Batman shootings suspect planned massacre carefully: police
UPDATE: THE shooting suspect accused in a deadly rampage inside a Colorado theatre planned the attack with "calculation and deliberation", police say.
Meanwhile, a federal law enforcement official provided an updated account about the gunfire inside the theatre, saying that a semi-automatic assault rifle used by the shooter jammed during the attack, forcing him to switch to another weapon.
They say James Holmes received deliveries by mail that authorities believe armed him for battle and were used to rig his apartment with dozens of bombs.
The official said on Saturday night that the jammed weapon had a high-capacity ammunition magazine.
Police have said that a 100-round drum magazine was recovered at the scene and that such a weapon would be able to fire 50 to 60 rounds a minute.
In Aurora, investigators spent hours on Saturday removing explosive materials from inside Holmes' suburban Denver apartment a day after police said he opened fire and set off gas canisters in a theatre minutes into a premiere of the Batman film,The Dark Knight Rises.
The massacre left 12 people dead and 58 injured.
Pictures: Dark Knight shooting
Holmes' apartment was rigged with jars of liquids, explosives and chemicals that were booby trapped to kill "whoever entered it", Aurora police chief Dan Oates said, noting it would have likely been one of his officers.
Holmes received several mail deliveries over four months to his home and school and bought thousands of rounds of ammunition on the internet.
"He had a high volume of deliveries," Oates said, adding that he thought this explained how Holmes got his hands on the magazine, the ammunition and the explosives in his apartment.
"What we're seeing here is evidence of some calculation and deliberation."
Inside the apartment, FBI Special agent James Yacone said, bomb technicians neutralised what he called a "hypergolic mixture" and an improvised explosive device containing an unknown substance.
There were also containers of accelerants.
"It was an extremely dangerous environment," Yacone said at a news conference.
By late afternoon on Saturday, all hazards had been removed from the apartment and residents in surrounding buildings were allowed to return home, police said.
The exception was Holmes' apartment building, where authorities were still collecting evidence.
About 8pm local time (1200 AEST), police left the building carrying a laptop computer and a hard drive.
While authorities continued to refuse to discuss a possible motive for one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent US history, details about Holmes' background as a student trickled out.
Holmes had recently withdrawn from a competitive graduate program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado-Denver.
In a resume posted on Monster.com, Holmes listed himself as an "aspiring scientist" and said he was looking for a job as a laboratory technician.
The resume paints a picture of a brilliant young man brimming with potential.
He worked as a summer intern at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, in 2006 and as a counsellor to underprivileged children at a summer camp in Los Angeles in 2008.
Neighbours and former classmates in California said although Holmes was very bright he was a loner who said little and was easily forgotten - until last week.
Mary Muscari, a criminology professor at Regis University in Denver who studies mass killings, said she was not surprised Holmes was studying neuroscience and mental disorders.
"It could be he was interested in that because he knows there's something different in him," she said.
Holmes was in solitary confinement for his protection at a county detention facility on Saturday.
He was set for an initial hearing on Monday.
US President Barack Obama will visit Colorado today to meet victims of the Batman theatre massacre, a day after police entered the gunman's apartment which had been rigged with booby traps.
The visit also comes after authorities revealed the names of the 12 people who died in Friday's shootings, including a six-year-old girl whose mother was also injured and two US servicemen.
The White House said Obama would also meet families of the victims and local officials in Aurora, near Denver, where James Holmes, 24, is said to have opened fire during a packed midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises.
The actor who plays the caped crusader in the film expressed his sorrow at the shooting, and the studio behind the movie said it was withholding box office data out of respect for the victims.
"Words cannot express the horror that I feel," British actor Christian Bale said in a statement.
"I cannot begin to truly understand the pain and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them."
The horrific attack has revived the debate over gun control in the US, and drew condemnation by Obama and his Republican White House rival Mitt Romney.
A further 58 people were wounded in the shooting.
Original at: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/true-crime-scene/cops-disarm-booby-trap-tripwire-in-james-holmes-bomb-laden-apartment-after-dark-knight-shooting/story-fnat7jnn-1226431941566
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