• New Mexico teen charged with massacre not a 'monster,' relatives say

    Courtesy of the Griego Family / Reuters

    An undated family photo of Nehemiah Griego, the 15-year-old accused of killing his parents and three siblings. Surviving relatives say he may have suffered a mental breakdown.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Relatives of a New Mexico teen accused of killing his parents and three siblings say he's not a "monster" but a "misguided" boy who may have suffered a mental breakdown.


    Police have portrayed Nehemiah Griego, 15, as an "unemotional" video-game fanatic who plotted a killing spree for more than a week because he was mad at his mother and emailed a photo of the slain woman to his 12-year-old girlfriend.

    A statement released by an uncle, former state lawmaker Eric Griego, paints a far different picture of a "bright, curious and incredibly talented young man," describing him as a doting older brother who played the guitar and drums, ministered to other youths and hoped to one day join the military.

    "We have not been able to comprehend what led to this incredibly sad situation. However, we are deeply concerned about the portrayal in some media of Nehemiah as some kind of a monster," the statement said.

    "It is clear to those of us who know and love him that something went terribly wrong. Whether it was a mental breakdown or some deeper undiagnosed psychological issue, we can’t be sure yet. What we do know is that none of us, even in our wildest nightmare, could have imagined that he could do something like this."

    The statement said that Nehemiah Griego was not a loner and only wore his dad's fatigues because of his interest in serving his country. It cautioned against anyone using the tragedy to make a point about gun control.

    "He is a troubled young man who made a terrible decision that will haunt him and his family forever," it said. "Five lives have been senselessly and needlessly ended. Ruining one more without trying to get to the bottom of what really happened and more importantly -- why -- would be equally tragic."

    Bernalillo County

    Nehemiah Griego, 15, in a booking photo after he was arrested for killing his parents and three siblings.

    Bernalillo County authorities said Griego had not been diagnosed with any mental illness and was apparently not on drugs or alcohol when the family was slaughtered Saturday.

    Using his father's .22 rifle and a AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, he allegedly shot his sleeping mother, killed his 9-year-old brother and then fatally shot two sisters, 5 and 2. Police say he lay in wait at least four hours for his father, Greg, a reformed gang member and chaplain, and then shot him dead.

    According to a timeline provided by police, Griego sent his girlfriend a photo of his mother and later spent most of the day with her before going to church and telling officials there his family was dead.

    At one point, he considered killing the girlfriend's parents, as well as shooting up a Walmart and dying in a firefight with cops, police said.

    The 12-year-old girl has not been charged with a crime, but the investigation is continuing, sheriff's Deputy Aaron Williamson said Wednesday.

    Prosecutors said they plan to try Griego in adult court, though he could face less jail time if convicted because of his age.

    Griego had five older siblings who did not live at home and escaped harm.

    Bernalillo County Sheriff Dan Houston, at a press conference Tuesday, said 15-year-old Nehemiah Griego was "involved heavily in...violent games."

     

  • Aurora massacre families brace for raw emotions of trial

    Barry Guiterrez / for NBC News

    Amee Gharbi holds her son, Yousef Gharbi, who was shot during the Aurora, Colo., theater massacre last fall. Doctors told him the the bullet fragment that entered his brain will likely stay there for the rest of his life.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News
    Sitting in a preliminary hearing this week, Amee Gharbi was not prepared for the sound of 33 rapid-fire gunshots on a snippet of 911 tape from the Aurora movie-theater massacre.

    She glanced over at her 16-year-old son Yousef, who got a bullet to the brain during the July 20 bloodbath, and "his eyes were as wide as mine."

    Gharbi knows she will likely hear more of the same -- and worse -- after a judge found probable cause for first-degree murder charges against suspect James Holmes late Thursday, putting the case on track for trial.

    But she said she'll endure it in the hope that light will be shed on the big unanswered question looming over the tragedy: Why would someone shoot up a theater full of innocent Batman fans?

    "Holmes maybe will say something," she said hopefully.

    At the very least, she said, the public may get a look inside a notebook he mailed to a University of Colorado psychiatrist in which he reportedly detailed his plans. "Everybody wants to know what's in it," she said.

    The notebook can only be introduced as evidence if Holmes, 25, pleads not guilty by reason of insanity, removing the doctor-client privilege that is keeping it under wraps for now.
    The plea will come at Holmes' arraignment, which won't happen until March 12, the judge ruled Friday. If Holmes does enter an insanity plea, a trial date would not be set until his mental health exam is done, legal expert Scott Robinson said. 

    At any point, prosecutors and the defense could strike a deal, thereby avoiding a trial, but many of the Aurora families say they want Holmes judged by a jury, even if it compounds the anguish they felt at this week's hearing.

    Some are hungry for more information about Holmes' thinking and planning. Some seek emotional closure. Others know it’s the only road to capital punishment.

    "Through an entire first day of the hearing, not one person in that room had a dry eye -- except for that son of a b***," Sam Soudani said of Holmes. "As far as I'm concerned, if he wants to be a robot, he should be deactivated."

    'I just want to look him in the eye'
    Soudani's 23-year-old daughter, Farrah, survived the shooting but suffered major organ damage. They both attended the preliminary hearing, but Soudani said Farrah would probably skip any trial.

    "I don't think my daughter could look at him," he said.

