Another in the endless mass shootings in USA - this time Denver

[Peter Lemkin]

As part of the advanced program in Denver, a James Holmes had been listed as making a presentation in May about Micro DNA Biomarkers in a class named "Biological Basis of Psychiatric and Neurological Disorders."

AURORA, Colo. -- James Holmes was a shy, well-mannered guy, "a super nice kid," neighbors said, and a brilliant science student who was so smart, university officials considered him at "the top of the top" scholastically.

But over at least the past two months, the 24-year-old graduate student bought two Glock pistols, a 12-gauge shotgun and an AR15 assault rifle with high-capacity magazines, police say. Somewhere, he got two gas canisters and outfitted himself with head-to-toe body armor, complete with gas mask.

Early Friday morning, he walked into a packed movie theater in suburban Denver and, police say, opened fire on an audience enjoying the new Batman movie. Twelve people were killed and 58 others were injured.

It was the nation's worst mass killing since a gunman killed 13 people at Ft. Hood, Texas, three years ago, and it occurred less than 20 miles from Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., where two teenage gunmen killed 12 classmates, a teacher and themselves in 1999.

"He seemed to be a normal kid. I don't know what triggered it," said Tom Mai, who lives next door to Holmes' family in San Diego. "This makes me very sad."

In a statement, Holmes' family expressed their heartache. "Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families and friends of those involved. ... Our family is cooperating with authorities in both San Diego, Calif., and Aurora, Colo. We are still trying to process this information, and we appreciate that people will respect our privacy."

Holmes was arrested in a parking lot behind the theater and is in jail. But what triggered the attack remains a mystery because he is refusing to talk, except to ask for a lawyer.

Police hoped to find clues in his apartment, about four blocks from the theater, but remote cameras showed a scene that one called "very disturbing" -- the rooms were heavily booby-trapped, with several jars full of ammunition and an unknown liquid and trip wires.

"The place was rigged to blow," said one state official. Bomb squads evacuated five nearby buildings as a precaution. Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said it could take a day or two to figure out how to disarm the traps.

Police said much of the information they had gathered had come from news media interviews with Holmes' neighbors, acquaintances and college officials. They described Holmes as a friendly man who had been deeply involved in the Presbyterian Church in California. Police said they had found no record of any trouble with the law, except for a speeding ticket.

He grew up in a well-to-do family in San Diego, attended the University of California, Riverside, on merit scholarships and earned a bachelor's degree with highest honors in neuroscience in 2010.

"He obviously, academically, had the capability to do just about anything he wanted," school chancellor Timothy P. White said at a news conference. Holmes was at "the top of the top" academically, he said.

Jessica Cade, 23, who lived in the same honors dorm as Holmes, said he was "very, very smart, a little weird ... like you'd expect a really smart guy to be."

"They're calling him deranged and a lunatic," she said. "Never in a million years would that have crossed my mind."

Neighbors said Holmes' parents told them he couldn't find a job after graduation, so he moved to Colorado and enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Colorado in Denver. But university officials said he was in the process of withdrawing -- if they knew why, they weren't commenting on it.

Police said they don't know when or why he began planning the attack. At some point, he painted his hair red and began calling himself "The Joker," the green-haired villain from the Batman movies, said New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who said he had been briefed on the case.

Between May 22 and July 6, he assembled his arsenal with legal gun purchases from retail gun stores in Colorado, federal officials said Friday. Oates said he also bought 6,000 rounds of ammunition and a drum magazine capable of firing 50 to 60 rounds per minute.

About midnight Friday, with a paid ticket, he walked into the Century 16 Movie Theaters at the Aurora Town Center, made his way to Theater 9, and sat down to watch a special midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."
:flypig: