he lived alone, kept to himself. but james holmes was also a one-time ph.d. canned tate and an honor student. more on the man now in custody. plus -- >> i personally have never seen anything like whathe pictures show us is in there. >> trip wires, gas canisters, booby-traps. an apartment so dangerous law enforcement still can't get inside. we'll take you live to the suspect's building. it's saturday, july 21st. good morning, everyone. i'm gary tuchman. a little over 24 hours ago the nation first heard the news. a shooter opened fire inside a crowded theater. 12 people dead, 58 others injured. as many as 11 of those are in the hospital in critical condition. we'll get you out to the scene in just a moment. first, i want to show you this picture. it comes from the adult sex sykes adult friend finder. police believe this is james holmes, the suspect in the shooting. but investigators haven't confirmed the picture just yet. sources did say holmes dyed his hair red before the attack. police are waiting to get inside the apartment. jim spellman is at the theater. what was the scene like there overnight? >> well, last night, gary, people started forming this makeshift vigil with dozens of candles. and it's still burning there tonight. nobody is there now but it's just one of those organic vigil sites that pop up. they are blank a community-wide vigil. ever since columbine this community has been protective almost of that legacy. and i think this ties into it. people will use it as a healing opportunity and a chance to really show solidarity. on an individual basis, today they have grief counseling at a pair of high schools to help people process the trauma. >> jim, i feel so bad fort families of those who lost loved ones. the bodies were in the theater for so long and weren't given the exact word if it was their laughed ones. finally they got the word last night. have the bodies been removed? >> yeah. around 5:00 last night they were able to get all the bodies out of there. it takes a long time for the coroners to come in and the crime scene investigators to come in and process these sites. i know it was very important to the police to make that notification. you be imagine with that many -- that much of a huge shooting site, that many bullets, that many shell casings, what a site that must be to process. >> jim, are police still inside the theater investigating? >> yeah. there's still police over there for sure. the adjoining shopping area, they actually plan on reopening today. the movie theater itself still roped off. still police in there doing their work, gary. >> poppy, let's go to you now at the apartment. what's the scene like there right now? >> you know, it's obviously very, very quiet. my producer prescribdescribed i eery. a source tells me his apartment was on the third floor, gary, of this building. you know, it's rightcross from the medical school where he attended as a ph.d. candidate. a few hundred residents we're told have been forced to leave. again, that is because this apartment is supposedly booby-trapped, filled with wires. police don't know what to expect. you have atf and fbi here. they sent in robots on friday to assess the situation, get some video, see how bad it is before men and women in uniform try to go in there today to see what has actually happened. of course the suspected gunman james holmes told police when they arrested him right after the shooting in the movie theater parking lot that he had booby-trapped his apartment, that there were indeed explosives inside. i want you to listen to a neighbor, jackie mitchell. he actually had a beer with the suspected gunman just last tuesday. take a listen. >> you couldn't see this coming, no. >> what was he like? >> like i say, if you looked at the mug shot on tv, the same guy you see on tv is the same guy looking at you. just intelligent-looking guy. so, i mean, i don't -- you don't know what a killer looks like but it don't look like him. >> i can also tell you something very strange that police saw when they first came to holmes's apartment, there was techno music loud blairing out of his one bedroom apartment. he had set it on a timer to start playing when he left for the movie theater, gary. >> poppy, it's obviously still nighttime. but when it becomes daylight hours, is that when we believe police were start taking action and try to go inside and tell us what's inside? >> that's when we believe -- i did speak to one source with aurora pd, they said at this point we're not sure who is going to go in, will it be local police, fbi, or atf. you will have the most experienced s.w.a.t. team going in there i would assume as the daylight hours approach, absolutely. we'll keep an eye on that. just to give you a sense how complex, how unusual this situation is, take a listen to the police chief oates and his assessment of this situation in this apartment. >> it is a very vexing problem how to enter that apartment safely. i personally have never seen anything like what the pictures show us is in there. i'm a layman when it comes to bomb stuff. i see an awful lot of wires, trip wires, jars full of ammunition, jars full of liquid. some things look like mortar rounds. we have a lot of challenges to get in there safely. >> and he has said, fare, it too take days to get through this apartment safely. it's obviously left this community really not knowing if this apartment could explode at any time. again, those around it have been evacuated. we'll keep a close eye on it all morning, especially as the sun rises in aurora. >> poppy and jay, thank you both very much. this morning we're learning about two more vtims that were killed in the theater. alex sullivan's family was searching for him frantically. they now know alex was, indeed, one of the victims who was killed. he was celebrating his birthday by seeing the premier of "the dark knight rises". according to facebook, tomorrow would have marked his one-year wedding anniversary. the sullivan family lost a cherished member of their family today. alex was smart, funny, and above all loved dear my by his friends and family. today was his 27th birthday. and 23-year-old micayla medek. it took 19 hours before law enforcement confirmed that she too, was among the 12 dead. on the phone with us right now is anita bush from los angeles. thank you for joining us. we are so sorry about your loss. >> thank you very much. >> can you tell us a little bit about micayla and what kind of person she was. >> i knew, greg, my, cousin, a very decent human being, as good as they come. i was a victim of crime myself and i know how this evil