find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. i'm chris jansing live in aurora, colorado. is site of an emotional ceremony tonight. a public vigil important the victims of the movie theater rampage that has shaken the community to its core. first the families of those killed and wounded will get a presidential visit. barack obama leaving washington, d.c., a short time ago. he's expected to arrive shortly before 6:00 p.m. eastern time and will make remarks after meeting with some of the victims in the hospital. then the president will leave before tonight's public vigil. at that event the community will come together in what's become

an all-too familiar ritual we have seen play out. we saw it at virginia tech, columbine. officials, clergy, having the grim task before them trying to make sense of why a gunman would take 12 innocent lives so callusly. callous. >> i the key there is -- i mean the anger where you want to strangle this guy, it is sort of -- at a certain point that has to translate into rising, helping our community rise back up which they will. >> for that suspect, a familiar ritual awaits him as well as his first court appearance to answer for the alleged crimes. as more information comes out about the lengths he went to, material he secured, the police action that stopped this from being even worse, we have all of those details for you in this special coverage. first today, this is a day for healing in a community that has had so much heartbreak. you can see behind me they are

getting set up here at the community center. they are expecting thousands of people to come out. as we have seen across these past several days, so many people looking for ways to show their emotions, to show their feelings. upon attainious memorial, for example. i spent a lot of time there this morning. it is going up across the street from the theater. among the most poignant moments i saw, a young family, husband, wife and three young children, who came to pay their respects. this is what they told me about why they felt they had to be there this morning. >> we needed to pay our respects. i just feel awful. and i needed to do something. >> the community is greater than this tragedy coming together, to show our respect. one deranged man can't take our community away from us. >> reporter: >> it is amazing to see how the community is pulling together. as i was walking up, i was thinking whatever he was trying

to accomplish, he got the opposite. because people really care. it means a lot. i'm really glad came and got to see that. >> reporter: when you hear a 6-year-old child is among the victims and looking at your beautiful family -- >> she's 6. that's why i can't let go of her. probably a big part of it. >> what do you tell your children? >> we have told them -- we had to very -- vague. not give them any details. somebody did something crazy and hurt a lot of people and we are -- we continually reassure them we will keep them safe. but that we are very sad for the people that did did happen to. >> we hear the stories from the families of the victims who say the outpouring has been so tremendous. and now the president is coming later today. can that help with the healing? >> there's so much that --

overwhelming. everyone support. lit make a difference. >> reporter: just up the hill from where i did that interview, you see these crosses. they were actually brought here by an illinois man who also did the same thing just about 12 miles away at the columbine shooting. he says he has 12 crosses that he has brought from illinois to remember those who have died. among them, jonathan t. blunk. chantelle is his wife and joins me from reno, nevada. first of all, thank you so much for being with us. and our sympathies not just to you but i know have you two children a 2-year-old sxwoyboy 4-year-old girl. can you put into words what the last 48 hours have been like for you? >> it is really hard. and -- i'm trying to keep it together just to bring him home and tell my daughter that he's

not coming back. she keeps wanting to go to the airport to pick him up. because he was supposed to fly home yesterday to visit. >> reporter: i know the two of you were separated but he remained very close to his children. what do you tell your children who are expecting this visit that i know that had had been anticipating for a long time? >> just tell them that daddy loves them and that he's not going to be coming back but he's going to watch over us. sorry. that, you know, we have lots of pictures of daddy and lots of stories and lots of people that loved him. and daddy was a hero. he fought for our country. he just wants them to be happy to know he loves them.

