Investigation wraps up at Colorado shooting suspect’s building

AURORA, Colo. — Kaitlyn Fonzi, 20, had her hand on the doorknob of her upstairs neighbor’s booby-trapped apartment here early last Friday, ready to complain about his blaring music.

She had no idea how close she was to becoming one of the casualties in a massacre that left 12 dead and 58 injured.

On Wednesday, Fonzi returned to the three-story brick apartment building with her boyfriend, Chris Rodriguez, 30, to see when they could come back.

Many others in town were wondering the same thing — not only about the apartment building, but about the Century 16 theater, where police say James E. Holmes attacked moviegoers during the post-midnight premiere of the latest Batman installment,”The Dark Knight Rises.”

Police, firefighters and FBI agents, at least one wearing an “FBI Dallas” T-shirt, refused to comment as they walked in and out of the apartment building Wednesday. Some toted protective booties for use inside. Onlookers stopped to watch and snap photos. Broken glass and window blinds littered the parking lot and grass outside, but Aurora Police Sgt. Cassidee Carlson said the building could be opened to residents soon.

“We’re in the process of finishing things up out there,” Carlson said. “It’s got to be deemed safe for the residents to return.”

The theater has not been declared safe, “and it won’t be for a few more days,” she said.

“They’re doing crime-scene reconstruction, and that in itself is a daunting task,” she said. “We’re not going to press ourselves for time because we want to do it right.”

She said police were not allowed to do media interviews because of a judge’s gag order, which applies to virtually everyone in the criminal justice system with knowledge of the case.

Daniel King, Holmes’ public defender, also declined to comment when he showed up at Holmes’ apartment Wednesday with two women. They spent about 45 minutes inside with notebooks and cameras before walking around the outside.

King declined to comment about what he saw inside, whether he had talked to his client or what to expect Monday at Holmes’ next scheduled court appearance, when he is expected to be formally charged.

Soon after King left, Fonzi and her boyfriend arrived.

They were trying to at least retrieve some items from their apartment, where the cacti on the windowsill were flowering but other houseplants could be seen wilting next to a spray bottle of water.

Fonzi recalled that they were watching a television program about ghosts around midnight last Thursday when techno music erupted from the floor above.

“It seemed like it was on repeat — same song over and over,” Rodriguez said.

That was odd, he said. “Usually the complex is real quiet.”

They called a nonemergency police number and Fonzi, a biology student at the University of Colorado, headed upstairs.

Her boyfriend, a registered nurse, urged her to wait for police. But she thought she could handle it.

“I’m not going to just call the cops over loud music — I’m going to go see for myself,” she said.

Fonzi didn’t know her upstairs neighbor. She figured she would just knock on the door and complain about the music.

Once she reached the door, though, she stopped.

She and her boyfriend had speculated the music might have been covering up the noise of someone committing suicide.

“I just thought, no — something’s wrong,” she said.

She placed her hand on the doorknob.

Inside, the apartment had been rigged with explosives designed to cut the first person who entered in half, according to police.

Outside, Fonzi paused, considering what to do.

“I decided not to open it. I just had a feeling,” she said Wednesday as she stared up at Holmes’ third-floor apartment, its windows now shattered.

Fonzi returned to her apartment. Later, the couple again called police, but dispatchers said officers were busy handling something. About 1 a.m., the music stopped, the couple said. They went to bed, only to be awakened an hour later by a loud bang.

A SWAT team had arrived. Officers told them they had to evacuate immediately but wouldn’t say why.

The couple grabbed a few things and fled, Rodriguez said, “and we haven’t been back since.”

“We’re just waiting, waiting to get in,” he said as Fonzi called police on her cellphone, trying to get a time or at least a timeline for when they could return, even just to get a few things, she said.

She got no definitive answer.

Fonzi was concerned about security. Aurora police, badges covered with a black bar of mourning, were posted outside the apartment building, but the front and back doors gaped open.

She looked harried, her wallet clutched in one hand, cellphone in the other. With so much to worry about, she said, she hadn’t even had time to think about her brush with death.

“Everything has been like a whirlwind,” she said as she took one last look at her apartment building before leaving. “We’re just spending all our time now looking for a new place.”

About 6 p.m., authorities told residents that they could return home. Those who entered the building to retrieve belongings declined to comment about what they saw inside or whether they planned to continue living there. Fonzi and Rodriguez briefly returned, then left.

A private cleanup crew swept up the broken glass and began repairs. One worker climbed a ladder to Holmes’ apartment and nailed plywood over the windows, sealing them shut.

One young woman declined to give her name but said: “I’m excited to be home.”

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com