good morning. breaking news. a mass shooting inside a suburban denver movie theater overnight. at least 14 people are dead. 50 others are injured. a chaotic and terrifying scene. this morning a 24-year-old man is under arrest. we'll have complete coverage is under arrest. we'll have complete coverage today, friday, july 20th, 2012. captions paid for by nbc-universal television not the kind of news we want to bring you on a friday morning, but good morning and

welcome to "today." i'm matt lauer. >> good morning everyone. i'm savannah. what a horrific scene in colorado. breaking news. a tragic story. a gunman walked into a showing of the movie "the dark knight rises" released some sort of gas canister and then opened fire on the crowd. >> this happened at 12:30 local time, denver time. it's a suburb of denver called aurora. only about 10 or 12 miles to the east. police say ten of the victims died right in the theater. four others at local hospitals where the wounded are being treated. trauma centers. the alleged shooter a 24-year-old man who was arrested at the scene. investigators found a rifle, hand gun, and at least one other weapon in his car as well as a gas mask. this morning his home is being checked for explosives. so far aurora's police chief says there is no evidence of any additional shooter. this really, i mean, when you think about it, this film was a highly anticipated movie, a crowded first showing.

there were lines to get into this theater and only about 30 minutes after the movie began some people dressed in costume to go to this showing because that what is happens during movies like this. the door burst open. a guy in a costume -- some people might have thought it was just a stunt that was part of the movie until the shooting began. >> many people said initially they thought it was part of the movie when they heard the shots ring out. 14 dead confirmed at this hour, at least 50 injured. we should mention the president has been notified by his chief terror adviser john brennan this morning at 5:26 a.m. >> let's get more from the scene. kusa's jays larson is with us by phone. >> good morning, matt. i am at the scene of an apartment complex where it is being searched at this moment we believe. s.w.a.t. team is out here. if i can set the scene for you, i know on the telephone -- think of a city block blocked off on both sides by police cars and in the very center of the block i

believe is kind of where we're seeing the s.w.a.t. team staging. we haven't seen them actually go into this apartment complex at all. we're just seeing them staging out there waiting. we're also not sure whether or not there is a concern inside the building, whether they're just checking things out. we're told they're asking people to evacuate the area but we don't know how many people are being asked -- >> this is a result of the fact that according to reports when this alleged gunman was taken into custody he told police that there might be, a, explosives in another part of the theater. he might have some explosives components in his car and at his home. >> you know, when we talked to people on the scene here, they have a look of grave concern on their face. when we first got here someone said, it's not safe for you to be here. there are explosives here. we've since inquired more and are told they are investigating whether there are explosives here. we want to pass the information

to our viewers as quickly as we get it but right now we're still trying to learn as much as we can. >> i just want to tell our viewers i don't have the footage i can show you now. hopefully we'll get it. we did see footage earlier this morning taken from a helicopter looking down at the parking lot of that movie theater complex. it showed a police robotic vehicle going through a white sedan vehicle that was parked in the parking lot. the trunk was open. the doors were open. here's the footage right now, that robotic vehicle taking things out of the car. you would have to believe that police think this is the suspect's vehicle and they were checking it for weapons and explosive devices. we understand that suspect was arrested close to that vehicle in the parking lot of that movie theater complex. >> reporter: it's one of those things where we're just learning information. you certainly would believe that is what is happening at the scene there. you would believe that's the vehicle they are most concerned about here. but information is still coming

in. the numbers have been going out throughout the morning. >> right. >> they've stayed at the current levels now for sometime but it is certainly possible those could grow as well. the only way to say this is -- when i talked to the officers again -- i'm at the apartment complex -- people have a look of grave concern on their faces. >> just to give people an idea of how chaotic the scene was as police officers, first responders got to that scene, we have reports that police officers were carrying some of the victims from that theater severely wounded victims, placing them in the back of their squad cars, and taking them themselves to local trauma centers, not even waiting for ambulances to get on to the scene. that's how severely injured some of the people in that theater were. stay tuned. go ahead if you have something to add. >> you know, i was just going to say that certainly is what we're hearing from witnesses around the area as well. that's why -- ten people died

actually at the theater and four others died at local hospitals. >> all right. thank you very much. >> we want to talk to jacob cane who was at the mall where the theater is located at the time of the shooting. he is on the phone with us. jacob, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> i know you weren't in the theater but at the mall. can you tell us what you heard and saw? >> well, yeah. i was over at the mall with a couple of friends of mine and then we decided to head over to the century theater. we were all hanging out in the front and shortly after we arrived there we heard an explosion go off. a little bit after that we started hearing gunfire. it sounded like semiautomatic weapons going off or something like that. then we started seeing the crowd of people rushing out coming through the exits. people were running out. then we also seen people bloodied up, their faces were all bloody. they were laying them on the front sidewalk there of the century theater. and then that's when the police

started to arrive shortly after that. >> could you even venture a guess as to how many injured you personally may have seen? >> personally i seen at least probably eight or nine just coming out of the building. other people were over there helping them out as well. >> jacob, let me ask you, it's matt lauer talking to you. how long would you estimate the gun fire lasted? >> i'd say approximately -- it was in session -- it lasted -- shoot, the first time i heard it, it was a good five minutes long and then it stopped for a second and then that's when we heard it open back up again. >> how long was it, jacob, until you saw the first police officers arrive on the scene? >> i'd say two minutes, three minutes. shortly after i heard about the second round of fire going off. >> so did the police actually enter that theater while the gun fire was still going on? >> oh, yeah, yeah. while everything was going in

they were telling everybody to clear out of the area because they weren't sure if there were pipe bombs or if they had explosives or if the guy, himself, was actually going to start working his way out the front of the building and start opening fire on just random civilians out there. >> were you anywhere near where they eventually apprehended this suspect in the parking lot or near the parking lot? >> no, no i was not. i did not actually see them apprehend him. >> jacob king, thank you. >> i know you talked to somebody who was actually in the theater. what did he tell you about what happened? >> yes. he told me that he was actually in theater nine and at first he said everybody was watching the movie and then they seen a random individual come in. he looked like he threw either a pipe bomb or a smoke grenade and as soon as that went off everybody was kind of wondering what was going on and shortly after that he started opening fire on everybody. and then he said after that he had seen the guy going to change his clip or whatever and he kind

of peeked his head up, looked at him. he said as soon as he loaded the other one he started opening fire again on everybody. >> jacob king, we appreciate your information. stand by if you can. we'll come back to you in a little while. i want to go to nbc's chief justice correspondent pete williams who joins us now from washington. i know the fbi is engaged in this working with aurora police. what are they telling you so far? >> a couple notes here, matt. first of all, they say as far as they can tell there is no connection here to terrorism. they say the suspect, whose name they're not releasing at this point because they're not sure about the name, that the name he has given authorities was unknown to them. he was not on any kind of watch list or under any kind of surveillance. they say he is 24, born in december, 1987. apparently here in the united states legally. one of the reasons that you saw the video of the people looking at his car is that he told authorities when he was arrested not only that he had explosives in his house, and you just heard

from jays larson about that but also told police he had explosives in his car. the car had tennessee plates. nonetheless, it is believed he was living in the aurora area. they say he had three weapons -- a long gun like a rifle and then also two hand guns and that he also set off tear gas. you hear the witnesses talking about hearing some kind of a hissing sound after he entered apparently dressed in black and wearing a mask. so that's what the investigation is centered on right now. we hope to learn more, matt, in just a little bit about who he was. no word yet on motive about why he might have done this, what his past is, what might have set him off. no indication yet of that. >> and because i think you mentioned to me earlier on a special report, pete, because this is a murder case, it will be the local officials and authorities who take the lead. correct? >> well, that's right. it's sometimes surprising to people, but there is no federal murder statute, so cases like this are always handled by the

local authorities. but the federal authorities, atf, fbi, are certainly there to help. that's what's happening right now. >> pete williams in washington. thank you very much. savannah, we should mention here for no other reason than to put some context on this, we have both seen this movie and it is a movie filled with dramatic action sequences. lots of gunfire. lots of explosions. you can imagine depending on what part of the film was showing at the time this happened the people in that theater may have been somewhat numbed to the idea that an explosion or a smoke bomb was set off in the theater and the gunfire even initially might have seemed as if it might have been part of this movie. >> that's right. of course it goes without saying this is a dark theater. some reports said this gunman appeared to come out of nowhere near the front of the theater, let off some kind of tear gas canister, and then begin slowly working his way through the theater opening fire on the crowd. we want to get to our nbc's kristen welker traveling with the president in ft. myers, florida.

kristen, what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, matt and savannah. president obama was notified earlier this morning, 5:26 a.m., by his homeland security adviser john brennan according to white house press secretary jay carney. the president has just put out a statement. i'm going to read it to you. president obama put out the statement that says, michelle and i are shocked and saddened by the horrific shooting in colorado. federal and local law enforcement are still responding and my administration will do everything that we can to support the people of aurora in this extraordinarily difficult time. we are committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice ensuring the safety of our people and caring for those who have been wounded. as we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge we must now come together as one american family. all of us must have the people of aurora in our thoughts and prayers as they confront the loss of family, friends, and neighbors, and we must stand together with them in the challenging hours and days to come. i can tell you, savannah, we are traveling with the president

right now in the west palm beach area. he was making a two-day swing through florida for campaign purposes. i just spoke with one of his advisers to his campaign who said at this point in time they have not changed his schedule. however, they are of course monitoring the situation very closely. in terms of any sort of reaction from the president, later on this morning he is going to speak about 11:30 at an event and we expect he will in fact comment on this at some point throughout the day. >> all right. >> but at this point no change in the president's plans. they continue to monitor the situation very closely. >> all right. kristen welker traveling with the president in florida this morning, thank you. >> i want to go back live to the scene of the shooting now the century theater complex in aurora, colorado. kusa's kevin torres is there. kevin, good morning to you. what more can you add? >> reporter: wel, matt, good morning. you heard there from pete a short time ago about the detonators. a possibility of detonators out there in the parking lot.

because of that all the vehicles were left out there. people had to evacuate. i spoke with a man who was near the theater at the time and it was outside and he heard 50 gunshots. he says between 50 and 60 and this happened over a period of ten minutes. he said herds of people just came running out of there crying and screaming and some people actually had blood on their faces and hands. police are still up there waiting to update us around 11:00 in the morning. some people assume this is going to come sooner. of course there are a lot of live trucks and other reporters waiting to see exactly what is going to happen. i can tell you having been up there the last half hour that it is still a very active scene. you see police officers going from vehicle to vehicle just looking around in the area. a lot of investigators up there checking to see exactly what is going on. we heard a lot about the person inside the theater, the gunman. what also caught people off guard according to people who were inside the theater is the fact that this person apparently was dressed in a costume. a lot of people who were going to this movie have been dressing up for it. a lot of people were looking

around to see exactly who is this person? is there another person over there? what's going on? is this part of the movie? this is exactly what investigators are looking at right now. a lot of people are still nervous. most of the folks who were out here, matt, have left within the last hour. a lot of folks waiting to hear whether their loved ones were safe. we did talk to a few people who said that they indeed were able to get ahold of their friends and family who were inside the theater. those are the lucky ones. of course thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the 14 people who did die in this shooting. >> all right. kevin torres of kusa, thank you very much. >> we want to get to jennifer seeger who was inside the theater when the gunman walked in. she is on the phone now. jennifer, good morning to you. as i understand it the gunman pointed the gun at you. tell us what happened. >> yeah. as far as i could see, you know, i didn't think it was anything serious. i thought it was a joke or part of the show, you know what i mean? he came in and he was five feet away from me. i don't know the exact diameter or anything but he was about five feet away from me. he came in on my right side.

i was in the second row on the very front. he came in and he threw in the gas can and then i knew it was real. then he shot the ceiling. right after he shot the ceiling he pointed the gun right at me. at that point i drove into the aisle and i got lucky because he didn't shoot me. then he started to shoot people behind me and the bullets were falling on my head. it was burning my head it was so fresh. i could smell gun powder. at that point he went up the stairs. all you hear is mass chaos and people screaming, gunfire after gunfire. i was calling and i said once he gets up the stairs we got to get out of here. we start crawling. we start crawling and everybody is going for the door and then everybody starts coming back in saying no he is going to shoot the people trying to get out the door and he did. they were trying to escape and he shot those people as well. so i was just sitting there and the gas was getting to me. i was coughing. my eyes were tearing up. i was just scared. my adrenalin pumped in and i tried to get out. >> jennifer, how did he come in?

did he say anything at any point? >> he didn't say anything as far as i could see. he just came in in a back door next to my right side in the theater through an exit door. he came in through the back. and he didn't say anything. he just threw the can of spray or gas or whatever it was. i thought it was tear gas. i'm not positive. but he just threw it. he didn't say anything. he just started shooting. >> you say, let's try and set the scene in that theater again, jennifer. this is matt lauer. he then started to walk up the stairs. are you talking about stairs on a side aisle of the theater? >> yes, sir. yes, sir. that is exactly what he was doing. at that point everybody was trying to run away and every time somebody tried to run away you would hear screaming and then another gun shot and another gun shot. >> and then was there silence while he was -- we've heard reports that he reloaded at least once maybe two times. were there moments of silence where people escaped him during that time? >> oh, yeah. there was moments of silence and

lots of screaming as far as that goes. he wasn't shooting at that time. there was lots of screaming and then at that point they were trying to escape but he reloaded and was shooting people like in the front that were trying to get out the doors. that's why everybody was coming back inside. i was just trapped and i was one of the last people to try to get out. at that point i had some emt training and i'm not fully certified yet but it just kicked in and there was a gentleman right next to me, happened to be 18 years old and he had a gun shot to his back. he was bleeding everywhere and i checked his pulse and was going to try to drag him out. they were like no let him go. this guy is coming back and he is going to shoot you so i just ran as an instinct. >> jennifer, he started at the back of the theater and then made his way to the front? i mean at some point was he in front of the screen? >> yeah. no. he started at the very corner of the screen. and then he worked his way all the way through the back and back down. like all the way to the top of the stairs and back down. >> jennifer, how did he leave the theater? did he calmly walk out of the

theater? did he run out? >> that's the part i didn't get to see because i was on the ground trying to escape at that point. it was mass chaos. i didn't see how he left. but he looked like he was in the military or he looked like he was a s.w.a.t. person so i can imagine that he just kind of blended in with the chaos of the crowd and people thought he was probably like a cop or something. you know? >> we mentioned earlier, jennifer, i wonder if you could validate this for us, that some people who were attending that movie were dressed in costume. this is a very popular movie franchise. the midnight showing often attracts people in costume. so when the shooting was over as people were attempting to leave that theater, were police stopping people and checking everyone to make sure they weren't involved in this? >> honestly when i walked out of that door all i saw were cops cocking shot guns and walking in at that point just trying to get the guy in general. it was so fresh and new they were just trying to get in there and get him.

