the more oil we have pumped over the years, the better and better man's life has become. i am invested in oilt, that is oil, tank and partners, a company that ships all over the gulf. >> that's it. thank you for joining us. see you on fox business weekdays. have a great weekend. a fox news alert, the danger not over for police investigating a mass shooting in colorado. a tense situation underway as the suspected it killer's apartment, said to be booby-trapped, wired with trip wires and explosives. i'm johnn s sttttoiningou ve f fomom o osisi theenenryry 16 moviie complex in aurora, colorado, the scene of the terrible masacre that left 12 dead and 59 injured. the last of the victims removed from the thee -- the

theater last evening. the danger remains in place at another crime scene. here is a look at the situation at the apartment complex where the suspect lived. the building's other tenants all evacuated as bomb experts from across the nation work with police and the fire department to try to de fuse the dangerous and elaborate trap left inside. investigators want to get in the apartment for vital clues about the suspect and his motive. it is possible that if anyone had opened the apartment door, a massive explosion could have blown that building sky high. coming up in a few minutes, we will be talking with the neighbor who came very close to doing that, opening the door to the apartment of this man, 24-year-old james holmes, a man that police say spent the past few months stockpiling weapons and ammunitions -- am mu mission, i should say -- ammunition i

should say with a plan targeting men, women and children gathered together for fun in the theater bea hind me me -- behind me watching the latest batman movie. police say safety is their main priority as they delicately try to figure out how to get into holmes' apartment and disarm what appear to be explosives and insydney ary devices inside. here is the chief of police. >> our investigation determined that his apartment is booby-trapped with various insidniary chemical devices and apparent trip wires. we have an active and difficult scene there. >> adam house she live outside the uh -- adam howsley is live outside the apartment complex. >> we will give alive look. wree a block away. we are not down wind. we are up wind from where this

explosion could take place. this is the way the scene has been for 24 hours now, maybe a little longer. you can seat fire equipment here, stationary, the hook and ladder truck outside. they just put up a tent so some of the bomb technicians can get out of the sun and go through the plan here. there are a number of federal agencies here, local agencies, fire trucks, ambulances, the entire area has been evacuated. five apartment buildings have been evacuated. we are by the nearest apartment that was not evacuated. everybody is trying to see what is going on down the street. we have seen a number of firefighters go in the first apartment lower right. they have gone in and out of that apartment through the window. that is not james holmes' apartment, but that's how they are entering the apartment complex. they are trying to figure out where to start. that was a big issue yesterday. it continues today. you have a number of devices,

and that's how it appears. you have a ton of bottles filled with liquid interconnected with wires and trip wires all over the place. they say it seems to be a mess of stuff inside including balloons filled with some sort of powder. the idea is maybe it is gun powder set to go off if somebody was to trip something in the apartment. one of the theories is they are putting a small explosive device of their own inside and let it go off and see what happens. it will give them a starting point. that's the issue, to find the starting point, to get in there and piecemeal themselves through. if they don't have a place to start without tripping something, that doesn't do any good. there are a number of people outside. we have seen people come and go. i do know from talking to federal authorities, some of the bomb technicians were here at 6:00 a.m. this morning. they had a meeting going over things and talking about what they were going to do. then they came out in mass and have since had a chance to see the area, see the location,

and it gives them a better idea of their plan of attack. as you can see here it will be going on for some time. we were told maybe they would try to do something this hour. it doesn't seem though that's the case. they haven't pulled back -- you can see some of the firefighters leaning up against a fence in the parking lot next to the parking lot of the apartment complex. they don't have their helmets on. that tells me they are not planning on doing it anytime in the near future. they would either come back or put on some sort of protective equipment. i look down the street further -- can you get down there below that sign? below the sign that says this block? if you look way down in the distance you can see more of the bomb technicians that are by the back of an suv. they have a tent over the top of them to get out of the sun. that is right behind the hook and ladder truck that was used yesterday to peer into the window of james holmes' apartment. you can see a number of other police officers from the aurora police here. they were supported by the sheriff's department and other

