Quote:Details Emerge About Suspect in Movie Theater Massacre
Friday, 20 Jul 2012 03:14 PM

Those who knew the 24-year-old man in custody for the mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater describe him as a shy, intelligent person who grew up in San Diego with parents who were active in their well-to-do suburban neighborhood.

James Holmes, who was studying neuroscience in a [regionally accredited] Ph.D. program in Colorado, grew up in San Diego, where his parents still live on a quiet, street of two-story homes with red tile roofs. He played soccer at Westview High School and ran cross country before going to college to study neuroscience.


James Holmes in an undated photo provided by the [regionally accredited] University of Colorado. (AP Photo)

Neighbors say the family belonged to a Presbyterian church and hosted a Christmas party for residents.

"Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families and friends of those involved," Holmes' family said in a written statement Friday. "We ask that the media respect our privacy during this difficult time.

"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."

There have been no indications so far that Holmes had any run-ins with the law before Friday. San Diego Superior Court spokeswoman Karen Dalton said there were no records found under his name, not even for a traffic ticket. Riverside County prosecutors also have no criminal record for him, said John Hall, a spokesman for the district attorney's office.

Police in Colorado said Holmes fired into a crowded movie theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora while wearing a gas mask, killing 12 people and wounding 59 others. He was in police custody in Colorado and the FBI said there was no indication the attack was tied to any terrorist groups.

A furniture mover who lives several blocks from the suspect's apartment building said he shared a beer with him Tuesday at a neighborhood bar where they talked about new Denver Bronco quarterback Peyton Manning.

Jackie Mitchell, the Aurora neighbor, said he recognized Holmes' photo on television and he described the suspect as smart with a "swagger."

"We just talked about football. He had a backpack and geeky classes and seemed like a real intelligent guy and I figured he was one of the college students," he said.

There was no reference made to a planned shooting, Mitchell said.

On Friday morning, police escorted the suspect's father, a manager of a software company, from their San Diego home. The mother stayed inside the home, receiving family visitors who came to offer support.

San Diego police spokeswoman Lt. Andra Brown, spoke to reporters in the driveway of the Holmes' home, on behalf of the family.

"As you can understand, the Holmes family is very upset about all of this," she said. "It's a tragic event and it's taken everyone by surprise. They are definitely trying to work through this."

Anthony Mai, a 16-year-old who grew up next door to Holmes, described the suspect as "solitary" person who largely kept to himself but his behavior was nothing out of the ordinary.

"He felt a little bit concealed, but it wasn't too much. It was all right" he said. "This is just a feeling in my gut, but I felt like he had something, like he was being picked on or something."

His father, Tom Mai, a retired electrical engineer, said Holmes was quiet.

"I said hello to him once in a while. He seemed to be a shy guy," he told reporters.

He said the Holmes have lived at the San Diego home about 10 years and they were a "very, very nice family." Holmes mother is a nurse. The suspect also has a younger sister.

Mai said the mother told him the suspect couldn't find a job after earning a master's degree from a [regionally accredited] University of California school and so went back for another degree.

Holmes graduated from [regionally accredited] University of California, Riverside, in the spring of 2010 with a bachelor of science degree in neuroscience, said university spokesman Sean Nealon. No other details were immediately available about his life on campus, Nealon said.

In 2011, Holmes enrolled in the Ph.D. neuroscience program at the [regionally accredited] University of Colorado-Denver but was in the process of withdrawing, said spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery. University officials earlier said he was a student at the university's medical school.

Quote:Reports by a Florida private investigator connect the Aurora Colorado shooter with Occupy San Diego. The motivation for the shooting appears to be the negative portrayal of the Occupy Wall Street movement. There are conflicting reports about this but it fits with our coverage of the plot of the movie. The shooter is being called a "black block" member of occupy who felt the movement was not radical enough.

Quote:In 2011, Holmes enrolled in the Ph.D. neuroscience program at the [regionally accredited] University of Colorado-Denver but was in the process of withdrawing, said spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery.

(07-21-2012, 03:39 PM)4Knee Kate Wrote:

Quote:In 2011, Holmes enrolled in the Ph.D. neuroscience program at the [regionally accredited] University of Colorado-Denver but was in the process of withdrawing, said spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery.

Something tells me university registrars are going to be just a little bit nicer to students who are withdrawing from classes this week.

Quote:He will wind up on death row this guy...which is where he belongs.

Quote:Shooting suspect had federal grant, university says
Published July 21, 2012
Associated Press

DENVER – The University of Colorado says shooting suspect James Holmes had a federal grant to study neuroscience.

University spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery said Saturday that Holmes was one of six neuroscience students at the school to get National Institutes of Health grant money. She didn't know how much money he got.

The NIH says the university decides who gets the grants. Criteria for receiving the grant weren't immediately clear.

The university says Holmes enrolled in the program last year and was withdrawing. Montgomery says Holmes didn't indicate why he was withdrawing.

Montgomery says Holmes took an oral exam at the end of the semester that all students must pass to continue in the program. She says privacy laws prevent the school from releasing his score.

Quote:...On Sunday, officials at the [regionally accredited] University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus were looking into whether Holmes used his position in a graduate program to collect hazardous materials, but school officials weren't saying whether they knew he was anything more than a hard-working student.

Police have said that Holmes began buying guns at Denver-area stores nearly two months before Friday's shooting and that he received at least 50 packages in four months at his home and at school.

While the university disclosed that it was cooperating with police in the case, that disclosure was one of the few it has made three days after the massacre. It remained unclear whether Holmes' professors and other students at his 35-student Ph.D. program noticed anything unusual about his behavior.

His reasons for quitting the program in June, just a year into the five- to seven-year program, also remained a mystery.

Holmes recently took an intense, three-part oral exam that marks the end of the first year. Those who do well continue with their studies and shift to full-time research, while those who don't do well meet with advisers and discuss their options, including retaking the exam. University officials would not say if he passed, citing privacy concerns.

The university said Holmes gave no reason for his withdrawal, a decision he made in June.

Holmes was not allowed access from the institution after his withdrawal, which was "standard operating procedure" because he was no longer affiliated with the school, said Jacque Montgomery, a spokeswoman for the medical school. Holmes had no contact with university police, she said.

The university declined to release any details of his academic record, citing privacy concerns, and at least two dozen professors and other staff declined to speak with The Associated Press. Some said they were instructed not to talk publicly about Holmes in a blanket email sent to university employees.

Montgomery said police have told the school to not talk about Holmes. The university took down the website for its graduate neuroscience program on Saturday.

. . . Meanwhile, the owner of a gun range told the AP that Holmes applied to join the club last month but never became a member because of his behavior and a "bizarre" message on his voice mail.

He emailed an application to join the Lead Valley Range in Byers on June 25 in which he said he was not a user of illegal drugs or a convicted felon, said owner Glenn Rotkovich. When Rotkovich called to invite him to a mandatory orientation the following week, he said he heard a message on Holmes' voice mail that was "bizarre—guttural, freakish at best."

He left two other messages but eventually told his staff to watch out for Holmes at the July 1 orientation and not to accept him into the club, Rotkovich said.

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