teenage kids were wearing batman shirts and not looking -- >> not like this guy. >> no, not at all. he looked like he was in a s.w.a.t. team or like part of the military or something. he had a gas mask and a kevlar suit and a gun and a vest. so he looked like he was part of just s.w.a.t. or something. i mean, he could have blended in and people would have probably thought he was a cop if they didn't know any better you know what i mean? >> jennifer, what did he look like? what was his build? >> he was about i would say maybe six, 6'3" as far as height goes and i would say 185 pounds, 200 pounds. he was lean but not too big, too fat. he was just really tall and slender. he looked kind of muscular. >> jennifer seeger, valuable information, who was in that theater as this gunman walked in and opened fire. jennifer, we'll come back to you as well. we appreciate your time this morning. we believe this is a live shot of the suspect's apartment right now. this is what we were talking

about where a s.w.a.t. team from the aurora police department has gone to a residential area of that community and has taken up positions outside a small apartment building. they are there not only because this is where the suspect allegedly lives but also allegedly because the suspect told them that he may have explosive materials or devices inside his home. it doesn't seem to be an enormous amount of activity there right now but we were told by one reporter on the scene that as you can see the streets in the area have been closed off. some people living in that area have been asked to evacuate because it is not safe and you would imagine that that s.w.a.t. team will now carry out a very careful search of that building and residence. >> we want to get to nbc's justice correspondent pete williams who's got more details on the investigators talking with the suspect. pete, what can you tell us? >> reporter: we're learning a little more about what he had with him when he came into the

theater. the authorities tell us the same thing the witnesses are telling us, that he came into the exit of the theater i guess toward the front of the theater and that's when he started to shoot. he was carrying one long gun which has been described to me as like an ak type weapon. now what we don't know is whether it was capable of firing automatically. that means that when you hold the trigger down it just keeps firing bullets or whether you have to pull the trigger each time. that's important only in the sense that obviously an automatic weapon can fire a lot more rounds in a short period of time. he also had two hand guns. now, when he was detained, he told authorities that he had explosives in his car and you saw pictures of that car. but we're told that a search of the car did not turn up any explosives. we're also told that car had tennessee plates on it. >> right. >> i'm not sure what the reason is for that because obviously he had an apartment where he was living in aurora so that's something they'll have to explain. and the gas that he set off was tear gas so that was apparently the first thing he did.

>> all right. pete williams, thank you very much. we'll have much more on this tragic mass shooting in aurora, colorado in just a moment. we're back. this is "today" on nbc. [ male announcer ] where did all the obama stimulus money go? friends, donors, campaign supporters, special interest groups where did the obama stimulus money go? solyndra: 500 million taxpayer dollars. bankrupt. so where did the obama stimulus money go? windmills from china. electric cars from finland 79% of the 2.1 billion in stimulus grants awarded through it went to overseas companies. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

if you're just joining us we start this friday morning with tragic news out of aurora, colorado where a gunman walked into a screening of "the dark knight rises" shortly after midnight local time and opened fire. 14 people are known to be dead. 50 others have been wounded in that shooting. >> the 24-year-old suspect now in police custody. we will have much more ahead. but first your local news. ♪ just one bite opens a world of delight... ♪ a flavor paradise of delicious fishes ♪

♪ friskies seafood sensations. ♪ feed the senses. good morning, it's 7:26 on this friday, july 20th. i'm aaron gilchrist. another line of strong storms moving through our area in just a matter of hours. let's go right to meteorologist tom kierein. >> the threat today heavy rain that may cause some localized flooding, probably won't get any damaging winds. right now, storm 4 radar showing the rain now just coming into culpeper county heading towards the metro area, perhaps into the metro area by perhaps 9:00, 10:00. heaviest downpours during this afternoon and this evening. watch out for high water and perhaps some thunder and lightning and then settle down for the

good morning. still seeing eastbound lanes of greenbound road blocked and

traveling 295 northbound so from south capital street delays continue as you make your way towards 11th street bridge. not seeing accidents, jus

7:30 on this friday morning, july 20th, 2012. it is a sad and tragic morning following a mass shooting at a movie theater in aurora, colorado near denver. at least 14 people are dead at this hour. 50 others are injured. one of the victims being treated at the children's hospital of colorado said to be just 6 years old. good morning to you. i'm savannah guthrie alongside matt lauer. a horrific scene. witnesses describing a man walking into a theater as the midnight showing of "the dark knight rises" occurred, armed to the teeth, some kind of bullet proof vest, some kind of helmet, opening up tear gas and opening fire on the crowd. >> came in through an emergency exit in the front corner according to an eyewitness inside the theater, threw the

gas canister, then opened fire and slowly made his way up the stairs that are part of the aisle along side the theater, firing randomly as savannah mentioned. it's impossible to ever make sense of a situation like this but it's also very early. though we know this 24-year-old is in custody, he was apparently taken into custody in the parking lot near his vehicle and is being questioned by police. we also know that the police have surrounded what is believed to be his residence in a residential area of aurora. you're looking at pictures of that right now. they searched his car with some sort of a robotic device. at the moment we have no idea of what the motive was. some of the people in that theater watching this highly anticipated movie may have even thought this was a stunt that was related to the movie. clearly, it was not. as 15 people are now dead and50o injured. >> one of the witnesses told us she did initially think this was part of the show, that the

gunman pointed his gun directly at her. she ducked and was able to escape. our pete williams has reported that the suspect had an ak type long gun on him at the time. unclear if it was an automatic weapon. also two hand guns. witnesses said he was dressed in all black. he had a build that was muscular, about 6'3". was wearing some kind of vest. others have said he was wearing a gas mask as well. >> you talk about some of the victims. this one being as young as 6 years old. a little unusual because this was a midnight showing of "the dark knight rises." obviously there were some children in attendance. there were also a lot of teenagers in attendance. some of the people who were in that theater, obviously the wounded have been taken to trauma centers. others have been taken to a local high school called the gateway high school where they are being questioned by authorities so that they can give them any pertinent information that might help in the very early stages of this investigation. again, we do not have a name of this 24-year-old suspect. we're expecting a news

conference from local authorities about 11:00 colorado time. that's 1:00 here on the east coast. we would imagine we'd learn a lot more about who this person is and any potential motive at that time. >> we want to get to corbin dates who was actually inside the theater as the shooting started. he is on the phone with us from aurora. good morning to you. we're glad you are okay. can you tell us what you saw and heard inside the theater? >> good morning. when i arrived at the theater it was supposed to be just a regular night out with my friends. prior to the movie starting i came up and sat in a row to the front right of me and then made a phone call outside of the emergency exit door which i thought was uncommon for people to normally do. i did not see him for a while. i came back into the theater. the movie started and a guy walked in wearing all black like all armor, wearing a gas mask, and throws a gas canister into the audience.

i thought it was a stunt as a part of the movie. the gas can went off and i went to the ground and i still wasn't catching on. gunshots were going off. people are screaming. i thought it was for a thrill. then people are really, really screaming and i started getting really scared. i went to the ground and i tried to crawl my way out with my best friend who was with me. >> corbin, it's matt lauer. let me see if i understand this. are you under the impression that the person you saw leave that theater through the emergency exit to make a phone call may have been the same person who then came back in dressed in all black with these weapons? >> i couldn't tell or if it was a person who was with the person that came in to do the firing. >> and that emergency exit you're talking about does that go out into some hallway of the theater? this is a multi-plex theater. or does it lead to the outdoors? >> it goes straight to the outdoors and the back of the theater. >> so whoever did this was obviously staged outside and came in.

would it be unusual, would you imagine, i'm not an expert on the theater, but why that door would be able to be opened from the outside? >> usually those doors are not. they're usually only for emergency exits. i would have to assume somebody propped it open or did not close it all the way for it to latch on. >> let me take you back to after the shooting began. this gunman according to other eyewitnesses slowly made his way up the side aisle of the theater. take me through what you saw after that. okay. i did not try to look at the gunman. the only thing i could hear was the gun fire going from straight in front of me to when i got to the floor going behind me as he was going up the aisle behind me i was trying to crawl to the left side of the theater to make my way to the other side of the exit. i did not witness -- i did not try to see the guy going up the aisles to open more fire. i just heard the fire and tried to get out of there as soon as i could. >> how did you get out? >> i was crawling on the ground

and i was -- >> corbin, i know you weren't looking but did you hear a pause? some witnesses have told us he appeared to stop and reload. >> yes, yes. i did not hear the reload but there was some pausing in between shots being fired. >> were the gunshots still going off as you finally made your way out of that theater? >> no. they seemed to stop for at least five minutes and i waited another two minutes to make sure it was okay and then i made my way out to the lobby. >> corbin, can you tell me a little bit about some of what you saw in terms of those who were wounded by this shooter? >> i was -- all i saw was people who were injured on the stairs. a body was in front of me. i'm not sure if it was -- the person was still living or -- it's something i really don't want to go through ever again. >> you mentioned you were there with some friends. it was supposed to be a normal night out with friends.

did your friends make it out okay? >> yes. >> corbin was the theater packed at the time? >> yes it was. >> how quickly did the police get there? >> i want to say, from the moment i was on the ground maybe ten minutes the alarm came on. i couldn't precisely say what time the police got there. i couldn't tell you. >> all right. corbin dates who was inside the theater as this gunman entered and began shooting. corbin, thank you very much. we'll come back to you in a little while. pete williams is now reporting that federal and local authorities have entered the apartment in aurora. another section of aurora, colorado that is believed to belong to the gunman. a 24-year-old who has not yet been named. they're inside that building now. we would hope that no one else is inside that building in terms of other residents but they are now going to methodically go through this person's apartment. he has reportedly according to some reports told authorities that there may be explosive materials or explosive devices inside that residence. >> i think pete williams joins us now.

pete, this is one of those occasions where sometimes officers know more than they're able to reveal. do they feel they do have this suspect identified, that they know who he is? or do they feel he may have given a false name? >> well, i think that's what they're trying to verify. he has given them a name. told them of a location. i assume he was carrying identification. but they're right now checking into the legitimacy of all that. now you're looking at the picture of the apartment. you see that the area has been cleared and the apartment building is just on the left of the screen. it's that i guess red brick building. you can see the door apparently open on the entrance to the i guess would be the hallways but the interesting picture here is that s.w.a.t. or local agent standing on top of the evidence response truck and looking into the window. now, it may well be just judging by the pictures here that they've decided that the prudent thing to do since this suspect

has told them there were explosives there, that it was bo booby trapped that they decided not to try to go through the door but try to go through the window or at least get a good look in the window first. >> i'm looking at the people on the ground. they don't seem to be wearing any special protective devices which surprises me. if there are explosives in that area where that gentleman is looking in the window, you'd think they'd be either wearing protection or further back. >> reporter: it may be by now that that concern has somewhat abated but, clearly, they're taking this step by step. now, you know, he also told them that he had explosives in his car. >> right. >> and there weren't any explosives in his car. they did search the car. you know, one of the sort of remarkable things about this is that after firing all these shots killing and wounding all these people, he made no effort to run away. he was found standing by the car. now, this is what it looked like very early this morning as they

went through this white car with we're told tennessee license plates. he had told them there were explosives and all they found was an additional rifle. they say when he entered the theater he was carrying an ak-47 type, so-called assault rifle, one that's capable of firing a large number of rounds and two hand guns. they found another rifle in his car. so he came to the theater with four weapons in all and carried three of them into the theater apparently according to authorities and that also eyewitnesses back it up. they say he was wearing a black mask, a bullet proof vest. that when he came in that exit door he set off tear gas. this is the apartment in aurora, colorado just outside denver where he's told them that he had explosives as well and they're doing a very slow, careful search of it. but as you can see there is a fairly busy road nearby that they have not shut down. so i don't know what their state of thinking right now is about whether, the likelihood there

are explosives there. >> pete, hold on a minute. we want to bring in our analyst clint van zandt on the phone with us. we have a s.w.a.t. situation outside a suspect's apartment and an officer peering through the window on top of a van. do you have any insight as to what the protocol might be, what the officers might be thinking as they, perhaps, enter the building? >> yeah, i do, savannah. what you are seeing is an officer using at least a long mirror if not a recording device to try to look and see if perhaps the window could be booby trapped. when we start talking about explosives, law enforcement have to be concerned that the windows, the doors, the stairway, something could have a booby trap in it. before they open anything up, they're going to want to get a good look to ensure that they don't have an explosive going off in their face. >> clint, let's talk a little bit about planning and preparation. this, clearly, does not appear to be something that happens spur of the moment with this

suspect. he had the gas mask. he had the helmet, the bullet proof vest. he had some sort of a smoke bomb or tear gas device. he had planned to come in through an emergency exit in that theater and was armed to the teeth as savannah said earlier. this is something that was probably in the works for a long time. >> i would think it has. number one, he would have known the release date for the movie and planned on being there. probably had to have an advance ticket. he would have had to as you suggest assembled the weapons, assembled the clothing. there was one suggestion that perhaps one of the weapons was already planted in the theater. an interview you just did, you had a guest suggest perhaps the emergency door had been staged open so the shooter could get inside. matt, you saw the movie. i haven't seen it. there was one suggestion that he may have even been dressed like one of the characters in the movie, somebody by the name of bain, whoever that might be.

but i think what we're dealing with right now is when we look at situations like virginia tech, fort hood, the shooting of congresswoman gabby giffords. >> right. >> all of these we have somebody bringing multiple weapons for either some type of fantasy that they had in their mind. >> right. >> or some type of terroristic mode. here law enforcement has to make a decision. was this someone simply acting out some terrible fantasy or knowing that the fbi and atf were on the scene could there be some link to terrorism? that's what we have to find out and we have to find out very quickly. >> clint, i don't blame you at all for saying this. we were thinking this earlier. i'm being very careful about this movie and its content and not immediately assuming that there is some connection in motive between this movie and what happened but, yes, there is a character in that movie and we've heard reports that some eyewitnesses say this guy appeared as if he was wearing a gas mask or a helmet. yet this bain character in the

movie does wear a kind of facemask that does resemble some kind of gas mask that has a contraption going up over the head that might be mistaken for a helmet. i'm not sure if these are readily available at costume stores or anything like that. in terms of explosives, there is an element in this movie without giving anything away obviously but clearly it does involve the explosive devices in a major city. but again, it's way too early to draw those kinds of conclusions based on the fact we don't have enough information about the suspect. >> not only that this was the premiere of the movie and few people have actually seen it. clint van zandt we'll let you go for now. please stand by and we will be back with much or on "today."

