US court hears frantic 911 calls from cinema massacre

CENTENNIAL, Colorado (AFP) - Frantic 911 calls from the US movie theater where a massacre was under way were played in court on Tuesday, on the second day of hearings to decide if the alleged gunman should stand trial.

The court also heard how suspected killer James Holmes purchased more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition in the months before last July's shooting, and rigged up elaborate booby-traps involving gasoline and napalm at his apartment.

In the first of 41 harrowing emergency calls made in a 10-minute period in Colorado, 30 loud booms could be heard in less than half-a-minute, making it difficult for the 911 dispatcher to distinguish what was being said.

In another, six minutes after the first call logged at 12.38am, 14-year-old Kaylan Bailey told the emergency operator her two cousins had been shot, and that one of them did not appear to be breathing.