surrounding agencies. the whole area is evacuated. if you are somebody who was to live in that area, you would not be allowed in there at all. the only people allowed in here are emergency personnel. you can see some of the fire equipment on the sidewalk, some of the breathing apparatuses used by firefighters. they have preparation for that. if everything goes as planned, but they are not really sure of the plan at this point, but if it goes perfectly firefighters are ready to go in case a fire was to start. they would put it out. but they could take each device out one bay one in a specialized truck. take it out to an area and bury it in sand and then set it off. that's the ideal. we don't know if that will happen because it hasn't started yet. but that would be the perfect possibility for technicians and those dealing with this situation right now. john? >> just to be clear, if they can get away without setting off a detonating charge or any

explosion in that apartment, they would prefer to do it that way. they would very much like to get in there and comb that place for evidence, right? >> absolutely. there are two things to look at here. they don't want anybody in surrounding apartments to lose their stuff. you don't want to set off any type of issues where a fire might burn the complex down. there is that issue. they don't want to cause any damage to anybody who is an innocent bystander, but the bigger issue is they don't want to damage the crime scene. they want to do what they can to get as much fox out of there. does james holmes have a computer in there? i assume he would. does he have other information in there? does he have notes? he talked to authorities early yesterday and told them about the apartment. we are told he told them other stuff. and then he got a lawyer and stopped talking. maybe he eluded to other things in the apartment, maybe why he has done this. maybe that information is in there and they can confirm this is not just what the guy was saying and they can believe it.

there are all sorts of things that are evidence in the apartment and they want to secure that as much as possible. the first thing is safety and the second is preserving that and the third is saving the building. they don't want to set it off if they don't have to. >> adam howsley is live outside the apartment where the tense situation is going on with some of the best bomb experts from across the country trying to figure out how to de fuse what was left behind in the suspect's apartment. we are frightening cash dash we are learning prietenning details about the -- frightening details about the shooting suspect. he built up an arsonal in the last four days purchasing four guns and 6,000 rounds of ammunition and a high capacity magazine that even with a semiautomatic rifle he was able to fire 50 or 60 bullets a minute. at the scene police recovered a handgun, military-style assault right and tactile shotgun as well. according to police, holmes

bought a ticket to the early morning screening of the -- of "the dark knight rises." once the movie began he propped open the rear emergency exit behind the screen. he wept out to put on protective gear. aurora's police chief describes what he wore. >> he was dressed all in black. for those who don't have this, entirely in black wearing a gas mask, a ballistic helmet, a tactile ballistic vest. tactile means places to put all kinds of gear and clips. in addition it was bulletproof or bullet resistant. he was wearing ballistic legging in case he took a round in the legs. he was wearing throat protection and groin protection and wearing black tactile gloves. that's what he looked like in the theater. >> the gunman than re-entered the theater and set off gas canisters. while some in the audience initially believed it was part of the show, it quickly turned

to chaos as the crowd tried to escape the bullets. >> did you see the silhouette of him? there was a dim light ahead of him. if you looked at him you could see the light as it flashed from the gun. i didn't see a mask or anything. i just saw black and it seemed like he was not going to stop. he didn't say anything. he fired the two shots and started blasting people and spraying people going through the exits. he was spraying people in the middle. i happened to be in the middle. >> 200 officers responded to the shooting scene. when they arrived police arrested holmes. they say they found him in the theater's parking lot. well, the dark knight of horror still fresh in the minds of those they movie when the bullets started flying. joining us now is one of those people with his chilling account of what happened in the theater.

where were you sitting first of all? >> the second row from the top in theater 8. >> theater eight? >> next door to where everything happened. >> you heard the gunshots and even gunshots came through the wall? >> yes. we didn't think they were gunshots at first. my little sister thought they were special affects made for the midnight showing. >> when did you get the word that something was really wrong? >> after i heard the second volley of fireworks what you will. it didn't sync with the movie and then they were running out holding parts of their body and mowning. >> because people were hit in theater eight? >> yes. >> and that's when i saw bullets coming through the wall and other people started to leave as well. it was actually starting to become scary at that point. >> when you got out of the theater how did you figure out what was going on? there must have been carnage in the lobby. >> i didn't stay long in the

