Obama to visit Colorado to meet families of shooting victims

PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Colorado on Sunday, July 22 to meet with families bereaved in a shooting rampage that left at least 12 dead and 58 wounded at a movie theater in a Denver suburb, Reuters reported.

Obama is due to meet with members of the families of the victims - ranging from six to 51 years of age - who were shot to death in this Denver area suburb when a gunman opened fire on movie goers during a packed premiere of the latest "Batman" film on Friday.

A vigil is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Sunday in front of Aurora city hall, organized by civic, community, and religious leaders.

Obama's trip comes as investigators are deepening a probe into the shooter accused of planning the massacre. On Saturday, local and federal authorities disarmed his booby-trapped apartment. Graduate school dropout James Holmes, 24, was arrested immediately after the fatal spree at the local multiplex.

Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said the shooting followed months of "calculation and deliberation," as Holmes received a "high volume" of deliveries to both his work and home.

Residents of several nearby buildings were allowed to return home on Saturday, while the red-brick apartment block where Holmes lived remained under evacuation as local and federal authorities completed the painstaking process of disarming the explosives and sifting through evidence.

Sources familiar with the probe said that some 30 shells filled with gunpowder were found in the apartment, together with containers filled with "incendiary liquids" intended to fuel a fire from the initial explosions, as well as bullets meant to ricochet around the apartment.