you know, this was an event that parents took their children to. they thought it would be exciting. well, it apparently was something that attracted the shooter to it, and richard, this was not a fluke. this shooter planned this. he had to, number one, probably buy a ticket in advance so that he could get in on opening night. he had to assemble the clothing. there are those who say he had on dark clothing. he had a helmet. he had a bullet-proof vest, he had a mask that some -- when i talked to matt lauer this morning on the "today" show, we thought maybe he was trying to look like one of the characters in the movie, bane. we don't know that at this point, but we know that something that attracted him to that movie, that target rich environment, and allowed him to assemble frg everything he needo include weapons, a gas grenade, to carry out this who rhorrific.

when he ran, he was confronted by law enforcement. i've had people say to me this morning, didn't the guy want to die? richard, he would have died if he would have pointed a gun at a police officer, but he didn't. he chose to live. when we see somebody make that choice, surrender or die, and he chose to surrender, he probably has a message he's going to want to give, and somehow explain the unexplainable, why somebody like in virginia tech or ft. hood or around congresswoman gabby giffords commits mass murder. >> clint, talk about that now. we are now 8:00 a.m. local time. this is about eight hours after the incident happened. what are they doing with this suspect? what is the fbi, what are local law enforcement doing? >> well, there's urgent things we have to know right away. i mean, motive can come as we have time to talk. were there any co-conspirators?

did he just buy a ticket, go through the emergency door, leave it propped open like we saw atwat watergate like we saw many years ago, come back through that door to commit murder and may hem, or did he have a co-conspirator? was someone at least knowledgeable about what they were doing? and richard, he talked about bombs and explosive devices. could there be a bomb planted somewhere else, a part b we just don't know about yet? >> the reports have it that he had a knife, assault rifle, a gun, the gas bomb. there are also items that he had claimed were in certain places. he had told the law enforcement there that there were explosives in his car. they had also said there were perhaps some items in his apartment. and as we try to piece together who he is based on what he had on him and what he planned to do and what he said, i want to play for you, clint, and then get

your reaction what one of the witnesses had said about what the gunman looked like. >> he looked like he was from a swat team, you know. he had like a bullet-proof vest. it was like kevlar. his waistband was his reloading ammunition and he had a big rifle. i don't know what kind of gun it was, but it was scary and it was in my face. and he had a gas mask on, not like the one in bane, but like a gas mask so he could breathe and not get sick and not be distracted from killing people, i guess; i don't know. he literally was standing there. he's about 6 feet tall, 6'3", about 180 pounds, 200 pounds, very muscular, and just scary. >> as you try to piece together the motive, that question that's going to be out there, and we won't know for a while, perhaps, clint, what is it that you learned from listening to all the reports, seeing the witnesses that have spoken ju?

>> you look at the callous nature, richard, in which he carried this out, and the unfortunate thing is when you get a target-rich environment like a movie theater or anyplace like that, anybody could be a potential target. i've had people ask me today was he specifically targeting children? number one, i don't know that answer. he has to answer that. but number two, if you've got bullets bouncing off floors, ceilings, going through walls to other theaters, if you've got shrapnel from seats flying around, anybody could be a potential target. but again, this is such a terribly cowardly act to do this, and when he stands before us some day and tries to explain the unexplainable, man versus man, we've got one more person who got his hands on weapons he shouldn't have got his hands on, but the question is why act out this day, this time, and who knew about this man? was it mental health issues or

was it something far more sinister that led him to commit this terrible act? >> clint, i want you to stand by because we do have one of the witnesses of this incident on the phone with us right now. joining us is quentin caldwell. he was in the theater next door when the shooting happened. quentin, thanks for speaking to us. what do you remember? >> we went to the premier, and like you said, everybody had been anticipating this for a while, so it was a very full house. many children, young teens, guys like myself, stuff like that. we were just sitting there watching the movie, and about 15 minutes in, suddenly there's a gun fight on screen, it's the part where we're going to see batman, and everybody is excited and into the movie. suddenly we just hear a loud pop, pop, pop, pop. everybody got kind of startled because it was super loud. it was louder than the

