Witnessing the Attack in Theater 9
Studies have shown that witnesses to a crime aren’t always reliable because of distortions in human perception caused by various biases and stressors. It’s the “fog of war”—what one person thinks they saw is not always what was actually there. Moreover, even the most compelling eyewitness testimony can’t always prove that something did or didn’t happen.
But in the absence of more objective, undeniable evidence, it sure can paint a convincing picture.
From what can be ascertained from publicly available interviews, several witnesses in Theater 9 believe the shooter didn’t act alone. While the dark, smoky, frantic atmosphere in the theater may have prevented most moviegoers from making out much, it’s probable that there are more people who saw something similar to what the following witnesses did, but were never interviewed by police or the media after the shooting.
Eyewitness #1: Corbin Dates
The eyewitness whose testimony currently serves as the bedrock of the accomplice theory is Corbin Dates, a 23-year-old man from Aurora who sat in the second row of Theater 9 on July 20th. In multiple interviews, Dates describes a man who took a phone call about 20 minutes before the movie started, proceeded to the emergency exit door, and appeared to direct someone his way.
Dates: Yes.
Matthews: Go ahead.
Dates: That’s correct. Yeah, uh, prior to the movie even starting when I came and got my seat at the theater, a guy walked into the auditorium after me, sat into the very front first right row and got a phone call. Took his phone call towards the emergency exit—not the lobby—and had his foot propped open by the door. It seemed like he was making gestures—trying to find somebody or trying to have somebody come to his location to where he currently was. After that, I had already stepped out of the auditorium to bring my friend [eyewitness Jennifer Seeger] in, and when we came back, the movie was just starting, the lights were dimming, and that door seemed closed.
Matthews: And you testified all this in court?
Dates: Yes.
Dates’ account to The Washington Post says that the man with the goatee propped the door open with a stick, which contradicts Police Sgt. Gerald Jonsgaard’s statement that “a small piece of plastic commonly used to hold tablecloths onto a picnic table” was used, with more found on Holmes during his arrest. However, it’s unclear if this is a detail that Dates asserted, or if it was an assumption made by writer Eli Saslow, who has yet to respond to a request for clarification.
In another interview, Dates was shocked to see that that Holmes wasn’t a more buff, military type person that he remembered, or perhaps envisioned, from the shooting.
Dates: When I was sitting in the theater, it was supposed to be just a casual evening, out with my good friend. I arrived early waiting for her to get there, and when I went there, I grabbed a seat—the only seats that were available were the front two rows, about precisely 4 seats away from the isle…I noticed a guy walked in from into the auditorium, sat in the front row to the far right, and he seemed like a normal person…He got a phone call—and when most people get a phone call in a theater, they go straight out into the lobby…This person went directly to the emergency exit to take his phone call. What I thought was unusual…He…had his foot propped open by the door and…it seemed like he was signaling somebody or looking for somebody to come his way. I, once again, didn’t think anything of it, so I went back to watching the trailers.
My friend had informed that she had arrived in the locality, so I went and met with her and brought her back into the theater…about 15 minutes into the movie the emergency doors swung open; a guy walks in—and probably about 5’8” or 5’9”, and he’s wearing all black, a helmet, a gas mask; he’s wearing body armor; he looks like he has a gun strapped around his neck—and he threw something into the audience…I had no idea what it was but, apparently…it was some type of gas canister, and wasn’t a friendly gas; I realized it was really as serious situation, because it was hard to breathe, and, immediately, I went to the floor. And not after 2 seconds after, it explodes, gun shots started going off into the audience.”
The interviewer then asked, “How long did this play out?”
Dates responded, “Possibly 30 minutes…but the gunshots themselves, possibly 15 to 20 minutes.”
Dates: I remember seeing a guy walk into the theater, and he sat in the very first row to the far right seat. And I didn’t think nothing of it—he just looked like a regular, average person.
Griffin: Alone?
Dates: Ever alone.
Griffin: Red hair?
Dates: Uh, it did look like he had red hair, uh yes.
At Holmes’ preliminary hearing several months later, police addressed Dates’ apparently revised testimony. According to Court Order C-19:
Sergeant Fyles testified that he interviewed victim-witness Corbin Dates. Mr. Dates told Sergeant Fyles that he was seated inside Theater Nine and noticed a male with red hair sticking out of a black beanie walk toward the emergency exit door in the front of Theater Nine while talking on a cell phone, and the man propped the door ajar with his foot. Sergeant Fyles stated that a picnic clip wrapped in aqua tape was found on the emergency exit door to Theater Nine and another matching clip was found on Defendant when he was searched. Additionally, Sergeant Fyles states that matching picnic clops were found in the center console of the white car, which Detective Appel stated was registered to Defendant, as well as in Defendant’s apartment near a roll of aqua tape.
