James Holmes Would Have Killed More, But His Gun Jammed

Two days after a shooting rampage killed 12 people and wounded 70 in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, President Obama flew in to meet with victims and survivors. Colorado leaders held the first large public memorial service, drawing a crowd of thousands.

James Eagen Holmes, the suspect in the July 20 massacre at the Century 16 multiplex during a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises," had planned the attack for at least two months, officials said. He bought his first Glock pistol in Aurora on May 22, a Remington shotgun in Denver six days later, a Smith & Wesson M&P15 semi-automatic rifle about two weeks after that, and a second Glock on July 6.

According to police and reports from the scene, Holmes threw tear-gas canisters into the darkened theater, then fired a 12-gauge shotgun at the audience, switched to the rifle fitted with a 100-round drum magazine, and finally used a Glock 22 handgun. In all, he fired 76 shots: 6 from the shotgun, 65 from the rifle, and 5 from the handgun. A bullet even passed through a wall and struck three people in an adjacent theater showing the same film.

Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates noted the rifle's drum magazine could have let Holmes fire 50 to 60 rounds in a minute. But the notoriously unreliable 100-round drum malfunctioned partway through the attack — reports at the time said after dozens of rounds — forcing him to abandon the rifle and switch to the Glock. If it had kept firing, the toll could have been far worse.

Holmes was arrested outside the theater minutes later. He had booby-trapped his apartment with wired bottles of chemicals, and police found a network of explosives designed to go off when authorities entered. He was scheduled for his first court appearance on Monday, July 23.