CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Saturday, Jul. 21, 2012 11:02AM EDT
Last Updated Saturday, Jul. 21, 2012 2:38PM EDT
Investigators triggered a “controlled detonation” at the purportedly booby-trapped apartment of Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes on Saturday afternoon, before warning that more explosions could follow.
Police blasted an air horn three times and warned nearby journalists to stand behind their vehicles as bomb squads carried out the detonation.
Confronted with trip wires and unusual containers, Aurora Police Sgt. Cassidee Carlson said authorities are approaching the suspect’s apartment with caution.
The plan involves removing any possible explosives, including about 30 “devices” and 30 aerial shells, and placing the items in sand trucks for transport to a disposal site, she said.
“There’s still unknowns,” Carlson said. “We’re not exactly sure of everything that’s in there.”
Holmes, 24, was arrested Friday after a mass shooting at a movie theatre in Aurora, a suburb about 16 kilometres east of downtown Denver. Twelve people were killed and 58 others injured.
Police evacuated Holmes’ apartment building and surrounding residences the same day after spotting what appeared to be an extensive booby trap and jars of ammunition.
Liquid accelerant is also believed to be among the items in the third-floor unit.
Speaking to reporters Saturday, Sgt. Carlson said experts might have to conduct a controlled detonation of some items, depending on what is recovered from the apartment.
Carlson, however, said the public will be notified before any possible detonations.
“We don’t need to rush anything. We’re going to do our best to take our time to keep it as safe as possible,” she said, adding that a major challenge might be getting rid of any incendiary devices while still preserving other evidence in the apartment.
The investigation has no set timeline, she said.
Meanwhile, Aurora police went door-to-door late Friday informing families that their loved ones were among those killed when gunfire erupted during a midnight screening of the latest Batman installment “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Among the dead are Alex Sullivan, 27, Micayla Medek, 23. Also fatally shot was Jessica Ghawi, a 24-year-old woman who was at Toronto’s Eaton Centre on June 2 when shots were fired in the shopping mall food court
Seven shooting victims remain in hospital with a variety of injuries, trauma surgeon Bob Snyder of the Medical Center of Aurora confirmed on Saturday.
Of those patients, three are on a regular trauma floor and four are in the intensive care unit. Two of the ICU patients are in critical but stable condition, he said.
“We actually have plans to move one of our patients in the ICU out to the floor today,” Snyder told reporters.
Part of the recovery process will be psychological, he said, as patients come to accept injuries that may present them with challenges for the rest of their lives.
“Today’s the day that there’s going to be some realizations that there is going to be some serious long-term issues that people are going to have to deal with,” he said.