It’s bizarre that in all but the CNN interview Dates gave following the shooting, he never mentioned the color of the man’s hair as a distinguishing feature (just his goatee), nor did he ever state that he believed it was the same person as the shooter.
So what happened? Is there a non-conspiratorial reason why Dates’ current testimony is vastly different than what he initially told the media? Could his memory have been affected by the fog of war, despite witnessing something that seemed peculiar, yet harmless at the time?
What’s also odd is that not one other witness has stated (publicly or in court) that they saw Holmes or the man with the goatee prop the door open and/or walk out the emergency exit. And from what Court Order C-19 tells us, the prosecution may rely solely on Dates’ inconsistent testimony in asserting that it was Holmes who propped open the emergency exit door, and not someone else. Because there are no cameras in the individual theaters, and without releasing the video footage to the public, it’s not 100% clear if Holmes ever exited the complex through a non-emergency exit door, relying on the man with the goatee to keep the emergency exit ajar.
Admittedly, Holmes’ mere presence inside Century 16—assuming it is indeed him—seems unnecessary if an accomplice had already propped open the door for him to enter from the outside. But there could be an explanation, such as him wanting to scope out the scene before going through with an attack that he’d apparently planned for two months.
Eyewitnesses #2 and 3: Fassil Eyayou and Evan Morrison
Two more key Theater 9 witnesses are Fassil Eyayou and Evan Morrison, who described their unique perspective on the attack to reporter Matt Flener of 9NEWS, the NBC affiliate in Denver: (Video has been removed from Youtube by News9)
Eyayou contradicts himself regarding which gas canister was thrown first, but the point here is that both he and Morrison recognized that someone other than the gunman threw a tear-gas canister in Theater 9. So, again, how many other witnesses in the theater saw the same thing?
Eyewitness #3: Devon Suits
There doesn’t appear to be public video testimony from Devon Suits, an 18-year-old who was in the theater with four of his friends that night. But his account given to Denver Post sports columnist Woody Paige is consistent with what Eyayou and Morrison believe they saw [emphasis added]:
“That was the tear gas (canisters.) My eyes began burning. There was smoke, and the flashes and bullets flying, screaming, and it was surreal. Everybody was freaking out. I didn’t even know that the movie kept playing. I thought there were two gunmen—the one throwing the gas and the other shooting. I lost it….”
Why hadn’t anybody rushed the shooter? “I was terrified. We didn’t know how many (gunmen) there were. We didn’t have time to think. We reacted. I just wanted to get away with my friends and not die.“
Eyewitness #4: Century 16 Employee
Caution for language in the witness video below:
This Theater 9 witness is a Century 16 employee who recalls what she saw that night from the top-back of the theater. The raw quality of her testimony inside Gateway High School makes it seem less official than the previous witnesses, but what she says shouldn’t be ignored because it supports the theory that the shooter got help from the inside.
In the beginning of the clip, she and her friend who was with her also believe that the attack involved multiple people:
…next to the exit sign there’s two doors that lead outside directly. So, what I heard from him (another eyewitness)—he was sitting in the third row—they came from the exit doors from the outside, so somebody with tickets probably let them in….
Toward the end of the clip, she reiterates her perception that multiple attackers were involved, though it’s unclear if she’s suggesting a total of three or five:
They do have a guy in custody according to the news. And I think there’s at least three people ’cause I saw a silhouette of a guy—and all I could see was the light from the exit lights. I saw a silhouette of a guy, and he was in all black… And there’s two people on each side of him, but I think there was only one gun going off at the time. But they definitely threw f$#%’ smoke bombs, and they threw one other thing… And either they were hiding behind the screen, which there is…. [clip ends]
When the clip ends, she starts to say that there is space to hide behind the movie screen in the theater, which an officer confirmed here on the police radio scanner following the attack:
Lincoln 25: Everybody inside, realize that behind the screens, those are open venues, so you need to check behind those screens also.
Eyewitness #5: “They Set Gas Bombs”
CNN does not disclose the name of this witness, but in the following short statement, she mentions multiple attackers three times [emphasis added]:
As they were leaving, he witnessed a baby—an infant—get shot. But yeah, theyset gas bombs, um, as they were leaving, and just gunshots all over the place.