shakes your foundation, belief in god. and when i was a victim of crime, greg called me and he talked about god with me when i was a crime victim and it helped me. so yesterday i called him and i said do not let evil take away your faith in god. do not let evil destroy your relationship with god. and he said micayla believed very strongly in god and had accepted jesus christ as her savior. so he was trying to get some small piece in that. but he kind of resigned early on that she might have been gone. the medeks are a very tight family. >> tell us about the tragedy. she was just so young, just 23 years old. do you know what she aspired to do with her life? tell us about that. >> her family knew she had been shot because a friend sitting next to her in the theater called her father, greg, at 1:00 in the morning. she said micayla had been hit. and he could see the haze through the tear gas. they were hacking and coughing because the gas was so bad. they tried to get her up and out of the theater. he fell on the floor. they were still trying to pull them out of the theater but the cop came by and told them to leave. they didn't want to. but it was hours and hours of torture and agony trying to find her or any word of her. she was working at subway at the time. she was going to school. they were very close. so we kind of set in motion trying to find her. her sister amanda, who you have been running photos of on your network, she had been running from one hospital to another trying to find her. and i called my other cousin, greg's sister jenny from wisconsin who gave me a photo of micayla that you have up now that could be used to help identify her. and i'm a former journalist, so i called friends in the media and in law enforcement and we were able to get a photo into the hands of an fbi agent at the scene directly outside the theater. and then information just slowly, slowly came in. and i heard from law enforcement that there were quite a number of people in criticalen condition that were not identified, so not to give up hope. the family knew micayla left her id under the seat of her car, so it tkpaeufs hope that she was still alive. then i heard from an ap reporter that there was an information booth of sorts set up at gateway school. and amanda, micayla's older sister who is so strong and so brave, she went there even though she was grieving and she was exhausted and they hadn't heard anything at this point for about -- i guess it was 10 hours at this point. and she went and she still tried to find her. she wouldn't give up. so when no word came, we hoped and we prayed. i know greg was pacing the floor. i got a call from my law enforcement friend who said the number of unidentified and critical condition were only a handful now. it had dwindled down. and my friend was crying. i've known her for 10 years and i've never heard her cry before, so i knew the situation was pretty dire. and i asked them what was taking so long and why couldn't they go into the theater and find out if she was there. and i guess the fbi was waiting for forensics teams to do their jobs and clear out. by that time everybody was going crazy not knowing. it was 17 hours and we had gone with no word. it's agonizing. and i think there needs to be some kind of different protocol set up so the families don't have to go through this. like a central place where they can give photos for identification so there's one central area in the future, if god forbid -- i hope this doesn't happen again but i hope there's something put in place so families aren't tortured like this. it's inhumane. >> i'm so sorry for you and your family have gone through. it's a tragedy. micayla sounds like a wonderful woman. and a nita busch, you're wonderful to talk to us. more in a moment. authorities are looking for an american citizen in connection with wednesday's deadly attack on a tour bus. five israeli tourists and the bus driver were killed when a suicide bomber blew it up. the suicide bomber was caught on surveillance camera. the man apparently had a fake driver's license from the state of michigan. we'll have a live report from bulgaria with much more onhis later in the program. dealing with emotional pain from the movie theater cast per in colorado. i'll speak with pay clinical psychologist about counseling and treatment available for victims 37. ♪ my volt is the best vehicle i've ever driven. i bought the car because of its efficiency. i bought the car because i could eliminate gas from my budget. i don't spend money on gasoline. it's been 4,000 miles since my last trip to the gas station. it's pretty great. i get a bunch of kids waving at me... giving me the thumbs up. it's always a gratifying experience. it makes me feel good about my car. i absolutely love my chevy volt. ♪ ♪ what started as a whisper every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. there's an insurance company that does that, too. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? friday's mass shooting at a colorado movie theater left victims, witnesses and their families traumatized. grief counselors will be on hand to offer support. former congresswoman gabrielle giffords husband mark kelly told cnn's anderson cooper how helpful it can be. >> for folks directly affected by this, the victims, the ones that were not killed and the family members, it really helps to come together as a community. that happened in tucson. i think these towns like tucson tend to rise to the occasion that. support really helps those people that are experiencing this. >> joining me is clinical psychologist jeff gardier. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> how does someone, jeff, recover from an experience like this? >> well, from exactly what we just heard from gabby giffords's husband. it is about support, families coming together. we know grief counselors are on the ground, they are working with the remaining victims, with the family members so that debriefing will help them in processing what's going on. but we need to be very clear that all of these people are still in a state of shock. so it's about offering them support, letting them know they have an ear and they have a shoulder and whatever their needs are, physical and emotional, will be tended to. and that's just the beginning. >> jeff, it seems like a lot of people across the country are affected by the shooting. is it normal for people to say you know what, i don't want to go see this movie. i don't want to see any movie anymore. i'm afraid to go into a theater. >> it is absolutely normal for people to feel that way. it is important they