James Eagan Holmes Facts

[Ichingcarpenter]

Last edited Sat Jul 21, 2012, 06:33 AM - Edit history (2)

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.”

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/21/dark-knight-rises-shooting-apartment-2012/



James Eagan Holmes Facts


The 1985 comic book, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, contains a scene in which a lunatic kills people in a movie theater.

Columbine High School (1999 shooting) is 12 miles from the movie theater.

Holmes was wearing a ballistic helmet and vest, ballistic leggings, throat and groin protector, a gas mask and black tactical gloves, armed with the three weapons.
Holmes had painted his hair red and said he was The Joker, the arch-nemesis of Batman.
Holmes bought a ticket to the midnight show and entered the theater with the crowd

. Holmes then allegedly propped open an exit door after the movie started, put on protective gear, then started shooting.

One witness stated seeing a white male ON A CELL PHONE prop open the emergency exit shortly after the movie started, and just before the shooting began.

Most of the victims shot were those standing up and running out of the theater, with far less seated moviegoers being hit, and none ducking down to the floor being hit.

Holmes reportedly fled to the parking lot after the shooting spree, then was confronted by 25 police officers and taken into custody.
Holmes asked for an attorney and invoked his right to remain silent.

Another .40-caliber handgun with a cache of ammunition was found in Holmes' 2-door white car, which was parked in the movie theater parking lot behind the rear exit.

The guns were purchased in May, June and July at Gander Mountain Guns shops and at Bass Pro shops in Colorado.

May 22, bought a Glock pistol in Aurora, CO. May 28, bought a Remington shotgun in Denver, CO. Early June, bought a .223 caliber Smith & Wesson rifle in Thornton, CO. July 6, bought a second Glock in Denver, CO.
At least one of of Holmes' gun purchases was recorded by a video surveillance camera.

During the last 60 days, Holmes had allegedly been stockpiling more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition through purchases on the Internet.

Holmes' 3rd-floor apartment (1690 Paris Street) is 4 miles from the movie theater in Aurora.

Neighbors described Holmes as a recluse and a loner, who always kept curtains closed and lights off at night.

Police began searching Holmes' apartment building at 2:00 am, waking the residents for questioning and orders to evacuate.

Police found jars of chemicals (flammable or explosive material) in Holmes' booby-trapped apartment. Officers found trip-wires attached to 1-liter plastic bottles filled with a substance.

Police found 'disturbing' pictures in Holmes' apartment.

Holmes had left a techno song (to repeat in a loop from midnight to 1:00 am) blaring in the apartment. Neighbors called police about the noise shortly after midnight, but the song was left to play until automatically shutting off at 1:00.

Holmes left the door to his apartment unlocked.


More facts:
http://www.californiality.com/2012/07/james-eagan-holmes-facts.html

[MADem]

1. He also joined an "adult" web site and dyed his hair orange.

His tag line on the website was "Will you visit me in prison?"




There are a ton of photos, background information, timelines, etc. at this link--it's been fairly well aggregated: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2176377/The-Dark-Knight-Rises-Colorado-shooting-James-Holmes-looked-like-said-JOKER.html?ICO=most_read_module

[Corgigal]

2. also found this

Where he's from: Holmes grew up in San Diego, where he graduated from Westview High School in Rancho Penasquitos in 2006, according to San Diego 6 news, the local CW affiliate. That's his yearbook photo above, via Colorado's KKTV; the inset is a photo from a University of Colorado handout. Police and reporters made their way to his mother Arlene Holmes's house in the suburb of Torrey Highlands, California, where she confirmed her son had been involved. Update: Reuters' Stephanie Simon and Marty Graham reported that he "couldn't find a job after returning to San Diego several years ago. For a year or so, he worked part-time at a McDonald's, according to Tom Mai, who lives near the Holmes family in San Diego."


http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/07/what-we-know-about-colorado-shooter-james-holmes/54844/

[riverwalker]

3. wonder what the "disturbing pictures" are.

"Police found 'disturbing' pictures in Holmes' apartment."

[Tuesday Afternoon]

12. yes...disturbing pictures? in what way?

"Police found 'disturbing' pictures in Holmes' apartment."

how are they disturbing? medical oddities? perverse sexual? necrophilia? corpses? bestiality? snuff films? what?

