year 2000. more than 16.8 million background checks performed for the first 11 months of 2012. that's 2% higher -rpb the previous year's total of 16 and a half million. martha: meanwhile on that same note we are just learning compelling new details about what happened in the mass shooting at the movie theater in aurora, colorado. it is coming out in the preliminary hearing that is going on all this week for shooting suspect james holmes how see pictured here. police officers with heart-break accounts of how they tried desperately to save people's lives in that theater after they arrived at that horrific crime scene. alicia acuna is live in centennial, colorado. where do they begin this hearing today? >> reporter: today attorneys will finish the questioning of aurora police detective todd frederick son. he interviewed a number of injured and survivors after the shooting. he testified yesterday that one