    Two fathers of Aurora theater victims describe watching the accused gunman, James Holmes, in court. KUSA's Todd Walker reports.

    For Gharbi, face-time with Holmes is one reason she wants a trial instead of a plea deal.

    "I just want to look him in the eye," she said of the doctoral-program dropout, who stared impassively into the distance during this week's court proceedings.

    A trial isn't a necessity for Scott Larimer, who lost his 27-year-old son John and just wants to make sure that Holmes "never walks the streets again."

    Yet if there is one, he hopes it will reveal whether anyone -- particularly the University of Colorado -- knew what Holmes was capable of and failed to act.

    Larimer, who lives in Illinois, did not attend the preliminary hearing and said he wouldn't be able to handle the trial testimony.

    "When they start talking about finding my son lying on the floor, I'm not sure I'm up to sitting in court. And if there are pictures," he said, trailing off.

    Theresa Hoover, whose 18-year-old son, A.J. Boik, was among the 12 killed, went to the hearing, steeling herself for a raw reaction.

    "I knew my child's name would come up, but to actually hear it was a little surreal," she said.

    "During the 911 calls, A.J.'s fiancee [who survived] was with me, and it made her relive a little bit of what happened and that broke my heart. For me, I was like, 'OK, that's the moment when my son died.'"

    Still, Hoover is not sorry she went. She said that since July she has been "in a daze," not quite willing or able to grasp that her artistic, spirited young son is really gone.

    "Attending that hearing kind of helped me ... move past that," she said, adding that a trial would help her face the reality of her loss. "To hear all of this is almost healing."

    Some want a trial because they want the case to end with a lethal injection, not a prison cell. Prosecutors have 63 days from arraignment to announce whether they will seek the death penalty.

    Hoover said that while she doesn't think Holmes deserves to "walk this earth," she would rather see him locked up without parole, forced to "live with what he's done."

    "Put him in general population, though," she said. "With the other mean guys."

    Related stories:
    James Holmes 'detached,' 'relaxed' after theater massacre, officer says
    'Help me!': 911 call reveals teen's desperation after relatives shot in Aurora theater
    FBI: James Holmes' booby-trap used remote-control car, frying pan

  • FBI: James Holmes' booby-trap used remote-control car, frying pan

    There was more gruesome testimony as the pretrial hearing continued for James Holmes the lone gunman in the Aurora theater shooting that killed 12 and injured 58 others. And for the first time, in words attributed to Holmes, a detailed description of what he expected would happen when he left for the theater complex with four guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Updated at 11:21 p.m. ET: After two days of presenting evidence against accused Aurora theater shooter James Holmes, the prosecution prepared to interview a detective, its final witness, on Wednesday, according to the Denver Post. The defense may then set forth its case. 

    Among the more vivid accounts in Tuesday's testimony was the description of how Holmes booby-trapped his home, hoping to distract officers from the theater shooting. 

    Holmes used a thermos, frying pan, remote-control car and volatile chemicals to rig his apartment to blow up during the Aurora theater massacre, an FBI agent testified Tuesday.


    On the stand for a preliminary hearing, bomb technician Garret Gumbinner described the diabolical contraptions authorities found when they went to the grad-school dropout’s Colorado apartment.

    There was a trip-wire leading from the door to a thermos filled with glycerine that was perched over a frying pan filled with potassium permanganate, Gumbinner said.

    If they combined, there would be a spark that would set off a chain-reaction: fast-moving flames and a series of explosions as homemade devices scattered around the apartment ignited.

    Thomas Cooper / Getty Images file

    Police break the window of the apartment of of James Holmes, the suspect of in the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting on July 20.

    On top of the fridge was a remote-controlled “pyrotechnic” box filled with 6-inch fireworks shells. Holmes left the remote for it outside, in a trash bag with a toy car and a boom box on a timer, the agent said.

    His fantasy was that someone on the street would hear the music, open the bag, decide to play with the car, fiddle with the remote and detonate the explosives, Gumbinner said.

    In all, there were more than a dozen explosive devices in his apartment loaded with napalm, smokeless powder and live ammunition. Carpets were soaked with oil and gasoline to fuel any blast.

    His computer was set to play loud music at a designated time. He was hoping “someone would call the police and that the police would respond to his apartment,” Gumbinner said.

    "He said he rigged his apartment to explode or catch fire in order to divert police resources to his apartment,” Gumbinner said, recounting an interview with Holmes.

    No one played with the toy car or banged on the door, though. And when Holmes was arrested outside the Century 16 multiplex – after allegedly killing a dozen people and wounding 58 – he quickly told police about his traps.

    The scope of the bizarre setup was revealed during the second day of a hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to put the neuroscience scholar on trial for first-degree murder.

    A parade of law-enforcement officials took the stand to describe Holmes’ painstaking preparations and the horrific aftermath of the July 20 shooting at the Century 16 multiplex – but there was no mention of motive.

    The picture they presented was of a methodical killer who left nothing to chance and foreshadowed his own fate in a question posted to two online dating-service profiles: “Will you visit me in prison?”

    Courtesy the family via KUSA

    Veronica Moser-Sullivan, in an undated family photo.

    Holmes bought his ticket, through Fandango, 12 days before the opening of the Batman flick “The Dark Knight Rises,” police testified, though it emerged that he was supposed to see it in Theater No. 8, not No. 9 where the ambush took place.

    With so much evidence against their client, Holmes’ legal team is expected to mount an insanity defense, and his attorneys tried to highlight his state of mind at several points during the day’s testimony.

    They questioned Aurora Police Department Detective Craig Appel about why Holmes wasn’t tested for drugs or alcohol even though his pupils were hugely dilated and he acted strangely after his arrest.

    'Help me!': Teen's 911 call played at Holmes hearing

    Appel told the court that police had placed paper bags over Holmes’ hands to preserve gunpowder residue, and he pretended they were puppets. He also ripped a staple out of a table and tried to stick it in an electrical socket.

    Earlier, the defense asked an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms whether there is any legal process in Colorado to stop a “severely mentally ill” person from buying guns or ammunition.

    The agent had just ticked off the items Holmes legally purchased in the two months before the rampage, including two handguns, a shotgun, a rifle, more than 6,200 rounds of ammunition, body armor, chemicals, fireworks and practice targets.

    Holmes – wearing a beard and jail jumpsuit and looking disheveled – showed little reaction to any of the testimony.

    He simply stared straight ahead when prosecutors played a heart-breaking 911 tape of a 13-year-old girl pleading for help for her mortally wounded 6-year-old cousin, Veronica Moser-Sullivan.

    Veronica’s father, Ian Sullivan, wept with his eyes closed as he listened for four long minutes to the chaos that marked his daughter’s final moments.

    The day’s proceedings ended with Sgt. Matthew Fyles reading a grim catalog: the name of every person wounded and the nature of their injury.  When he got to Ashley Moser – who suffered a miscarriage, was paralyzed and lost her daughter, Veronica – he choked up.

    Wednesday is scheduled to start with the prosecution calling a detective as its final witness, according to the Denver Post. The defense could then call its own witnesses.  

    NBC News’ Mike Taibbi and KUSA contributed to this report.

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • 'Like a robot': Victims' families eye suspect, enduring wrenching testimony in theater massacre hearing

    Courtesy of the Blunk family

    Aurora shooting victim, Jonathan Blunk, and his children, 2-year-old Maximus and 4-year-old Hailey. Blunk's cousin, Jessica Watts, attended Monday's hearing.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    As police officers fought back tears on the witness stand Monday, Sam Soudani was struck by how little James Holmes seemed to feel.

    "It's like a robot," said Soundani, whose daughter, Farrah, 23, was critically wounded in the July 20 massacre at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater. "Absolutely no emotion."


    Soudani was one of many victims' relatives and survivors who attended the first day of a weeklong hearing where prosecutors are laying out their case against Holmes to convince a judge there's enough evidence for a trial.

    He told NBC News that he came to the courthouse to support his daughter, who is still recovering from the wounds she suffered in the bloodbath -- which claimed 12 lives and left dozens injured.

    "I just wanted to hold her hand," he said.

    But Farrah decided she didn’t want to see Holmes “face to face” and stayed in an overflow room while her father wept as Sgt. Gerald Jonsgaard testified about futilely searching for the pulse of 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan.

    "Heartbreaking," Soudani said.

    James Holmes 'very relaxed' after theater massacre, officer says

    Holmes, 25, a former neuroscience doctoral student, displayed no discernible reaction during the moving testimony. And Soudani said the suspect didn't even deserve his hatred.

    “I don't feel anything toward him,” he said. “It's hard to explain. I mean, part of me wanted to rip his head off and part of me just couldn't care less for him."

    Jessica Watts, whose cousin Jonathan Blunk was killed in the shooting, also noted that Holmes seemed "disinterested" in the proceedings.

    Family members of Jonathan Blunk, one of the victims of Friday's mass shooting in Aurora, Colo., attend a prayer vigil, Sunday, July 22, 2012, in Aurora, Colo.

    Blunk, a military veteran and father of two, died shielding his date from the bullets. Watts said it was important for her to be at the hearing for "closure" and also to make sure the prosecution's case is strong.

    She said it was "horrifying" to hear the witnesses describe the scene in the theater when they arrived.

    "I can't imagine what these victims went through. Then again, I can't imagine what these first responders went through 'cause they're human beings, too," she said.

    "Mainly the emotions struck me, the emotions of the officers testifying," she said. "It's very, very hard to hear."

    Soudani said being in court was “agony” for him and he doesn’t think he can bear to return for any more testimony.

    NBC News' Jack Chesnutt contributed to this report.

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitterand Facebook

  • 'Call for everything': Police scanner recording reveals early moments of Newtown tragedy

    Newtown Bee via EPA file

    A Connecticut State Police officer runs with a shotgun following the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

    By Tracy Connor, NBC News

    Police radio traffic from the Newtown school shooting shows emergency responders initially thought there might be two gunmen on the loose and were not aware of the extent of the carnage inside Sandy Hook Elementary School.


    But the scope of the tragedy became more evident minute by minute, until authorities at the scene were heard asking for more help: “Call for everything” and “Do you know if anyone brought a mass casualty kit?”

     

    Then, an hour after the first call, the horror of the crime was laid bare as an officer at the scene spoke of “victims” in a closet.

     

     

    “There’s a teacher and 18 kids there,” he said in a grim voice.