[cwydro]

13. They haven't gotten IN the apartment yet.

So that's odd.

[kestrel91316]

34. Perhaps they saw them via the robot they sent in equipped with

a video transmitter.

[cwydro]

41. I can't imagine a robot thumbing through papers, but hell,

who knows these days?

At any rate, they're in there now.

[kestrel91316]

42. Something could have been sitting out in plain view.

[cwydro]

43. have you got a link?

I've still not seen anything about "disturbing papers"....though the man himself is disturbing. I think he is faking that affect he showed in court.

[kestrel91316]

44. No, I don't have a fucking link. I am SPECULATING. Do you MIND?????

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. Last I read the police had not made entry into his apartment

But were looking in the window. I take it to be poor word choice and bad editing.

[Patiod]

16. Well, the one article mentions an "Anchorman" poster

But that's probably not what police were describing as "disturbing"

[xchrom]

4. Du rec. Nt

[markbark]

5. This guy is a real piece of work.

I'm sure there's a thesis for a psych major somewhere in there.

[sweetloukillbot]

6. Sounds like he wanted to be a supervillian

Booby-trapped lair, costume, heck, even the scientific background.

Note: I'm not blaming comics here - I think he was a crazy sick fuck and that's why he did it.

[SoCalDem]

7. "prop open the emergency exit"..Key piece of the puzzle here

EMERGENCY EXITS. sound an alarm.

and probably send some sort of "message" to theater employees/management.

In a best case scenario, and alarm sounds, an employee is immediately dispatched to see what's happening, and the killer is locked out when he returns from his car..

Perhaps the theater did not follow protocol...maybe there was no protocol..

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Do they always sound an alarm?

Is it a legal requirement in Colorado?

[SoCalDem]

17. Every emergency door I have ever seen, did.. In fact my son

pushed one once..To see what would happen.. .. I was embarrassed beyond words when I saw what he did & the store people swooped in on him.. He was about 4 and had wandered off with his two brothers who put him up to it..

LOUD alarm with red flashing light..but in a theatre setting, it probably would also need to flash or buzz the manager because the noise could be ,masked by a loud movie..

That one thing could have prevented the whole siege.. No propped open door, no re-entry..

He could have stormed the lobby, but I doubt that he would have

[TeamPooka]

19. There's a difference between an emergency exit and a secure exit.

Most theaters have extra exits to the parking lot to increase the speed of emptying the place and use them on a daily basis.
Alarmed doors are usually not meant for general/daily use and for situation when all exits and entrances need to be monitored closely.
Until the other day this was not deemed necessary in movie theaters.

[SoCalDem]

20. I'll bet every theater owner is scrambling to secure all doors now

I just hope someone does not go overboard and inadvertently trap people inside if there's a fire..

[TeamPooka]

21. no they probably won't.

I used to work for an exhibitor and they are notoriously cheap to spend money on capital improvements.
That's why digital cinema has been delayed studios want NATO to install the systems and NATO wants the studios to pay for the upgrades.
But at the end of the day the real reason they wont alarm the doors is noise and disruption of the film.
One prankster pops the door, the alarm and lights go off and you have to refund an entire audiences money.
Alarms ain't gonna happen.

[SoCalDem]

22. a si;lent buzzer in the pocket of the manager would do the trick

most movies are so loud, an alarm might even go unnoticed.

[TeamPooka]

24. theater managers are not cops

I think you may be asking more of them than their pay grade allows.

[SoCalDem]

25. checking on an open door is not "all that"

[TeamPooka]

35. so now it's just an open door?

If they find or get reported an "open door" they will close it I assure you.
But now you want them to carry silent alarms around in their pockets for open doors in a 18 theater complex?
Again theater owners will not pay for that.
You shouldn't expect more from a movie theater than a movie.

[SoCalDem]

37. Yet, not that long ago people routinely carried pagers..willingly

a device much like a pager, that clipped on a belt would probably suffice..

Somehow, I think that managers DO feel responsible (and are held responsible) to "lock up" at the end of the day.. can't have homeless people wandering in to stay warm & eat left over popcorn, now can we


Do it..don't do it.. makes no difference to me personally..my kids are grown and we watch movies on HBO/Showtime..

Just saying it's a relatively easy fix..IF people want to fix it with a minimum of fuss..

bye now

[TeamPooka]

38. You can't "fix" crazy

That's the problem, people, especially Americans always want to fix something.
You can't fix crazy, you can't protect everyone all the time.