>> reporter: we do know a little bit about your husband from the things we have read. that he was in the navy. he served aboard the "u.s.s. nimitz" in san diego. tell us what else we should know about this man who was taken from you, from your children, and from so many people far too young? what can you tell us about him? >> johnny had that superhero mentality. just wanting to always be there for everybody, whether it was small or big, he just wanted to help and save people all the time. he was hard working. very smart. just outgoing. and always laughing. always wanted to make everybody laugh and always challenging and always wanting to be better in life in everything that he does. >> what was the last time had you a chance to talk to him

and -- and you know that there's so much promise important so many of has to lives that were cut short, what were his plans? >> we talked on wednesday because we were getting ready for him to come here and we were planning family dinners. what we were going to go do together. the park. catch up on family time, being together. >> reporter: and your children, i know that they are with you. there today. tell us about them and do you see johnny in them? >> oh, my gosh. i do. haley has his smile. and you can tell when she is going to do something like crazy or something, she has this little smirk just like her dad would have. this little cheesy, devious

little look on her and will just laugh and run away as he uld. my son has his exact blue eyes. when i look at his smile -- when i so her smile, i see him. when i look at my son, i see his eyes. so much of johnny in their personalities and -- and in their looks. and everything. >> reporter: where were you? how did you find out? this happened in the middle of the night. when did you learn about his death? >> his boss, mark, called me. that morning he told me he would be at the movies. was going to see the movie. and he never came to work and was than answering his phone.

so that whole day i was calling the hospitals and hot lines and they would give me numbers and i would call those numbers. and nobody would give me anything. they just said his name is not on the list. and then later that afternoon, i got a call from the fbi and they told me that between 7:00 and 8:00, they were releasing names and if i -- if -- if i got a phone call, he was either one of the people that were missing in the ruckus or one of the people in the hospital. and if -- if agents came to my house, in a he was one of the deceased. so i was on my porch when i had three vehicles pull up to my house and people get out and then i was hoping they were somebody else. and when they asked for me, i

knew it. . >> reporter: we are so deeply sorry for your loss, for that, obviously, of your two beautiful young children. i know you wanted to be here today important the memorial and were not able to. but i know you are hoping to bring him back home to reno to be buried with military honors. i know the thoughts and prayers of so many people around the country are with you. again, our deepest sympathies to you. we do really appreciate taking the time to be with us at what's obviously an extraordinarily difficult time. >> thanks. >> reporter: thank you very much. >> thank you. >> reporter: we will be right back.

♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go. starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve, the #1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. just two aleve can keep pain away all day. back to the news. who learned to fly. not with wings or a jet pack, but with her new dell laptop

and a little ingenuity, too. ♪ her fast processor made for a smooth takeoff. ♪ she could soar clear across the sky on her hd screen. and beyond. [ female announcer ] inspiron 15r, powered by the intel core i5 processor. just $549 at dell.com. ♪ challenge that with new olay facial hair removal duo. a two-step process that removes even coarse, stubborn facial hair gently. plenty of gain, without all that pain... with olay. ♪ it's faster than the blink of an eye. ♪ faster than a flash of lightning. and it was the difference between michael phelps winning eight gold medals... instead of seven. a hundredth of a second... just think of the cheers if lightning strikes twice.

visa. supporting athletes and the olympic games for 25 years. join our global cheer.

>> reporter: we are live in aurora, colorado, at the site of what will be a service tonight for the 12 people who were killed here. there are also people still hospitalized. the number we have is 24 people in the hospital. nine of creme in critical condition. and the upsetting news this morning from the aurora mayor that some of those in critical condition still have life-threatening injuries and it is possible some of them may not survive. so it becomes all the more important for this community to come together and joining me now to talk about this, nbc's miguel almaguer who has been here as i have from the very beginning. you know, i'm sure and you i have been in different places and had different experiences. i'm guessing with the people you

talked to, they are determined to heal this muncie and to find some roy to bring good out of. >> it we spent are a lot of time talking to people that want on move forward. they are also struggling on how to remember and reflect upon the past. we spent a good part of the morning in church today and during one of the moving parts of the service today the pastor read aloud all welfare names of the victims. followed by a prayer and just thoughts and reflection on all of these people. not everybody knew the victims but everybody seems to know somebody that was either at the theater or somehow connected to this tragedy. aurora is considered one. safest cities in america. "forbes" ranked it the fourth safest city in the country. so many people here leave their doors unlocked, cars open. it has shaken the foundation of this community. pastor today spoke of lump bind, 9/11, and said now we have to deal with what happened here in aurora. there's certainly a community thank you sense of coming