    The communications were not officially released, but were posted on YouTube by a scanner monitor and authenticated by police.

    Some of the dialogue is encrypted or garbled, but the transmissions that can be heard – with the sound of sirens blaring in the background — provide a glimpse of how Friday’s massacre unfolded through the eyes of police and paramedics.

    The recordings begin at 9:35 a.m. with a dispatcher calmly reporting a 911 call about “somebody shooting in the building,” followed two minutes later by the chilling update that a caller was “continuing to hear what he believes to be gunfire.”

    One dispatcher notifies responding officers that a teacher reported seeing “two shooters, running past the gym.”

    “Make sure you have your vests on,” a voice cautions officers in the early minutes.

    There was, of course, just one gunman, as authorities later learned – Adam Lanza, 20, who used a rifle to kill 20 children ages 6 and 7 and six school staffers before committing suicide.

    Slideshow: Newtown school massacre

    /

    A nation mourns after the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history at Sandy Hook Elementary, which left 20 children and six staff members dead.

    Launch slideshow

    The radio transmissions suggest police and paramedics had no idea of the scope of the tragedy as they raced toward Sandy Hook.

    “I will need two ambulances,” one dispatcher says five minutes after the initial report.

    Three minutes later came the first hint of casualties, a person in Room 1 with a “wound to a foot.”

    Another three minutes and dispatchers got their first sign the toll could grow: “We’ve got an injured person in room Number 9 with numerous gunshot wounds.”

    At 9:49 a.m., an officer described what may have been Lanza shooting himself with one of his handguns as cops swarmed the building.

    “Shots were fired about three minutes ago,” the officer said. “Quiet at the time.”

    Four minutes later came word that Lanza was dead.

    “One suspect down. The building has now been cleared,” a voice said. Then, a cataloguing of Lanza’s arsenal: “Multiple weapons, including one rifle and handguns.”

    It had been a half hour since the killer blasted his way into the hilltop school that housed 600 students in kindergarten through fourth grade.

    There had been no mention on open channels of how many people had died. But at 10 a.m., there was a frantic call, in police lingo, for ambulances.

    “We need buses here. ASAP,” said someone at the scene.

    “Send the ambulance right up to me … Get the bus! Get the bus!”

    Moments later, came this advisory: “You might want to see if the surrounding towns can send EMS personnel. We’re running out real quick.”

    Another minute and it was becoming clear that Newtown was dealing with a tragedy of unprecedented proportions.

    “Call for everything,” said the voice on the radio.

    That gave way to radio chatter about logistics – the creation of a triage center and staging area where panicked parents could be reunited with children who survived.

    There was talk of four children who had fled the campus after the shooting and were being brought back as police tried to account for every student.

    Then came the horrifying revelation about victims in a closet, and a directive that suggested police were not expecting to find many survivors among the victims:

    “Hold all other ambulances.”

    Daniel Barden, 7, had said he wanted to be a firefighter when he grew up. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    Related stories:

    Beloved teacher Victoria Soto being buried
    'If you do good, you'll feel good': Origins of #26Acts of Kindness
    Slideshow: Newtown school massacre
    Family: Boy's favorite teacher died cradling him
    For teachers, classroom security comes to the fore

  • 'He shot me right here': Afghans testify in case of US soldier accused of massacre

    Handout / Reuters

    Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is seen during an exercise at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California, in this Aug. 23, 2011, handout photo.

    By Reuters

    TACOMA, Washington - An Afghan villager and two of his sons, who survived a night-time shooting rampage in March, testified on Saturday that they saw only one U.S. soldier attacking their compound, backing the U.S. government's account.

    A teenager said he had cried out "We are children, we are children" during the attack, but then saw the soldier shoot a child.

    Military prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, accusing him of killing 16 villagers, mostly women and children, when he ventured out of his remote camp on two revenge-fueled forays over a five-hour period in March.


    The shootings in Afghanistan's Kandahar province marked the worst case of civilian slaughter blamed on an individual U.S. soldier since the Vietnam War and damaged already strained U.S.-Afghan relations.

    The U.S. government says a coherent and lucid Bales acted alone and with "chilling premeditation."

    Some villagers told reporters shortly after the attacks that more than one U.S. soldier was involved, but sworn statements to that effect have not been made publicly.

    Witness: Sgt. Bales, accused of Afghan massacre, was deemed a top soldier

    Karilyn Bales, the wife of Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, spoke exclusively with NBC's Matt Lauer, telling the TODAY anchor that the news about her husband is 'very unbelievable.'

    Early Saturday, three survivors answered questions via video-link from Kandahar Air Field to a hearing at a U.S. Army base in Washington state - the first time Afghan witnesses have testified under oath about what transpired on March 11.

    "He shot me right here," said Haji Mohamed Naim, the father of nine sons in the village of Alkozai, the scene of the first shootings.

    Speaking through an interpreter, he said all he could see was a strong light on the head of a soldier who was not more than half a yard away from him when he started shooting.

    Naim said he was awoken in the night by sounds of shots and dogs barking, and then children from the next door house knocked on his door. He then described how an "American" jumped from a wall before confronting him and starting to shoot.

    Afghanistan shooting suspect Robert Bales faced financial troubles, records show

    Two of Naim's sons, who were also in the compound, said they saw only one U.S. soldier on the night in question.

