Obama to meet with families of Colorado shooting victims

WASHINGTON -- President Obama will travel to Colorado on Sunday to meet with families of the victims of the Aurora movie theater shooting rampage, the White House announced Saturday.

He will also meet with local and state officials on his visit, which he is making ahead of a previously scheduled three-day trip to Western states for official and campaign events.

The president cut short a campaign trip in Florida on Friday after learning of the tragedy and returned to the White House for meetings with senior officials to discuss the situation.

A spokesman for Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said no final plans had been made for a memorial service honoring the victims of Friday’s deadly rampage. Earlier Saturday, officials in Colorado said that the state’s congressional delegation would attend. It was not clear whether Obama would attend.

Obama had been scheduled to leave Washington on Monday, stopping first in Nevada for a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention. The White House now says Obama, after stopping in Colorado, will travel to San Francisco on Sunday evening.

Both Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, curtailed campaigning after the massacre in Aurora. They also pulled their campaign ads — most of which are relentlessly negative — from view in Colorado.

michael.memoli@latimes.com