together and trying to move forward and trying to just cope with everything that's happened here. >> i think one of the things, we have seen this over the past couple of days, hospitals reporting that they can't keep up with the number of people who want to donate blood. we heard from the family members who said that they have just been so deeply moved by the outpouring of support. not just here and across the state and around the country but internationally. one of the things i have found about this area -- the third largest city and yet, there is a sense of community people feel as you say, it is hard to findship one who had not been to that movie theater, for example, not been in the mall there. >> we pent the afternoon in a diner. we were talking to folks who were not just reading the paper but followed every aspect of the story because they were so connected to the community. one man told us that's my theater. i go there every tuesday. i have been going there for years. it always felt safe and comfortable. i feel like a piece of my home has been taken away from me.

he was used to going to the theater and section of the city every day. we also spoke to another woman who was there with her 6-year-old daughter. as you know, the youngest victim was 6 years old. she said i'm struggling to explain this to my daughter. my daughter can see tv, can read at the ticker at the bottom and knows people died and knows our theater, we can't go back there now. she was struggling with how do i put this into words and explain this to my middle child, 6-year-old. she has an 8-year-old and 3-year-old. she is struggling to put it together. >> miguel almaguer, thank you so much for coming over. i'm sure we will see you later in the day. of course, there's also an active crime scene at the suspect's apartment. lot of activity there yesterday and they were able to basically make it safe but there is a tremendous amount of evidence that's still in there. and nbc's kristen dahlgren is outside the suspect's apartment. kristin, i know that this is still an active crime scene. give us a sense of what they were able to find there

yesterday. >> reporter: well, the investigation does continue. a little while ago i saw officers walking out with cases they were inside collecting evidence as well. what we know they have been able to find yesterday they left the laptop and hard drive, presumably taking any information they can off of that. but also, with what they are calling this network of sophisticated network of explosi explosives, he boobytrapped the apartment and so they available to save some of those elements and will -- be using them in the prosecution. yesterday we saw them, they came here and broke the windows and you can see there. and then with a robotic device they were able to disarm this network of explosives. they found a trip wire and about waist height on the front door. and the police chief here said that was clearly intended to kill anyone. first person that went into the apartment we heard about how the music was blasting and it was --

set up, police say to lure somebody to go in there. so police are -- thinking that it was set up to lure police officer in. so the police chief here was very blunt yesterday. saying he's angry. now they disarmed one of the explosives here, setting off a controlled explosion. then they took the other element, some 30 improvised grenades, some type of improvised napalm and act seem sxrant took those elsewhere to an undisclosed location. they buried them and able to set them off. they saved the elements of those and they will be using those in the prosecution. also today the investigation continues into whether or not james holmes used his position at the university of colorado as a student seeking an advanced degree in order to get some of the shipments of supplies that he allegedly used in this attack and so -- the university looking into that as well as the investigation continues here on the ground at his apartment,

chr chris. >> joining me by phone, retired fbi expert. let me go back some of the things that we just heard from kristin. piece by piece. and let's start with the sophisticated nature of what they found. we are looking at 30 canisters, fireworks shells, packed with gunpowder. i actually heard ied, something we associate with war. but improvised explosive devices. inside the front door, a waist-high trip wire. when you look at all of this, what's it tell you? >> obviously this individual intended to kill whoever entered that apartment. and probably destroy the place simultaneously. >> let's talk about -- let's talk about where the investigation goes from here, rick. couple of things we know, for example, there will be a lot of evidence that will be sent to the fbi lab in quantico,

