Netanyahu sends condolences to Denver shooting victims
In letter to President Obama, PM says 'Israel stands with the American people as you mourn this terrible tragedy. We know the pain and loss you are experiencing.' Meanwhile, authorities disarm trip wires, explosive devices inside movie theater shooter's apartment
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sent a letter to US President Barack Obama expressing his condolences over the deaths of 12 Americans in a movie theatre shooting in Denver on Saturday.
"Israel stands with the American people as you mourn this terrible tragedy, which claimed the lives of so many people. We know the pain and loss you are experiencing," Netanyahu wrote.
"All Israelis stand with the American people as they grieve this horrific tragedy that claimed the lives of so many. We well understand the pain and the loss that you are experiencing," he added.
Meanwhile, US authorities began disarming trip wires and explosive devices "set up to kill" inside the apartment of the suspect in the deadly shooting, hoping to find clues to his motive without destroying key evidence in a blast.
Federal authorities disarmed one explosive inside James Holmes' suburban apartment with a "water shot," a device that emits a shock wave and water, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
Police said earlier they had "defeated" another explosive attacked to a trip wire, but did not say how they did it. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the ongoing investigation into the shooting rampage that killed 12 people and wounded 58.
Holmes' apartment appears to have three types of explosives - jars filled with accelerants, chemicals that would explode when mixed together and more than 30 "improvised grenades," the official said.
Police raid suspect's apartment (Photo: AP)
Makeshift memorials sprang up for the victims, including a 6-year-old girl, an aspiring female sportscaster and a man celebrating his 27th birthday, after police grimly went door to door with a list of those killed in the worst mass shooting in recent U.S. history. Holmes, 24, was arrested early Friday outside the Aurora theater after witnesses say he unleashed gunfire and gas canisters on a crowd of moviegoers watching the midnight showing of the new Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises."
The devices in Holmes' booby-trapped apartment were "set up to kill that person and that could have been a police officer executing a search warrant," Aurora police Sgt. Cassidee Carlson said. Police planned an intricate procedure to disarm the possible weapons without destroying evidence that could be in the apartment.
"We don't want to lose evidential value," Carlson said.
Forcers prepare to enter apartment (Photo: Reuters)
Federal officials said in a bulletin obtained by The Associated Press that they still hadn't determined a motive for the suspect as families grieved and others waited at hospitals, where seven of the wounded remained in critical condition on Saturday with some injuries that could be permanent.
In his Saturday radio address, President Barack Obama urged Americans to pray "for the victims of this terrible tragedy, for the people who knew them and loved them, for those who are still struggling to recover."
In New York City, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said: "It clearly looks like a deranged individual. He has his hair painted red. He said he was the Joker, obviously the enemy of Batman."
Oates would not confirm that information, but did say he spoke to Kelly. Asked whether Holmes had makeup to look like the Joker, Oates said: "That to my knowledge is not true."
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