lobby. i know a lot of people were making for the front exits, but i took the balcony exit. i went that way because somebody came into our theater and told us not to go the front way because there was someone with a gun outside. i thought as quick as i could. i didn't put much thought into anything and just acted. i grabbed my little sister's arm and grabbed our stuff and wept out the -- went out the balcony exit. i peeked out to see if there was a guy with a gun waiting for anybody and i didn't see anybody and moved as quick as i could through the staircase. by that time the smoke was there and it was suffocating. >> so it has been less than 36 hours since you had this experience. when you look back on it all, the number of people, 12 people killed, 58 others now?ed, what's going through >> first off it is madness to me. i can't comprehend it it at all. for me it almost happened in a blink of an eye. i wish it was like that a

blink of an eye and i didn't remember everything i do. but i got all of the details fresh in my mind. i still see it when i close my eyes. it happens over and over again. when i think about it, i am happy me and my sister weren't in theater 9, but my heart goes out to everyone that was. >> everybody was looking so forward to this premiere. clearly the theater was packed. the midnight movie showing was such an exciting event. >> we bought our tickets two weeks in advance. we came out four hours before the movie started. we have to -- we went early to get the good seat. luckily we were high enough to where any chrapnal didn't hit us. >> you heard what you thought were firecrackers. you figured out they were bullets because of what was piercing the wall? >> it was the first sound that

made me think firecrackers because i saw the smoke. it synced up with the movie, actual gunshots. i was almost getting ready to clap before what sounded like fireworks happened. and then i turned and looked and can see the wall rip like something came through it. and that's when other people started getting up mowning like they were in main and running out of the theater as fast as they could. >> it had to be terrifying. >> for me it was scary definitely at first. right away my body went numb. it was numb until about yesterday. >> alex, thank you for caring -- for sharing your story with us. we are learning more about the lives cut short in this tragedy. victims' families coming forward to share the stories of their loved ones, what the world has lost. we will have more on that straight ahead. and the question on so many minds, what was the suspect thinking? what was the motivation? we will speak with a criminal

-- criminologist who has tried to study the mind set as the world makes sense of this tragedy.

the violence was so

senseless, we are now learning more about the identities of some of the victims. we are also learning more about the increasingly heartbreaking stories from some of those families. joining us now, annie dalton who had family members in the theater that night. annie, what do you know about the situation with regard to that? >> just that my niece and great niece went with a friend. my niece is critically injured , and her daughter i won't mention, but nothing can be released right now about her. but she was critical as well. critically injured as well. that's all i can say right now. >> both of them -- your niece and her daughter? >> yes.

>> and how did you get the word? >> her step mother called me. so when they found her license they called the brother because her brother's name matched and the brother called the step mom who called me. >> it seems to have been such an agonizing wait for so many people. they didn't know who was inside, who was hurt and so forth, who was in the hospital. >> well, let's look at the numbers that are involved. first you sweep the place to make sure who is actually dead and leave those people and take those people who have a chance at life immediately out, and then when you are dealing with masses of people it is pretty hard to get uh hold of the family. >> tell us about your niece. >> she is 25. she could be paralyzed the rest of her life. she just got accepted to the lpn program.

she was going start in the fall. obviously this changes everything she planned to do. because of the needs of her daughter which i can't even explain right now, you can't tell her about what is happening with her daughter because of her condition. her whole life has changed in a moment. >> somebody who was going to be a nurse, going to be out to help people and heal people gets cut down in this terrible shooting of the. >> yep. she lost her dad eight weeks ago. my brother died, and it was a traumatic event for everybody right now. >> how do you wrap your mind around what this gunman has done to your family? >> well it is not just destroying the family, but we need to look at society and systemically all of the things that happen, we don't address

so many issues of gun control. how can somebody get guns so accessible? like this. number one. number two this guy has been sick a longtime. there had to be signs of this guy even though he has a phd or whatever that he had sociopath thick behavior. why weren't things addressed 1234* i have been working in the school. i see kids that need help all the time. the support we offer them is so limited. we never have enough money to help psychological needs of kids. these kids are growing up unwanted. nobody pays attention to them. this is the outcome of it. i hate to say it, but i see it on a daily basis of kids that don't get the kind of support they need. >> we thank you for sharing your story and our heart goes out to your niece and the entire family .