virginia. what are they likely to send there? and -- what kinds of testing will they do on it? >> well, all of the material that was taken to the bomb range, for example, would be gathered back up, the -- up to the destroyed portions of those bombs, canisters, things of that nature. would be taken to the lab and -- they will do analysis there and-to-determine what types of powder weroused, what type of explosives were used. the incendiary materials that there's liquid accelerant, things like that, samples to those would be taken to the lab to be tested. and, of course, virtually everything else in that apartment ranging from computers to paper items and to hairs and fibers and even finger prunts are likely to be taken from that hadn't and sent to the laboratory for analysis. >> one of the things that was reported today, that his computer was inside that apartment. what kinds of things will they be looking for? >> certainly they are going to

be looking for the searching history he did. and any e-mails he may have sent or any other type of communication that he may have, for example if he has voice over internet, for phone calls, they will be looking at that. trying to trace down any people he may have talked to. one of the things that they are still looking for is whether or not there's anyone that may have had some inkling this was going to happen or if he had any other ties, co-conspirators. >> we are getting early indications that they don't believe anyone else was involved. although obviously things like his phone records and his computer records may give them some additional information. the threat of the lone defender -- i heard this repeatedly by top officials over the last couple of days, is the thing, rick, as you know, they worry about the most, and i know the fbi in 2009 sort of created a profile, task force, to identify behavioral traits of

someone who would do this. what do you think is likely to come about james holmes and the days and weeks and months to come? >> well, i think one of the things that's going to come out is the presence of mind he had at the time and, i mean, the fact that he dropped out of school recently, makes interest sound like maybe he was dejected. maybe he felt devalued somehow. and i think if he is a lone actor which he appears to be at this time, that that's going to be key to probably to his defense. ultimately. >> former fbi supervisor rick hahn, thank you for your expertise. what the people of aurora, colorado are left with today is the terrible task of trying to heal of the mourning and the president, once again, taking on the inenviable task of consoler in chief. we will talk about his upcoming trip to aurora when we come

back. [ man ] ever year, sophia and i use the points we earn with our citi thankyou card for a relaxing vacation. ♪ sometimes, we go for a ride in the park. maybe do a little sightseeing. or, get some fresh air. but this summer, we used our thank youpoints to just hang out with a few friends in london. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions. rewarding you, every step of the way. today training depends on technology. and when it takes a battery, there are athletes everywhere who trust duracell. they rely on copper to go for the gold. duracell. trusted everywhere.

but last year my daughter was checking up on me. i wasn't eating well. she's a dietitian and she suggested i try boost complete nutritional drink to help get the nutrition i was missing. now i drink it every day, and i love the great taste. [ female announcer ] boost has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to help keep bones strong and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. your favorite patient is here! [ dad ] i choose great taste. i choose boost.

sense i'm getting in the hospital rooms in the families, among the community is we are not going to let this son of a gun win. we are just not going to let it. >> colorado governor john hickenlooper this morning on "meet the press." talking about the resiliency he says he has noticed both among the victims of the shooting and the people throughout his state. president obama is heading to colorado right now. he left the white house about an hour ago. he's due to arrive at 3:40 local time. that's 5:40 eastern time. and then he will visit with shooting victims of their families. also state and local officials here in aurora. although he's not planning to attend the memorial vigil here at aurora city hall. that's tonight at 6:30 local time. joining me now is former pennsylvania governor ed rendell

who is now an nbc news political analyst. also larry, director of the university of virginia's center for politics. gentlemen, thank you for being with us. layer why you, let me start with you. i mean, this is -- one of the most difficult jobs a president has to be consoler in chief. all of us remember in arizona and gabby giffords shooting. when the president came there, we remember president george w. bush standing with megaphone in ground zero. there is a long history, is there not, of presidents of the united states trying to embrace the nation and embrace a community? >> unfortunately that's true. we are all too used to tragedies in various forms. just to add a few other examples, we all remember president reagan at the challenger space shuttle does aster. lifting people's spirits. we remember president clinton at the columbine shootings, oklahoma city bombing aftermath.

