James Holmes

James Eagan Holmes (born December 13th, 1987) is an American convicted on 24 counts of murder and 140counts of attempted murder for the 2012 Aurora shooting that killed 12 people and injured 70 others at a Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, on July 20th, 2012. He had no known criminal record prior to the shooting. Holmes booby-trapped his apartment with explosives before the shooting, which were defused one day later by a bomb squad.

Holmes was arrested shortly after the shooting and jailed without bail awaiting trial. Following this, he was hospitalized after attempting suicide several times while in jail. Holmes entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, which was accepted. His trial began on April 27, 2015, and on August 24 he was sentenced to 12 consecutive life sentences plus 3,318 years without parole.

History
Holmes was born on December 13, 1987, in San Diego, California. His father is a mathematician and scientist. with degrees from Stanford University, UCLA and UC Berkeley and his mother is a registered nurse. He has one sister. Holmes was raised in Oak Hills, a community near Castroville, California, where he attended elementary school. At twelve years old, Holmes moved back to San Diego. There, he lived in the Rancho Peñasquitos neighborhood, where he reportedly began to decline socially. He went to Westview High School and graduated in 2006. Holmes played soccer and ran cross-country in high school. He attended Penasquitos Lutheran Church with his family, according to the Lutheran church's pastor. According to Holmes' lawyer, Daniel King, Holmes began to suffer from mental health issues in middle school and attempted suicide at age 11.

According to Holmes, during his childhood, he was frightened of what he called "Nail Ghosts" that would hammer on the walls at night. He would also see shadows and "flickers" at the corners of his eyes, which would fight each other with firearms and other weapons. Holmes saw social worker Margaret Roth once before she sent him to psychiatrist Lynne Fenton. Holmes was depressed and "obsessed with killing for over a decade".

In Aurora, Holmes lived on Paris Street in a one-bedroom apartment, in a building with other students involved in health studies. In a rental application for an apartment, he described himself as "quiet and easygoing", and in an online dating profile, Holmes identified himself as an agnostic. He left some digital footprints, like a university email address, an old Myspace photo,[31] a dating profile on Match.com, and a profile on Adult FriendFinder, as well as a résumé at the employment website Monster.com. According to a few sources, Holmes allegedly hired prostitutes and left reviews of them on an online message board.

In October 2011, Holmes began dating a fellow student in his biology class, Gargi Datta. Their relationship lasted for about two months and ended when she felt distant from him following an encounter between Holmes and another man who talked to her during a date on Saint Patrick's Day. According to her, Holmes often made flat jokes that made other people feel uncomfortable and expressed his desire to kill people. She tried to recommend getting professional help despite not taking his claims seriously. They resumed their relationship in early January 2012, but it ended again in February. Holmes confessed to a state-appointed psychiatric physician that "their breakup contributed to his violent depression".

Education
In 2006, Holmes worked as an intern at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies where he was assigned to write computer code for an experiment. Holmes, who was described by his supervisor as stubborn, uncommunicative and socially inept, presented his project to the other interns at the end of the internship, but never actually completed it. Holmes wrote of his experiences at the Salk Institute in a college application essay: "I had little experience in computer programming and the work was challenging to say the least. Nonetheless, I taught myself how to program in Flash and then construct a cross-temporal calibration model.... Completing the project and presenting my model at the end of the internship was exhilarating."

Graduating from Westview High School in the Torrey Highlands community of San Diego in 2006,[45][46] Holmes attended the University of California, Riverside (UCR) and, in 2010, received his undergraduate degree in neuroscience with the highest honors. He was a member of several honor societies, including Phi Beta Kappa and Golden Key. According to UCR recommendation letters submitted to the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC), Holmes graduated in the top 1% of his class with a 3.949 GPA. The UCR letters also described Holmes as "a very effective group leader" and a person who "takes an active role in his education, and brings a great amount of intellectual and emotional maturity into the classroom".

In 2008, Holmes worked as a counselor at a residential summer camp in Glendale, California, that catered to children aged 7–14. There, he was responsible for ten children and had no disciplinary problems.

In the fall of 2010, Holmes was employed at a pill- and capsule-coating factory in San Diego County. One of his coworkers said that Holmes was unsocial, and once acted strangely in a laboratory work station by staring at a wall and not verbally responding, only smirking when his coworker asked if he was okay.

In June 2011, Holmes enrolled as a Ph.D. student in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. He received a $21,600 grant from the National Institutes of Health, according to agency records, which was disbursed in installments from July 2011 to June 2012. Holmes also received a $5,000 stipend from the University of Colorado, Denver. Though Holmes received a letter of acceptance to UIUC, where he was offered a $22,600 stipend and free tuition, he declined their offer without specifying a reason. Reviewers of Holmes' application at UIUC remembered his application because he submitted a picture of himself with a llama.

In 2012, Holmes' academic performance declined, and he scored poorly on the comprehensive exam in the spring. The university was not planning to expel him; however, Holmes was in the process of withdrawing from the university. Three days after failing a key oral exam at the university in early June 2012, Holmes dropped out of his studies without further explanation. At the time of his arrest, he gave his occupation as "laborer."

Before the shooting
Holmes' defense attorneys stated in a motion that he was a psychiatric patient of the medical director of Anschutz's Student Mental Health Services prior to the Aurora shooting. The prosecutor disagreed with that claim. Four days after the release of the defense attorney's motion, the judge required this information to be blacked out. CBS News later reported that Holmes met with at least three mental health professionals at the University of Colorado prior to the massacre. One of them, who was informed by Holmes of his homicidal thoughts, considered placing him on an involuntary mental health hold, but decided against it, noting her belief that Holmes was borderline and the commitment would only inflame him.