>> thank you. >> thank you very much. we will be back with more coverage here from aurora, colorado in a minute. we will give you an update on the situation at the apartment where authorities are still hoping to diffuse the round of bobbie traps left by the suspect in this case. back in a moment.

i'm live in new york with some of the stories we are following at this hour. syrian activists say they are battling in the northern city. violence is forcing many residents in the country's largest population center to flea to safer areas. mourners in israel are burying the five israeli victims of wednesday's bus bombing bombing in bulgaria. israel is blaming the attack on iran and the proxy browp, hezbollah. and they are classifying the search for two missing girls as an abduction. the two girls disappeared

during a bike ride last week. there are some new developments to tell you about in the colorado shooting mass cage investigation. a -- masacre. a tense scene in aurora. police say james holmes planted a deadly array of trip wires and explosives before leaving for the attack on the theater. bomb experts and police are now working to try to remove the threat. we are also going to be getting new information on those who died in the attack as well as the dozens of others injured when the shooter opened fire. we go live to the medical center in aurora now. >> hi, john. here at the aurora medical center, we just received an update here from the trauma surgeon. he told us they currently have seven patients at the medical

center. they received 18. 11 were released and right now they have four who are in icu. specifically, he said, some of the injuries are that of having multiple bullet wounds. they said most of the injuries they received were not of chrapnal or gas cannisters, but gunshot wounds. some people in the future will have to come to terms with the fact that they have life-long and permanent injuries. we also heard from one man, brandon axelrod. he was in the theater with his best friend josh and his wife, denise. this is what he had to say. okay. it seems we do not have that piece of sound. i can tell you more about what he had to say. he said that he and his wife of just one month, john, were watching it the movie with their best friend when the shots started to ring out. he and his best friend

instinctively wrapped themselves around brandon's wife. when that happened his best friend josh was shot in the arm and the leg. and now josh is here in the hospital recovering. it was quite an emotional press conference when he was talking to us. he said his best friend is recovering of the they are going to stay in the hospital room with him as he continues with his recovery here. back to you. >> alicia reporting live from the hospital. thank you. it also appears that holmes may have tried to blowup much of his apartment complex. loud tech know music was blaring from his apartment at about the time that holmes was already at the theater. authorities say were saying if the front door and that situation they are trying to diffuse right now. joining us now and came close to opening the door. caitlin and chris rodriguez,

her boyfriend, they lived in the immediately underneath the suspect james holmes. it was roughly midnight. you are getting ready for bed, and what happened? >> it was exactly at midnight which is what we thought was odd. this loud tech know music was playing. it was odd for any music to start playing in our apartment complex at all. >> had he played music like that before? >> no. the apartment complex is usually really quiet. there are no disturbances, no noise at all. this was odd this music would start playing at midnight. >> you never have had to call the cops before because you got loud music from the guy upstairs? >> no. >> had you met him before? >> i had never met him. i had only seen him in passing with no interaction. >> what kind of person did he strike you as? >> he was a student. >> you hear this music blaring at the stroke of midnight, tech know music.

apparently the same song over and over again. >> we didn't know it was on a loop until i did go upstairs to try and tell him to turn the music off. and at that point i knocked on the door trying to get someone's attention in there. i noticed there wasn't any voices or anything, as if there were a party going on which struck me as odd. >> you put your happened on the door and tried to knock. >> i did. i did put my hand on the door and troid to knock. it seemed like it was unlocked. something told me it was not a good idea to go in there. i called the nonemergency police number. >> did you think about opening it? did you think about opening it a crack? >> i definitely did think about opening it just to yell in there, peek my head in and say hey, knock it off. something told me not to. >> and subsequently you found out that door was wired -- trip wired with a booby trap. >> i am grateful i had the instinct. >> she went upstairs.

