Face in the News

This Sunday in his first interview, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates revealed the latest details on the investigation into the worst mass shooting in U.S. history on Face the Nation. The tragedy in Aurora, Colorado left 12 killed and 58 injured after 24-year-old James Eagan Holmes opened fire at the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" last Friday.

"I think it speaks volumes about his intelligence and his deliberation and his cold-bloodedness," Oates said, referring to the shooter's apartment that was filled with explosive devices but later successfully disabled. "I couldn't believe the pictures I saw from the robot about the way this thing was designedI had never seen anything like it."

He rejected reports that there was a second person of interest involved in the shooting, assuring that the gunman acted alone. "All evidence we have, every single indicator is that it was all Mr. Holmes' activity and that he wasn't particularly aided by anyone else," Oates said.

When asked about any leads on a motive, Oates responded, "There are no easy or quick answers and maybe there will never be any answers." 

President Obama visited with victims of the shooting on Sunday afternoon. "These families need that kind of contact by our elected leader," the Chief also said. "As awful as what they've been through and what they're going through has been, having the President here is very, very powerful, it means a great deal to them and all of Aurora."

The conversation of the tragedy in Colorado shifted towards discussion on gun control at a national level.

Congressman Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., who represents Aurora, called for Congress to reinstate the assault weapons ban, which was passed in 1994 but expired years ago.

"We ought to be taking a look at how this guy was able to accumulate so much ammunition," Perlmutter said. "He had enough ammunition for like a small army. There's something wrong about that." Perlmutter said that the conversation in Congress on gun control is inevitable.

(Read more about Rep. Perlmutter's call for Congress to act on gun control in The Wall Street Journal, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg, The Hill, POLITICO)

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the duty for action on gun control lies not with Congress, but rather with the presidential candidates. "It's time for both of them to be called, held accountable," Bloomberg said, referring to President Obama and Governor Mitt Romney.

"They want to lead this country and they've said things before that they're in favor of banning things like assault weapons," Bloomberg said. "Where are they now, and why don't they stand up? And if they want our votes, they better."

(Read more about Mayor Bloomberg's call for leadership on gun control in amNY, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, Bloomberg, Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, NY1, The Hill, UPI, Talking Points Memo)

Later in the show, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed Governor Romney's upcoming travels to Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu plans to say to him "pretty much the same thing I said to the presumptive Democratic candidate Senator Barack Obama when I greeted him four years ago, roughly at the same time in the campaign."

"I'll tell him about Israel's desire for peace and also about Israel's concern with the arming of Iran with nuclear weapons, unfortunately it's still with us four years later," Netanyahu said. "And also the threat to peace and the threat to Israel and to others by the growing arsenal of the terrorists with Iranian backers."
Netanyahu said he was certain that last week's suicide bombing of Israeli tourists in Bulgaria was committed by Hezbollah and backed by Iran.

Concerning the upcoming 40th anniversary of the Palestinian attack on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, Netanyahu would not discuss the potential of a threat at this year's Olympic Games.

"We are vigilant about the possibility that [Iran and its agents] would attack elsewhere, but I can't give specific details," he said. "I'm not confirming any information that we have on the Olympics."

(For more on Prime Minister Netanyahu's remarks, check out The Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, POLITICO, New York Daily News)

For more, watch the full episode of Face the Nation.