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no. ♪ ugh, no! [ sighs ] we can have hotdogs for dinner?! yes. [ male announcer ] in a world filled with "no," it's nice to finally say "yes." new oscar mayer selects hotdogs. made with 100% beef and no artificial preservatives. it's yes food. we're back with continuing coverage of this mass shooting in aurora, colorado. police have a 24-year-old suspect in custody. jase larson of kusa is outside that suspect's apartment. jase, what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, we can tell you there are three different agencies with the s.w.a.t. teams and the bomb squad is out here. they've been out here now for several hours. while we don't have a ton of information what we can say is that there continues to be more law enforcement coming to this area. what used to be just kind of a city block that was blocked off is now blocks.

there are s.w.a.t. team members with their helmets on. they have very large guns. they vick vests very thick vests on. we don't know if they've made an entry into the suspect's apartment. we don't know if they're waiting to go in. there are definitely more people showing up here. it continues to be a pretty active scene. we don't know whether there is anybody else inside the building. however, we have been told by several people that police officers showed up in the middle of the night and told them they had to get out. that there may be explosives in their apartment. and they believe that everybody left just as quickly as they could. many people are standing outside with nothing more than what they walked out of their apartment with. >> jase, i know you talked to those people. do any of them know the young man who appears to live in this apartment? >> well, at this point the people who we're talking to don't know. they have not released the name of this person. however, what we're hearing, we have not come across anybody who

has said they knew of this individual at least at this time. >> all right. jase larson who is outside the suspect's apartment building outside aurora, colorado, as we continue to follow this and just a reminder the suspect is in custody. we have conflicting reports, frankly, on the death toll right now. the aurora police chief now saying it stands at 12. we have another report that says it could be as high as 16. >> we know there are some critically injured people being treated at local trauma centers. we'll have much more in a moment. but first these messages.

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good morning, everyone. i'm erika gonzalez. the time is 7:56. more rain expected today. here is meteorologist tom kierein. >> storm 4 radar now showing an area of rain advancing closer to the metro area, not heavy yet, just some pockets of moderate rain coming in to culpeper and farther east and advancing northeast towards the metro area over the last couple of hours and the heavier rains that may cause flooding are this afternoon and perhaps tonight highs low to mid-80s. then tomorrow and sunday, we settle down and it should be cooler.

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good morning. traveling 295 northbound. we have a crash just as you approach the 11th street bridge and it's blocking your left lane and you are jammed from the beltway. in fact, eight miles per hour, as you make your way towards suitland parkway. very slow this morning. crossing over the 14th street bridge, not too bad and your travel speed on 395, 45 miles per hour as you head northbound. erika, back over to you. >> another news update in 25 minutes and now

it's 8:00 on a friday morning, the 20th of july, 2012. this morning we are following breaking news that mass shooting at a movie theater in the suburban denver area. a gunman burst in about midnight or 12:30. it was a showing of the new movie "the dark knight rises" and then that gunman released some sort of a tear gas canister and then opened fire. i'm matt lauer with savannah guthrie. a 24-year-old suspect is now in police custody. police are searching his apartment or at least they're at his apartment. we're not sure whether they have actually entered the residence even as we speak. >> this was a suspect who was heavily armed at the time, was said to have a long gun, some kind of shotgun or rifle with him, some kind of ak-ish weapon,

two hand guns. this suspect reportedly told police his car and perhaps his apartment also had explosives inside them. we want to get to kusa's jase larson with us from aurora. i believe he is near or outside the suspect's apartment with the latest. jase, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning to you. yes, we are out here where i want to let you see the scene right now. people at this exact moment are suiting up. we believe there are three different bomb squads out here from different area agencies. we're told the suspect after being captured by police told authorities he had explosive materials in his apartment. the police came to this intersection and evacuated the building immediately just as a precautionary measure. we have seen this morning several more law enforcement officers show up here. the scene continues to grow. we don't know if they've yet made entry or if they are waiting to see what will happen next. we know of course they have all

types of equipment they can go in from different types of robots to actually putting on protective suits themselves. we haven't seen them put on the thick, green protective suits we've often seen before. but as we just showed you they are suiting up here and we'll keep you updated. >> we should mention, jace, the suspect also allegedly told police there were explosives or explosive materials in his car. we saw some footage earlier on. we might be able to put that up. of a police robotic vehicle. this is not that footage but actually police officers examining that car after a remote controlled robotic vehicle went in and opened the trunk and opened the doors and went through that vehicle. do we know, jace, whether any explosive materials were found in that vehicle? >> reporter: that's what we haven't been able to confirm. either whether there are any explosives in the vehicle, matt -- >> okay. jace, hold on a second. i want to go to nbc's chief justice correspondent pete williams. pete, we understand we have more on the suspect? >> reporter: well, yes.

i'm told by several federal officials that the name they believe that this young man had is james holmes, born december 13th, 1987. he had an address in aurora, colorado. that's the address of the apartment that you looked at just a moment ago where jace larson was reporting from. matt, to answer your question, authorities say they did not find any explosives in that car. he claimed there were explosives in the car. there weren't any. he came to the scene with apparently four weapons. we're told it was a rifle, now a shotgun they say was the other long gun. and two pistols. the rifle was said to be a semiautomatic ak type. so that's capable of carrying a large magazine, a large number of rounds in the weapon before you would have to reload. i don't know what the two hand guns were. so they're now at his apartment in aurora and as you saw earlier they're doing this very carefully. we saw an officer standing on

top of an evidence response van so that he could look into the window of the apartment and get a good look at it. that's the picture we're looking at earlier. this is a much earlier picture than we had a moment ago. >> right. >> you saw them with a hand held mirror or possibly a remote camera on a long pole so they could look into the apartment first before they opened up. but in a subsequent picture you could actually see an officer with -- looked like the window was open looking into the apartment. so it may be that they'll decide to go in that way or they'll go in the door if they can get a good look at the door and decide that it's, you know, safe to open the door and go in. they have no reason to think there are explosives there other than what this young man has told them. >> just to restate something you told us earlier, with a name now james holmes, 24 years old, and according to the information you passed along earlier this was not a guy who was any kind -- on any kind of watch list, known to authorities as a potential

problem? >> reporter: absolutely not on any kind of terror watch list, not on any list of known -- for want of a better term extremist organizations. so, no. this is not a name that was familiar to them. the big question is why? and i've not heard of any explanation yet that he has given them or that they are satisfied with for why he did this. >> all right. pete, stand by. we want to get to frank finya with the aurora police department. he is on the phone with us right now. first things first. can you confirm this is the name of the suspect james holmes born december 13th, 1987? >> that we're not confirming yet. i can tell you it's an adult male in his early 20s. >> what has this suspect told investigators so far? do you have any insight into what the motive here might be? >> i haven't heard anything on the motive. the only information i've heard of was the spontaneous statement he made when he was first arrested indicating that he had the explosives in his apartment.

i don't know if they've started to question him, tried to question him. i don't know where that stands right now. >> did he resist at all when officers approached him or do we have it right he was apprehended in the parking lot of the theater? >> he was apprehended right in the parking lot at the rear of the theater. he did not offer any resistance but i don't know if he was caught by surprise, surrendered, or just did not offer any resistance. >> officer, can you confirm for me the number of dead? we are getting all kinds of different reports and that number has gone from ten to 12 to 15 back to 14. what are you hearing? >> early on we were reporting 14. within the last 30 minutes we updated that to 12. we've been getting conflicting information. the victims were taken to at least six different hospitals throughout the metro area. we do believe there's ten inside the theater that are dead with two additional who died at local hospitals. >> are you being told anything about the severity of the injuries and the wounds to the people who are being treated, what kind of condition they're

in? >> every condition from minor to extremely critical. keep in mind that up to 50 injuries, we don't know if they're all gun shot wounds. we don't know if this guy did in fact detonate some sort of explosive device and some of the injuries might be shrapnel. i'm only guessing that some of the injuries might be from people trying to run out of there. so a wide range of injuries and conditions. >> officer, we heard from pete williams our justice correspondent that this guy was not on any known watch list, terror list, extremist list in terms of the federal or national level. was he known to local police? did he have any kind of a troubled past? >> i can say that in aurora he was given a traffic ticket in 2011 and that is our only contact with him. i don't know how long he's lived in aurora. i don't know what his criminal history is in the rest of colorado or the united states. but in aurora alone one minor traffic ticket a year ago.

>> officer, in the early hours in the confusion there was some suggestion there may be more than one gunman. can we just put that to rest right now? do you think you're dealing with a lone suspect here? >> i think so. the early indications were that he acted alone. immediately afterward that's what we were focusing on is to make sure there was no one else involved that played a role in any way. and we're pretty confident that he acted alone at this point. >> officer, one other question for you. we've had eyewitnesses describe what he was wearing when he walked into that theater. we've had some say it was a bullet proof vest. some called it a costume. some said he was wearing a gas mask. even a helmet. do you know exactly what he was wearing? is it possible that he was wearing a costume of a character in the movie that was playing in that theater? >> i can't say for sure. i have heard that he was possibly wearing some sort of batman costume. i think he was wearing a vest of some sort assuming a bullet proof vest. he did have a gas mask when he was arrested. i don't know if it was actually on or if he had taken it off by

then and it appeared dark clothing. >> i just want to explain to our viewers. you say gas mask. we did have an image up a second ago that was an image of the villain in this new movie, a character called bain and the outfit or the get up that he wears throughout the movie. we do not yet know or cannot confirm whether this was a similar costume. officer, we really appreciate your time this morning. you've been very helpful. >> thank you. >> we want to get to nbc's kristen welker who is traveling with the president in florida this morning. kristen, good morning. what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, savannah. i can tell you according to white house press secretary jay carney president obama was notified about the shooting at 5:26 this morning by his homeland security adviser john brennan. they are of course monitoring the situation quite closely. the white house has put out a statement. it reads, michelle and i are shocked by the horrific shooting in colorado. several local law enforcement are still responding and my

administration will do everything we can to support the people of aurora in this extraordinarily difficult time. that is just part of the statement that president obama put out. we are traveling with him in the west palm beach area. in fact, we are about to head to ft. myers where he has a campaign event. i spoke with officials with his campaign this morning who tell me at this point in time there are no plans to change the president's schedule. i want to stress that they are saying that right now. they are early in discussions about how to handle this situation. president obama expected to speak at about 11:30 this morning. by all accounts if he does in fact attend that event he will address this incredibly tragic and horrific situation. savannah? >> all right. kristen welker traveling with the president in florida, thank you. we've received a statement from mitt romney and his wife ann on the shooting. it says, quote, ann and i are deeply saddened by the news of the senseless violence that took the lives of 15 people in colorado and injured dozens more. we are praying for the families and loved ones of the victims

during this time of deep shock and immense grief. we expect that the person responsible for this terrible crime will be quickly brought to justice. the statement of mitt romney this morning. >> i want to bring in clint van zandt who is a former fbi profiler who handles a lot of these stories for us. clinl clint, let's talk about what we know about this alleged gunman the suspect now in custody. we know he was capable of planning this with great detail, entering through an exit in that theater, heavily armed, wearing some sort of protective devices. we know he was willing and able to kill more than a dozen people and injure so many more. what strikes me, though, is when he is taken into custody first of all he offers no resistance. and he begins then to tell police a story about explosives that he has stashed in his car and according to pete williams police searched that car and found none. what does it tell us about his mindset? >> well, we've got someone, matt, who i think you rightfully suggest is fully capable of

planning this. this doesn't appear to be something that was done overnight. as you suggest, the planning includes perhaps buying a movie ticket in advance, assembling the clothing. assembling four different weapons. perhaps planting one weapon in the theater in advance. perhaps propping open an emergency door, acquiring a tear gas grenade to use and all the other artifacts he was wearing. so this is something that's probably been in the planning stages for a while. what we find so many times, matt, in the cases of these mass shootings, again, like virginia tech, again, like fort hood, again, like congresswoman gabby giffords, we see a shooter who will build up to that point of the shooting. they know what they want to do. they know the intention thatten want but they don't necessarily have an after action plan, an escape plan. they don't know what they're going to do from that point on.

now, the last thing i ever want to do is build up any type of mental illness defense for anyone. again, this is someone who appears fully knew what they were doing to plan this shooting. now, what law enforcement, fbi, atf has to make -- has to come to the understanding of, is this just someone acting out some terrible fantasy perhaps based on the movie and all of a sudden it became his reality? or could there be like fort hood some other type of motive? that's what they'll be trying very hard to understand. >> that's what i'm getting at. when he is already in custody and he knows this is over for him, why tell authorities that his car has got explosives in it when in fact it doesn't? what's the purpose of that? >> sometimes it's to have the situation continue, matt. it's -- he sees it short lived. he sees his involvement at that second as ended. but if he gives a little more

information, in his mind it makes it that much more dramatic. matt, i would suggest at this moment he probably doesn't know how many people he actually killed and injured, so he is even building his story up to make it more dramatic for law enforcement. >> nbc's clint van zandt. clint, as always, thank you very much. we'll have much more from aurora, colorado right after this. living with the pain of moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis could mean living with joint damage. help stop the damage before it stops you with humira, adalimumab. for many adults with moderate to severe ra, humira's proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred.

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judge (woman): he did. what is his secret? ♪ jace. back on a friday morning covering a shooting in aurora, colorado at a movie theater just after midnight local time at a showing of "the dark knight rises" a gunman walking in killing at the moment according officially to local police 12 people, injuring up to 50. and now in custody the 24-year-old whose name is james holmes. we're going to have much more details in terms of details on his arrest but i want to bring in an eyewitness right now. jennifer seeger was inside the theater when the gunman walked in. jennifer, you're joining us again. just in case there were some people who didn't hear your reporting for us the first time we spoke to you talk a little bit about where you were when

this man walked in through that front exit. >> yeah. i was in the very second front row and i was the first person on his side. he was about five or four or five feet away from me when he came through that side exit door right next to the screen. i thought it was part of the show, you know, he got dressed up but then when he threw that gas can i thought it was just smoke or something special effects. nobody really thought anything of it. then he went ahead and shot his gun in the air toward the ceiling and everybody freaked out at that point. and then right when he did that he pointed his gun straight at my face. i just got terrified. i didn't know what to do. like deer in the headlights. then i just jumped into the aisle and curled up into a little ball and waited for him to go away. he didn't shoot me but started shooting people right behind me. i saw gun shells -- they were touching and hurting my forehead. all i could smell was smoke and

massive amounts of screaming and panic and chaos. >> right. >> then he started going up the stairs. every time somebody was trying to flee he would shoot them. you know? he didn't have a specific order. it was just whoever was moving he would go for it. >> jennifer, since you came face to face with this guy i want to ask you a question. some people have said he was wearing a gas mask. you had seen the first several minutes of this movie. there is a character in this movie named bain who wears kind of a mask, a mouth piece contraption and a bit of a partial helmet. was this guy dressed as that character? or did he have an actual working gas mask on? >> no, he had an actual working gas mask. to describe what he kind of looked like he was if you've ever seen like a s.w.a.t. movie or military movie he was literally dressed in camo and was wearing a bullet proof vest and a gas mask and a gun. he looked like he was going to go in -- i'm sure when he

escaped finally nobody thought anything of it because they thought he was a cop you know what i mean? >> i think you told us earlier you had your son with you. it was a packed theater. were there a lot of children? >> i don't have a son. i just know there were a lot of children. i'm 22. i don't have a kid but i know as far as i could see there were a lot of kids there. 12-year-old kids, 14-year-old kids. there was a 6-year-old there that got shot. when i went in there and i was trying to escape, there was a little girl who was like, i don't know. 12, 14. laying lifeless on the stairs. you know what i mean? i just didn't know what to do. i was completely just distraught. i had no idea. i'm crawling and on my way out i walked over this gentleman. he got to be like 18 years old. he had been shot in the back. i've had some emt training so i wanted to take his pulse. he had a really weak pulse. i was like we need to get this guy out of here. when i tried to pull him they're

like no the gunman is coming back. we have to go. so i freaked out and i left him there and i felt guilty for it but i was just trying to survive you know? at first when everybody was trying to escape they said, no. run back into the theater because he was shooting people that were trying to escape. >> jennifer, stand by. we'll talk to you in a little while. we certainly appreciate your time this morning, jennifer seeger, who was inside that theater. >> we're back in a moment with our continuing coverage of this shooting in colorado. back after this. , sneeze, swish to help keep stuff off their hands. ♪ this back to school ♪ there's a new routine ♪ grab a kleenex® tissue to help keep your hands clean ♪ ♪ every time you sneeze no matter where ♪ ♪ ya gottahield sneeze swish like you just don't care ♪ ♪ shield sneeze swish ♪ check out my swish ♪ da da da da da, da da da da da ♪ [ female announcer ] only kleenex® brand has sneeze shield in all their tissues to help keep stuff off kids' hands. for a golf getaway. double miles you can actually use...