soundtracsoun soundtrack. my wife got really scared. i said, no, it's probably just sound effects, something like that. and she said, no, that was real. >> were you in the same theater that he was shooting or were you next door to where this incident happened? >> we were in theater 8. after those shots went off, apparently those shots went through the wall and struck two people in our theater. >> and how close were those people that were struck by bullets next to you? were they far from you? >> not very. in fact, we were sitting right in the middle the theater, better seats, but we were stuck in the bottom because it was full. maybe four rows above us a young lady was struck and a young man was struck as well. >> what did you do? >> after we saw the young lady, she was helped out by a couple, and we heard a man say, somebody is shooting up the theater, we need to go. everybody kind of looked around

because we didn't know if it was part of the movie, we didn't know if it was some part of gimmick, something like that skpar, and a lot of people were coming out of being into the movie. all of a sudden we saw a man run down and he was doubled over in pain. then we were like, okay, something isn't right. then the alarms went off and that was the straw that broke the camel's back and everybody realized, we kneneed to get out. >> did you see the shooter? did you see the suspect? >> no, i did not see him. he was in the adjacent theater, and we were thankfully cordoned off in theater 8. but, unfortunately, rounds from the other theater did make it into us, and the walls are not that thick. they're just baffling material with a little bit of drywall, so we can smell the tear gas on the other side. >> what did it smell like, this gas? >> just kind of like rotten eggs. it will make your nose and throat burn. >> did your nose and throat burn? was it affecting you as well in

theater 8? quentin, i'm not sure if we still have you here, but were you affected by that smell as well? quentin? are you with us? all right. quentin was on the phone with us. quentin caldwell was in the adjacent theater there, and clint van zandt is still with us. you were there, clint, and i thought maybe you would want to ask him a question yourself. this is really your bailliwick and your expertise. what do you make of what happened? >> one of the things we have to consider, too. there will abe lbe a lot of speculation. they'll say, well, it's colorado. does it have anything to do with columbine? in three days it will be the one-year anniversary of the terrible shooting in norway where all the teenagers were gunned down on an island by

another individual wearing vest, uniforms, and carrying long guns and weapons, too. so could there be any motivation in that? all of these things are going to have to be looked at. unfortunately, we're getting far too many mass shootings, mass murders to be able to compare against each other. >> clint, i'm not sure if you had the opportunity to look at some of the video that we've been getting here at msnbc. this as the law enforcement officials there in aurora, colorado are looking at an apartment. they seem to be poking through a window, and i was looking at the video a little bit earlier, way long stick and an apparatus at the end. what's the procedure they're going through, from what you're aware of? >> yeah, having been involved in these type of searches before, if there is any thought that the apartment may be trapped, the primary booby trap is likely to be on the first floor. that's the last one they want to go through, and that's why

they're trying to clear this window, see if they can get in that way, see if there is any booby traps or weapons so they can actually get into the apartment. >> is there any approach or process behind the way they were looking through his car, or what they thought to be his car in the parking lot. the video we were receiving from the chopper cam there, it looks like they have completely taken it apart. >> well, and that's a good place to take it apart, too. you've got a large open area that you can control. if there is a blast, it's not going to be contained in a closed-in building. you would rather have a blast go on outside so it's going to go up. so i think law enforcement, bomb squad, atf, everybody involved is going to be very gingerly looking at the car, looking at the apartment, and we also want to identify does this guy have any storage facilities or anything else that he has access to where he may have stored other weapons? and again, if he starts talking

about explosives, we have to take him at his word until we find out otherwise. >> clint van zandt, thank you so much for your insight and understanding of who this suspect is and what he may have been thinking as well as what is happening at this very moment at 8:12 local time there in aurora, colorado as they try to piece together what has been a horrific and ex asperating situation on this friday morning. clint, thank you again. i want to play one more interview from one of the witnesses that was there and had to go through this horrible experience. >> i was with two friends, and so i told them get down, and so we got on the floor in front of our seats, and more -- 20 rounds were shot off, and i heard people screaming, and there was a pause. i stuck my head up, and then more shooting happened, so i assumed he changed the magazine or something like that with his handgun or whatever he had, and so after that happened -- like

after the shooting was over, there was a period of quietness and everybody started to run out towards the top of the theater to get out of the top exit. i actually went to a row behind me. i slipped on some blood and landed on a lady. told her -- i shook her and said, we need to go, get up. and there was no response, so i presumed she was dead. i went toward the exit, waited in the exit for my friends. i saw a guy with blood across his face and on his shoulders and just got out of the movie theater. >> and there are more chilling witness accounts of what happened in that theater. they are as riveting as they are scary. plus we'll have for you coming up a glimpse inside what was happening inside one of the hospitals that took in the injured. stick with us. the medicare debate continues in washington...