and this is just something we expect of presidents. they do have to perform the function of being mourner in chief because, unfortunately, we are mourning a lot. >> governor, from your perspective, what do you think it can mean to these individuals to know that the president of the united states has traveled here to aurora? what is his role? >> i you this he is doing right thing you about just talking to the victims and victims' families and visiting some of the people in the hospital. particularly election year up wouldn't want this to viewed as something political. it isn't political. he didn't choose the timing of this. i think he is doing the right thing. it means a lot. i was at dover air force base when president clinton came to mourn the people who were killed in the crash that ron brown was killed in. and i saw that firsthand. and it's a way of saying that your loved one was important and

important to all of us. and it lifts the families just to think the president of the united states is there and speaking to them. it is a very important function. >> i was down at the make schiff memorial near the theater early today. i was asking people. and they said how much it meant to them that the president was coming. i want to play a sound from this morning, the aurora police chief talking about the visit with president obama. >> cane tell you how important thises have it is. i spent 90 minutes with the families friday afternoon. and this was during the period where the ten deceased, bod wrees still in the theater. and they were so desperate for confirmation. and i couldn't give it to them. they were hurting so much. and -- we were so pleased to be able to tell them through our victim advocates contacting the families yesterday that the president was coming here and they -- these families need that kind of contact.

>> do you think, larry, it is just -- really the act of saying this is the president of the united states, this is the leader of the free world. and we are people who live in this town and in colorado but what happened here, the loss we have suffered is significant enough, that he would come here. >> yes, indeed. it is the showing up. remember, the president represents all of us. when a president goes to a place of tragedy, it is really saying the entire country is with you. er with all thinking about you. we want to help. we care about the victims, we care about the survivors and the families. of course it means a lot. and -- you know, this is a unifying moment. every president has these moments. it is the chief of state function. we don't have a monarch. we have a president who combines being chief of state and head of government. head of government is divisive. chief of state is unifying.

this should be a unifying moment. >> there's also, as you alluded to, governor, political aspect to this. and you don't want to be seen as politicizing a tragedy. but there's also a conversations coming up about the gun control about what it is about our society that we have had these kinds of tragedies. and repeatedly over the last couple of days, one of things i heard from experts and -- their opinion, is that perhaps you can't stop this kind of lone individual. that if he hadn't been able to get his hands on four guns, he would have had the explosive devices and found another way to wreak havoc, a single individual who wants to cause harm can do it. do you agree with that? >> no. i agree that you can't totally stop it, chris. there's nothing -- if someone is absolutely crazy, there is nothing we can do to deter that conduct but we can make it tougher for to him achieve his

goal. if you look at all of the multiple killings that have taken place in america in a relatively short period of time, there are all care haracterized one thing -- automatic weapons. there is no reason on this good god's earth any private citizen should have an assault rifle. assault rifle is used for one thing -- shooting multiple rounds at a very fast pace and killing people. it has no hunting function. you don't need it to protect your home. and used to be illegal before the congress in an act of cowardice let the assault weapon band expire. there is no reason anybody in this country should have a magazine that has 100 bullets in the clip. the police estimate he fired 50 to 60 rounds in less than a minute. he couldn't have done it had he not had access to those type of mag zeensz and automatic weapons. by the way, he didn't get them at n some back street. he got them at bass pro.

it has to stop. we have to stop giving people access to these assault rifles and these magazines that have multiple clips. we have to go back and pass that portion of the assault weapons ban and if we care about anything, all of the politicians are going to say how horrible this is, et cetera, listen to police chiefs. listen to experts. it does make a difference, chris, how many rounds of fire, maybe we save half of lives if he had to reload three, four times during that time period. >> governor ed rendell, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. larry, it is always good to have you on as well. one note of new information that we got today. at least the associated press is reporting that that semiautomatic weapon the governor was talking about, 100 clip on it, firing 50 to 60 rounds per minute, at some point it jammed and he had to go to other less deadly, less effective, less fast weapons.

