.

Prosecutors have said Holmes had handcuffs with him at the theater and had said in his detailed plans that they could be used to hold two theater doors together, locking moviegoers inside.

Road stars, also known as caltrops, were found inside Holmes’ vehicle after the shooting. Prosecutors have said Holmes considered driving away from the theater but decided he couldn’t drive wearing all of his body armor.

Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The trial started April 27 and is expected to continue through August or September.