    "Yes, I saw him, he came after me, I went to another room," said Naim's son Sadiquallah, who said he was 13 or 14 years old. He described how he hid behind a curtain in a storage room with one other child, and was hit in the ear with a bullet, but did not see who fired the shot.

    "How many Americans did you see?" one of the prosecution attorneys asked Sadiquallah. "One," he replied.

    'I saw the American'
    His older brother Quadratullah, who said he was 14, was unscathed in the attack, but said he saw a U.S. soldier shooting other children.

    "Yes I saw the American," he answered a government attorney. "I said 'We are children, we are children', and he shot one of the kids," Quadratullah said, through an interpreter.

    "We saw only one American," he added.

    At a courtroom at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Bales sat impassively throughout the proceedings, watching the witnesses on a TV screen in front of him.

    The Afghan villagers testified on the fifth day of a hearing to establish whether there is enough evidence to put Bales before a court martial.

    Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com 

    A veteran of four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bales faces 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder, as well as charges of assault and wrongfully possessing and using steroids and alcohol while deployed.

    Prosecutors have presented physical evidence to tie Bales to the crime scene, with a forensic investigator saying a sample of blood on Bales' clothes matched a swab taken in one of the compounds where the shooting occurred.

    Bales' lawyers have not set out an alternative theory, but have pointed up inconsistencies in testimony and highlighted incidents before the shooting where Bales lost his temper easily or appeared unbalanced, possibly setting up an argument that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

    Gathering evidence and witness statements was complicated by the speedy burial of victims, the inability of U.S. investigators to access the crime scenes for three weeks after the violence for fears of revenge attacks, and the dispersal of possible witnesses after treatment at a Kandahar hospital.

    Bales' lead civil defense attorney John Henry Browne, who is in Kandahar to question the witnesses, complained early in the investigation that his team was denied access to villagers wounded in the attacks.

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • Lawyer: Aurora shooting suspect tried to call psychiatrist 9 minutes before attack

    By NBC News staff and wire services

    A defense attorney says Colorado movie theater shooting suspect James Holmes tried unsuccessfully to call a University of Colorado, Denver, psychiatrist nine minutes before the attack.


    Defense attorney Tamara Brady said Thursday that James Holmes placed the call to an after-hours number at a hospital at the University of Colorado, Anschutz campus.

    Brady says Holmes thought he could reach Dr. Lynne Fenton, a psychiatrist, at that number.

    Holmes is accused in the July 20 shooting that left 12 people dead and 58 wounded in Aurora.

    Barry Gutierrez / AP

    Defense attorney Daniel King leads other public defenders into court Thursday for a motions hearing for suspected theater shooter James Holmes in district court in Centennial, Colo.

    The detail came out during a hearing about Holmes' relationship with Fenton, to whom he mailed a package containing a notebook that reportedly contained violent descriptions of an attack.

    Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com 

    Fenton, who took the stand Thursday, testified she was sent the package on July 19.

    The package was seized by police on July 23 -- just three days after the shooting. According to court documents, she never had the package in her possession.

    More coverage of the Aurora theater shootings on NBCNews.com

    District Court Judge William Sylvester made no decision Thursday on whether the package should be released to prosecutors, NBC station KUSA reported. The hearing was continued to Dec. 20.

    Rj Sangosti / Pool via Reuters file

    Colorado shooting suspect James Holmes is shown at his first court appearance in Aurora, Colo., in July.

    The court discussed whether the notebook was sent during the time Holmes and Fenton had a doctor-patient relationship. The defense argued the notebook sent to Fenton is privileged information due to her relationship to Holmes as his psychotherapist. The prosecution says Fenton's relationship had already ended.

    Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

    Fenton testified on Thursday that she felt her professional relationship ended on June 11. Fenton claimed she did not see or talk to Holmes in between June 11 and July 19 - when the prosecution says the package was sent to her.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • Families of victims of theater shooting in Colorado slam relief fund

    Families of victims of the Aurora Colorado movie shooting held a press conference  expressing anger over how millions of dollars raised through donations and fundraisers have been dispersed.

    By Sam Schulz, NBC News

    The families of victims of the Colorado movie theater massacre said Tuesday at an emotionally charged news conference that although a fund intended to help them had raised more than $5 million, they had been shut out of the decision-making process.


    Family members in Aurora, Colo., tearfully decried what they called state officials' and the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance's lack of leadership and organization. They accused fundraisers of failing to give them a voice in determining what to do with the money already donated to the fund, despite using photographs of the victims in their fundraising efforts.

    Group spokesman Tom Teves, whose aspiring psychiatrist son Alex Teves, 24, was killed in the attack, pleaded on behalf of the group for urgent financial help and for more of a role in the process.

    “We come to speak as one voice,” Teves said. “We are here because we want the public to know what has happened within days of the shooting.”

    Other victims' relatives said that COVA's disorganization had left them all in the dark about the fund and deprived them of a much-needed sense of community.

    "Every desire that we have has to come under a microscope," said the mother of one victim, responding to a question about the particular financial needs of victims' families. Deidra Brooks, whose 19-year-old son Jarell was recovering from his wounds from the July 20 shooting rampage, said that scrutiny had added insult to injury.