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still breaking news out of colorado. let's get the latest from nbc's leanne gregg who is live there in aurora. what's the latest you're hearing? >> it's much more quiet than it was earlier today when it was complete chaos in the parking lot of this movie theater. this is where it happened, the century 16 behind me here in aurora. 12 are dead, 38 have been injured. century 16 movie theater in the town square area where the new movie"the dark knight rises" was opening. people had been lined up since 6:00 last night to see this movie. there were three showings all around midnight. the shooting happened in theater number 9. the gunman entered an exit door shortly after the movie started,

and he threw some kind of smoke bomb and said nothing. then he opened fire. some of the witnesses said at first they thought it was all just part of the show. he reportedly had an assault weapon and two handguns. now, right now his apartment is being searched for other explosives because he indicated to police that there were some explosives in the area. his neighbors have also been evacuated. the people at the theater were taken to a high school nearby. all of them are being questioned. they also want to take a look at their cell phones to see if perhaps there are any clues, any pictures that might give them some ideas about what happened and help with this investigation. the mall is closed. it's being roped off. some cars are being compounded to see if there are also any possible explosives nearby. of course, a very horrific morning in a community that knows tragedy. of course, the columbine

shooting back in 1999, terrible memories of another tragedy today. >> leanne, before we let you go, you are saying 12 killed, 38 injured, is that correct? we know this is an evolving situation. we had heard 12 killed and 50 injured. >> yes. well, earlier today, there were some reports that 14 people were killed and as many as 50 injured, but the police have since luckily downsized those numbers, and it is still fluid. some people are in the hospital, some in critical condition, and we are getting new information all the time. >> yeah, this will change throughout the morning. again, the latest, 12 killed, 38 injured. thank you so much, leanne. i appreciate your time. i know a lot is happening there in aurora. let's bring in dr. lansville, medical servicesaurora. doctor, you've treated 12

patients, four were discharged. can you tell us about the injuries right now? >> we've seen 12 patients arriving from the scene. 12 were gunshot victims. four to the operating room obviously in critical condition, but i'm happy to report there's been no fatalities as of this time. we have two that are in the process of surgery this morning, and we've had a total of four discharge patients that we believe those numbers will improve as well. >> what are you watching? those two that are now going through surgery or have just finished surgery, what is the key benchmark that you're watching? >> well, the initial four that went were the most critical, and those are of life-threatening nature. those patients are in either recovery or our trauma intensive care unit where they have the capacity to handle those types of patients. those patients at this point are being stabilized by our trauma services and trauma surgeons. the other two that are waiting for surgery are certainly of the

more stable type and those are more of the orthopedic extremity injuries from the gunshot wounds of the. >> can you help us understand the types of injuries that you saw as they came in? you just mentioned orthopedic injuries. we had reports and we are saying that tear gas or some sort of gas was used by the suspect. have you seen any indication of a gas that may have injured the patients that you received? >> we received a total of three patients with some sort of chemical exposure. those three patients suffered things like burning eyes, burning skin. they were treated and actually have been discharged. obviously, the more critical patients are of the gunshot nature and certainly high-caliber injuries to the trunk, the neck, the torso and certainly the extremities and there are certainly significant soft tissue injury. >> and doctor, these injuries of the gunshots you were mentioning just now, are you saying three, four, five bullets per patient?

>> most of these patients have multiple wounds, some of which we have certainly not totaled at this point. >> but within that range? >> yes. >> what's going to be, as you look forward, you understand what the injuries are. the families, friends are arriving at the hospitals. we've seen some reports of that. what are they saying and how are you handling that? >> we have an internal process at this point receiving either further patients and their family members, and we have a call number that people can call in for their loved ones, getting updates. we also have a staging area here at the hospital where there are support staff and counselors to speak with them. >> doctor, one last question, and that is, how did you hear about this catastrophe? what were some of the first moments when your hospital was alerted? >> our hospital was alerted through, obviously, the ems system that we have in the aurora area. we were immediately put on alert and activated our internal

disaster program. we have two emergency physicians working 24/7 in this department, and then we were able to activate as a level 2 trauma center four total trauma surgeons, two orthopedic surgeons, a neurosurgeon and two emergency physicians to the facility. >> doctor, i want to thank you for your time today. i know it's been a very busy morning for you. dr. frank lansville, director of emergency services at aurora medical center, and thank you for all the great work you've done this morning there to assist the 38 that were hurt that we've just learned the latest number. again, thank you, dr. frank lansville. we'll continue to watch what's happening coming out of aurora, colorado. we will break down the timeline. when did it start? what happened? our own chris jansing is headed to the site. an aspirin regimen. i know if i take my bayer aspirin i have a better chance of living a healthy life.

