A total of 71 people were shot in Friday's rampage at the Denver-area movie theater that has left 12 people dead. The suspect, identified by police as James Eagan Holmes, 24, also booby-trapped his Aurora apartment with sophisticated explosives, creating a hazard for law-enforcement and bomb squad officers who swarmed to the scene.
The suspect in the mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater colored his hair red and told police he was "the Joker".
He had planned this attack well. He entered the sold-out movie theater dressed in black, wearing a ballistic helmet, a tactical ballistic vest, ballistic leggings, protectors over his throat and his groin, a gas mask and black tactical gloves.
The suspected gunman is a doctoral student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora.
James Eagan Holmes was in the school's doctoral neuroscience program and was in the process of withdrawing at the time of the shooting, university officials said. Holmes had enrolled at the university in June 2011.
As a grad student you have an opportunity to work for the university in the research program for the programs that you're studying. He worked in the neurosciences program. It is a paid position quips university spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery.
James Eagan Holmes lived in a one-bedroom apartment in a building in Paris Street in Aurora, in Apartment 10, within walking distance of the school. Most of the tenants were primarily other students involved in health studies.
According to Aurora Police Chief Daniel Oates the suspect's sole interaction with the police department was an October 2011 summons for speeding.
A neighbor who had beer with James Eagan last Tuesday described the shooter as nerdish and a book-smart type guy. He said he can't believe that Eagan is capable of such violence.
James Holmes graduated from Westview High School in 2006. Tom Mai, a neighbor of the Holmes family in San Diego, described Holmes as "clean-cut, quiet, responsible."
In the fall of 2006, he entered the University of California, Riverside, graduating with a B.S. in neuroscience in the spring of 2010. Academically, he was at the top of the top quips Chancellor Timothy P. White.
Police examine the car of James Eagen Holmes the gunman behind the theater massacre. The deranged gunman opened fire on moviegoers in Aurora, Colorado yesterday, July 20, 2012. -CRIME LAW TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
A Filipino was among those shot by gunman who massacred 12 people & injured many in a movie theater in Colorado.
Warner Bros. canceled the movie's Paris premiere, while New York police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said his officers would watch over screenings of "The Dark Knight" in the city to prevent copycat shootings. AMC Theatres, meanwhile, said it would not permit guests in costumes that make others uncomfortable, nor will it allow face-covering masks or fake weapons.
"Dark Knight Rises" director Christopher Nolan condemns shooting as "savage
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were able to confirm that two of the guns were purchased at a Bass Pro Shop in Denver, while the two others were bought at separate Gander Mountain Guns outlets in the area. Investigators also found a drum magazine, capable of carrying 100 rounds of ammunition, which was attached to the AR-15 rifle.