    "It's more than a slap in the face. It's going through the 20th over and over and over," she said.

    Teves said money had been solicited for The Aurora Victim Relief Fund using the names and pictures of those slain. "I am certain that the public intended 100 percent of those donations to go to the families of victims, and to use that money to help the healing process," Teves said. "Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case."

    Teves said the families believed the funds would help all the victims, who Teves said included people in the theater or in the shooter’s apartment complex who suffered physically or emotionally.

    The 12 who were killed included 18-year-old recent high school graduate AJ Boik, Air Force cyber-systems operator Jesse Childress, aspiring sportscaster Jessica Ghawi, community college student Micayla Medek and mother of two Rebecca Wingo.

    Alexander Teves, Matt McQuinn, U.S. Navy veteran Jonathan Blunk and Navy sailor John Larimer all died shielding their friends or girlfriends.

    NBC News

    Tom Teves speaks at a press conference as other family members of the theater shooting victims look on Tuesday in Aurora, Colo.

    The massacre's oldest victim was 51-year-old Gordon Cowden, whose teen children survived it, and its youngest was 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan, who had just learned to swim. Alex Sullivan, no relation to Veronica Moser-Sullivan, was celebrating his 27th birthday and his first wedding anniversary on the night he was killed.

    Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com

    The conference came as lawyers in the murder case against accused gunman James Holmes wrangled over what should be made public.

    Holmes is accused of unleashing the July 20 shooting rampage at an Aurora movie theater. Police say the 24-year-old, wearing body armor and a gas mask and heavily armed, opened fire on an audience of the opening night of "The Dark Knight Rises," killing 12 and injuring 58.

    Police apprehended Holmes, who had recently withdrawn as a neuroscience Ph.D student from the University of Colorado, outside the theater and said they later removed explosives from his booby-trapped apartment.

    Thanks to a court-imposed gag order, little has been publicly said about the case — despite the intensity of prosecutors' legal battle with defense lawyers, who maintain Holmes is mentally ill, over access to his university and medical records.

    Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

    Prosecutors want access to Holmes' school records as well as to the contents of a package he sent to his psychiatrist, Dr. Lynne Fenton. News reports citing anonymous sources indicated that package contained a notebook with writings that reportedly described a violent attack.

    Defense lawyers argue the contents of the package are privileged, as Holmes' confidential communication with his doctor, and say Holmes is mentally ill.

    In the weeks following the shooting, details of Holmes' past have slowly trickled out but have left victims' families few clues as to a motive.

    The New York Times reported Sunday that weeks before the massacre, Holmes had text messaged a classmate about a psychiatric condition common in patients with bipolar disorder and had warned her to stay away from him, saying, "I am bad news."

    Prosecutors said in court filings that in May he had shown another classmate a semiautomatic pistol he had bought "for protection" and that in March he had told another that he wanted to kill people "when his life was over."

    A hearing on the question of access to the contents of the package Holmes mailed to Dr. Fenton is scheduled for Thursday, and Fenton is expected to testify.

    Sevil Omer of NBC News contributed to this report.

    More content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

  • 150 mourners attend first funeral for Aurora theater shooting victims

    Rick Wilking / Reuters

    Two women embrace as the leave the funeral for Gordon Cowden on Wednesday at Pathways Church in Denver.

    By NBC News

    About 150 mourners on Wednesday attended the first funeral service of a victim of last week's Aurora, Colo., theater shootings.


    Gordon Cowden, 51, a father who was the oldest person killed, was memorialized at Pathways Church in Denver.

    Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan and Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates were among the mourners who walked by a large portrait of Cowden at the entrance to the private service.

    Cowden, a Texas native who lives in Aurora, had taken his two teenage children to the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises," early Friday midnight showing. The businessman's children escaped unharmed.

    Related: Funerals, memorials for Aurora shooting victims planned across nation

    A separate memorial is planned at the Riverbend Centre in Austin, Texas.

    Later this week, families of other victims planned to say their final goodbyes.

    PhotoBlog: Memorial service for theater victim Gordon Cowden

    Cowden was one of 12 killed and 58 injured when a gunman wearing body armor, a gas mask and toting three firearms, opened fire at the crowded screening. James Eagan Holmes, 24, was arrested behind the theater shortly after the massacre.

    Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter 

    Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com 

    Related stories:

     

  • Source: Tip from accused Aurora shooter leads authorities to package

    Law enforcement officials have said that alleged gunman James Holmes sent the package to the University of Colorado medical center in Aurora. It was said to contain detailed writings about 'killing people' and it was Holmes himself who told police where to find it. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    By Mike Kosnar, NBC News

    Authorities recovered a package that apparently was mailed by James Eagan Holmes after the shooting suspect told investigators to look for the item on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, a senior law enforcement official told NBC News on Wednesday.


    The source told NBC that the package contained writings about killing people, but could not go into more detail.

    Holmes, a 24-year-old who was in the process of withdrawing from a graduate program in neuroscience at the university, has been arrested in connection with the killing of 12 and the injuring of 58 in a shooting spree at the midnight premier of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colo. on Friday.

    Police recovered the package on Monday after getting a search warrant for the medical center mail room and then getting a second warrant to actually open the package, the law enforcement source said. (Prosecutors later said in court documents that there was only a single search warrant.)

    Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

    Police found the package as Holmes described it, including his name in the return address, and it's now being analyzed, the source said.

    It was unclear how long the package had been in the mail room before its discovery. 

    In response to reporters' queries about the package, the Anschutz Medical Campus issued a statement saying it could not comment on anything regarding the ongoing criminal investigation into the theater shooting, under order of Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester.

    The statement did provide general information about how mail is handled on campus.

    "The University centrally receives mail from the United States Postal Service. The University then delivers the mail to the address on the Anschutz Medical Campus the same day it is received," the statement said. "The University's mail service is not open on Saturday. Saturday mail is sorted and delivered Monday morning. The University does not log or track mail/packages unless it requires a signature from the United States Postal Service."

    Holmes made his first court appearance before the court in Arapahoe on Monday, amid grieving for the victims.

    Wearing a red prison jumpsuit, Holmes appeared with public defender Tamara Brady for the hearing. Holmes, who said nothing during the proceedings, had several days' beard growth and bright red dyed hair. He looked down or off into the distance, at times raising his eyebrows in a quizzical expression or frowning as if concentrating.

    Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com

    A hearing of formal charges, expected to be multiple counts of first-degree murder, is set for next Monday. Then the state must decide whether to seek the death penalty.

    Holmes had been stockpiling ammunition, weapons, body armor and explosives for months, said authorities who tracked his purchases. After his arrest, teams of experts worked for two days to disarm Holmes' apartment, which contained an elaborate web of explosive and incendiary devices set to be triggered by tripwires.

    NBC News' Kate Snow and Kari Huus contributed to this report. 

    Related content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

     

  • Miracle baby of the Aurora tragedy

    University of Colorado Hospital

    Baby Hugo was born at 7:11 a.m. local time on Tuesday.

    By Kate Snow , NBC News

      
    AURORA, Colo. – He’s the tiny miracle after the tragedy of Aurora. 

    Hugo Jackson Medley was born at 7:11 a.m. local time on Tuesday, according to University of Colorado Hospital spokesman Dan Weaver. Both mother and child are doing well.

    His mother, Katie Medley, escaped the Colorado movie theater attack uninjured, but her husband, Caleb, is in the same hospital in a medically-induced coma fighting for his life. 

    High school sweethearts
    High school sweethearts, Katie and Caleb Medley started dating during their senior year in the small town of Florence, Colo., according to their close friend Michael West, who has become their family spokesman.  

    “You could just tell that out of everyone in the world, these two were meant for each other,” West wrote on a website dedicated to Caleb that he created to raise money to cover his friend’s medical bills.  As of Tuesday afternoon, the website has had 2,600 donors who have given about $90,000.   

    TODAY

    Katie Medley, who was nine-months pregnant when she was at the movie theater where the Aurora shooting happened, delivered her son, Hugo, on Tuesday morning. Her husband, Caleb, right, is in critical condition in the hospital from gun shot wounds sustained during the attack.

    In eighth grade, Caleb, now 23, decided he wanted to be a standup comedian. So after he and Katie, 21, got married they moved to Denver, where he could chase his dream.

    In an Internet video titled “Caleb Saves the Internet: Saving the One Nighter,” he chronicles life on the road as a struggling comic.
    He jokes about staying in a seedy motel room with a busted deadbolt and stains on the wall. But Caleb was making progress. Last Wednesday night, he performed stand up at the New Faces Contest at Comedy Works South in Denver, according to the Denver Post. He did well enough to advance to the next round of a comedy festival. 

    It was to be a big week for the couple. Not only was Caleb getting comedy gigs, but he was about to become a father. Katie, a veterinary student, was nine months pregnant and her doctor planned to induce labor on Monday, July 23.

    One last date night
    Katie and Caleb decided to treat themselves to one last night out before they needed a babysitter. Even though she was nine months pregnant, they were huge Batman fans and they were not going to miss opening night.

    NBC's Kate Snow reports on the shooting suspects court appearance Monday, as well as the status of some of the shooting victims, including Caleb Medley.

    "They had Batman apparel on. They waited for this movie for over a year,” said David Sanchez, Katie Medley’s father. 

    “They were having the normal opening night movie experience,” their friend Michael West wrote, recounting a conversation he had with Katie.  “They stood anxiously in line, spent too much on popcorn and soda, suffered through the movie trailers and watched the beginning of the movie. That is when evil struck.”

    “I thought it was a prank at first or someone playing along with the movie,” Katie told him, West writes. “Then he opened fire.”

    Caleb was shot in the face. He was put in the back of a police cruiser and driven to University of Colorado hospital. The website says he has lost his right eye, suffered brain damage and is in a medically-induced coma.

    Katie’s father, Sanchez, was at the Arapahoe County courthouse Monday to see the man he blames for ruining what was supposed to be a joyous time for the family. He said his daughter had asked him to come since she was in no state to attend herself.

    “When it’s your own daughter and she escaped death by just mere seconds, I would say, it really makes you angry,” he told a group of reporters outside the courthouse where the shooting suspect James Eagan Holmes made a brief appearance Monday.  

    Asked about his son-in-law, Caleb, he said, “He's in critical but stable condition, so we're praying for him. I think the main concern is him right now, and the baby being born.” 