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correspondent pete williams who has been following the story for us this morning. p pete, what can you tell us about the suspect, the 24-year-old james holmes? >> i think the biggest question here is what the motive was, and police are not giving us any indication that they know what that is. he's 24 years old, apparently lives in the aurora area for the last year or so. got a traffic ticket from the aurora police last year. that's their only known connection with him. he was not on a list of extremist groups or terrorist organizations. this is a name that police simply weren't familiar with. he was born december 13, 1987. now, we're told that there were tennessee license plates on his car, so we're trying to figure out what the connection was to tennessee. his parents live in san diego. i think that they own the apartment that he was in in aurora, colorado. when he was arrested standing outside the theater near the car that he drove there, he was telling them there were explosives in the car and his

apartment. they didn't find anything there, but they're searching his car. >> do you know what happened with the search of his apartment or car? have you heard anything? >> the search of the apartment is in slow stages. i don't know if they're even in yet. they're going in through the window. >> pete williams, justice correspondent, thank you for that. president obama and governor romney are offering their condolenc condolences. he said, michelle and i are shocked and sad denned by the horrific shooting in colorado. my people will do everything we can to support the people in aurora at this extremely difficult time. we are determined to bring whoever was responsible to justice. all of us must have the people of aurora in our thoughts and prayers as they confront the loss of family, friends and neighbors, end quote skpchlt then from mitt romney saying, quote, ann and i are deeply sad denned by the news of this senseless violence.

we are praying for the family of the loved ones during this time of immense shock and grief. we expect the person responsible for this horrific crime will be brought to justice, end quote. plus, in-branch seminars at over 500 locations, where our dedicated support teams help you know more so your money can do more. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. our teams have the information you want when you need it. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

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95% of people who tried it agreed that it relieved their headache fast. visit fastreliefchallenge.com today for a special trial offer. . we're still following breaking developments coming out of aurora, colorado, and if you're just joining us, this is what we know. 12 dead and 38 wounded. it was reported as 50 before. this might be a glimmer of good news as they've revised those numbers, but as you know, it may change throughout the morning and afternoon. but at moment, 38 injured. here's what we know. this is the timeline and we'll break it down for you of what happened this morning. just after midnight mountain time, the new batman movie, "the dark knight rises" begins. then about a half hour later, the gunman wearing a gas mask bursts through an exit door, throws some type of explosive

device or gas and starts shooting. then 911 calls flood the police switchboard and officers arrive within minutes to the bloody scene. the suspect identified as 24-year-old james holmes is arrested at that scene. his apartment is then searched by police. at about 3:20 a.m. mountain time, aurora police reports several people are dead, many more injured. then at 3:26 a.m. local time, president obama on the campaign trail in florida is briefed on the shooting by homeland security adviser john brennan. our nbc affiliate kusatv spoke to two eyewitnesses who were inside the theater and describe a horrific scene. >> he threw one tear gas thing. >> it landed in the row right in front of us, hit the girl right in front of us. >> it exploded. >> then he threw another one, and i think that one went to the right of us. >> did you see him start shooting people at that point? >> he actually waited. he looked so calm when he did

it, it was scary. he waited for the bomb to explode before he even made any type of move, then after both of them exploded, that's when he began to shoot. >> the first shot was in the air, and after that he started shooting towards -- >> there was no specific target, he just started letting loose. >> what kind of gun did he have? >> it was like a handgun. i couldn't tell, really. >> it was like really loud. he was all black-like, but it was a handgun that was really loud. >> did he say anything during this? sdp >> not a word. >> joining me now on the phone is bill bratten, the former police commissioner in boston. if you can help us out here, commissioner, what is your thought about what you've heard so far from not only witness accounts but information that's come in from various reports? >> it's quite clear this is a well-planned assault. as to its motivation, they do have a suspect in custody who i

understand they do believe is the lone shooter. as to whether he acted on his own, that will come out as part of the investigation. clearly well planned, he was well armed. i think the last accounts i heard, an ak-47, a shotgun and some form of handgun and then the gas emission advises, clearly the ability to acquire something like that, whether a commercial product or something he created himself. the incident involving the israeli terrorist group, all of the tension at this time in terms of that part of the world, certainly police departments in this country are on heightened alert on that issue. so the terrorism concern is certainly an early on concern. whether it turns out to be just the act of a lone gunman, for whatever purpose, not having anything to do with terrorism. >> as you heard, it was found that the suspect was standing by his car, that he surrendered.

did not go in there to, if you will, sacrifice himself as he went through these acts, according to what we're hearing. what do you make of the suspect, and what are they doing, do you think, at this moment? they've had the suspect in custody now for many hours. >> well, there are a number of things under way. certainly they're attempting to learn as much as they can about him, where he lives, certainly, for residence searches, the searching of his particular vehicle, the concern of the idea of secondary types of actions if this were to involve more than him. secondary actions being the idea did he plan any bomb devices in the immediate area knowing there would be emergency responders coming into the area. they will certainly be trying to elicit as much information as possible. they also want to be careful they're not transgressing on any legal issues that would interfere with the prosecution of this individual, so they have

to be mindful of that. but at this stage of the game, they'll try to learn as much as they can about him, what his potential motivations might have been, and at this stage, i haven't heard anything at all as to what those motivations might have been. >> commissioner, can you stand by one moment? i want to bring into our conversation david kale, he's a reporter for koa "newsradio" there in colorado for us. dave, what's the latest you're hearing? >> well, richard, it's probably not a lot different from what you're hearing. the man is in custody. the name james holmes, 24 years old. one of the latest things we've heard, and you may have gone over this just recently, is that the fbi says they have no indication the incident is tied to any terrorist groups. obviously, we are hoping that this is the work of a lone gunman, and all indications to this point is that that is true. we are getting some witness reports that said that one of the canisters of gas or smoke may have come from a different

part of the theater, but there's nothing confirmed there, and as you just mentioned, the gunman did not shoot at police, did not resist arrest, was arrested in the parking lot shortly after this incident which occurred about 12:15 in the morning here in a packed movie theater. >> there were 38 injured, 12 killed. this affects many families, many friends. how are they reacting? what has been done with them at this moment that you've heard? >> well, they set up a post in the nearby high school where people are supposed to go if they're looking for a loved one. obviously there are multiple hospitals here that have taken in the injured. some of those injured have been released, some aren't injured all that badly and some are critically injured. so people are reacting as best they can. obviously, this community went through this once before 13 years ago at columbine. >> yeah, that is, of course, what some are bringing into this

discussion. only some 20 miles away from the location of this incident, and unfortunately, we have to discuss a similar topic today, that which happened so many years ago. thank you so much, david kale, for taking the time to give us the latest there. bill bratten is still with us. commission commissioner, what would you advise in terms of this going forward? we see this incident happening at a theater. you don't think you would need security at a movie such as batman. it was pg-13. this is part of summer americana, if you will, where kids will sometimes dress up and go to these events. it's normally a somewhat happy situation. how can, if at all, police departments around the country prevent this from happening? >> well, the idea is you cannot prevent everything from happening. the idea -- for example, the columbine experience, that

horrific tragedy, there was so much learning that came out of that event in terms of how police should respond to a shooting type event, whether it's in a school or other crowded venue, the idea of how should it be reported, the idea of theater staff, for example, now going forward, about how they might be in a position to report to authorities what's happening. with the computer sophistication we have today, many police departments in the communities have accurate blueprints, and this is something that came out of columbine, about major venues in their communities, and how if they were to have an incident how they would get into those environments. certainly most departments have that at their schools as a result of columbine. i know with the lapd we had extensive mapping of many of the critical incident locations in our city so that if we had an event -- and we work closely with security at those venues to help in terms of awareness.