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breaking news. at least 12 dead after a mass shooting in colorado. a suspect is in a suspect is in custody. >> much more information after a your local news and weather. good morning, it's 8:26 on this friday, july 20th. i'm aaron gilchrist. rain is moving our way, let's check in with tom kierein. >> getting closer to the metro area. storm 4 radar showing it advancing from the southwest heading northeast and some light rain initially and later this afternoon, we will probably get some heavier downpours, especially late afternoon and into this evening and some of those could produce some isolated flooding. before then, climbing into the low and mid-80s and right now near 80. tomorrow cooler, cloudy, small chance of a shower and small

good morning. if you're traveling the outer loop of the beltway, heavy on the brakes. these delays continue just past connecticut avenue and actually start right around new hampshire avenue. no accidents, though. let's head over to i-95 and looks nice and clear fairfax county parkway. your travel speed at 60 miles per hour, 11 minutes to drive to

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8:30 on a sad friday morning, the 20th of july, 2012. we are following that tragic shooting in a movie theater in aurora, colorado. the suspect, who police believe acted alone, has now been identified as 24-year-old james holmes from aurora. right now police are inside his apartment. good morning everyone. i'm savannah guthrie along side matt lauer here in new york. >> according to local law enforcement james holmes had no major trouble in his past.

he was issued a traffic ticket. at one point several years ago pete williams tells us he was on no major watch lists in terms of the federal government. he is in custody. he's told authorities that he had explosives in his car. that turned out from what we understand not to be true. he has also told authorities he may have explosives in his apartment. that as savannah mentioned is being investigated even as we speak. but we do know that 12 people are dead and there are a lot of people in critical condition. this was an unbelievable tragedy inside that theater. >> one of the police officers told us this morning there are ten dead inside the theater. two later died at area hospitals. multiple witnesses have described a man who entered the theater at the front right near an exit near the front of the theater and first fired a shot into the air then unleashed some kind of canister that people think had tear gas in it and then began opening fire slowly, methodically, making his way up through the theater. >> police arrived on the scene just a few minutes later.

we have reports that some police officers were coming across the victims of this shooting and placing them in cruisers or squad cars and taking them to the hospital not even waiting for ambulances. that's the seriousness of some of these injuries. and again, we're awaiting word on conditions of the people being treated at trauma centers right now. >> this young man was apparently heavily armed. he had some kind of ak rifle with him. a long gun as well as two hand guns. he was -- had a black gas mask on his face according to witnesses. some kind of bullet proof vest we've been told. but he was not in any kind of batman costume at least according to one witness. he was indeed heavily armed. >> corbin dates was inside the theater when this gunman walked in. he is with us now from aurora. corbin, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> place yourself inside the theater. where were you in relation to where this gunman entered in the front corner? >> in the theater i was sitting

in the second row from the screen about five feet away from when the gunman came into the theater. >> so you came very close to him. what did he do as he walked in that theater? did he point the gun in your direction? >> as he walked into the theater the gun was not pointed in my direction but he did throw a gas can into the audience behind me. i thought it was part of the movie as a stunt and the gas can went off and then gunshots started going off and then i went to the floor to try to crawl my way out. >> what did you hear after that? i understand if you're on the floor there is not much you can see but can you describe what you were hearing? >> there were just single gunshots. none were rapid fire. i heard a lot of people screaming. a lot of people ahead of me were screaming. i was trying to keep them calm and quiet so we could try to make it out of there safely without being noticed as much as possible. >> what can you describe in terms of the aftermath, what you saw in terms of the victims who

were injured? >> in terms of victims who were injured as i was crawling on the way out i saw people laying on the stairs, people laying on the ground undetermined whether they were still alive or if they had already passed. i wasn't too sure. outside in the parking lot there was police cars everywhere. there was ambulances everywhere. people were crying, wondering about those still inside the theaters. >> corbin, i know when you're in a chaotic situation like this time is difficult to judge. time stands still for a lot of people. can you give me a sense for how long this took place, how long this gunman was actually firing in that theater? >> i want to say the gunshots started flying for at least 15 or 20 minutes. >> 15 or 20 minutes. and were police officers entering the theater or trying to enter the theater during that time? >> i could not tell. i was still on the ground. the theater was still dark and people were trying to get out ahead of me. >> i know he was wearing some kind of gas mask.

did you get a good look at him or did the mask completely cover his face? >> the mask completely covered his face. the only thing you could see was his eyes. you could only identify his height and his figure. everything was -- he was wearing all black and there was nothing else. >> corbin dates, thank you for your information this morning. stand by because we want to get to corbin dates -- excuse me. we'll wrap up with corbin dates and get to jace larson outside the suspect's apartment. jace, what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, within the last few minutes really within about the last 60 seconds we have seen seven new police cars show up here at the scene. let me give you a look at what things look like. those are the new cars that have just arrived. we have seen at least one bomb tech get very close to this suspect's apartment. he was wearing one of those big, green protective suits that we've seen before. we've also seen the fire department come and shut off the gas to at least one of the buildings in that area. it's hard for us to tell exactly

where this suspect lived. however, we believe it was in the vicinity of the red brick building that you're seeing over there. we don't yet know if police, if the fire department has been able to get inside this building and see whether anything is even inside. we know that the apartment building has been evacuated. >> jace, it's interesting because after being told by this suspect allegedly that he had explosive materials in his car, and not finding anything according to our pete williams, they are still taking his suggestion that there may be explosives in his apartment very seriously. >> oh, and that's really what you would expect because they want to be so careful here. they want to make sure that safety is the number one thing. this is a busy intersection. you see the cars that are going by here. if there was some type of explosive device, that's within the block of this area here, you can imagine the type of damage that it would do. >> right. all right. jace larson on the scene of the apartment for us. jace, stand by.

thank you very much. let's bring in nbc's justice correspondent pete williams. he's got more on the suspect, 24-year-old james holmes. pete? >> reporter: right. we're told he was born december 13th, 1987. now, he had this address in aurora, colorado, that's on the record on parastreet in aurora, colorado where jace is reporting from right now. earlier today, matt, authorities told us that their only encounter with him had been a traffic ticket a year ago. he was not on any list of known extremists or potential terrorists. they've said there is no connection here they don't believe to any kind of organized terror group. so, you know, who he is and why he did this is a complete mystery to them. now, i should say that i've talked to jace. he is actually -- he can't see what we're seeing right now because he is on the other side of this apartment building which is apparently about four miles from the movie theater. you see that the -- they've

decided not to try to go into the door of the apartment building. they're now going through the window of the apartment. they've got these authorities -- it looks like firefighters -- on a long boom on a fire truck boom so that they can enter through the window, check things out, look through -- we saw them earlier with some sort of camera device apparently. >> right. we're watching them now pulling screening off one of the windows, pete. >> right. >> what surprises me only is that they're in shirt sleeves. they don't appear to be wearing those enormous suits that we sometimes see when law enforcement officials are concerned that a bomb or explosives are in an area. >> well, my guess is, matt, and this is strictly a guess, just looking at the pictures, is that these are the folks who will prepare for the entry and then you probably will see somebody wearing that kind of thing who will go in. they've obviously satisfied themselves from their earlier looking. we saw them looking at the window with a mirror or camera. they've apparently satisfied themselves that the window wasn't booby trapped so they are

preparing that. i think later whoever goes in probably will be wearing that sort of material. >> pete, let me ask you a question. we live in the age of social media and often in the past when we've had situations involving someone who goes on a rampage, authorities find things posted on either a facebook page or some other source of information. any headway into something like that with james holmes? >> well, no. we've been checking on that. we don't see anything like that so far, matt. the authorities say he had four weapons -- two pistols, a rifle, an ak-47 type, and you just heard one of the witnesses say that the shots were not fired in rapid succession. that would indicate to me this was not an automatic weapon which is the kind where if you hold the trigger down the bullets just keep coming out. >> right. >> then also a shotgun. so, you know, a shotgun is like -- fires little pellets instead of bullets. so those were the weapons that he brought with him and the authorities say that before he started firing, and this is consistent with what the witnesses say, he set off tear

gas. that is apparently why he was wearing a gas mask. just a moment ago we saw on the ground outside the theater these items here. what we're told is these were some of the things that the shooting suspect was wearing. so he was -- these were taken off him before he was arrested and you can see what looks like that thing with the white label on it sure looks like a bullet proof vest and then you see the mask. the witnesses say that he was dressed all in black and that he had a mask on as well. that's right near the car. and again, one of the sort of extraordinary things about this is that after the shooting when the authorities arrived and the police department in aurora, colorado is not very far from this theater, when they got there he was just standing near the car. he didn't try to run away. so this, you know, this whole thing is very odd. >> we're looking at where the car is parked and where this arrest allegedly took place. it is close to what appear to be some back entrances or exits of that movie theater or mall building. we don't know if that is the door that was used when the

gunman actually walked in. that. >>'s right. one of the things we've been trying to find out from the evidence response team there is whether the door had been prepped for this. because, you know, most -- i don't know what this one looks like. we haven't seen it yet. most of these exit doors on movie theaters don't have any external handles. >> right. >> there is like a bar on the inside that you press to get out but you can't open the door from the outside. there is no door handle. it's just blank. >> we have one eyewitness, pete, who told us he watched someone in that theater before this happened on a phone walk out of that exit and actually open it which he thought was oddhat someone would go through an emergency exit making a phone call and it could be we're speculating here that that person then kept that door open and it could have been the same person who came back in and did the shooting. >> that's right. of course we don't also know whether, you know, this was a midnight showing. it was relatively cool. whether they opened the door to cool it down. who knows? but what we are told by the authorities is that they don't

believe it was more than one person involved here. they have no indication that any more than one person was involved. >> all right. pete williams our justice correspondent joining us from washington with valuable information. pete, as always, thank you very much. >> we're going to switch gears for a moment and get a check the weather from al. good morning to you. >> good morning. this just in from the hollywood report reporter -- they are canceling the paris premiere of "the dar night" tonight because of everything that happened. we have our concert today with hot chelle rae because of the severity of the news, they have been performing for our crowd outside so they're not disappointed to you and we'll bring it to you some time next week. >> we thank the band for being so understanding. >> severe storm as a cool front drops down to the south and slow-moving system from jackson, mississippi, to washington. risk of strong storms looking for dangerous lightning, heavy rain and wind and rainfall

amounts anywhere one to three inches from chattanooga all the way up to just north of new york city and the heat continues out in the plains from huron down to pine bluff. we're talking about heat indexes from 100 to 110 degrees. look at these temperatures, kansas city feel like 110 and 105 in oklahoma city and pierre, south dakota, an air temperature of 103 degrees. that's what's going on around the country, here's what's happening in your neck of the woods. >> good morning, tom kierein. our main threat today is flooding rains, perhaps late this afternoon into this evening. storm 4 radar showing that advancing into the d.c. metro area by around 10:30. some of those later downpours later this afternoon and tonight could produce isolating flooding and cooler tomorrow and cloudy and small chance of a passing shower and partly sunny sunday and small chance of a shower heating up maybe >> and that's your late weather. >> al, thank you very much. warner brothers who distributes the movie has released a statement saying

warner brothers is deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. we extend our sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time. we will be back in a moment. this is "today" on nbc.

we are following breaking news out of aurora, colorado where a massive shooting has taken place at a theater where a showing after midnight of "the dark knight rises" was going on when a man walked in heavily armed dressed in a gas mask and started firing on the crowd. we have word there are at least 12 dead at this hour. perhaps more than 50 injured. >> we can go back to that aerial shot. the other side of that building is where the suspect is supposed to have lived. there is a fire truck with a hook and ladder rig that is lined up with one of the windows we believe of that suspect's apartment. we've seen law enforcement people pulling screens off windows and trying to open

windows apparently preparing to go into that building either through a window, maybe not through the door, but that is because the suspect has allegedly told police that there are explosives inside the apartment. >> as you mentioned the suspect is in custody. nbc news reporting his name is james holmes, a 24-year-old man from aurora, colorado. let's get to "the denver post's" ryan parker who joins us now. i know you were on the scene very early on. what can you tell us about what you heard and saw? >> when i got here initially, it was pretty chaotic. people very upset. we were pretty close at the time. the ground was littered with clothing, popcorn, you could tell people were trying to get out of the area as quickly as they could. talking to people, some of the stories were a little bit different. how many shooters there were, how many guns were used, if it was explosion buss for the most part people thought this was part of a publicity stunt. they heard loud bangs.

the bangs happened around the same time as some shooting in the movie so they didn't think much of it. they thought perhaps it was a stunt by warner brothers or somebody brought fireworks into the theater itself. it wasn't until somebody ran into one of the theaters, theater eight i believe screaming, they're shooting, they're shooting, that pandemonium ensued from what i've been told from witnesses. >> and how quickly, ryan, did police arrive? >> i've heard various reports from witnesses. some say that they were there immediately. i asked a few police themselves how long it took them to get down there. they said they weren't there immediately but that they were there quickly. one of my questions to the chief was if they knew about this before hand and that was one of the ways they were able to respond so quickly. he said that was a question he could not answer at this time. >> all right. ryan parker from "the denver post" who was there on the scene very early on in this incident. just to remind everybody, we have at least 12 dead after a massive shooting in colorado at a midnight showing of the movie "the dark knight rises."