and that may indeed have saved lives. james holmes will make his first court appearance tomorrow. those charges expected in the next couple of days. there could be 70 charges or more, one for each victim. our live coverage from aurora, colorado, will continue right after this. bored with your one trick lipstick?

then lead a double life! with blast flipstick from covergirl. creamy color on one end, shimmery color on the other. so you can flip your look from demure, to daring. blast flipstick from covergirl. from demure, to daring. this is new york state.

we built the first railway, the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com.

when we first moved out here lee months ago columbine happened. and there has been quite a few occasions that brought our community together, our city, our state. it is just very sad. you know, there's connections to people that we know, that were there or -- and -- this is going to be a long time healing for everyone. >> so many people coming to the

makeshift memorial and many, as we saw, with their children. welcome back to our special coverage of the tragedy in colorado. i'm chris jansing live in aurora which is the site of tonight's public vigil. we are also awaiting the arrival of president barack obama who will be meeting with some of the family members of the victims as well as some of those injured. one of the things the president has said and has been echoed throughout here from the governor to the mayor is they want this suspect brought to justice. what is going to be happening when he goes to court tomorrow. joining me now is scott robinson. 37 years practicing law here in colorado. thank you so much for being here. >> sure. >> james holmes goes to court tomorrow morning. what will happen? >> advised of his rights. that's probably all that will occur. it is a little premature for charges to be filed and likewise premature for the defense to be asking for competency hearing.

both of which i expect to happen at some point. >> how long before you think we have an idea of the charges? >> i would anticipate because of the colorado rules on that, that we should have charges by the end of the week. >> the rules are that it has to happen quickly? >> i think they have 72 hours starting monday is the way i would -- way i would calculate it. and they could get an extension of time but -- other than identifying have been times, victims, going through the list of charges, the prosecutors don't have that much to worry about. i mean, we know there are going object 12 charges of active deliberations, first-degree murder, probably welfare charges of what we call deliberate indifference, first-degree murder. and countless assault and other charges, attempted murder charges, a long list of charges. but i'm sure they started working on it as the case broke. earlier this week. >> does colorado have the death penalty? >> yes, we do. and there are many qualifiers of

this particular case. multiple shootings are absolutely qualifier of the heinous crime qualifier. the case qualifies for the death penalty. no doubt about it. our only indecision is that the district attorney who is in the office now who does in fact, utilize the death penalty far more often than any other prosecutor in the state, is term lit it. it will probably be somebody in november, one of two candidates whether to seek the death penalty. >> in the meantime, obviously, they are meticulously going through his apartment and have taken countless witness statements. putting all of the evidence together. here is what the police chief had to say yesterday. >> one of things we are processing as you might expect as law enforcement is potential defenses and what we are seeing here is evidence of, i think, some calculation deliberations. >> calculation and deliberation. we knew from that press

conference yesterday that shipment started coming in a couple of months ago. both to his home and his school. what about b the whole idea of premeditation? >> there was no question. this is not an impulsive act. the prosecutors will have no problem proveping he committed the crime and did so after deliberation which is the phrase of importance in colorado. they also will have no trouble proving he acted with deliberative indifference, firing a high-powered rifle into a theater. the only question is, is he competent to stand trial. >> that's the question. defense attorneys have been appointed and he has a public defender now. this is obviously a very complicated case. where does a public defender even start with in? >> first question -- is he competent? is he capable of assisting the attorneys in the preparation of his defense? if he is not competent, the whole system grinds to a halt until he is declared competent.