the event that's under way by homeland security, see something, say something falls into this type of event, that somebody possibly seeing this character outside moving into the theater armed as heavily as he was and clothed the way he appears to have been clothed to make the call, to start the process of police being alerted and responding. a lot of learning will be coming out of this. >> a lot of learning. as you know, as a result of columbine, procedures were changed in that area of the country. have we crossed the crucial point in this process that started so early this morning, at 12:30 in the morning? >> past the crucial point in what respect? i'm sorry. >> in the process of understanding what happened and going forward in terms of gathering information from witnesses as well as finding the suspect. >> one of the reasons why police will always, in this case, chief dan oates who i worked with in the nypd back in the 1990s, one of the beast chiefs in america,

dan will be starting off his summaries in the media with the preliminary. these things change america. the first story is never the actual story. so where we are at the moment is it seems to be the act of a single individual in terms of the action itself. whether he acted alone in the planning process, the acquisition of the weapons and the mission device, that's what the investigation will help to determine going forward. and again, police use these things as learning tools to understand how do we prevent others like this from happening in the future with the understanding we can't prevent it all. this is the second incident shooting this week in america. we had a student got into an incident in a student lounge this week, killed a number of people. it didn't receive as much attention as this one certainly will. >> commissioner bratton, thank you for standing by.

we're waiting to hear from president obama. he has moved up his speaking time. we expect him to come to the microphones there in florida within the next minute or so. we expect him to perhaps make some statements about this. he did earlier this morning. jay carney saying after he spoke to the president, his first reaction was he had immediate concern about what happened in the incident. let's listen to president obama now speaking. [ applause ] >> thank you, everybody. thank you. thank you. well, let me first of all say -- let me first of all -- let me first of all say how grateful i am for all of you being here, and how much we appreciate everything that you've done. i know that there are a lot of people here who have been so engaged in the campaign, have

sacrificed so much, people who have been involved back since 2007 -- [ cheers and applause ] >> i want all of you to know how appreciative i am, and i know many of you came here today for a campaign event. i was looking forward to having a fun conversation with you about some really important matters that we face as a country. and the differences between myself and my opponent in this election. but this morning, we woke up to news of a tragedy that reminds us of all the ways that we are united as one american family. by now many of you know, many of you have heard that a few miles

outside of denver in a town called aurora at least 12 people were killed when a gunman opened fire in a movie theater. and dozens more are being treated for injuries at a local hospital. some of the victims are being treated at a children's hospital. we're still gathering all the facts about what happened in aurora, but what we do know is that the police have one suspect in custody, and the federal government stands ready to do whatever is necessary to bring whoever is responsible for this heinous crime to justice. [ applause ] >> we will take every step possible to ensure the safety of all of our people. we're going to stand by our neighbors in colorado during this extraordinarily difficult time. and i had a chance to speak with

the mayor of aurora as well as the governor of colorado to express not just on behalf of michelle and myself but the entire american family, how heartbroken we are. even as we learn how this happened and who is responsible, we may never understand what leads anybody to terrorize their fellow human beings like this. such violence, such evil is senseless. it's beyond reason. but while we will never know fully what causes somebody to take the life of another, we do know what makes life worth living. the people we lost in aurora loved and they were loved. they were mothers and fathers, they were husbands and wives, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters, friends and

neighbors. they had hopes for the future and they had dreams that were not yet fulfilled. and if there is anything to take away from this tragedy, it's the reminder that life is very fragile. our time here is limited and it is precious. and what matters at the end of the day is not the small things. it's not the trivial things which so often consume us and our daily lives. ultimately it's how we choose to treat one another and how we love one another. [ applause ] >> it's what we do on a daily basis to give our lives meaning and to give our lives purpose. that's what matters. at the end of the day, what

we'll remember will be those we loved and what we did for others. that's why we're here. i'm sure that many of you who are parents here have the same reaction that i did when i heard this news. my daughters go to the movies. what if malia and sasha had been at the theater as so many of our kids do every day. michelle and i will be fortunate enough to hug our girls a little tighter tonight, and i'm sure you will do the same with your children. but for those parents who may not be so lucky, we have to embrace them and let them know we will be there for them as a nation. so again, i'm so grateful that all of you are here.

i am so moved by your support, but there are going to be other days for politics. this, i think, is a day for prayer and reflection. [ applause ] >> so what i would ask everybody to do, i would like us to pause in a moment of silence for the victims of this terrible tragedy, for the people who knew them and loved them, for those who are still struggling to recover, and for all the victims of less publicized acts of violence that plague our communities every single day. so if everybody can just take a moment.