>> many others being treated at local trauma centers, some of those in critical condition. we'll have much more information on this developing story. we're back in a moment. this is "today" on nbc.

looking at the scene of a mass shooting in aurora, colorado about seven hours or so ago a gunman walking into a theater where "the dark knight rises" was being shown at a midnight showing and then opened fire. 12 people known to be dead. at least 50 injured being treated at trauma centers. 17-year-old tanner was inside the movie theater with a friend and his friend's 12-year-old brother. tanner, good morning to you. >> hi. >> tell me where you were in the theater and most importantly tell me what you saw. >> so i was the fourth row from the top of the theater on the opposite side of the top exit. i was on the same side that the

shooter came in. he was -- but he came towards the lower i mean toward the front exit. so i was sitting there watching the movie about 20 minutes into it i saw a tear gas can fly over the audience. i didn't really think anything of it. there was smoke emitted. then i heard a loud bang and saw a flash and i just thought maybe fireworks. you know, people do that kind of stuff at midnight premieres. and so -- but then i heard more flashes and i instantly knew those were gunshots a. i was with two friends so i told them get down so we got on the floor in front of our seats and more -- i mean, 20 rounds were shot off. i heard people screaming. and there was a pause. i stuck my head up and then more shooting happened. i assume he changed the magazine or something like that with his hand gun 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 toward 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 to -- i shook her and said we need to go. get up. there was no response. i presumed she was dead. i went toward the exit. waited in the exit for my friends. saw a guy with blood across his face and on his shoulders. and just got out of the movie theater. >> tanner, i mentioned at the beginning you were there with a friend and that friend's 12-year-old brother, a 12-year-old witnessing this. bad enough at 17 or any age but how did the 12-year-old handle this? >> he -- well, when he realized what was going on that all the gun fire and stuff like that --

what's that? >> i just said how did he handle it? hello? he -- when he realized what was going on he didn't take it too well. he was freaking out. i was trying to calm him down. he just wanted to go home afterwards. he was really upset about this. >> tanner co oochlt ochlcoon w the theater i know you've had a traumatic and awful evening. thank you for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> we're back in a moment with more but first this is "today" on nbc.

to bring you up to date we are awaiting an 11:00 local time colorado news conference from law enforcement officials. >> we will bring it to you when it happens and have the latest on the investigation, but first we'll get you your local news and weather forecast. good morning, everyone. 8:56 on this friday, july 20th. storm 4 meteorologist tom kierein with a look at the forecast. >> good morning, storm 4 radar showing light rain approaching the metro area out of the south and west and farther west of there, there are some pockets of heavier downpours. those will likely be arriving later this afternoon and chance of severe storms in this severe

zone just southeast of the metro area. some of those storms could produce some damaging winds but else where the main threat causing flooding this afternoon and tonight and settling down for the weekend. erika? >> thank you,

good morning. traveling the dulles toll road. no issues for you as you make your way from the restin area and head towards the beltway. travel speeds as you connect eastbound to the parkway, 56 minutes. and traveling from the dulles road road to the interchange, not bad at all, 60 miles per hour and that drive taking 13 minutes. more weather and traffic in 25 minutes. now, back to "today" show

we're beak now with more of "today" on a friday morning, the 20th of july, 2012. you're looking at aurora, colorado. a movie theater complex animal complex there just outside denver about ten or 12 miles from the downtown denver area where a gunman opened fire inside a movie theater overnight killing at least 12 people, injuring some 50 others. as you can imagine, it was a terrifying and chaotic scene for the movie goers who were watching a midnight showing of "the dark knight rises." witnesses say a suspect released a gas canister, some kind of tear gas canister, before he began shooting. the 24-year-old suspect is now in custody. going to get the latest from jace larson, our affiliate kusa reporter out there. jace, good morning to you.

jace, can you hear me? i'm sorry. instead let's go to pete williams, who is our justice correspondent on the ground in washington learning a lot more about the investigation and the suspect. pete, good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, the suspect is identified as a 24-year-old man from the aurora area named james holmes. he was born december 13th of 1987, and authorities don't know much about him. they say he had no military history and the odd thing is that after the shooting he didn't try to escape. he didn't turn the gun on h himself as sometimes happens. he was just standing near that white car, the picture of which you saw a moment ago. that is the car he apparently drove to the theater and was standing there when police came out. he of dressed in black, wearing a bullet proof vest. had a gas mask because of the gas he released in the theater. he told the police his car and apartment were rigged with explosives.

they've searched the car. they found no explosives. they're now at his apartment which is about four miles from the theater in aurora, colorado. instead of trying to go through the door just as a precaution, they're entering through the window of the apartment. we saw a moment ago the officers responding to the scene ripping out the frame and the screen of the window so that they can enter that way and this is the latest picture we have. you see the firefighters there standing with that long pole and they've been ripping the window frame, the screens and the window frame out so that they can enter through the apartment that way. in the meantime they're trying to check on his background. he was not on a list of any kind of known trouble makers. he was not considered to be any kind of extremist. not connected as far as they know with any terrorist organization which is one reason authorities are saying they don't believe this was a terrorist act. and the only criminal past he has according to the aurora police is a traffic ticket that was issued to him sometime last year. now, they found four weapons, an

ak-47 type if you'll use the expression loosely, assault type rifle. a shotgun and two hand guns. we don't know which of them he fired in the theater but witnesses say they heard him fire not in rapid fashion so it may have been the ak-47 rifle that he fired. and of course he apparently had planned this for sometime because of how well equipped he was when he arrived at the theater. his parents apparently live in san diego. authorities are reaching out to contact them. matt, throughout the entire morning we've heard nothing from anyone on why this young man would have done this, whether he had a grudge against the theater. we found no indication of any kind of statement that he had posted on the internet although that's obviously something authorities will be looking for. >> all right. pete williams in washington. pete, thank you very much. >> let's get over to natalie morales who has the morning's other top stories at the news desk. >> good morning, everyone.

as the situation in syria deteriorates into civil war, president bashar al assad made his first televised appearance in weeks. he was seen swearing in a new defense minister on state tv. the successor to one of the four top officials killed in a bombing in damascus on wednesday. this morning the syrian national security chief also died from wounds sustained in that blast. syrian activists say more than 310 people were killed across the country thursday, which would make it the deadliest day since the syrian uprising began 17 months ago. to some important health news now here. whooping cough is rising at epidemic rates in this country as the u.s. is set to have its worst year for the potentially fatal illness in more than 50 years. some 18,000 cases have been reported nationwide so far killing at least nine children. health officials blame the outbreak on vaccine protection wearing off. officials are hunting for the identity of a suicide bomber in bulgaria who detonated on a bus

packed with israeli tourists, killing himself along with six others. u.s. officials say iranian proxy militant group hezbollah is behind the bombing and israel is vowing retaliation. iran, meanwhile, denies any involvement. this as bulgarian officials say the suspect had tried to rent a car and was denied because his fake michigan driver's license raised suspicions. he reportedly spoke english with an accent. a suspect in an attempted kidnapping caught on tape has turned himself in to philadelphia police. 33-year-old carlos figueroa faces a number of felony charges. police believe he is the man seen in the security camera video from tuesday grabbing a 10-year-old girl who was walking with her 2-year-old brother. the girl escaped with superficial injuries. a new study out today shows risky private lending has sent student debt soaring spiking from $5 billion in 2001 to more than $20 billion in 2008. the government report says the ballooning debt mirrors the sub

prime mortgage crisis. it is now six minutes past the hour. you are up to date on some of the other top stories of the day. back over to you. >> thanks very much. mr. roker is here with a check of the weather. al? >> that's right. we have severe weather to talk about down through the southeast talk about down through the southeast and as we see today, you can see that severe weather stretching from the southeast into the mid-atlantic states and a risk of strong storms back through the western plains and the midwest going to see temperatures, again, soaring, well above 100 degrees and 101 degrees in denver, 100 degrees in kansas city. temperatures in the 80s, much cooler, lower humidity through the great lakes and a few afternoon showers and morning showers in the northeast. 107 degrees in phoenix, arizona, today. that's what's going on around the country, here's what's happening in your neck of the woods. >> tom kierein storm center 4 and the biggest threat today will be downpours that might produce localized flooding and that won't be until later on tonight and ahead of that light rain and that looks like it's moving into d.c. in about two

hours and chance for severe storms, though, this yellow zone southeast of the metro area could get downbursts there that could produce some damaging winds and that would be later on tonight and looking >> that's your latest weather. savannah? >> thanks. earlier this morning we talked to jennifer seeger who was inside the theater as the gunman walked in and then opened fire. we began by asking jennifer to describe what happened. >> as far as i could see, you know, i didn't think it was anything serious. i thought it was a joke or part of the show, you know what i mean? and he came in and he was five feet away from me as far as i could see. you know, i don't know the exact diameter or anything but he was about five feet away from me. he came in on my right side. i was in the second row on the very front. and he came in and he threw in the gas can. and then i knew it was real. then he shot the ceiling. right after he shot the ceiling he pointed the gun right at me. at that point i dove into the aisle. and i got lucky because he didn't shoot me. but then he started to shoot

people behind me and the bullets started falling on my head. it was like burning my head because it was so fresh. you know? i could smell gun powder and at that point he walked up the stairs and all you hear is mass chaos with people screaming and just gun fire after gun fire. so i was calling and i told my friends that once he gets up there he goes up to the stairs we got to get out of here. so we start crawling. we start crawling. and everybody is going for the door and everybody starts coming back in saying no he is going to shoot the people trying to get out the door. he did. they were trying to escape and he shot those people as well. i was just sitting there and the gas was getting to me. i was coughing. my eyes were tearing up. i was just scared. my adrenalin pumped in and i tried to get out there -- >> jennifer, how did he come in? did he say anything at any point? >> yeah, he didn't say anything as far as i could see. he just came in in a back door next to the -- my right side in the theater through an exit door. he came in through the back. and he didn't say anything.

he just threw the can of spray, gas, or whatever it was. i don't know what it is. i thought it was tear gas. i'm not positive. but he just threw it and he didn't say anything and he just started shooting. >> then you say, let's try and set the scene in that theater again, jennifer. this is matt lauer. he then started to walk up the stairs. are you talking about stairs on a side aisle of the theater? >> yes, sir. yes, sir. that is exactly what he was doing. then at that point everybody was trying to run away and every time somebody tried to run away you would hear screaming and then another gun shot and another gun shot. >> and then was there silence while he was -- we've heard reports that he reloaded at least once maybe two times. were there moments of silence where people escaped during that time? >> oh, yes. oh, yeah. there was moments of silence and lots of screaming as far as that goes. i mean, he wasn't shooting at that time but there was lots of screaming and then at that point they were trying to escape but he had reloaded and he was shooting people like in the front that were trying to get out the doors. that's why everybody was coming back inside.

i was just trapped. i was one of the last people to try to get out. at that point, i had some emt training, not fully certified yet but it just kicked in. there was a gentleman next to me, had to be 18 years old and he had a gun shot to his back and was bleeding everywhere. i checked his pulse and was going to try to drag him out. then they're like no let him go. this guy is coming back. he is going to shoot you. i just ran as an instinct. >> jennifer, he started at the back of theater and made his way to the front? i mean, at some point was he in front of the screen? >> yeah. no. he was -- he started at the very corner of the screen and then he worked his way all the way to the back and back down. like all the way to the stop of the stairs and back down. >> then, jennifer, how did he leave the theater? did he calmly walk out of the theater? did he run out of the theater? >> that's the part i didn't get to see because i was on the ground trying to escape at that point. it was mass chaos. i didn't see how he left. but he looked like he was in the military. he looked like he was a s.w.a.t. person. i can imagine he just kind of blended in with the chaos of the

crowd and people thought he was probably like a cop or something. you know? >> we mentioned earlier, jennifer, i wonder if you could validate this for us, that some people attending that movie were dressed in costume. this is a very popular movie franchise. the midnight showing often attracts people in costume. so when the shooting was over, as people were attempting to leave that theater, were police stopping people and checking everyone to make sure they weren't involved in this? >> honestly when i walked out of that door all i saw were cops cocking their shot guns and walking in at that point. they were just trying to get the guy in general. it was so fresh and so new they were just trying to get in there and get him. they weren't concerned as far as kids. i mean, you know, teenage kids were wearing batman shirts. they were wearing bat ears. they weren't looking like, you know -- >> not like this guy. >> yeah, no. not at all. he looked like he was like in the s.w.a.t. team or like part of the military or something. he had a gas mask and a kevlar suit and he had a gun and a vest

and so he looked like he was part of just s.w.a.t. or something. so, i mean, he could have blended in and people would have probably thought he was a cop if they didn't know any better you know what i mean? >> what did he look like? what was his build? >> he was about i would say maybe six, 6'3" as far as height goes and i would say 185 pounds, 200 pounds. he was lean but he wasn't too big, too fat. he was just really tall and slender as far as that goes. he looked kind of muscular. >> that's our interview with jennifer seeger who witnessed the tragic shooting in colorado. some of the witnesses who are uninjured have been taken to a local high school, gateway high school, where they're being debriefed by law enforcement officials to try and get as much information as possible. we're back right after this. this man is about to be the millionth customer. would you mind if i go ahead of you? instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't like to miss out on money that should have been theirs.

