The official story started taking shape at approximately 3:15 am local time on July 20, 2012 when Aurora Colorado Police Chief, Dan Oates would give his first official press conference just outside the theater in the early hours after the horrific mass shooting. During the interview you can still hear the alarms going off behind him indicating that activity is still ongoing. By this time members of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) are on location and helping assist local police with the scene.
With the lead FBI Special Agent in charge now close by his side and hovering over his shoulder, Dan Oates would begin his official press briefing as follows. Note, I’ve left in all of the original pauses, stumbles, and incorrect sentences to capture the announcement as accurately as possible.
Dan Oates begins the official statement with, “At approximately 12:30 this morning a gunman appeared at the front of one of the theaters at the Century 16 theaters behind me here… uh….uh….witnesses tell us that he released some sort of canister …uh…they heard a hissing sound…. and that gas emerged…and that we know the gunman opened fire….Now I’m saying the gunman because as of right now we only know of one gunman…ok…. and we have no ‘evidence’ of any additional shooters.”
Let us pause now to examine this opening statement with a critical eye. Firstly, Dan Oates says the gunman appeared at the front of the theater around 12:30am. We know from 911 calls and police and fire dispatch that the shooting began around 12:38am. More specifically, the official story will later say that James Holmes actually arrived at the theater around 12:01 at the start of the film, went inside and took a seat near the front of the theater, took a cell phone call to the emergency exit and propped it open and then left the theater to change into tactical gear only to re-emerge through the exit at approximately 12:38am. Saying the gunman arrived “at the front of the theater” around 12:30am already confuses the timeline a bit. Maybe this can be dismissed as an “approximation” so for now we’ll let it slide.
Secondly, Dan Oates tells us the gunman opened “some sort of canister”. Note the use of the word “canister” and not the plural form, “canisters”. Later on we will see that a version of the story emerges where multiple gas canisters are used. For now let’s note that the initial press statement states one gunman threw a single gas canister.
Lastly, Dan Oates seems adamant to clarify from his opening remarks that there is only evidence of one “gunman”. This is where things get a little trickier. Again, technically Dan Oates is not saying there is no evidence of an “accomplice” here but rather that there is not more than one “gunman”. A careful analysis of the evidence suggests that indeed there was likely only one triggerman as I have found no witnesses saying someone fired a gun in theater eight, but there may have in fact been multiple accomplices either throwing additional gas canisters and/or encouraging people to stay inside the theater during the early moments of the shooting. We will continue to examine the evidence of that theory in the posts ahead. Let’s get back to the press statement.
Dan Oates continues, “Uh…police officers responded …uh…uh…and found the gunman at the back of the theater outside in the parking lot near a car in possession of a gas mask and at least a rifle and a handgun…the additional…at least one additional weapon was found inside. …uh the shooting apparently went on for some time.”
There are more problems presented here. Here we are clearly told that Holmes was found “near a car”. This leaves us still with the question of who is the person shot “IN” a white kia behind the theater as reported on police dispatch. Remember, right after an officer reports that someone is shot “IN a car” another officer asks to confirm if that is a suspect with the white car and is told yes. Also, we do not hear audio of officers ordering someone to drop their weapons, get on the ground, or surrender. Even though we do hear officers reporting from the back of theater that they have a suspect we hear nothing on the audio that indicates a suspect is standing there. Early indications and audio suggest the gunman was found inside the white car.
More interesting however is that now Dan Oates says the suspect was found with “a rifle” and “a gas mask” (singular) not “rifles” and “gas masks” (plural). Do you remember the cries of the arresting officers at the back of the theater? Remember how at 12:46 am, an officer breaks in excitedly and says, “Everyone hold the air one second…Cars with that white car in the rear of the lot, is that a suspect?” The response comes back quickly, “Yes! We’ve got rifles, gas masks, he’s detained right now, I’ve got an open door going into the theater.” This now will be the start of a series of reports that Holmes only had one gas mask and rifle on him. And why shouldn’t he? If there is only one shooter, why would he need more than one gas mask? And so, the early story will become that Holmes only had one gas mask.
Lastly, Oates tells us here that the “shooting went on for some time”.
So Dan Oates starts off saying the shooter arrived at 12:30 am and adds that the “shooting went on for some time”. These two statements together might lead some to think the shooting went on for a good forty minutes but as the story evolves we will see police were at the theater immediately after the shooting started and that it was over in about a minute and a half. Let’s continue.
“As of right now we have approximately 50 who were hit and we have fourteen dead…ten in the theater and two….four died at uh area hospitals.”
Once again, the public was told multiple times in the hours after the shooting that there are fourteen confirmed dead. These should not be guesses or estimates but “confirmed” dead. That number will later be revised down to twelve dead. In a strange slip of the tongue, Dan Oates starts to say that two died at area hospitals but then corrects himself quickly and says that four died at area hospitals. The number officially will be revised back down to two who died at area hospitals.
Dan Oates continues, “ …uh the police response…uh…uh… consisted of rushing anyone who was hit immediately into police cars and to hospitals…uh…. there’s six area hospitals we know of…I’ll tell you what they are…. that have handled and triaged victims…um Children’s, Aurora South, University Hospital, Parker Adventist, Denver General and Swedish…um….I’m saying approximately fifty were injured…we can’t get a firm count right now… and there may be some double counts of victims taken to one hospital then transported to another.”
So ok, Dan admits there may be some double counts of victims that were transported from one hospital to another. All of that seems reasonable and understandable but file it away in the memory banks as it will come up again later in our conspiracy theory.
