Aurora, Colorado Shooting - Tell me, where is the "100 round drum magazine"?

Let me bring something up that I have noticed from the crime scene photos that have been released from the tragedy that is the Aurora, Colorado shooting. We have heard over the past week many reports (listed below) about the weaponry that the alleged shooter had with him. These include the following:

1) Remington 870 12 Gauge Tactical Shotgun
2) Smith & Wesson M&P15 Assault Rifle with a 100 Round Drum Magazine
3) Glock .40 cal handgun

It appears, the police say, that James E. Holmes, the man accused in the Aurora shootings, used all three types of weapons inside the theater as well, first firing the shotgun, then using the semiautomatic rifle until its 100-round barrel magazine jammed, and finishing off with a pistol. (A second .40-caliber pistol was also found at the scene, though it was unclear whether it had been used in the theater.)

www.nytimes.com...

Oates said Holmes purchased 6,000 rounds of ammunition and multiple magazines, including a drum magazine able to hold 100 cartridges, from stores and on the Internet.

www.denverpost.com...

So it was stated that not only did the alleged shooter carry an “semi-automatic assault rifle”, but that he had a “100 round drum magazine” on it, which subsequently jammed. This has been stated as fact by many news outlets, police reports, and of course politicians who are using this fact as a reason to move forward on this revived talk of gun control. To many, this is the issue, that he was able to carry so many rounds to inflict damage before having to reload.

But my question to you is, where is the 100 round drum magazine? Look at this picture below from the crime scene:



Now, take a look at these pictures of a 100 round drum magazine for the type of weapon that supposedly had this 100 round drum magazine:





I have looked at this picture over and over, and there is no way I see this gun having one of these magazines on it. I even showed this picture to a friend of mine that is fairly knowledgeable about guns, and I didn’t mention a thing about the magazine. He took one look at it and the first thing he says is “That isn’t a 100 round magazine”. Of course from a political stance, this higher capacity magazine certainly makes it much more dramatic, and helpful to the gun control cause than a standard capacity magazine of 30 or 40 rounds, right? But I don’t see in that picture, and I know it isn’t the best picture, but I don’t see that gun having a 100 round drum on it. It is laying pretty flat on the ground, not at an angle as one would think it would lay if it had this drum on it. But again, after looking at this picture over and over, I still don’t see this with anything other than a standard magazine. No shadows of it laying at an angle at all. Sure, maybe it is just how I am looking at it, and others may see differently, but tell me I am wrong here. Am I?

Could this be a complete and blatant lie by the mainstream media as part of the gun control push? Or, is this just a simple mistake in the reporting, which there has been a lot of, and in reality he just didn’t have that type of magazine? Something is up with this, and after reading all the reports of what he was carrying, this seems to be a rather large mistake here. Any thoughts on this?

Peace be to all the victims and families of the victims in this horrible event.

At this point, the only certainty is that we have not been told even remotely what really happened.

Maybe they have a record of him Buying a 100 rd drum magazine but that doesnt mean that he Used one in the shooting. AND if he did not use it then the # of rounds fired lends credence to the multiple shooter theory.

reply to post by sprtpilot

Thank you for your post for sure. I just thought this might gain a little more traction than one reply. This is a big aspect of the gun control talk that has sprouted post-shooting, and it keeps getting thrown around that he had this high capacity magazine that would have been banned before 2004. But, I guess this may be a non-issue, as per the thread count here on ATS. Oh well, I'll keep in the back of mind and will keep an eye on this moving forward.

reply to post by CosmicCitizen

Absolutely! Thank you for your post. I do agree, the only thing that throws me is that they say that was why his gun jammed and he stopped shooting was because of the 100 round drum magazine, which are known to have jamming issues. The shottie was used first (allegedly) and the AR used second, until it jammed. Then he walked out, dropped it by the door, and went and hung out by his car until arrested. Odd.

That picture is of an AK with a 30 round clip in it.

Good find!

reply to post by phantomjack


i dont think thats an ak... It looks like an ar15.

im not gun expert but i play alot of shooting games. The clip is off color form teh gun... maybe the drum mag was taken for forensics and a place holder one was placed in teh gun.

That is definitely a AR-15 build, magazine looks like it holds 40-50, .223 are pretty small cases.

If he just sprayed the theater, it's entirely possible he had 2+ of those on him.

My understanding is that the mag was in the theater. We have no pics from inside that I know of.

Originally posted by phantomjack
That picture is of an AK with a 30 round clip in it.

Good find!

It's not an AK or AK variant. That is definitely an AR15 with what looks like an ACOG type optic setup and an aftermarket 30 round mag. There's a sling attached to it, which the rifle is laying on that somewhat obscures the profile of the rifle.

I do agree that the picture is rather odd given the 100rd mag story. This picture indicates that, if in fact a 100rd mag was used, it was discarded at some point and a standard 30rd mag was loaded. If this is the case, the interruption in his shooting should've been rather short and I struggle to believe that in that chaos any of the eyewitnesses could've identified that the rifle jammed causing the shooter to switch weapons, etc. Those 100rd mags are notorious for being unreliable, which is why most AR owners don't use them. Plus, when loaded they make the rifle heavy and awkward. There's no real purpose for them unless because even an inexperienced shooter can drop an empty mag and load a full one on that rifle in under 3 seconds.

On a side note, we have quite a large number of firearms in our family. My grandfather was a big collector and, at the time of his death, had over 400 rifles and handguns. I myself have under 20 currently, but mostly because I've preferenced quality over quantity and have individual rifles specifically for the type of game I'm hunting (one rifle for antelope, another for deer in the brush, another for elk, etc.). My brother, however, has a larger collection than I do, is in the process of becoming an FFL holder, and also owns a pretty nice AR. The so-called 'assault rifles' are functionally no different than any other semi-automatic rifle. They just look different and thus make convenient hysteria fodder for people who don't know any better.

I wondered about the assault rifle in the "emergency exit" pic as well, that clip is for 30 rounds. What else strikes me as odd is that you can see the blood trails leading toward his car, which supports the theory that he was arrested there. However, the official statement from police was that a SWAT member recognized that his gas mask was not standard issue, as if he was trying to merge in with the SWAT team.

Wouldn't just being covered in blood, smelling of gunpowder and being the only person standing next to the only car in the vicinity be enough to approach the person?

Radio traffic gives the impression that quite of few victim were out behind theater 9 so the trails may not mean much other than that fact.

Originally posted by roadgravel
Radio traffic gives the impression that quite of few victim were out behind theater 9 so the trails may not mean much other than that fact.

That is what I understand too. That said, I do find it odd (or creepy) that these victims running out the back door, most likely ran right past the shooter sitting by/in his car, still with full gear on. Can you imagine....getting shot at, then running out the door to what you think is safety, and this guy in full gear is just hanging out. Strange, again, that he just went out and waited....in full gear. Did he expect to protect himself from concealed carry people, or the police?

Other pictures do show at least one of the blood trails going to the a parking spot two or three spaces down from the shooter's car, to what looks like the back of a car that would have been parked there, and then the trail just stops. It looks like whomever it was from, jumped into a car and took off, or the person was loaded into a car and driven to a hospital near by. I know there was plenty of that going on, as police officers couldn't wait for ambulances with some of the injuries they were dealing with. I just can't imagine.....

Originally posted by Wertdagf
reply to post by phantomjack

 

i dont think thats an ak... It looks like an ar15.

im not gun expert but i play alot of shooting games. The clip is off color form teh gun... maybe the drum mag was taken for forensics and a place holder one was placed in teh gun.

yup. Sorry. I mistyped.