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we can confirm 12 dead according to aurora police. ten of them still inside that theater and we've been told that 50 people were shot and are being treated at area hospitals. the suspect is in custody. >> we want to find out more about some of those people being treated. nicole williams is with us on the phone. she is with the swedish medical center where several of the injured or wounded are being treated. nicole, good morning to you. i'm sure it's a chaotic morning. what can you tell us? >> it's been very tense. we've had hundreds of phone calls now from very concerned people across the country calling trying to find their husbands, wives, children. it's been a very emotional morning here at swedish medical center. we do have an 18-year-old male who is currently in fair condition, a 20-year-old male who is currently in critical condition, a 29-year-old female in critical condition. we did have a 19-year-old female that transported to our hospital a few hours after the initial event that just had some minor injuries possibly from some shrapnel is what we're hearing and she has been treated and

released at this time. >> can you give us more specifics about the 18-year-old and 20-year-old? where were they shot? what was the extent of their injuries? >> the three that came in initially were all gunshots victims. the 18-year-old was hit in one of his extremities. i believe they were saying his forearm. so he was treated and then has actually been admitted to the floor for observation. but, again, is in fair condition. the other two we know that they've gone into surgery. i don't have the extent of their injuries at this time and we're still waiting for an update post surgery. >> have their families been notified? are they on the scene? >> three of our victims that we received are local here to colorado. we do have one from out of state. we do have family of all of these folks here at the hospital and the out of state patient, he was here with some sort of a conference and several friends and the chaperones from that are here at the hospital so we do have people here accompanying

all of the victims we've received. >> all right. nicole williams with swedish medical center near the scene of this shooting. nicole, thank you very much for your time. i know it's busy for you there. >> absolutely. thank you. >> we've been seeing images this morning from an apartment building, an apartment apparently that belongs to the suspect in this case. authorities were being very careful about whether to enter because according to investigators this suspect told police that there were more explosives inside the apartment. the suspect, who we've identified as james holmes, a 24-year-old man, also allegedly told police that his car that was parked outside the theater had explosives in it. police later determined that there were no explosives inside that car. our pete williams has been reporting on statements that the suspect has made to authorities. we will continue to follow the story out of aurora, colorado and be back right after this. [ male announcer ] we got a real mom and the family car to do an experiment. we put a week of her family's smelly stuff all in at once

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well, in the wake of that tragic shooting in colorado tonight's paris premiere of "the dark knight rises" has been canceled and warner brothers, the studio that distributes the film, has also issued a statement. warner brothers is deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. we extend our sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time. our guest as senior writer for "newsweek" and "the daily beast." good morning to you. >> good morning. >> we don't know anything about the motive, whether this was a crime of opportunity or if the suspect came because of this movie, but for those who haven't seen it, is this a very violent movie? >> it is an incredibly violent movie. you know, christopher nolan the director of this film has a lot of parallels to september 11. gotham city really feels like

new york city in the aftermath of a huge attack. there are these rogue terrorists shooting gunfire into crowds of people. there are going to be really chilling echoes for people to actually go and see this movie this weekend. >> this movie has a cult-like following. "the dark knight" the first in the series was extremely popular. is there kind of a dark culture around the movie? >> a little bit but, you know, it is batman. the last movie made $533 million. it's the number four most successful movie of all time. this one was ontrack to open with the biggest opening hollywood has ever seen. it made $27 million just on the midnight showings. so thousands of people went and saw this movie last night and came out okay. it was just this one theater where this was such tragedy. >> warner brothers released a statement, obviously has canceled a premiere. suffice it to say this is an extremely delicate situation for the studio of course whether to go forward with the showings of this movie. >> absolutely. there were midnight showings, 1:00 a.m., 2:00 a am showings around the country.

we'll see if those happen. a lot of moms are worried about sending their kids to see this movie especially after the shooting today. i don't know if it is going to happen. >> you talked about the midnight showings. there was so much excitement and anticipation. give us the scene. we heard about at least in colorado some people had dressed up for the occasion. is that the classic midnight movie situation when you have something like this? >> absolutely. this is a tradition for hard core fans. it happens for every big franchise, "star wars" and "spider-man" they'll line up and go inside and dress like the characters they really like. this is for the hard-core people that love the franchise. that was what the midnight showings are for. people who really love the movie. >> we had heard because of bad reviews on a website some of the commentors had gotten quite angry, some death threats. there has already been controversy surrounding this film. thank you so much for this discussion this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> we'll continue with our

breaking coverage of the shooting in aurora, colorado with more news right after this.

good morning. 9:26 now on this friday, july 20th. i'm aaron gilchrist. let's go to tom kierein for a look at our forecast. tom? >> low-grade clouds hanging over washington now not producing any rain yet. storm 4 radar showing rain, beginning to move into prince william county and just some light rain now and that will be arriving in metro area over the next hour. farther west, heavier downpours. south and east, this is a severe storm risk zone and could get some down bursts that might produce some wind damage south and east of washington by late, mid to late afternoon early evening. otherwise, a flooding threat today and tonight, better for the weekend. aaron? >> thank you

good morning, traveling the

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we're back with more today on a friday morning and we have been covering all morning long this tragic shooting out in aurora, colorado where a gunman walked into a movie theater just past midnight mountain time. it was a movie showing of the dark knight. he walked into a crowded theater, threw a gas canister, some kind of tear gas device, and then opened fire. at the moment we know that 12 people are confirmed dead, up to 50 people have been shot. we're awaiting a news conference from aurora medical center, which is one of the places where many of the injured and wounded have been taken. we should get to that and we'll have it for you as it occurs. the suspect, a 24-year-old named james holmes, is in police custody.

>> he is in police custody. at this hour we do not believe he has a significant police record to report. he is 24 years old. this is somebody who walked into that theater absolutely armed to the teeth according to investigators with at least two hand guns, a rifle, and a shotgun, an ak type gun is what we were told although many witnesses have told us that there wasn't a continuous shooting so it may not have -- >> where you told the trigger down and it fires a lot of bullets. it was more one bullet at a time. >> indicating it may not have been an automatic rifle. at this hour we've been showing images of police outside an apartment in aurora, colorado believed to belong to this suspect, 24-year-old james holmes. >> the president was notified early this morning. he has issued a statement showing sympathy for those people who were affected by this tragedy. presidential candidate mitt romney has also released a statement. any time you talk about a shooting incident like this and talk about guns in our society politics comes right in. new york's mayor michael bloomberg used a portion of his weekly radio address to call on

president obama and presidential candidate mitt romney to respond to the mass shooting in aurora, colorado by detailing their plans to improve gun control. the mayor said soothing words are nice but he said it's time to hear the presidential candidates stand up and tell us what they're going to do about it. as many of you know bloomberg heads up a coalition of american mayors who want tighter gun control. >> we of course await a news conference from the hospital. we also await a statement from president obama as you mentioned as well as the republican presumptive nominee mitt romney. >> that's right. we've thrown our show into flux this morning but let's get back to some of the things we do on a normal basis. al is here with a check of the al is here with a check of the weather. >> let's see what we have for your weekend as we try to establish some normalcy, again. we have a slow-moving system that is going to bring rain from the mid-atlantic, southeastern atlantic states into the gulf coast and beautiful weather in the pacific northwest and nice and mild and sizzling conditions

in the plains and warm to mild conditions upstate in new york, new england, moving into sunday we've got more rain along the southeastern atlantic coast and look for sizzling conditions from the plains all the way down into texas and into nevada and mild and sunny in the pacific northwest. that's what's going on around the country, here's what's happening in your neck of the woods. >> good morning, tom kierein. storm center 4. right now storm 4 radar showing light rain advancing across virginia and getting closer to the metro area and probably into d.c. in about an hour. farther west, getting heavier downpours into the mountains and south and east of the metro area, this is a zone where we could get strong storms later this afternoon early this evening and could produce damaging winds. otherwise, the main threat is some flooding rains that would be later this afternoon and tonight and settling down for that's your latest weather. >> thanks, al. we'll have continuing coverage of the tragic shooting out in aurora, colorado in a little while but first these messages. [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient

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when this shooting took place just after midnight out in aurora, colorado, victims of the shooting were taken to several different trauma centers in the area. we've already spoken to the pr director for the swedish medical center. they're treating three people as a result of this shooting. a lot of the victims we know were taken to the aurora medical center and we're awaiting an update from the director of that medical center right now. we should get that in a couple minutes. >> we may have it in progress. we can take a look. the director of e.r. is expected to brief reporters in aurora, colorado. here we have that news conference now. >> at this point i don't have any information on anybody who is that young that was seen at this facility. there were teenagers here but we don't have anybody younger than that.

[ questions inaudible ] >> well, we serve this community as a level two trauma center and have for many years and i think we're always prepared. this is certainly outside the scope of what we routinely see, but again, i think they all banded together and did a very, very good job. >> you were here last night. can you describe what the scene was like as these patients started coming in? i think there was a lot of uncertainty at the initial stages so there was a lot of chaos at the beginning but everybody settled down and we actually took the patients rather rapidly, assessed them, assessed their needs and many of which were treated immediately and then taken to surgery. >> are there still people in critical condition here? >> yes there are. four are in critical condition that i'm aware of at this point. at this point we think it was some sort of gas, tear gas type situation. we don't have a specific identification at this time. but the patients we did see had

burning skin, burning eyes, burning and irritation to their nose and mouth. those three patients were seen, decontaminated, and actually have been discharged. >> are they over the hump yet or is it still -- is there still more time -- >> i think certainly this is a very difficult time for a lot of those patients but we're very optimistic. again, excellent surgeons here taking care of those patients. no fatality atalities but we're very early stage. those in critical condition, the information that i have -- the back and torso at this point. >> to update you on what he is saying, on a couple occasions he talked about four critically injured patients at that facility. no fatalities at that facility.

but we know according to police reports that at least 12 people have been killed. there were some lesser injuries, contamination from whatever kind of tear gas device was set off there and those people were treated and released. >> earlier we spoke to an official from the swedish medical center, another hospital that has been treating victims and they had three to four. one person was able to be released so they had three more serious victims of gun shot wounds who actually had gone to surgery. as we know, at least 12 dead. we're told ten of them are still inside the theater. two later died at hospital. >> the medical center, he was talking about the fact that they are used to dealing with this kind of trauma though this was certainly outside the scope. natalie is here and she was talking before. obviously we should bring up the fact that aurora is about 20 miles from littleton, colorado. >> right. >> we all remember in 1999 that was the scene of that deadly and tragic school shooting. >> right. and i don't think you can escape sort of that history although people in colorado certainly are trying to get away from that.

but clearly, it was a traumatic incident then and this is once again i think making people remember what happened back then, 13 years ago as you recall. but, you know, it is a community very close by. littleton, colorado is only a 25 to 30-minute drive away. my father-in-law lives in littleton, colorado. it is something that people certainly can't get away from that past, unfortunately. >> all right. we'll have much more on what is a developing story. we'll do that right after this break. ♪ watch out, wishful thinking ♪ ooh la la, read between the lines ♪ ♪ i know a blessing in disguise ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] you know the difference between paying more and getting more. that's value sense. at scott we're all about value. introducing the scott shared values program. get deals like free movie rentals, free admission to family attractions and more. use your value sense. sign up at scottbrand.com.

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>> copy all available units respond to the theater. >> battalion one on the shooting 9 george 2 century theaters 14300 east alameda avenue. engine 8 to battalion one on a shooting century theaters 14300 east alameda avenue cross of south of abilene. respond on tack 2. >> once again we understand the first call came in at 12:39 local time. it was such a scene at the theater that so many victims that police were actually just putting them in the back of their cruisers and taking them to the hospital. >> that's right. 17-year-old tanner coon was at the back of the theater with a friend and the friend's 12-year-old brother. tanner is with us now. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> you were in the back of the theater from all reports we've heard this gunman entered from the front corner of the theater. what was the first time you realized that something was going wrong in there? >> well, the first time i realized what was going on was

after the first few shots were fired. before that i saw the canister fly across the room and i thought it was just some prank and then i saw the first shot and i thought it was maybe fireworks. then three more shots were set off and i knew this was real. i knew this was definitely gunshots. >> we were told that the gunman started firing at the front corner of the theater and then in some ways meticulously or methodically made his way up the steps that were in the aisle along side the side of the theater. how close do you think that gunman actually got to where you were? >> probably about maybe 20 feet. my friend the 12-year-old told me he saw him because he was on the edge of the aisle seat. he told me that he saw him coming up and he did get about half way up the stairs which was pretty close. maybe between ten to 20 feet. >> there was understandably a lot of panic in that room.

there were also moments where there was no shooting as we understand that the gunman was actually reloading. were people trying to escape during those lulls in the shooting? what were you doing? >> yeah. i saw some people start to get up. i poked my head up to see what was going on and when i did that i saw another flash and instantly put my head down so he started shooting again. >> you ended up getting up and actually trying to go behind you i understand you told us earlier to get out of that theater and then describe for me what happened to you and what you saw in the road behind you. >> i went to the road behind me to try to get to the exit and slipped on some blood, landed on a lady. i saw her heels. i shook her. i told her we need to get up. you need to get out of here. there was no response. so i presumed she was dead. >> how long after that did you actually make your way out of that theater? >> it was probably about another 20 seconds trying to make my way into the doorway outside the

exit. i waited for some friends. it was probably another minute because we were afraid that he might be in the lobby so people were looking out in the glass. they said they saw a flash, possibly another shot but that was not true. but it was about another minute after that it took me to get out of the theater. >> tanner, i'm thinking about this. you're 17 years old. you're at a midnight showing of a highly anticipated movie. was it your parents who dropped you off? how did you get back in touch? i can only imagine the trauma your parents were going through knowing that you were at that midnight showing. how did you get in contact with them? >> well, my friend's parents -- their dad actually dropped us off but we made our way to a restaurant that was nearby the theater and we -- i called my sister since she usually comes and picks us up. i told her there was a shooting. i told her she needs to come to

the theater right now. i told her, you know, that we were by this restaurant and she came. she didn't understand the actual seriousness of what was going on, that i was in the actual theater or anything like that. they got there. we talked to them. we also, while we were wait forgue my sister to come they talked to their parents. my friends talked to their parents and told them exactly what happened and when my dad and my sister got to where we were i told them i was in that theater. he let off, you know, 40 plus rounds into the audience and, i mean, it was very traumatic. i actually went home after that and later went to gateway to be interviewed by the police but when i was home my mom was of course freaking out and it was very traumatic. >> i can imagine your parents were probably never happier to see you than they were when you got home from that school in that theater, tanner. we really appreciate your time this morning. we know what you've been through. >> thank you.

>> we'll be back in a moment with more coverage of this shooting in aurora, colorado. this is "today" on nbc.

we're looking at the housing complex right now where the suspected gunman is believed to live. police still combing over carefully the scene there trying to clearly assess the situation, taking all necessary precautions because the 24-year-old suspected gunman named -- identified as james holmes -- did make a statement to police stating that there were weapons, possibly even explosives inside his apartment. police taking an abundance of caution there. they've actually cleared the surrounding areas as well to make sure they continue to make sure the situation is clear and okay. >> just after midnight, this is a highly anticipated movie, the

first chance people in that area and other parts of the country have to see this movie "the dark knight rising." we understand there were lines formed. it was showing at what, three different theaters in the complex? >> a 16 theater complex. across the country this was the event of night, midnight showings across the country. the movie just alone in those midnight showings made $27 million, breaking i think all expected box office expectations there. clearly, this was just a horrible event that nobody could foresee was coming. >> so many theater goers, witnesses we've talked to this morning told us initially they thought this was perhaps a publicity stunt. perhaps part of the midnight showing, the premiere. >> a lot of the movie goers dress as the characters to take part in that. there was going to be a big event in paris tonight the premiere of "the dark knight rising" and warner brothers has canceled that. >> we have a statement from warner brothers as well, the

studio that distributed the movie saying, quote, warner brothers and the filmmakers are deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. we extend our sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time. >> as we mentioned there is a press conference that should be held mountain time in just a little while. police hopefully will be able to shed a lot more light on the suspect at that time, this 24-year-old who pete williams has told us has no major criminal record. just a traffic ticket about a year ago. but hopefully we'll be able to figure out why he decided to do what he did, taking 12 lives and injuring so many. more throughout the day on msnbc and tonight on nbc news with brian williams and a special edition of "dateline nbc." i'm barack obama and i approve this message.