talk about the anxiety, that they talk about some of the stress and worry that they have around this for their children going out, for not being able to go to safe places anymore. that being said, it's also important that we move on with our lives. so this weekend there may be a lot of people who may not be going to see this particular movie or any movie and that's okay. however, they shouldn't make some sort of enduring behavior pattern. they have to get out. they have to take the the risks. as we said, no risks, no reward. what we have learned now is we have been very lucky in the united states that we can conjugate in public places without fear for a long time. but now the reality, the world is about that there isn't that ultimate safety and everywhere we go. other parts of the world people have been dealing with this for a very long time. so this is our new reality. that being said again we have to talk about the fear but not give into it all the time. so out of respect for the victims, i think a lot of people may not be going to any movie or this particular movie. but i think at the end of the day it really is about moving on with our lives but also keeping these victims in our hearts. >> covering oklahoma city, 9/11, virginia tech, columbine, you run across people all the time and they say i can't believe i lived and they died. you feel so badly for them. you see it time after time. why do people tend to blame themselves. >> again, we're talking about this whole issue of survivor's guilt. it's very real. someone think, oh, someone was able to avoid being killed or severe injury. but the fact of the matter is they saw someone else going through it and that is traumatic. then they ask themselves, wow, by the grace of god, how did i make it through this and this other person died and they begin to feel that guilty. sometimes they feel they could have done more. or if they were in a different place it would have happened to them. so we see survivor's guilt as being very normal for people. they are going to experience this. they are going to feel that perhaps they didn't do more, that maybe they didn't deserve to live because somebody else was much younger or had more promise. you're right, the way we deal with it is by allowing them to talk about it, by allowing them to grieve and express all of those emotions and eventually they will see that what was meant to be was meant to be, even though it was horrific but that they do have to move on with their lives and be strong and be changed by this in a very positive manner. it shouldn't be emotional baggage they carry around. it should be something that takes them to the next step of their evolution come out of the trauma stronger than when they went in, even though it was unfortunate they had to go through it in the very first place. >> clinical psychologist jeff gardere, thank you for your wise counsel. we appreciate it. mayor michael bloomberg was the first to link the shootings with gun control debate. he's calling for president barack obama and mitt romney to take a stance. >> soothing words are nice. but maybe it's the two people who want to be the president of the united states stand up and tell us what they're going to do about it. because this is obviously a problem across the country. >> this is an issue that we really haven't heard much about during this campaign so far. nra got on the back fit issuing this statement, "our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and the community. nra will not have any further comment until all the facts are known." we want to hear from you this morning on gun control. should there be tougher gun control laws in the united states? you can tweet me and i will read some of your comments on the air. another story we're following this morning, the historic drought. it's not just wilting crops across the country. thousands of fish are also turning up dead. the first trade route to the west, the greatest empires. then, some said, we lost our edge. well today, there's a new new york state. one that's working to attract businesses and create jobs. a place where innovation meets determination... and businesses lead the world. the new new york works for business. find out how it can work for yours at thenewny.com. resulting in unexpected power and agility. introducing the all-new, all-powerful gator rsx 850i. sixty-two horsepower, a fully independent multilink suspension and a top speed of 53 miles per hour. it's a whole new species of gator. see just how much the gator has evolved at johndeere.com/gator. we will keep you updated throughout the morning on the movie theater shooting colorado. as the midwest suffers through its worst drought in more than 50 years, it's not only destroying crops but killing fish too. this is a pond in arkansas. the heat, lack of rain are drying up the pond and the fish are running out of oxygen so thousands of fish are dying. this isn't too uncommon and some of the bigger fish may survive. word that syrian forces launched an all-out assault in the capital damascus after an incredibly violent week. nearly 1,000 people have been killed in fighting across the country in the past seven days. the u.n. failed to take action to stop the bloodshed. cnn's ivan watson joins us from near turkey's border with syria. thank you for joining us today. are they right now battling for control of the turkish/syrian border? >> at this stage it looks like the rebels have made some gains there. for the third day to control the strategic border gate between these two countries we were there all day yesterday, gary. there were a trickle of travelers coming through. some of them skier yanns supporting the rebels, waving victory signs. others, turkish businessmen angry that their trucks had been stranded on the other side and had been torched in the fighting and subsequent looting there. one man saying there's no syrian border there. no syrian officials to stamp his passport when he went through. that rebel hold of the strategic entry point could be shaky, though. we're hearing there's a syrian government army location only a mile or two away from there. so there could be more fighting around this key entry point into syria. >> so, ivan, you're saying it's a trickle, it's not a flood of people? >> no, no. eye trickle at the turkish border gate. it's very different from what you see at syria's border with lebanon. the high commissioner for refugees counted between 8500 and 30,000 syrians coming across the border in a 48-hour period. most of this coming after the fighting erupted in the syrian capital starting last sunday, clearly