she tried to get the neighbor to quiet down. she came back downstairs and what happened? >> what we did when she came back downstairs and said the music is still playing, and we could hear the music. it was on full blast and blaring. i said well let's call the nonemergency number. let's see if they can get an officer out here. we will see if they can go in and talk to them and maybe there is a disturbance. we called the nonemergency number and the officer who answered said they will try to get an officer out there. >> they had much bigger things to worry about at that point. the shootings were underway. you are one lucky woman according to the fbi and the atf. >> i feel very lucky. >> the police are about to have a press conference. we will get some more information we expect on this still on going situation. let's take you now live to that news conference. >> they are reassessing the scene.

now that the first threat is taken care of, it has provided a chance to rest and reassess. there are other devices inside. i am not going to detail about what the devices are. let's keep in mind the integrity and this mass tragedy that occurred yesterday. now in this second phase, this may include the controlled detonation of another triggering america sniffle. mechanism. i told you that this morning. if that is to occur, keeping public safety in mind, we will be shutting down behind me and doing a reverse 9-1-1 call, and you all will be notified. shall this controlled detonation occur, there will be a loud boom associated with

that. we will give you a heads up if this will happen. and that is what is being assessed as we speak. that's all i have for the update and just as a reminder to you guys, please stay on the eastside of the street for your safety. >> so that is the situation. they still are considering doing some kind of a controlled detonation of the explosives or the insidniary devices left in the apartment. we just heard the story from caitlin fonzie who was in the apartment below. had she opened the door police think she could have set it off. adam howsley is there and has new information about what they have been coming up with. >> the press conference is on a different street than we are located. they have a four-block area cordoned off and evacuated. while the press conference was

going on, the fbi picked up their tent. you are looking at it now. those are fbi agents, and they moved it a half block away down the street and away from the apartment complex. they are going through bags that appear to be evidence bags and going through papers. we are not sure if they got that stuff out of the apartment somehow, but they picked up activity. they moved everything away. they moved one of their cars away. we saw firefighters put on their emergency apparatus. they put on their fire gear as well. we have seen them put on their helmets and flak jackets. one of the firefighters went up on the hook and ladder truck and they are in the position to bring the ladder up or bring the ladder down. there has definitely been significant activity just in the last five to six minutes. right about the time the press conference started. they basically vacated the area of almost everything. the only thing left within a block or half block of the apartment complex, where this apartment from james holmes is booby-trapped are three fire trucks, a hook and ladder truck and one ambulance.

everything else has been pulled back. so you are definitely seeing more activity here. you are seeing firefighters get into position as if they are ready to potentially put out a fire which means there could be significant movement in the complex. if you look over to the left quickly come back and you can see the fire trucks are already hooked up to the fire hydrants ready to go. and the hoses are already rolled . you are seeing more firefighters who were in the parking area of the complex starting to walk out now. they are grabbing some of the apparatus. we will go to that now. one of the firefighters is ready to go. the other guy is starting to put stuff on. i am hearing the hook and ladder truck too. there is significant activity here now, and it gives us the indication that they have a plan or they have an idea or maybe they found the entry poimt. that's the big -- point. that's the issue is how to start the process of deactivating these explosive devices. at least that's what they appear to be inside.

remember he has balloons floating around with powder inside. he has all of these coke bottle-sized containers filled with liquid. there are wires everywhere, trip wires. the apartment is booby-trapped from floor to ceiling, and through all walls and by al windows and all doors. here are the firefighters walking back away from the scene with their gear. i will swing over one more time. there has been a lot of activity under the tent where the fbi is located. that's where they have the evidence bags and they have been going through the papers and other items there as if they got that stuff from someplace. we don't know where it came from. we can see the activity pick up for the first time in several hours and they are getting this thing rolling maybe whatever that final plan may be. >> also worth pointing out, they believe there were a number of shells left behind. i'm guessing shotgun shells, some kind of bullets or explosives, small explosives that were also wire need that apartment.