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good morning. 9:57 now on this friday, july 20th. i'm aaron gilchrist. big delays on the highways and danella sealock has more on that. >> here's the situation. earlier all of your lanes were blocked. not only just express lanes, but also local lanes at indian head highway. now, just the local lanes are blocked and you are able to go, but slowly make your way past this accident. right now the backup is looking like a mile at this point. let's head over to i-6 6 eastbound at nuttily.

left lane is blocked by the road work there. let's head over to tom who says rain is on the way. >> right now the leading edge of storm 4 radar showing now just coming into prince william county and fairfax and into the district over the next half hour or so. farther west heavier rain and all the areas in green noon into tonight, could get heavy downpours and some causing localized flooding. sunday mid-80s and maybe an afternoon storm. >> thank you, tom. we'll continue to follow the latest on a mass shooting in a movie theater in colorado. [ male announcer ] where did all the obama stimulus money go? friends, donors, campaign supporters, special interest groups where did the obama stimulus money go? solyndra: 500 million taxpayer dollars. bankrupt.

so where did the obama stimulus money go? windmills from china. electric cars from finland 79% of the 2.1 billion in stimulus grants awarded through it went to overseas companies. [ romney ] i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

good morning. breaking news. a mass shooting inside a suburban denver movie theater overnight. at least 12 people are dead. 50 others injured. this morning witnesses are describing a chaotic and terrifying scene as police search the apartment of the 24-year-old man in custody in connection with the tragedy today, friday, july 20th, 2012. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >> announcer: live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> and good morning. welcome to "today." it's 7:00 a.m. on the west

coast, 10:00 here in the east on a friday morning. i'm matt lauer. >> good morning, i'm savannah guthrie. it is a grim morning around here. we're following that breaking news out of colorado. it is a tragedy. witnesses say a gunman dressed in black and wearing a gas mask walked into a showing of "the dark knight rises," released some sort of tear gas canister and then opened fire on the crowd. >> this happened around 12:30 a.m. local time in the denver suburb of aurora about ten miles from denver. police say ten of the victims died right in the theater. the alleged shooter identified as 24-year-old james holmes was arrested at the scene without resisting. he lives in aurora. investigators are searching his apartment at this hour, looking for explosives because he told them that he might have explosives in his home and his car. police are expected to hold a news conference a little later this morning. but so far, aurora's police chief says there is no evidence of any additional shooters, and the fbi says there's no

indication the incident is tied to any terrorist organization. >> we've talked to a lot of witnesses this morning who have designed an absolutely terrifying scene. a man who was at the front right of the theater came in right near the right-hand part of the screen, fired something into the air, and then opened fire on the crowd. according to investigators and our own pete williams, he was heavily armed with at least four weapons on him in addition to the tear gas, he was wearing a gas mask, dressed in all black and appeared to have a bulletproof vest. >> a lot of questions because according to just about every eyewitness, he came in through an emergency exit. normally, as you know, those exits cannot be opened from the outside. but one eyewitness described seeing a man inside the theater get up, use a cell phone or at least pretend to use a cell phone and then go out through that emergency exit. he said he thought it was unusual at the time. and a short time later, that emergency exit opened again. this time entering the room was a man dressed in black from head to toe with a gas mask and

weapons. kusa's jayce larson is on the phone joining us on the phone from near the scene. jayce, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. right now from the fbi and the atf as well as local police are trying to get to this person's apartment to see if there's anything inside that could be explosive. they have indicated that that is the case. right now there is a ladder from a fire truck that has been elevated into the air, and it's up to the third floor of a brick building. and we can't quite see whether there is anybody at this point going into a window as we had seen earlier in the day. they had been actually using some type of camera on the end of a pole to stick into one of the apartments. it looks like now they have moved to a different apartment. the big question out here is are there any explosives in that apartment, and we simply don't have that answer at this point. >> and obviously, they're taking this very carefully.

we saw some images earlier on, jace, of a robot unit, a remote-controlled robot, being used, still in darkness outside that movie theater going into that car and opening the trunk and opening the side doors. and then later we saw police officers -- here's the footage i was talking about where they went in looking for explosive devices. we have been told by pete williams they did not find them. again, we'll learn much more about this when we hear from the police at a news conference in just a little while mountain time. jace larson, thank you very much. >> we want to get to jennifer seger. she was inside that packed theater when the gunman walked in and pointed the gun directly at her. jennifer, good morning. thank you for joining us again. if you would, please take us back through what happened. what you heard and what you saw. >> as far as i could see, this gentleman came in through the right-hand side. i was in the second row. i was in the second row in the front.

and there was another girl in front of me, and i was on the second row. i was the only other person on the right-hand side. he came in and i thought he was part of the show. i honestly didn't think he was a bad guy, somebody who was going to hurt anybody. i thought he was just being theatrical because he was dressed up like some of the guys that are in the movie. he at that point threw a canister of gas, tear gas or something like that. it looked like a little grenade. he threw it into the crowd, and it exploded. and then it just had gas everywhere. and it was making me cough. it was making me just tear up. it was just really bad. at that point he went ahead and shot a fire to scare everybody in the ceiling, and everybody knew at that point it was the real deal. >> jennifer -- >> at that point -- yeah. >> i was going to ask you, i know probably time stands still at a moment like that, but can you estimate how long this whole incident took, how long the shooting took place? >> yeah, i can't put a time on it. honestly, it felt like forever. maybe 15 minutes or 20 minutes of just pure chaos, you know. it's enough to last you a

lifetime, honestly, especially when somebody puts a gun in your face, you know what i mean? he had put the gun in my face. and at that point, i had five seconds to do something, and i just jumped deep within the aisle and curled up in a ball and tried to duck and cover at that point. he opened fire on people right behind me. and the gun shells were falling on my forehead. i was trying to remain calm. you know, i told all the people in the aisle, just crawl. just crawl, you know. try to get out of here. we've got to get out of here. i couldn't breathe. i was freaking out. all you hear is ladies and children -- children like a 6-year-old kid got shot. i'm 22 years old. why did he spare me? why did you take me instead of that 6-year-old kid? that was the worst for me. there was dead bodies everywhere. there were people hurt everywhere. there's blood and guts everywhere. i was just trying to get out, you know. as people were trying to escape, apparently they were running back inside saying no, we have to come back inside because he's going to shoot people that are trying to escape, and he did. so it was just a back-and-forth thing.

finally once he got out, i was about ready to collapse. i said i couldn't breathe anymore. i was having a panic attack. tear gas was getting into my lungs. i finally started crawling my way out. i saw a 13-year-old girl on the stairs. there was a gentleman i nudged into. i didn't know if he was dead or alive. i heard him moaning. as a trained emt, i started taking his pulse. i knew he was on the verge of death. i tried to pull him. they were, like, let him go. the gunman's coming back. he's going to shoot you. i got scared and ran. at that point all the cops came in with their guns. i don't know how he exited. and everybody's kind of confused about that. i have no idea. i was staring at the ground trying not to get shot at that point. there were so many people in there that were hurt at that point. >> you talk about being -- you talk about, jennifer, being curled up in a ball. and there were these brief moments where he was reloading that weapon or those weapons. although i know there was screaming and chaos and panic

during those times, you know, were people jumping up trying to run out while he was reloading? >> yeah. yeah, exactly. no. all you hear -- it was pure silence. and when he was reloading, and everybody was trying to fight for their lives and screaming at that point. it didn't matter who it was. he didn't have an agenda. he was going to shoot whoever was in his way. it didn't matter, babies, dads, moms, little brothers. he was shooting whoever. it didn't matter. and it was just pure chaos. it was scary because i had gunshots, you know, over my head. for all i know, he would have shot me in the back, you know. >> jennifer, i'm obviously struck, i think, as all of the people listening to this by your story of that man who was on the ground that you tried to help and then were forced to flee. do you know by any chance if that man survived? >> i have no idea. i mean, as far as -- i was just thinking about, you know, maybe i know somebody in there. maybe somebody -- like one of my people i care about is hurt. and i had no way to know because

everybody dropped their cell phones. everybody dropped their wallets pwallets. they were running for their lives. he looked 18. he still had a whole lot of life to live. i pray that he's okay. >> jennifer, unfortunately for you you came face to face with this man. did you say anything? how was his demeanor? how did he look to you? what was his build and his dress? >> right. he never said a thing. he just threw the gas can. and his demeanor -- as far as i could say, he was probably about 6 foot, 6'3", 185, 200 pounds, very muscular, very strong looking. he doesn't have anything exposed, no skin color, no nothing. he had like a regular gas mask on to be able to breathe. he had a rifle. that's all i saw. apparently he had more weapons. i had no idea. all i saw was a rifle in my face. he looked like he was from the s.w.a.t. team, you know. so i can imagine how he could

escape and not get caught because, you know, he looked similar to what a s.w.a.t. team would look like. >> well, if there is any good news, he did get caught, and he's in police custody. and jennifer -- >> thank god. >> -- i hope you don't feel guilty about having to leave that person behind in there. you did what you had to do at the time. >> yeah. and it was just kind of an instinct for me. i would have gladly given my life for that man if it came down to that. >> jennifer seeger, thank you for sharing your story with us this morning. >> no problem. >> again, the suspect has been identified as 24-year-old james holmes. let's go to nbc's justice correspondent pete williams who's been gathering information through the fbi and other law enforcement sources throughout the morning. pete, good morning to you. >> matt, good morning. we're told that he was born december 13th of 1987, 24 years old, apparently had lived in aurora, colorado, for the last year or so. but there's no record of any criminal association with him. he wasn't on any kind of terror watch list, no list of militia

groups or extremist groups. he was basically unknown to law enforcement. and aurora police say the only record they ever have of any contact with him was a traffic ticket in 2011, sometime last year. he has no military history. we don't know exactly when he came to the aurora area. but the car that was outside the movie theater, which is apparently the one that he drove to the theater, had tennessee plates on it. so they're trying to figure out why that is, what his connection, if anything, was to tennessee. his parents were living in san diego. authorities have been in touch with them. witnesses say that when he came in after he set off this tear gas or smoke bomb, he began by firing one of apparently four weapons that he came to the theater with. he started firing a shotgun. now, that's one that fires pellets through a cartridge that spray out in a kind of a pattern. and then when he had fired the shotgun, he then picked up a rifle and resumed shooting with that. he also had a handgun with him

and apparently another handgun that was still in the car. now, one of the very odd things about this man is that he didn't either turn the gun on himself, which sometimes happens in these situations, or tried to flee. he was, in fact, arrested, standing right near the car that he apparently drove to the theater right near the door that he used to get in. he told the police that there were explosives in his car and his apartment. they didn't find anything in the car. they're still searching the apartment very carefully right now to see what's in there. he's not in any, as i say, any of the kind of databases. and so they're still trying to figure out the biggest question here, matt, which is what was his motive? he's given no indication of that whatsoever. >> the firearms he brought into that theater, pete, and i'm not a firearms expert, but i do want to mention that a shotgun can also have a single slug in it. you can put a shell in it that has a single lead slug in it,

and those can be devastatingly dangerous if they hit somebody. but yes, i think most often they do have various-sized shots in them. but again, we're going to learn more about this when we hear from the police in a short while. pete williams, thank you very much. by the way, before i let you go, you showed us some footage before, and i'm going to ask the control room to cue it up. this is the footage that we see from the helicopter of what this suspect was wearing when he was arrested. >> right. and you can see the mask at the top. you can see the bulletproof vest that he was wearing. and everyone says that that's how he was dressed, all in black with a mask on his face which obviously was a gas mask, and then bulletproof vest as well. and there's the white car. that's right near the exit to the theater. that's the one that he said had explosives in it. you showed the robot. they searched that and didn't find any. but nonetheless, they're assuming that there may be in the apartment because the word i think he used to the police was that it was booby-trapped.

>> pete williams, our correspondent in washington, pete, thank you very much. we have a new statement from warner brothers which is the studio that produced "the dark knight rises." it says, quote, warner brothers and the filmmakers are deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. we extend our sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time. >> we're getting word from here in new york that the new york police department is stepping up security at theaters that are showing "the dark knight rises" after this colorado massacre. we have this part of the statement. "as a precaution against copycats and to raise the kmfrlt levels among patrons in the wake of the shooting in colorado, the new york city police department is providing coverage at theaters where "the dark knight ris rises" is playing in the five boroughs, the five boroughs of manhattan. that according to police commissioner ray kelly in a statement that was released just a short time ago. president obama released a statement as well, and he's expected to make additional remarks from florida later this morning. and our kristen welker is traveling with the president.

kristen, good morning. what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, savannah. well, we are learning at this hour that president obama has called the mayor of aurora to extend his condolences. president obama has been briefed by counterterrorism adviser john brennan as well as his chief of staff. now, president obama will address the tragedy as his previously scheduled campaign event here in fort myers, florida. we expect him to do that at the very top of his remarks. and then he has canceled the rest of his events for this day. he's going to head back to the white house. he did have a campaign event scheduled in orlando for later on this day, but that has, again, been canceled. president obama will make remarks here and then head back to the white house. i want to read you a little bit of that statement that you mentioned, savannah, that president obama put out a little bit earlier on this morning. he said, "michelle and i are shocked and saddened by the horrific and tragic shooting in colorado. federal and local law enforcement are still responding, and my administration will do everything that we can to support the people of aurora in

this extraordinarily difficult time. we are committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice, ensuring the safety of our people, and caring for those who have been wounded. as we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one american family." so, again, president obama set to address this tragedy at 11:20 this morning. he was notified about these incidents at 5:26 this morning. he has been kept abreast of the developments. and again, he will be heading back to the white house so he can continue to stay on top of this developing situation and monitor the situation from the white house. savannah? >> nbc's kristen welker traveling with president obama this morning. we also have a statement from the presumptive republican nominee, myth romnitt romney. "ann and i are deeply saddened by the news of the senseless violence that took the lives of sa people in colorado and injured dozens more. we are praying for the families and loved ones of the victims during this time of deep shock

and immense grief. we expect that the person responsible for this terrible crime will be quickly brought to justice." i should mention this is a statement that came out earlier, and we have had revised estimates of the death toll here. that's obviously a developing situation. and mr. romney's expected to address this when he holds an event a little bit later this morning. >> this is the story for obvious reasons that we're spending the bulk of our morning covering. there are other headlines, though, as well. let's go over to the news desk with natalie. >> good morning, matt and savannah. as the situation in syria deteriorates, the civil war, president bashar al assad made his first televised appearance in weeks. he was seen swearing in a new defense minister on state tv. the successor to one of the four top officials killed in a bombing in damascus on wednesday. this morning the syrian national security chief also died from wounds sustained in that blast. syrian activists say more than 310 people were killed across the country thursday which would make it the deadliest day since the syrian uprising began 17 months ago.

to some important health news now, whooping cough is rising at epidemic rates in this country. as the u.s. is set to have its worst year for the potentially fatal illness in more than 50 years. some 18,000 cases have been reported nationwide so far, killing at least 9 children. health officials blame the outbreak on vaccine protection wearing off. officials are hunting for the identity of a suicide bomber in bulgaria who detonated on a bus packed with israeli tourists, killing himself along with six others. u.s. officials say iranian militant group is behind the bombing, and israel is vowing retaliation. iran, however, denies any involvement. this as bulgarian officials say the suspect had tried to rent a car and was denied because his fake michigan driver's license raised suspicions. he reportedly spoke english with an accent. a suspect in an attempted kidnapping caught on tape has turned himself in to philadelphia police.