[ moment of prayer ] >> thank you, everybody. i hope all of you will keep the people of aurora in your hearts and minds today. may the lord bring them comfort and healing in hard days to come. i'm grateful to all of you, and i hope that as a consequence of today's events, as you leave here, you spend a little time thinking about the incredible blessings that god has given us. [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you very much, everybody. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. [ applause ]

>> as president obama moves off the stage, saying that we are heartbroken, there is a time for prayer and reflection, and apologizing to those supporters that gathered in fort myers, florida for this campaign event and saying there is another day for politics. let's go to mike vicara at the white house. vic, as we watched president obama give that message, it certainly appeared he was affected personally, too, by this emotionally. >> certainly. you and of course the president put his finger on it wrapping up, saying there will be other days for politics. this is a day for prayer and reflection. you could hear the audience cheering. they're obviously a crowd four-square behind the president politically and what he's doing in washington. they were obviously behind him

and his decision to cut short the politics for today. as you know, the president was to have a full day of campaign rally. nobody needs to be reminded of its political importance. he was informed at 5:26 a.m. by his homeland security adviser, john brennan, of what had transpired in aurora, colorado. he spoke by phone with the mayor of aurora, his chief of staff and other top officials of what is happening, and has offered any help that the federal government can offer at this point, although at this point it's clear aside from federal law enforcement what can be done here at the white house. in any event, the president has cut short the first of two scheduled events for florida today. he is heading directly home, cancelling his second event. it was to be in winter park, florida just outside orlando. given the context of all of this, not a day for politics.

the president just said there today, a reminder that human life is fragile. both sides, both mitt romney and president obama's campaigns have pulled their political ads from colorado, another key swing state that's vital. michelle obama, vice president biden as well as romney all have canceled their political events for today. so today a time to take a break from the nature of politics and head home to washington and monitor the events in colorado for the president. >> yes. in addition to that, vic, we understand that governor romney's events today will also be moved to address specifically the colorado shootings. we heard that from the romney campaign and we expect as well that he will later on be making a statement about this tragedy coming out aurora, colorado. twitter posts from the scene. we've been watching that this

morning as well. there's been some youtube video from outside the theater. we've also been learning about exactly what happened inside that midnight movie just by monitoring social media. msnbc's alex witt has been tracking it for us for hours. alex, what have you seen? >> video that's been posted to twitter and youtube less than an hour after shots rang out. men showing up lain costume, so of that only adding to the movie. people were taken out all bloody. let's watch that for a moment. there's someone dressed up in a costume i was talking about.

and we also will keep an eye on those that are exiting, some of them walking more slowly than one would expect, but they are certainly trying to get out of that theater. we're also watching twitter. richard, a lot of things have come out but reflected as the sentiment with the president just now. we have eric canter and nancy pelosi talking about best wishes for the family and the victims. thank you. >> thank you so much. that wraps up this hour of janua jansing and company. chris jansing headed to aurora, colorado. we'll be right back. ... across every possible price range... ...our budgets won't be picking the style. we will. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot.

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i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. . good morning, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. we continue on this exclusive breaking news story, a mass shooting in aurora, colorado during the midnight showing of

the new batman movie. >> he got shot? >> there's blood right there. >> we got another person outside shot in the leg, a female. i've got people running out of the theater that are shot. >> we saw gas and sparks and sounded like really strong fireworks, and you could hear people yelling. >> he was completely dressed in black head to toe. from what we saw, he seemed like he had something over his face. >> we were here immediately, and thank fortunatefully we apprehe suspect. >> it was so scary. >> as we were leaving, he witnessed a baby, an infant, get shot. i heard the call come in at the nurse's station. from what i could see, there were people unconscious, people bleeding. >> is there one image that's going to stick with you? >> it was a packed house in that movie theater, 50 victims, 12 of which have died, 38 others being treated. we want to go now to reporter

jere jeremy hola. the shooting suspect has been confirmed as 24-year-old james holmes, but we now understand police and investigators on the scene of his apartment has figured out it's booby trapped. can you confirm that? >> this guy was methodical in his planning. about ten minutes ago, chief dan oates of the aurora police department said, quote, booby trapped. the third floor of this apartment unit is where this suspect lived, and on the third floor, they cannot enter that apartment because it is booby trapped. the chief said that it looks pretty sophisticated. that's his quote. the briefing was very quick, they would not answer any questions. there are fire trucks here surrounding this very generic-looking apartment complex. it's a very generic, unassuming apartment complex, but the police department dealing with an extraordinary circumstance now, a