Officers who rushed to the scene of the Colorado theater shooting entered a hellish world of bloody victims , noxious smells and blaring sounds - a gloomy darkness pierced by bright flashes from a fire alarm , police testified Wednesday . 'It was dim , the movie was still playing , the alarm was going off , ' Aurora police officer Annette Brook told jurors in the trial of gunman James Holmes . ' I began to notice the bodies , the live victims , the blood . ' Prosecutors called Brook and two other officers as witnesses on Wednesday , and their descriptions of the chaos of inside the suburban Denver theater intensified the already disturbing scene described a day earlier by moviegoers who were badly wounded or saw loved ones gunned down in the July 20 , 2012 , attack . Scroll down for video . The third day of the trial against suspected Aurora , Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes continued on Wednesday . If convicted , Holmes could be sentenced to death . Pictured above in court on Monday , far left . Twelve people were killed and 70 hurt when Holmes allegedly opened fire on a packed theater in Aurora , Colorado for a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises in July 2012 . Above , the scene of the theater after the shooting . Twelve people died and 70 were wounded . Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder . He admits he was the shooter , his defense attorneys say , but schizophrenia had taken control of his mind and compelled him to kill . His lawyers are asking the jury to find him not guilty by reason of insanity , which would send him to the state mental hospital indefinitely . Prosecutors argue Holmes was sane and fully aware that what he was doing was wrong . They want the jury to convict him and sentence him to die . Holmes ' defense attorneys want the jury to find him not guilty by reason of insanity . Prosecutors say Holmes knew what he was doing , however . On the left , a sketch of Holmes in court on Monday and and 2012 mugshot on the right . In the opening days of the trial , prosecutors have appeared intent on planting a deeply upsetting image in the jurors ' minds . 'It smelled very , very bad , ' officer Tomas Campagna testified Wednesday , describing the mixed odors of blood , sweat , urine and feces . 'It 's hard to imagine unless you 've been there . ' Spent cartridges and casings from a shotgun , a rifle and a handgun littered the ground , so thick that officers could n't avoid stepping on them , Campagna said . In places , the floor looked like it had been painted in blood , he said . Cellphones left behind by the victims rang far into the night . More victims testified Wednesday , describing the booms and the brilliant flashes of light that burst from the muzzles of the weapons aimed at them and the hot pain of being shot . One of those victims was Joshua Nowlan , a former member of the military who worked on aircraft carriers . He went to the movie , 'The Dark Knight Rises , ' at the Century 16 multiplex in the Denver suburb of Aurora with friends who had just returned from their honeymoon in Florida . About 15 or 20 minutes into the film , a tear gas canister was thrown into the theater , and then the shooting started . Nowlan , who shielded his friends from the bullets , was shot twice and has undergone multiple surgeries . He used the cane he now needs to walk to show jurors what he saw next . ' I assumed it had to be the shooter , from his stance ... He was walking around , and I can see him pointing the gun in a circular motion that looked like he was searching for more people ... I was terribly scared , ' Nowlan told the court . 'My thought process was that he was searching for other people and that he was going to start going row by row , and that anybody he would see in that row who was still moving , he would shoot . ' He described the shooter firing three-round bursts . Asked if the gunman moved fast or methodically , Nowlan said : 'He was definitely moving slowly . ' None of the victims said they saw Holmes ' face , but one of the police officers did . Sgt . Spc . Gerald Jonsgaard testified he saw Holmes lying on the ground in the parking lot outside the theater as two officers arrested him . Jonsgaard did n't identify Holmes by name Wednesday but said he was sitting at the defense table . Holmes ' lawyers have not cross-examined any prosecution witnesses . They will call their own witnesses after the prosecution rests .
Victims of the 2012 Denver movie theater shooting testified in court on Wednesday as the trial of suspect James Holmes continued . Police officers who responded to the scene also spoke in court about the incident which resulted in the deaths of 12 moviegoers . If convicted , Holmes could face the death penalty . His defense attorneys argue that he was insane .