>> he has all sorts of stuff inside. when you have these type of homemade bombs from covering them in the past whether it be overseas or in the middle east or here, what a lot of these bomb makers do is they have something to set it off and they have all sorts of chrapnal, bullets, things that shred and become projectiles as something is set off. from what we are told, that's the scene in this apartment. again he has balloons with powder inside. that could be gun powder. there are other items that could become projectiles if something were to explode. that's what made it so hard. you can't go in and start a trip wire and set everything off. you have to find a way to diffuse the first one and then gradually like a puzzle make your way through. if you can't get to a spot to get to the first one without putting somebody's life in significant jeopardy, then you continue start the process. that's when they said they might put in a small explosive

device of their own and see what happens. firefighters have gotten back into the truck here and closed the doors. basically taking cover. i don't know if that means something will happen. people have pulled away. yoen how many are back inside still. did you hear that, guys? i heard something. i don't know what it was. i can't tell you what it was. i don't know if it was anything in particular. it could have been in the surrounding neighborhood. >> let me tell you the ap -- the associated press is reporting that police are using those small explosive charges to disarm the trip wires inside. >> that's what we had to have heard. you couldn't hear it on the camera, but it was a small -- it wasn't loud. it was a little pop. it was not even as loud as a backfire. it was a low boom, a very, very low boom. you hear that on a normal day. it could be a car with a bad

exhaust. on a day like today it could have been one of the small devices they used inside. one of the guys is plugging his ears. we don't know confirmation wise, but there is definitely action going on over here, john. >> in the same way the firing cap will start the process that launches a bullet out of a gun, the police use a small charge, something like a shotgun shell, and they will put it up against a potential explosive and see if it sets it off. that appears to be what they are doing inside or perhaps using the explosive charges to absolutely just destroy the trip wires and hope that they don't in the process set off something larger. >> john they did do something. now the hook and ladder truck is moving. they definitely did use one of the charges. the firefighters are all suited up. now the hook and ladder truck is going back up. i'm not sure if it is to move away from -- move the firefighters away from the

scene or they are going to actually try to peer inside. that's what they are doing right now. i think what they did was use one of the devices you talked about, set it off, and now they are going to look into the window and see what transpired, what happened. they are going in. they are going to look in the window right now. there is no smoking coming out at all which could be a good sign. we are now blocked out by the tree. we are a block away. we are up wind from where this is taking place. the firefighters, there are two of them. there is one firefighter and a bomb technician are being taken in right now in one of the cherry pickers from the cherry picker-typeset up. and they are taking him in right now to peer into the window. they haven't confirmed to us, but they did set something off. we are officially being told that the police did disarm they believe the trip wire

with the first explosive device. we are now hearing police say they do believe they did disarm the first trip wire. that was the key one, john. they want to be able to find an entry point, to find a starting point. if they did get that right. if they did get that right, that potentially could allow the bomb robot or the bomb technicians in to start the tedious process of basically disarming the entire booby-trapped apartment. you mentioned it is a mash of stuff. 24r* is stuff everywhere. wires, bottles, balloons, bullets. it is a mess in there. if anything was to go off it could cause significant issues. firefighters have approached in full firefighter raw gal yaw. we have bomb technicians with the helmets and the jackets on the sidewalk. the hook and ladder truck guys are looking in the window to see if that was successful.

we have been told it was. i'm sure they are going to confirm that. just beyond that, and we will go beyond the hook and ladder truck is where the fbi is located with their tents. of course they want to try to secure the location around there. they don't want anybody else to deal with their apartment being destroyed and things being destroyed. they are trying to secure the crime scene and get as much evidence out as possible. they have been going through some of the evidence. they gathered -- we don't know if they got that from here or someplace else, but they have evidence bags. as we speak firefighters are in position, and two of them -- one firefighter and one bomb technician are looking in through the suspect's window. john? >> adam howsley there live where teption that has been thick all morning -- where tension that has been thick all morning seems to be on the decrease as they seem to have successfully detonated some of the trip wires in the apartment. they have done so without setting off a larger

explosion. that's what authorities want to do. they hope there is a lot of evidence they can go through in that apartment. >> another one just now. >> adam howsley is live outside the apartment. we will be back in a moment with continuing coverage from uh aurora, colorado.

