Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
A woman stands during a morning Mass remembering the victims of the movie theater shootings, at the Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Aurora, Colo., on Sunday.
By Miranda Leitsinger and James Eng, NBC News
In community churches, at impromptu memorials and at a public vigil, residents of Aurora, Colo., gathered Sunday to mourn the victims of a movie theater mass-shooting that the governor said was the work of a “diabolical, demonic” individual.
As worshippers pondered how the massacre could have happened, investigators said they don’t know what prompted a gunman police identified as a graduate-school dropout to open fire during a packed midnight premiere of the latest “Batman” film, “The Dark Knight Rises.” The massacre left 12 people dead and 58 injured.
President Barack Obama was traveling to Colorado on Sunday to meet privately with families of the victims.
The message from Aurora was clear: On the online homepage of the Aurora Sentrinel, the hometown paper, a headline blared: "Welcome back to Aurora, Mr. President. We’re hurting, and we need your help. The whole country does."
A public vigil was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in front of Aurora City Hall, organized by civic, community and religious leaders.
At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI said he was “deeply shocked” by the “senseless violence” in the Colorado movie theater shootings. In his traditional Sunday blessing, Benedict said he shared the distress of the families and friends of the victims. He said he was praying for all “as a pledge of consolation and strength” for God.
Shannon Stapleton / Reuters
As many as 12 people were killed and 50 injured at a shooting at the Century 16 movie theatre in Aurora, Colo. early Friday during the showing of the latest Batman movie.
The suspect, identified as James Eagan Holmes, was reportedly jailed in solitary confinement, awaiting his first court appearance on Monday. Police have said Holmes planned the massacre with "calculation and deliberation," arming himself with ammunition delivered to his home and school over a period of months.
After a day of dismantling suspected Colorado gunman James Holmes' booby-trapped apartment, federal law enforcement officials are a step closer in their investigation. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, speaking on NBC’s "Meet the Press" on Sunday, said the motive for the shooting remains a mystery. He described Holmes as "a twisted, really delusional individual" who had not been cooperating with authorities.
"He was diabolical, demonic," Hickenlooper said.
John Hickenlooper visits Meet the Press to update NBC's David Gregory on the most recent information from the tragic shootings in Aurora, Colo.
Holmes had recently withdrawn from a competitive graduate program in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Denver, where he was one of six students at the school to get National Institutes of Health grant money.
The university said it's investigating whether Holmes used his position as a graduate student to order materials in the potentially deadly booby traps that police said they found in his apartment.
Twenty-four shooting victims remained hospitalized on Sunday at area hospitals. They included Ashley Moser, whose 6-year-old daughter, Veronica Moser Sullivan, was among those killed. Ashley Moser, who was shot in the back, was told of her daughter’s death on Saturday by her mother, a chaplain and her doctor.
Authorities said Holmes' apartment was rigged with jars of liquids, explosives and chemicals that were booby trapped to kill whoever entered it. Bomb technicians neutralized a makeshift explosive device and by late Saturday afternoon, all hazards had been removed from Holmes' apartment, police said.
A man who said he was the suspect’s uncle described his nephew as a “nerd” and “unassuming kid.” The uncle, also named James Holmes, lives in Carmel, Calif. He told KSBW-TV he was “shocked and horrified” by the news. He said his nephew never acted out during his childhood and teen years.
Meanwhile, a standing-room-only crow jammed the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Bevery Hills, Calif., on Saturday night for the official Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences screening of “The Dark Knight Rises." Academy President Tom Sherak asked for a moment of silence for the victims, deadline.com reported.
NBC's Kate Snow, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.
Related content from NBCNews.com:
- Victims who died include girl, sailor, aspiring sportscaster
- Police: Trip wire, bomb disarmed at suspect's apartment
- Photos of James Holmes, camp counselor for underprivileged kids
- Shooting survivor: Boyfriend 'took a bullet for me'
- 6-year-old girl confirmed to have been killed in Colorado shootings
- Will Colorado shootings suspect James Eagan Holmes ever face trial?
