Shooting at Denver Theater: Update

[Content Note: Gun violence; murder.]

My earlier post is here.

Authorities in Denver are reporting that shooter James Holmes' apartment is wired with an unknown number of explosive devices.

Police say that apartment of the suspect in an early morning movie theater shooting appears to be booby trapped with trip wires attached to plastic bottles that contain an unknown substance.

Police Chief Dan Oates said the explosive devices were "pretty sophisticated."

"We could be here for days," he said.

Five buildings have been evacuated around the alleged shooter's apartment at1690 Paris St. in Aurora, and the bomb squad is preparing to send in a robot equipped with a camera, Aurora Deputy Fire Chief Chris Henderson said.

"We're not sure exactly where they connect to, but we can see several string-like contraptions," Henderson said.

Jim Yacone, special agent in charge of the Denver FBI, said they were working on "how to disarm the flammable or explosive material."

There is more at the link.

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People has a profile on one of the victims, Jessica Ghawi, who was a blogger.

In the New Yorker, Adam Gopnik laments that "no one—really no one—anywhere on the political spectrum has the courage to speak out about the [destruction] of unleashed guns and what they do to American life."

Quoting Gopnik's piece, Digby adds: "We will mourn the casualties the way we mourn the deaths of those in hurricanes and tornadoes. Gun violence is now a 'natural' event in America, as unpredictable as the weather, and there's nothing we can do about it except gather together in the aftermath to help the victims. Indeed, the only enduring threat these events foretell is from those who would question a culture that deifies the gun as if it were a religious symbol rather than a lethal weapon."