33-year-old carlos fago faces a number of felony charges. police believe he's the man seen in the security camera video from tuesday grabbing a 10-year-old girl who was walking with her 2-year-old brother. the girl escaped with superficial injuries. and a new study out today shows risky private lending has sent student loan debt soaring, spiking from $5 billion in 2001 to more than $20 billion in 2008. the government report says the ballooning debt mirrors the subprime mortgage crisis. tit is now 7:19 pacific tim. let's turn it over to matt, to matt and al. >> natalie, thank you very much. mr. roker, what can you tell us about the weather? >> looking at severe weather. risk of strong storms throughout the western plains. in the meantime, wet weather kind of streaming into the coastal pacific northwest regions and interrier sections. los angeles 86 degrees today and get into the southwest, phoenix

107 degrees and boise gets up to 96 as does billings, denver, colorado, 101. seattle cool, showery and 69 degrees where medford, oregon, will see a high of 87. rest of the country today, we do look for a risk of strong storms out to the east, especially from the southeast into the mid-atlantic states. as we said the western plains will see severe problems look for plenty of sunshine and sizzling conditions into the central midwestern regions anywhere from 100 to 110 degree heat indexes from denver to kansas city on into salt lake. that's what's going on around the country. here's what's happening in your neck of the woods. >> good morning, tom kierein in storm center 4. right now storm 4 radar showing light rain getting closer to the metro area across northern virginia and west virginia. they're getting heavier downpours out of the mountains, but right now light rain heading our way. but we do have the potential for heavier downpours later today. all these areas in green, including the district, much of maryland and the district and noon all the way into tonight could get heavy downpours that

could cause isolated flooding and then tomorrow, cloudy, cooler, small chance of latest weather. >> all right, al, thanks very much. we'll have much more from new york and aurora, colorado. but first, this is "today" on nbc. [ male announcer ] where did all the obama stimulus money go?

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following the tragedy of the showing of "the dark knight rises" in aurora, colorado, last night. some cities already taking steps to increase security as that movie plays in their communities. of course, we have no connection at the moment between the actual movie and the motive here. >> we continue to cover this breaking story out of aurora, colorado. back right after your local news. and the chocolate cravings begin... again. ♪ for nights like these... there's special k chocolatey delight cereal. so you can get your chocolatey fix... without undoing your whole day.

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7:30 now on the west coast on this friday morning, july 20th, 2012. it is a sad and tragic morning. a mass shooting at a movie theater in aurora, colorado. at least 14 people are dead. 50 others injured. one of the victims being treated at the children's hospital just 6 years old. with a good morning to all of you, i'm savannah guthrie alongside matt lauer. it has been a grim morning. if you're just waking up and getting caught up on the news, a gunman walked into a movie theater, opened fire. there have been mass casualties in aurora, colorado, which is just outside of denver. >> that's right. this happened just after midnight. it was a midnight showing of "the dark knight rises." a packed theater, actually three theaters in a complex showing that same movie when that gunman

came in through an emergency exit through some sort -- threw of tear gas canister and then opened fire. leeann greg is in aurora. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning. there's kind of an eerie quiet here at the mall, the theater where this took place is behind me. it's the century 16 movie theater in the aurora town square. the numbers have been changing all morning. currently, we're told, that 12 people are dead and 38 are injured. so those numbers are luckily being downsized. one suspect is in custody, 24-year-old james holmes who apparently gave himself up willingly. there were three showings at around midnight. people had been lining up for hours to see the premiere. the shootings happened in theater number nine. the gunman entered the exit door shortly after the movie started, and then he threw some kind of a smoke bomb. he said nothing. then he opened fire. at first, witnesses said they

thought it was all part of the show. he reportedly had one assault weapon and two handguns. right now his apartment is being searched because he apparently told authorities that there were other explosives at his home, which is not far from this mall. the people in the theater were taken to a local high school for questioning. authorities want to look at their cell phones and try to find any information, possibly pictures, that would help them with this investigation. another briefing is expected within the next hour and a half. so we should learn more about this terrible tragedy then. >> nbc's leeanne gregg in aurora, colorado, thank you very much. our pete williams has been doing some good reporting this morning on the addle shooter who's been identified as james holmes. pete, catch us up to date. >> well, he's 24 years old, born december 13th, 1987. and beyond that, we don't really know much about him. he's apparently lived in aurora, colorado, for at least the last

several months. police say their only run-in with him was a traffic ticket in 2011. otherwise no criminal record there. he wasn't on any kind of watch list. authorities are now at his apartment. now, we've seen them try to go through two windows. this is the second window where they've driven that fire truck, the hook and ladder truck there, so that the officers can pry the windows apart and get in that way. they're reluctant to open the door for the simple reason that he's told them it was booby-trapped. this was earlier video that showed them at a different window. so it's not clear whether this is the same apartment and they're just looking at different windows or whether this is a different apartment. but in any event, i don't believe they've gotten in there yet. but there was no explosives found in his car. he apparently had four guns, three of them in the theater. a shotgun, a rifle and a handgun. and then an additional handgun was found in his car. there's no history that he was in the military. no connection there.

you know, the odd thing, i think, as i've said before is that he was just standing there when this was all over. he didn't try to run away. he didn't shoot himself, which sometimes happens in thiese incidents. he was just there. authorities right now are searching to find whether he posted anything. there have been some rumors that there were internet postings but nothing confirmed. we don't know of any facebook site or anything else. and the only reason i bring that up is that in past events like this, sometimes the people responsible have posted something. but authorities say they can't confirm anything of that nature. now, the car, the white car he was driving, had a license plate from tennessee. so they're trying to pursue that connection as well and find out precisely, you know, whether he was in tennessee, where the car came from. that's still being pursued, savannah. >> pete williams, thank you so much. i want to bring in nbc news analyst clint van zant right now. he's a former fbi profiler. he joins us on the phone. clint, we know some things here.

we know this was planned. this does not seem like a crime of passion. the weapons were gathered. the outfit was assembled. some sort of plan to get into that theater through an emergency exit was devised. of course, he had to have that tear gas canister. what can you kind of create in terms of a profile based on what we do know? >> well, matt, so far, this appears to be the thing that the fbi director and others are most worried about in law enforcement, a lone wolf. whether he's a terrorist in his own mind or whether he had some other background. know that as of this point, the fbi says they have no link with international terrorism. so what we may have, for example, realize we're just three days away from the one-year anniversary of that terrible shooting in norway where so many young people were killed on that island by a gunman in somewhat similar garb, in kind of a uniform, carrying multiple weapons, a very cowardly act then, a cowardly

act here in colorado that's taken place where once again we may have just someone's fantasy world who has actually collided with the world of reality. and unfortunately, murder and mayhem once again has been the result. >> you talk about a fantasy world. according to the reports we have heard, when he was arrested outside that theater complex, he told police that in his car, there were explosives or explosive materials. that's why we saw that remote-controlled robot going into that vehicle. it turns out, according to the reporting we've done through pete williams, that there were no explosives in the car. why would someone boast of something like that when they're already apprehended and they know it's not going to be true? >> sometimes, matt, an individual will either -- will further embellish what he's done. if we can believe that, i mean, it's terrible, we have 12 dead, at least 38 injured, as you've reported to include 6 children. but, again, he probably has no way of knowing how much chaos, how much mayhem that he has

created. and, you know, pete has been excellent this morning in his reporting. one of the things law enforcement considers, matt, and while you may see the windows being knocked out of two apartments, because on the off chance there are a booby-trap, there is a trap on the front door or the windows, law enforcement will many times in an apartment building choose to go through the wall of an adjacent apartment knowing that that may be the safest way to get in. that may be something they're contemplating right now. >> and clint, is it at all unusual that a guy who was willing to go to this extent to inflict damage and injury and death on others would not have any kind of a troubled past other than a traffic ticket? >> no. again, it's not. what's interesting is, matt, we've heard one remark allegedly associated with his mother in san diego where she was called and asked about this incident. and she says, "yes, you've got

the right person. i'm on my way to colorado now." well, that could mean a number of things as we try to look at the tea leaves. it could be simply she's heard the name. she knew her son was going to go to the premiere. so she just says, yes, i have to deal with reality. or perhaps based upon his age, that's an age where some mental health issues would be obvious, especially those close to us such as his parents. so there may be something where the mother, the parents, family members, knew there was issues going on but never, never expected it to be acted out in this degree. >> of course, that's unfortunately a tragic story we've heard with parents in the past involving some of these horrific shootings. clint van zandt, as always, thanks so much. >> let's get the weather forecast from al. >> today starting your weekend off, we've got a risk of strong storms mid-atlantic states down into the southeast. also in the western plains. for tomorrow, the heat continues in the midwest.

it will be sizzling with temperatures 95 to 100 degrees from the dakotas all the way down into missouri. and we're looking at a few showers, miss showers and thund through the southeast. sunday more of the same, sizzling weather from the plains all the way down into texas and hot interior sections of california into the desert southwest. sunny and mild in the pacific northwest and nice and warm and plenty of sunshine, great lakes across into the northeast and new england. that's what's going on around the country, here's what's happening in your neck of the woods. >> tom kierein in storm center 4. right now storm 4 radar showing some light rain advancing towards the metro area across northern virginia and those areas in orange and yellow and red, that's where we're getting more moderate showers now out in the highlands of west virginia and flash flood watch from noon into tonight covers much of our region including the d.c. metro area and causing localized flooding late this

and that's your latest weather. >> all right, al, thanks very much. we'll have more on this shooting in colorado and hear from the young man who was in that theater at the time. but first, these messages. sometimes life can be well, a little uncomfortable. but when it's hard or hurts to go to the bathroom, there's dulcolax stool softener. dulcolax stool softener doesn't make you go, it just makes it easier to go. dulcolax stool softener. make yourself comfortable. they claim to be complete.

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the top of the theater. i was on the opposite side of the top exit. i was on the same side that the shooter came in. he was -- but he came towards the lower -- i mean towards the front exit. so i was sitting there watching the movie about 20 minutes into it, i saw a tear gas can fly over the audience. i didn't really think anything of it. there was smoke emitted. and then i heard a loud bang and saw a flash. and i just thought, you know, maybe -- >> we're going to pause, bring in some stations for a special report. >> announcer: this is an nbc news special report. here is matt lauer. >> and good morning, everyone, i am matt lauer along with savannah guthrie. president obama is about to deliver remarks on the deadly shooting in colorado.

he is down in fort myers, florida. he was alerted to this situation somewhere at around 5:30 this morning. and has since made some comments on it but is expected to speak more. >> the president has released a statement expressing his, of course, shock and sadness about this event. he's in fort myers, florida, for what was supposed to be a campaign event. let's listen to the president. >> 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 and -- and so 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's responsible for this heinous crime to justice. 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 the 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's 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's 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. 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 theame reaction that i did when i heard this news. my daughters go to the movies. what if malia and sacha 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. 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. for -- so what i'd ask everybody to do, i'd 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.

thank you, everybody. i hope all of you will keep the people -- >> president obama wrapping up some comments in fort myers, florida, this morning in what was supposed to be a political rally which turned into some comments about the tragedy that has taken place overnight in aurora, colorado. the shooting of 12 -- the killing of 12 people, the injuring or wounding of some 38 to 40 others. >> mitt romney has also released a statement on the shooting. it says, quote, ann and i are deeply saddened by the news of the senseless violence that took the lives of 15 people in colorado and injured dozens more. we are praying for the families of the loved ones of the victims during this time of deep shock and immense grief. we expect that the person responsible for this terrible crime will be quickly brought to justice." i should mention that statement came out earlier this morning

and that the death toll has changed as the course of the morning has gone on. and mitt romney is also expected to address the remarks a little bit later. >> and just in the last several minutes, we're starting to get some more details on what took place from the police out in aurora, colorado. let's listen to some of the information they just gave forward. >> what we have is we have a whole bunch of bomb techs from all different agencies. we have pictures from inside the location, and we are trying to determine how to disarm the flammable or explosive material that's in there. so that's why we're here. we could be here for hours. we could be here for days. trying to figure out how to get in there. obviously, we're very concerned about getting in there to get whatever evidence there is. but the pictures are pretty disturbing. it looks pretty sophisticated in terms of how it's booby-trapped. so that's why we're here. we've evacuated, we've consulted the experts. we've evacuated five buildings total, and we believe that's a sufficient evacuation for what

we see inside. but beyond that, this could be a very long wait. we don't know how long we'll be here. that's really all i have to say. i don't believe there's anything else to say right now. i don't even know. >> how is it booby-trapped? >> we're not going to get into that. we owed you the courtesy of a briefing as to what's going on, a more thorough briefing of the entire matter will be probably 11:00 or noon today. and that will be down near the incident scene. thank you very much. thank you. >> this is starting to make a lot of sense now. obviously, you've been watching these photos, these images throughout the morning of law enforcement officials trying to find a way into the apartment believed to be of the suspect, 24-year-old james holmes. he told police when he was taken into custody that there were explosives in that apartment. police now believe, in fact, that was accurate information, that the apartment is booby-trapped, to use their term. and they are going to very carefully try to get in there to assess the situation. pete williams has been talking about this throughout the morning as well.

and pete, it looks like he was a man of his word at least when it came to the apartment. >> and that this is exactly what he thought would happen and perhaps even hoped would happen, matt, because he was standing right outside the theater right next to the car that he drove to the theater to carry out the shooting. he didn't try to run. he didn't flee. he just stood there. and then when the police took him into custody, he said there were explosives in his car, which there weren't, and then he said there were explosives in his apartment. and we just heard that there apparently are. you know, this is playing out apparently the way he intended it to. we believe that he had four weapons when he went to the theater, a shotgun which apparently he fired first after setting off a tear gas or smoke bomb canister. and when that -- when he fired the shells from that, he then picked up a rifle and started firing with that. he also had a handgun, and there was an additional handgun in his car. now, very little is known about his background or why he would have done this. there's no word that we've heard

from anyone on what his motive was. no military service. no criminal background in colorado. just a traffic ticket a year ago. his parents lived in san diego. he had apparently been in aurora, colorado, for the past year or so. the car he was driving had tennessee license plates. we're not sure exactly what that connection was, matt. >> pete, it is a little odd when you think about it, a man who had just taken, you know, more than a dozen lives, perhaps, and injured so many people in the shooting in the theater, all of a sudden warning police officers that there were explosives in his car and in his apartment as if to somehow lessen the risk to those people. it doesn't seem like it makes a lot of sense. but none of what's happened overnight in aurora, colorado, seems to make sense. >> as you mentioned, we will have more throughout the day on msnbc. brian williams will on much on "nightly news." he'll be live in colorado and there will be a special edition of "dateline." that concludes this nbc special report. i'm savannah guthrie with matt lauer.

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