Source Shares Specifics On How Suspect's Apartment Was Rigged
DENVER (CBS4) - James Holmes is being held without bond in the Arapahoe County Jail. Prosecutors will file formal charges against him next Monday.
Holmes' apartment had been turned into a trap say authorities, loaded up with homemade bombs. Over the weekend bomb experts detonated the materials extracted from his apartment. It's something police have talked about in general terms.
"I see an awful lot of wires, trip wires, jars full of ammunition, jars full of liquid, things that look like mortar rounds," Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said on Saturday.
A federal law enforcement source has now shared specifics on what was found inside the apartment. The floor and carpet were soaked with gasoline, meant to catch fire. The blaze would be started by different containers, each with different chemicals that when knocked over by a trip wire and mixed together, would trigger fire.
The floor was also littered with mortars about the size of a cannon ball, according to the source.
Around the apartment that was described as "messy," there were numerous liter bottles filled with accelerants -- likely gasoline. But those containers were also filled with bullets.
The source says the theory is the suspect wanted the gas to catch fire, in turn causing the bullets within to explode, scattering shrapnel around the apartment like grenades.
"Make no mistake, okay, this apartment was designed, I say, based on everything I've seen, to kill whoever entered it," Oates said.
On top of the refrigerator was what's described as a fireworks igniter box with numerous wires coming out of it. It was similar to one that would be used to set off fireworks in professional shows. Authorities disabled the box with a blast of water.
The federal law enforcement contact says all the materials found in the apartment could be bought over the Internet. Plans and directions on how to fashion the homemade IEDs could also easily be found on the Web.
- Written by Brian Maass for CBSDenver.com
Don't miss a special hour long report on CBS4 on Friday at 4 p.m. titled "Movie Theater Tragedy: Remember, Honor Support" which will look back at the week following the Aurora shootings.