once declared competent i anticipate not guilty by reason of insanity. in colorado that plea is tried along with the charges themselves. so we don't have a bifurcated system. >> not operate. >> that's right. >> how complicated is it to get not guilty by reason of inant ? insanity? >> the act of a madman. the fact that -- what happened is,ing in fact the act of a madman doesn't really go to the question which is -- did holmes at the time know the difference between right and wrong? did he know what he was doing was wrong? and yet was incapable of not committing the act. >> do they have to have a moat. >> i have no. motive is not needed at all. as humans, we want to know why, why, why. but it is not an element of the charges. >> scott robinson, thank you so much for coming in.

when we come back we will be talking to james fox who is a criminologist. we have him now? james fox is a criminologist at northeastern university. thank you important being with us. we have heard -- i think relatively little about this us is peg. he's described as shy, a loner, and his uncle reportedly called him a nerd, unassuming kid. we know that he was very smart. he was described as brainy. in fact, he was an honors student, undergrad. when you take all of that together, what kind of personality profile do you start to put together that would say to you this is someone who could put together such a cold, calculated mass murder? >> hindsight is 20/20 here. in hindsight, he has so many characteristics common to mass murderers. someone that's failed despite his promise and brightness. someone who is isolated, cut off from friends and family.

who aren't there to get him through the hard times. perhaps someone who blames other people and after all, he's trying to inflict pain on the world. and maybe someone who identifies with symbols of power and they would be individuals who are real like manson or hitler or they could be characters like batman and the joker. but that doesn't mean we can identify him in advance. there is a predictable profile but it is unpredictable who the individuals will be, who will carry out these kind of bloodbaths. >> yeah. and hindsight always is 20/20 20. it is such a horrific outcome. let me play for thank you way this the governor, john hickenlooper, described him this morning. >> he was diabolical. demonic, twisted sense just -- i mean, i think of him almost as a terrorist. he wanted to take away not just the people in the theater but from the country, our ability to enjoy life, to go to a movie theater which is for most of us a refuge where we can get away from the rest of?

of the pressures of life. >> he was so very available. you know, he walked out of the theater and stayed there in the parking lot. he told police to go to his apartment. this seems to be someone who wanted the attention, who wanted the notoriety. is he likely ever to say, do you think why he did what he did? >> very possibly he will. he will have an attorney who will discourage him for now. but eventually he may. why would he voluntarily surrender? many of them do. mission accomplished. his desire was to be seen smas one forceful, fearsome, someone to be reckoned with. then he accomplished his mission. >> how do you think it is that he went unnoticed for so long? we have seen in n some recent cases like this that there are numerous people who came forward very quickly to say, you know, he was odd, he was strange, heave scary.

the most you -- hear about holmes is that there doesn't seem to be anyone that knew him very well. >> well, that's because he was pretty much isolated. at least where he was living in colorado. also, when he was back -- not so much when he was back home in san diego. but these kinds of warning signs that you hear after the fact become clear after the fact. they are yellow flags that only turn red once the blood has spilled. the problem is there are thousands upon thousands of americans who are angry, disappointed, frustrated, fail ursz, blame other people for hair problems. who don't have lots of support in their lives and even have access to guns because they don't have a criminal record. yet, they won't go on a rampage. it is impossible for us to figure out who will versus who won't. the only solace here is that this is an extremely rare event. for those that are afried go into a theater we must remember that the danger posed to -- in driving to a theater these days,

a trach accident, remains much higher than what might happen inside the theater. not withstanding what happened on friday. >> james fox, thank you so much for being with us. of course, this shooting was one of the deadliest our country has ever seen. how a community koeps with the tragedy next. [ donovan ] i hit a wall. and i thought "i can't do this, it's just too hard." then there was a moment. when i decided to find a way to keep going. go for olympic gold and go to college too. [ male announcer ] every day we help students earn their bachelor's or master's degree for tomorrow's careers. this is your moment. let nothing stand in your way. devry university, proud to support the education of our u.s. olympic team.

hey. hey eddie.