[Fawke Em]

18. I've gone out those exits after movies if my car

was parked closer to the back than the front.

I've never had one sound an alarm.

Since they're locked on the outside, they wouldn't necessarily need an alarm (ticket skips, burglars, etc. can't get in). If there was a fire, I'm sure the pandemonium would tip staff off.

Not sure about the legality.

[slackmaster]

23. Maybe the guy on the cell phone had to take a call, and wanted to make sure he could get back inside

At least he had the courtesy to step out of the theater, unlike a few twits who talk on phones during movies.

[SoCalDem]

26. walking to the well lit lobby was an option for a legit phone user

sneaking out the other door & propping it open for an armed assault is a different matter entirely..

doors meant to remain closed should not be "propped open".. the doors to the lobby are ALWAYS open,unlocked.

[slackmaster]

29. This is getting pretty far afield of known facts but if the person was down in one of the front rows

...and he needed to make or take a call, the nearest exit door would be a much shorter walk than the lobby.

[SoCalDem]

30. and it all worked out so well, didn't it

done with this.. bye..enjoy your weekend (what's left of it)

[nanabugg]

8. I think the police should take Homes back to his apartment and throw his ass inside and lock the

doors and windows. I would also gather up the top NRA officials and let them join him in the apartment.

[intheflow]

9. I don't think any correlation can be drawn between this and Columbine.

1) Holmes isn't from Denver, so getting revenge at people who'd slighted him (as seems to have been a driving force in the Columbine shootings) doesn't seem to have been his motivation.

2) If you lived in the area, you'd know that the 12 miles between Aurora and Littleton is akin to the difference between, say, White Plains, NY and the Bronx, or East L.A. and Beverly Hills. Not that far apart geographically, but vastly different culturally. I would say the influence of proximity is completely negligible.

The only commonality that might be drawn is the easy availability of firearms, but that's a truism in much of the country.

[MzShellG]

10. This dude reminds me of Harold Lauder

In The Stand. I keep seeing people in real life that remind me of characters in that Stephen King book. He's even near Denver like Harold was when he plotted to blow up the plague surviors.

[kestrel91316]

36. Interesting observation. He is VERY Harold Lauder-ish.

[sofa king]

15. I'm still waiting for the Limbaugh shoe to drop.

I fully expect the national press to avoid reporting it, exactly as they did in the case of Jim David Adkisson, but the local press cannot be stopped from gleaning the relevant details, and DUers will bring those to us, sooner or later.

I'll put money on it that his radios were pre-set to the AM dial, and specifically the Clear Channel stations that catapult Rush's crap.

Edit: Nope. What I said after that sentence above isn't cool at all. I could be the asshole Rush is, but I have since thought better of it. For now.

[LonePirate]

27. Thank goodness his middle name is now being used to identify him!

He can now be admitted into the pantheon of horrific crimes since having a middle name is required for entrance.

[slackmaster]

31. I'm more than a little surprised that his middle name isn't Wayne or Lee

[JHB]

33. I think all the other "James Holmes" in the country appreciate it

Here on DU, people Googling for information on the shooter were finding similarly-named but wrong people.

[Tejas]

28. And much like Manson and Loughner, Holmes attains cult following.

[Ichingcarpenter]

32. Look up Mirror Neurons and Empathy as related to apathy.

I'm amazed at the last academic endeavor he did half way
between his four month planning. that occurred before that class.


The bio markers and EKG brain results. on empathy has been studied
with monkeys and humans.

I look back at the Mother.....knowing something.

[Blue_In_AK]

39. I find it really interesting that he was studying neuroscience.

Did he sense that there was something wrong with his brain, no matter how "intelligent" he was? Was he trying to figure out what was going on inside his own mind?

In many other mass murders, there seems to have been some agenda, political or otherwise (McVeigh was anti-government; the Columbine kids had been bullied; the guy in Norway was an anti-Islamist), but from what we know so far, there seems to be no motive for this. Maybe he has a tumor or some other brain injury like Charles Whitman.

Hopefully, something can be found in his apartment to explain what otherwise seems like a totally senseless and unexplainable act.

[Ichingcarpenter]

40. That to me is the question...

I think its time for a brain scan.

So, science can at least look at.