Dan Oates continues, “um the suspect, who is in custody, made statements about possible explosives…uh…in possession at his residence. At this time there is a residence in North Aurora that’s an apartment building that we have evacuated and we are dealing with the potential that there are explosives inside there….um…. we are also concerned about explosives in the parking lot hence the parking lot is completely sealed off…we have all the area bomb squads… we’ve had wonderful support from all our law enforcement friends….and we are just as a precaution checking all the cars in the parking lot for explosives….that will go on for quite some time….um, the theater is secured….and I imagine the forensic work…uh…and the handling of deceased inside the theater will go on for some time. ..um, on behalf of all of Aurora…and this is a horrific event…our hearts go out to the families..um we have mobilized the witnesses that we could get our hands on to an area high school where debriefings are underway.”
As the story progresses during the first week there will be conflicting reports about what Holmes allegedly did or didn’t say upon his arrest and later in holding. For now just pay attention to the statement that Holmes told them about his booby trapped apartment upon his arrest. Perhaps also you may wonder why a person who went to such lengths to set the booby trap would just give that information up rather than let the trap be sprung.
Following his brief official statement Chief of Police Dan Oates took questions from the press. What would you guess would be the first question on any reporters mind? Would it be questions about the victims? Would it be questions about motive? No! In fact, the very first question out of any reporters mouth would be, “Chief can you say anything about a search for a second person…there are a lot of reports that there was someone else involved.”
Stunning! From the mouth of a reporter we hear confirmation that “there are a lot of reports that there was someone else involved.” Remember, the media have been listening to police and fire audio as well. They have been stopping every eyewitness they can get their hands on to ask what they saw and the media knows just as you do now that there were “lots of reports of someone else involved.” People want to know who else is involved.
Dan Oates swallows hard before answering as the FBI Special Agent in charge nods approval during his answer. “We have not been able to confirm that….we have no evidence to support that right now, but we are obviously very concerned about that and the possibility of that..they are working that angle right now….but as of right now we have no evidence of a second gunman.”
So, Dan Oates wants us to believe there is no evidence to support the possibility that others might be involved even though police and fire audio has been talking about multiple suspects and conflicting eyewitness testimony for hours? We have even heard officers chasing down other suspects within the last hour! Perhaps the key is in his use of the word “gunman” and not “accomplices”. Notice how the reporter does not ask specifically if there are “other gunmen” but rather if “someone else is involved”. Dan Oates responds that there is no evidence of that and then adds, “we have no evidence of a second gunman”. Again, I want to point out that an accomplice does not have to be a gunman. Perhaps the reason why Dan Oates wants to focus on the lone “gunman” is because indeed there was only one shooter. But at the crux of the question is not how many “gunmen” there were, but whether there were other accomplices.
But that is not the end of the media inquiry. Another reporter then asks, “Do you believe there is other people that you need to find…uh suspect wise?”
Dan Oates gets curt and says, “I just answered that question…as of right now we do not have any evidence of a second gunman but obviously we’re concerned about that and we’re doing everything we can to find out if there is a…if that quite possibly could be true…but as of right now we have no evidence.”
Once again Dan Oates seems to do a simple redirect. The media reporters are asking if there other suspects or accomplices involved and Dan keeps rephrasing the question as “gunmen” and saying there is no evidence of multiple “gunmen”. Do you see the distinction? Again, it is quite possible based on the evidence that a single gunman accounted for all of the shooting, but did they have help setting off explosives, locking doors in theater eight, telling people to stay in the theaters because a gunman is in the lobby, and fleeing out of the back of the theater dressed in black while carrying backpacks? The real question is, did the lone gunman have help carrying out the attack?
And so the questions from the media continue with this interesting inquiry, “Uh Chief, witnesses are saying that there seemed to be a police presence immediately as they heard gunfire…was there anything that they could have known of beforehand to show up sooner?
In this researcher’s opinion, Dan Oates sounds a bit taken aback by the question and stumbles over his words as he shakes his head negatively “…uh…uh…I can’t answer that question. I know that we were here immediately and thankfully. Thankfully we apprehended a suspect…”
Stop and contemplate this sudden turn of events. Dan Oates starts the press conference by stating that the shooter arrived at the theater at 12:30 and that the shooting “went on for some time”. Now Oates is presented with a reporter asking why eyewitnesses say police were there IMMEDIATELY after the shooting started. The police arrived so fast in fact that this reporter believes the police must have known the shooting was about to happen or had been tipped off. The Chief of Police’s response to that is, “I can’t answer that”. However, he does now admit that “we were there immediately”.
Sometime later at least one news report aired on television hours after the shooting admitted that some police were already in the theater when the shooting started presumably to offer crowd control that night. Aurora Chief of Police Dan Oates in a later press conference will claim that the first officer arrived on the scene within 90 seconds of the first 911 calls. The two conflicting stories COULD be reconciled if we consider that off duty police reportedly often served at the Century 16 theaters as security on busy nights. Therefore it is possible that both off duty police were at the theater when the shooting started AND that the first “on-duty” officer did not arrive on scene until 90 seconds after the first 911 call. This is important to note since the most plausible conspiracy theories suggest that the conspirators were themselves likely current or former law enforcement officers who would have been keenly familiar with the theater’s layout and security policies. To suggest there were possibly off duty police officers already in the theater at the time the shooting started is an interesting piece of information to consider.
Again, please keep in mind that the shooter is dressed just like police. In fact, the official story will later suggest that Holmes at first went undetected because he looked like every other police officer there with the exception of a non-regulation gas mask. So again, we have confirmation that police were on scene “immediately” once the shooting started and that the shooter himself looked like police. And why is it that police are there immediately? According to Dan Oates, he can’t answer that.
I think that distinction between additional gunmen and accomplices is everything