i brought your stuff. you don't have to do this. yes i do. i want you to keep this. it'd be weird. take care. you too. [ sighs ] so how did it go? he's upset. [ male announcer ] spend less time at gas stations. with best in class fuel economy. it's our most innovative altima ever. ♪

>> i noticed my co-worker, jesse childress was on the floor and he wasn't moving. he was really still. i never seen anybody so still. all the cops were saying if you

can move, you have to leave now. leave right now. we will get them. so it was hard, but we did. we left. that just hurts really bad. i feel really sorry that he's gone. that, you know, none of us noticed until the lights -- until it was over, that he was gone. that none of us were even able to at least hold his hand and look him in the eye while he passed. >> that's just one of far too many stories of heartbreak that we are hearing here in aurora, colorado and throughout the area. let me bring in pastor thomas maze and pastor doug lassit of the pearl church in denver. i want to thank both of you for being here. i know you have been ministering to your communities. pastor lassit, i know you have been talking to people effected by this. tell us how the community seems to be coping. >> i think the community is

coping very well. i'm actually overwhelmed with how well the first -- from the first responsers to the communities of faith, i think we can be proud, excited, fulfilled in how our community is handling this. how do you handle it? how do you wrap your brain, your heart, your spirit around something so senseless, so horrific? i think that when something like this happens, all of the mechanisms that have been in place need to work. i think they're working. >> there are so many stories of heroism. of men who saved their girlfriends, three of them. 90 seconds before the first responders got on the scene. we've seen how this community has responded. but there is still a lot of hurt. so what do you say to people who come to you for help? >> people who come to me for help -- i've had conversations even in the last few hours with folks. what they need to know is that

there is hope, there is peace, that they need courage. i think courage is something that maybe they node more than anything else. courage to get up today and tomorrow and face the future. the fact that maybe a loved one is not there that was there last week. but this is going to take some time. you know, even the memorial, the vigil we're preparing for here now is wonderful. that helps the community heal. but the families themselves need their friends and loved ones to get around them. every family is a little different. every person is a little different. they will know what they need. loved ones need to rally. but those families need to take some time. the vigils, all of the discussions are fine, but this will take time for it to set in. >> pastor maze, i can remember so vividly in the aftermath of the shooting in arizona, gabby giffords and others, i attended a church service and i found the

sermon to be so moving. i saw the difference it could make to those parishioners. what did you tell to your parishioners this morning? >> well, we spent some time talking to them really about being able to continue to live. we must continue to live. we must continue to love. we talked about security. knowing you can continue on. that's probably one of the hardest or most difficult things they're coping with now because they can't come and go without looking over their shoulder. so we're trying to reassure them. we have one of the greatest cities in the world. one of the greatest police departments. we are safe. it's safe to go to and fro. we cannot forget this. so we have reiterated this is a safe place to live. >> you know, i heard that from so many people today. this is a closely knit community. i also saw parents holding on to their children very tightly. do you sense concern? do you sense fear?

>> well, they should hold tight to their children, but not because of the tragedy, but because that's what their children need. they need to understand. they need to answer questions that their children have and reassure them they are there for them, not only that they live in a great city, but a great country. we spent time at two services today, one with one of the victims, parishioners. the parishioners at dawn center of spiritual living. where they lost rebecca, mother of two. her husband and her children are coping with it now. and the church family is coping with that, trying to understand and wrap their mind around that. trying to ensure that they know there is no failure in god. there is no failure in the system. in the police department. that it's something -- there's no way we could have avoided --

eventually we'll find out the reason behind it. >> pastor thomas mayes, thank you very much for being with us. pastor doug lassit, thank you very much as well. we'll have a special encore edition of "date line" on the tragedy. [ female announcer ] the power of green coffee extract

is now in our new starbucks refreshers™ -- a breakthrough in natural energy. made with real fruit, starbucks refreshers™ are delicious low calorie drinks you can feel good about.