Officer At Theater Shooting: 'I Wasn't Keeping A Child In That Crime Scene'
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (CBS4) - All the first responders to the Aurora theater shooting scene had been under a gag order from the court since that deadly night. But on Wednesday, for the first time, they started sharing their stories.
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Day 3 of the trial brought some new insights into the shooting. It was learned that when police arrived, they found the shooter, James Holmes, almost immediately -- because it was too early for a SWAT officer to be on the scene.
Sgt. Spc. Gerald Jonsgaard said he saw Holmes behind the theater dressed head-to-toe in body armor and initially thought he was a police officer.
"There was a person standing next to this white car, the door was open and I believed it was a SWAT officer," Jonsgaard testified.
Jonsgaard went into the theater and checked every body. He found 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan without a pulse. He ordered officers to take her outside.
"I want her triaged, I want her out of here," Jonsgaard said. "I wasn't keeping a child in that crime scene."
Aurora police officer Natasha Cabouet thought she'd be in a gun battle. She found Veronica's mother Ashley Moser bleeding to death. She loaded her into a car and raced Moser to a hospital.
"By the time we pulled into the hospital she stopped talking, she lost consciousness (sobbing) … and I really thought she'd just die there in front of me," Cabouet said.
"I can close my eyes and see the picture of the theater," Aurora Fire Department Lt. Bernd Hoefler said.
RELATED STORIES: Aurora Movie Shooting Story Archive
Hoefler's emergency medical technicians went into the theater not knowing if Holmes was still inside. There were so many victims they had to pass over at least one who might have survived but was deemed too far gone, and others needed the help.
"Did you guys find anyone to save?" the prosecutor asked Holfer.
"No sir," he responded.
Many of the first responders were medics and unprotected, but went into an active shooter scene anyway saying, "You have to risk a lot to save a lot."