i'm john scott outside the theaters where police continue to investigate the midnight movie masacre that began as "the dark knight rises" was opening to its first screening in that theater. but there really are two crime scenes and add del is outside the other one. the apartment of the suspect, james holmes, where authorities have just set off some small explosions in hopes of disarming the larger devices that they believe the suspect left behind. let's get an update from

adam. >> are you getting a live look at the hook and ladder truck. it has gone in with the bomb tech and the firefighter. they are moving around and taking a look at the apartment complex of james holmes. they are looking through the windows of the apartment specifically. we have two different small booms here. i wouldn't call them explosions. i would call them pops. they are the lower end booms. we believe those are the two that are used to disarm one trip wire and the first explosive device. they have been here now for more than 24 hours and they continue to do the operations in and out and around. we have firefighters across the street, actually at every direction around the complex with their positions ready to go. firefighters have told us they are prepared to potentially put out anything if need be. the first and most important thing to do is to try and disaural these devices inside.

let me give you a run down of what they have seen in the window. they have seen a number of bottles filled with water -- or what appears to be a liquid that looks like water. it is intertwined with all sorts of wires as well as balloons with some sort of powder substance inside. there are also bullets laying around and other pieces of what could be used as chrapnal if it goes off. that is done by some bomb makers. this operation is one of the more intracate bomb diffusing operations i have ever seen. we have the fbi, the atf and a number of local agencies here. there was a tent and they have since pulled an suv in front to block out cameras. they were going through a number of papers in evidence bags as this operation is going on a half block to the south of their location. they are getting a breathing apparatus and so far we have

not seen any smoke whatsoever. we have just heard the two small booms. i am watching one firefighter as he is telling the hook and ladder truck and they set off -- i know of two i have heard. two small devices that authorities have set off, they say they have disarmed the first bomb in this apartment complex and hence the first trip wire. we don't know if there was anymore success beyond that. as they believe they have been successful so far, that potentially could give them an entry point. that's been the issue all along. now i am watching firefighters wave the hook and ladder to go further in to take the two individuals. one bomb technician and one firefighter further into the complex via the hook and ladder truck. so they have been looking all along to try to find this entry point to get the technician and bomb robots to start the process. because the entire apartment was booby-trapped there was no way to begin. they said late yesterday is when they first start talking

about the possibility that we may want to set something up to give us an entry point. that first bomb and that first trip wire have been successfully diffused with their own little device. maybe the firefighter and the technician are looking to see if there is enough of an area to start the process, or maybe they are looking next stop to enter. fe look like it, they think there is definitely something that could go off, and that's why they are taking the extra precautions. the entire area around the complex is evacuated. we are next to the believe on apartment with people still in it. john? >> adam howsley on you sight -- outside the apartment there. we have been able to watch video feed from our friends in denver, and there is an eod,

explosive ordinance disposal, a bomb squad member from the sheriff's department. and i'm assuming that the arapahoe sheriff's department but it could be somebody else. >> john? >> go ahead. >> you talked with the neighbor earlier in t show that was the one who could have potentially opened the door when the music was playing so loud. either she or maybe a police officer could open the door. we are now being told by the aurora police sergeant that the booby trap would have been set up to kill the person. she said, quote, this is serious stuff our team is dealing with. they need to disarm a lot of other devices inside. they are reassessing the scene, and they are continuing to obviously detonate the small explosives that could cause a louder boom and fire. right now they believe they were successful with the few things they have done. the headline here, john, is that door was set to kill who ever opened it. >> indicately fonzi -- caitlin

fonzie who we just spoke to was close to opening the door. she had her hand on the knob and started to turn the knob, but sensed the door would open if she went ahead and did so. she decided not to do so. something told her, she said, not to open that door. perhaps today she is alive because of that. this is just absolutely chilling some of the developments. very good intuition. >> i didn't know if you could hear me. the intuition is what saved her life. i think the key is also that they say there is significantly more devices that need to be disarmed by authorities. right now we are watching and the viewers are watching as they reassess the scene. >> all right. adam howsley is doing great work outside the apartment where authorities are taking a closer look in the apartment of james holmes, the suspect in the mall masacre who

apparently left behind a booby-trapped apartment filled with shells, explosive devices in sigh dniary bombs and the like. that's what authorities are just now beginning to diffuse. so far, so good. but it is still a tense time in aurora, colorado. we will be back with more live coverage straight ahead.