A Witness Who Saw Holmes with Another Man Before the Shooting
Abigail Quezada, who lives across the street from Holmes’ apartment, told Fox News’ Grif Jenkins what she saw around 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 19th, roughly five hours before the shooting:
Quezada: Two persons—uh, James, what is the name? Jenkins: James Holmes? Quezada: Yeah, [and] another guy. They started running down 17th [Avenue] to his apartment.
While Quezada’s testimony lacks depth and articulation, it does lend credence to the possibility that Holmes may have been working with someone to plan and possibly execute the shooting.
So who is this person of interest? Why the two of them were running is anyone’s guess.
A Coordinated Attack in Theater 8
Despite Theater 9 testimony supporting the presence of at least one accomplice, the more overlooked testimony is from witnesses in Theater 8, who reveal something of a smoking gun for the accomplice theory. Although no witnesses have publicly stated that they actually saw someone set off a gas canister, they did see a flash of light moments before bullets began streaming in from the adjoining wall of Theater 9.
In addition to the witnesses who describe this attack, an officer heard on the police scanner that night sums up his findings from witness interviews by indicating the perceived presence of an assailant in Theater 8:
Uh, yeah, I don’t know if this information’s already been put out, but I’m talking to people making a statement. It sounds like we have possibly two shooters: One that was in Theater 8, seated, another one that came in from the outside into Theater 9. Sounded like it was a coordinated attack.
The word to note from this transmission is “seated,” which at least one witness either directly reported, or the reporting officer inferred from the account(s). The mere mention of this word reduces the likelihood of a timed tear-gas detonation that was programmed to go off in advance.
Eyewitness #1: Steve Ostergaard
Teacher Steve Ostergaard was sitting on the right side of Theater 8 with 10 of his students that night:
About 20 minutes into the movie, there was a scene where they were in a bar and there was gunfire about to start erupting. At that point, to the right of us—right by the stairwell—all 12 of us heard hissing and then started seeing smoke and we saw a boom and a flash. At that point we heard what we thought were firecrackers. […]Was part of the stairwell blown off like I thought I saw? Because I saw an explosion. So what really happened? Because it was dark in there.
Eyewitness #2: Rachel Fedeli
Rachel Fedeili was also in Theater 8. Here’s her account:
We had heard about two pops, and then there was a big cloud of smoke. And then there was another pop and more smoke….
Later in the same clip, she mentions an important point that supports the idea that the gas canister(s) thrown in Theater 8 were indeed separate from the gas canister(s) thrown in Theater 9:
We had no idea at all that there was anything happening in Theater 9—we thought it was just in our theater. No one knew that there was something else happening in the theater next to us.
Eyewitness #3: Alex Milano
Theater 8 witness Alex Milano told 9NEWS’ Brandon Rittiman:
We were watching a scene in the movie—it was a shootout scene—there were guns firing. And then a loud bangs came from the right of the theater. Smoke took over the entire theater. It was really thick, and no one could really see anything.
Eyewitness #4: Obed Sanchez
It’s unclear where Obed Sanchez was sitting in Theater 8, but he also describes an explosion that took place inside his theater:
Eyewitness #5: Quentin Caldwell
Testimony from Theater 8 moviegoer Quentin Caldwell reiterates what Theater 9 witness Devon Suits perceived, suggesting that there may have been more than one shooter:
You know, right before we tried to exit the theater, and then all of the sudden somebody ran in and said, ‘[lightbox full=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t1MHjRaLSg#t=01m07s”]Don’t go in the lobby – he’s in the lobby[/lightbox].’ And somebody else tried to go outside, and they shut the doors. I don’t know why, but they said, ‘He’s outside.’ So we were scared—we didn’t know if there was more than one.
What the Police Scanner Picked Up
Supporting the accomplice theory is telling audio from the police radio scanner in the early morning hours of July 20th. Before going through its revelations, a few things should be known.
First, Aurora police indicated that after ads and trailers, the 12:05 a.m. screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Theater 9 actually began at 12:20 a.m., with the shooting occurring approximately 18 minutes into the movie, at 12:38 a.m.
Secondly, the map below will help put the radio transmissions in context. Holmes was detained in the back of the theater, which the police refer to as the east/Sable Boulevard side. Alameda Avenue runs east to west, just north of the theater.