One of Holmes' psychiatrists suspected, prior to the shooting, that Holmes suffered from a mental illness and could be dangerous. A month before the shooting, Dr. Lynne Fenton reported to the campus police that he had made homicidal statements. Two weeks prior to the shooting, Holmes sent a text message asking a graduate student if the student had heard of the disorder dysphoric mania, and warning the student to stay away from him "because I am bad news".

Holmes was a fan of superheroes, including Batman, and his apartment was decorated with Batman paraphernalia. Dave Aragón, an actor from MTV television series Pimp My Ride, stated that Holmes called him twice the month prior to the shooting. Aragón is the writer, director, and star of an upcoming film entitled The Suffocator of Sins, which depicts a vigilante who shoots criminals, and Aragón claimed that Holmes showed interest in his movie's trailer.

According to Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler, Holmes chose the Century 16 theater for his attack because he liked movie theaters and the specific theater had doors that he could lock in order to increase the number of casualties, as well as being in an area where police response would take longer. He specifically chose to attack a midnight screening because he believed fewer children would be present, not wanting to kill them. Holmes allegedly considered other locations for a mass shooting, such as an airport, but ruled it out because an airport would have too much security. He also wrote his reasoning that an attack on an airport would be confused as an act of terrorism, saying, "Terrorism isn't the message. The message is, there is no message." In addition, he had been considering using explosives, chemical agents, or biological agents in his attack, but rejected the scenario as he thought he might "blow himself up". Holmes had also considered serial killing as an option, but later reasoned it was "too personal, too much evidence, easily caught, few kills."

Actions prior to shooting
On May 22, 2012, Holmes purchased a Glock 22 pistol at a Gander Mountain shop in Aurora. Six days later, on May 28, he bought a Remington 870 Express Tactical shotgun at a Bass Pro Shops in Denver.[73] On June 7, just hours after failing his oral exam at the university, he purchased a Smith & Wesson M&P15 rifle. All the weapons were bought legally and background checks were performed. In the four months prior to the shooting, Holmes also bought 3,000 rounds of ammunition for the pistols, 3,000 rounds for the M&P15, and 350 shells for the shotgun over the Internet. On July 2, he placed an order for a Blackhawk Urban Assault Vest, two magazine holders, and a knife at an online retailer. He also purchased spike strips, which he later admitted he planned to use in case police shot at him or followed him in a car chase.

On June 25, less than a month before the shooting, Holmes emailed an application to join a gun club in Byers, Colorado. The owner, Glenn Rotkovich, called him several times throughout the following days to invite him to a mandatory orientation, but could only reach his answering machine. Holmes left Rotkovich one voicemail in reply. Due to the nature of Holmes' voicemail, which Rotkovich described as "bizarre", "freaky", "guttural", "spoken with a deep voice", "incoherent and rambling", Rotkovich instructed his staff to inform him if Holmes showed up, though Holmes neither appeared at the gun range nor called back. "In hindsight, looking back – and if I'd seen the movies – maybe I'd say it was like the Joker – I would have gotten the Joker out of it... It was like somebody was trying to be as weird as possible," Rotkovich said.

On July 19, just hours before the shooting started, Holmes mailed a notebook to his psychiatrist. The notebook detailed his thoughts and plans during the weeks preceding the shooting. The notebook was found in an undelivered package in the Anschutz Medical Campus mail-room. Immediately prior to the shooting, Holmes reportedly called a crisis hotline for mental health with the hopes that someone would talk him out of committing the massacre at the last minute. However, the call was disconnected after nine seconds.

Shooting and arrest
On July 20th, 2012, police arrested Holmes without resistance while he was standing next to his car behind the Century 16 theater, moments after the shooting. Holmes had snuck out an exit door, propped it open, and returned with weapons and other gear, setting off several gas or smoke canisters and then opening fire on the theater audience, killing 12 and wounding 70. According to testimonies during the following trial, Holmes was initially "calm and detached" during the arrest, but became interested in watching the aftermath of the shooting after being placed in the back of a police car. The responding officers recovered several guns from inside the car and the theater.

Once apprehended, Holmes told the police that he had booby-trapped his apartment with explosive devices before heading to the theater. Police later confirmed the presence of explosives in the apartment

Modus Operandi
Holmes used two tear gas grenades to keep the victims in place before shooting at them with a Smith and Wesson M&P15 sport Rifle, Remington 870 Express Tactical shotgun, and a Glock 22. He also booby-trapped his house with a bomb before leaving to go out on his massacre.

Known Victims
The following are the victims of the July 20th, 2012 Aurora theatre shooting{{Scroll box|

Fatalities
Jessica Ghawi (a.k.a. Jessica Redfield), Rebecca Wingo, age 31,
 * Jonathan Blunk, age 26,
 * Alexander J. Boik, age 18,
 * Jesse Childress, age 29,
 * Gordon Cowden, age 51,
 * John Larimer, age 27,
 * Matt McQuinn, age 27,
 * Micayla Medek, age 23,
 * Veronica Moser-Sullivan, age 6,
 * Alex Sullivan, age 27,
 * Alexander C. Teves, age 24,

Injured

 * 70 other unnamed people}}

On Criminal Minds
In False Flag, the Aurora theatre Shooting was one of several similar incidents that conspiracy theorist Melissa Miller claimed were staged by the U.S. government in order to increase gun control.