    Like many of the young 20-somethings at the movies that terrible night, the Medleys have no health insurance, according to their friend West. 

    “Caleb and his family have no insurance, and these hospital bills are going to be well into the hundreds if not thousands if not millions. Caleb and Katie will be struggling with these hospital bills for the rest of their lives,” West wrote on the website.

    In two remarkable stories of survival, one woman saves the life of her best friend, and a father protects his son's girlfriend after she was badly wounded. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    Related content from NBCNews.com:

    Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

  • In Aurora massacre, trial may not shed much light on motive

    Legal expert Linda Kenney Baden and psychiatrist Dr. Gail Saltz discuss suspected gunman James Holmes' bizarre court appearance and what his possible mental instability means to the efforts to try him in court.

    By Wes Oliver, NBC News contributor

    ANALYSIS

    While relatives of the victims of last week’s movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colo. – and the public at large – are understandably fixated on why the crime was committed, the criminal justice system to a large extent will ignore that question in determining guilt and punishment. 

    It appears that the alleged shooter, 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes, acted alone, so there apparently is no conspiracy or anyone else directly to blame. Nor is there any indication that this was the act of a terrorist organization or individual attempting to advance a political agenda of some sort. The crime allegedly was committed by a single human being who explained himself to police as being a character from the Batman comics – the Joker.  

    Theater massacre suspect appears in court

    But in deciding whether a person should be punished – and how much – the law will inquire into a very limited set of questions. 

    The first is guilt. With a multitude of witnesses inside the theater able to testify about the black body armor worn by the gunman and Holmes arrested just outside the theater moments afterward wearing an identical ensemble, defense attorneys appear to have little chance of persuading a jury that their client did not pull the triggers of the weapons – all of which he had legally purchased – used in the crime. And the fact that he apparently booby-trapped his apartment immediately before the slaughter, with the apparent intent of creating a diversion, only adds to the evidence against him. 

    Wes OliverWes Oliver is a professor at Widener University who teaches criminal law and procedure. This fall he will join the faculty of the Duquesne University School of Law as a professor and director of the school's criminal justice program.

    If Holmes is convicted in connection with the crime, an insanity defense will almost certainly be contemplated. But the legal question raised by an insanity defense is relatively straightforward: Did the defendant understand the difference between right and wrong? 

    Past aids Aurora response, but were warnings unheeded?

    John Hinckley, Jr., escaped criminal punishment when he attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan to impress the actress Jodie Foster, but in the wake of his successful insanity defense, legislatures made it considerably more difficult for defendants to prevail on the grounds of mental incapacity. Under the law that existed at the time, defendants were not legally responsible even if they knew an action was wrong if they could show they were unable to resist the impulse to commit the act. After Hinckley's case, a number of states, including Colorado, amended their laws to permit a successful insanity defense only if the defendant did not know the difference between right and wrong. The upshot of this more stringent requirement is that defendants rarely prevail when they claim insanity.  

    James Holmes, the suspected gunman in the tragic Aurora movie theatre massacre was seen nodding off, glaring and staring blankly at a court hearing, leading many to speculate about an insanity defense. NBC's Kate Snow reports.

    So, if Holmes’ attorneys pursue an insanity defense, the jury will be asked only one question: Did he know it was wrong to try to take the lives of scores of people?  If the answer to that question is ‘yes,’ then the question becomes: What degree of homicide did he commit. To determine this, the jurors must decide whether he intentionally and deliberately killed his victims – first-degree murder – or whether he merely knowingly or recklessly killed them – second-degree murder. The degree of planning involved in this case, however, leaves no doubt that the perpetrator intended the results. 

    Photos: Shooting at Batman screening in Colo.

    Best friends Allie Young and Stephanie Davies, survivors of the Aurora, Colo. movie theater shooting and whose courageous story was mentioned by President Obama, tell their story of meeting him at the hospital.

    There will then be a final question about punishment. Colorado has the death penalty, though death sentences are quite rare in the state and there has only been one execution in 30 years. Nevertheless, there is the possibility of a death sentence in this case.  Under Colorado law a jury may return a death sentence if the defendant killed more than one human being in a single episode.  Almost certainly he did. 


    In a capital case – and it seems likely this will be a capital case – the defense is permitted to present anything in mitigation. That means that the defense may attempt to explain why the defendant attempted to take the lives of scores of innocent persons, but it is certainly not required to do so. It can focus on any aspect of his life in an effort to save it. And the prosecution only has to demonstrate that the mass killing occurred to obtain a death sentence. Nothing requires either side to present evidence of what motivated this man before incarcerating him or even executing him. 

    Read more legal analysis by Wes Oliver

    We often think of natural disasters as tragedies that defy explanation. Tragedies caused by humans can most often be explained, though, and the criminal justice process often provides that explanation. Motives are often offered to demonstrate a defendant's intent to kill.  

    In the case of James Holmes, it seems likely that circumstantial evidence alone will demonstrate his desire to take an extraordinary number of innocent lives, and that his motives will defy any traditional explanation, such as personal animosity or greed. But the law does not require prosecutors to show motive, merely the intent to kill.  And that may be all that anyone will be able to show for this senseless act.   

    As a result, any trial is likely to leave victims, and their families, with nearly as many unanswered questions as they have now.   

    Related content from NBCNews.com:

Older posts