James Holmes: Read timeline of his actions before and after Aurora theater shooting
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| Holmes's first mug shot. |
After Holmes drinks a cup of water, the officer reports that he starts playing with the cup, "trying to tumble it," Appel said. Holmes also reportedly pulls a staple out of the table and tries to stick it in an electrical outlet. He is not tested for drugs or alcohol because police don't suspect he's under the influence, Appel said.
Holmes tells the police about the elaborate system of explosives he's set up in his apartment. FBI agent Garrett Gumbinner testified that Holmes "said he had rigged his apartment to explode or catch fire to send resources to his apartment rather than to the theater." He'd programmed his computer to play 25 minutes of silence followed by loud music, "hoping that would cause a disturbance" that would prompt someone to call the police.
Among the explosives found in his apartment are a thermos of glycerin perched over a frying pan full of chemicals that would cause heat and flames if mixed with the glycerin and jars filled with homemade napalm and bullets, topped with smokeless powder and a homemade version of a powder that burns so hot it can't be extinguished with water. Police also found several homemade bombs made out of nested fireworks shells filled with smokeless powder, gasoline and oil. The carpet was also soaked with gas and oil.
Gumbinner said Holmes described three so-called initiating systems, or systems that would trigger the explosives to go off. One was a pyrotechnic firing box usually used for fireworks. Holmes placed the remote control to the box outside his apartment near the dumpster next to a remote-control car and on top of a boombox in a trash bag. Holmes told police that the boombox was set to play forty minutes of silence followed by loud music. Presumably, the idea was that the music would attract someone, who would then try to play with the car and unwittingly set off the explosives in Holmes' apartment.
Continue to read more of the James Holmes timeline before and after the July 20 Aurora theater shooting.
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