It is hard to wrap one's mind around the fact that the suspect was, objectively and reportedly "very, very, smart" (a PhD. Neuroscience student at a phenomenal university...University of Colorado), as well as an apparently compassionate and empathic individual.

This doesn't seem to fit the profile that I think we come to suspect in mass murderers.

As macabre as it is, it will be interesting to learn more about James Holmes and what seems to make him tick.

Yeah, you kind of have to ask yourself what happened to Holmes in the intervening years between age 20 when he was helping kids and age 24 when he was killing them. It looks like he took a big leap off the deep end.

In that group shot - he is the only one with a "closed" posture .... body language that shows him distancing himself from others.

something is very wrong with this background, we are missing something; based on his background, family, education, something is amiss; are we dealing with a Manchurian Candidate ?

Never Stop Asking Questions

It is hard to wrap one's mind around the fact that the suspect was, objectively and reportedly "very, very, smart" (a PhD. Neuroscience student at a phenomenal university...University of Colorado), as well as an apparently compassionate and empathic individual.

This doesn't seem to fit the profile that I think we come to suspect in mass murderers.

Being smart doesn't automatically exclude having psychological issues, you can have a very high or a very low IQ and be a psychopath (or other psychological/mental issues). And I believe that, unless you are a very perceptive person, you have to really know a person (for example, parents and siblings would probably know, but they are often blinded by their love for the person, and it is very difficult to imagine that a loved one could be a serial killer), especially a "smart" one and/or manipulative one, to know if the empathy is real or not, to know if they actually care or if they are pretending. Ted Bundy is a good example of a smart and manipulative person, who seemed to cared about others and society (he was active in politics), and without evidence (and him finally admitting he committed the crimes), you would have never thought that guy was a serial killer. Appearances can be deceptive.

I think James Eagan should be more than dead for this, because if he is dead by a citizen using either fists or feet or even teeth it would make victims feel better knowing that a bad person is off this earth!

Manchurian Candidate?! Saxon you are living in the same dark fantasy world as the shooter.

john n-96...; you may be right, however nothing seems to fit into a radical change of behavior.

For what it is worth...Though there is no doubt, that this guy had so deep seated "issues" which made all of this possible...I think we will find out that what caused the crack was LOVE, or more specifically Love Lost or Rejected...for most people, you get depressed for a few days, maybe weeks or months...then you put down the bottle and pick yourself up and move on...but something different happens with "very smart people", something more damaging than simply a broken heart...the mind breaks, you doubt your value, your worth, your ability to make rational decisions...

Just my guess

August 19, 1991, Julio Gonzales, after an argument with his girlfriend who worked in a bar in NYC, returned to the bar with gasoline and set fire to the only staircase leading into the bar. 87 people died.

It would seem that something in his life transpired that was final. So he had given up on real life. Did others notice? Even if they had, can anybody have an adult picked up today even if somebody though he was a danger.

Many years ago, we had a doctor in our neighborhood that one night came out of his house shooting up the neighbor and trying to drown his wife. The neighbor got away, and the wife of the doctor survived. As a neighborhood we went to the magistrate that night to have him committed which was an ordeal I would never want to repeat. We got into the house which had probably 25 guns all laying around. The trash hadn't been taken out in weeks. Still after weeks of being in a mental institution he was let out. We all lived in fear each night and thus lived with a gun under our pillows. They guy was nuts, but authorities would do little. We moved.

Woulda been a lot cheaper and more permanent for the neighborhood to put up enough money to have him whacked. Money well spent. Problem solved.

If James Holmes were an inner city urban youth, nobody would point to possible mental illness or try to make any other excuses for him. He'd be a thug that murdered people. Well, that's how I think of James Holmes, too. I'm not interested in bleeding heart liberal excuses for a murderous thug, suburban or otherwise.

Holmes is nothing more than a gangsta. A thug who committed pre-meditated murder on a crowd of people in a theater. Hopefully neighborwood watch people from now on will be on alert when they see thugs who are of his particular complexion and his type of look and report him as being a threat.

Somewhere along the way, James Holmes gave up on his life and snapped. No one who is hopeful about their future plans and implements something on this scale.

I take note that Holmes is only 24. No doubt, Holmes will be given a psychiatric examination especially because mental diseases like schizophrenia often materialize at around this age. Of course, not all schizophrenics would carry out such a deadly assault.

But I can't help but wonder how this person could buy so much armory gear online without it sending a red flag somewhere? Wouldn't the vendors wonder why an everyday person would need 6000 rounds of ammunition? I suspect that the online seller was just thrilled to make the sale and there were no reporting requirements for such sales?

Why is it that the FBI tries to entrap people who buy try to buy weed or pharmaceuticals online but not buyers of violent weapons?

Holmes is an interesting situation...he obviously has a personality disorder, but it caused him to identify with a graphic novel villain. It wasn't even associated with a video game or role playing game.
In the early years of Dungeons and Dragons there were a number of cases where young people got so far into the characters that they became lost in the scenarios. In Holme's case, he identified with a character from a graphic novel, or the first installments of the movie series, the second in the case of the Dark Knight series of movies that was more directly associated with the Dark Knight Graphic Novel series.
Is he a Schizophrenic? Manic Depressive...doesn't fit. There's a good chance he is Bi-Polar, but that would be a symptom not a classification. I will be interested to see if there is any information released after his psychiatric evaluations.
Aside from being a loner, I haven't read that there was much fear in regard to his immanent danger to the general public.

Now I know I am entering tinfoil hat land here... but I do think it needs to be said. Colorado is the seat of our shadow government. Lots of experimental military-oriented things going on there...entire mountains are hollowed out with massive military bases full of the most advanced research imaginable. Denver is crawling with military types with very high security clearances. Really strange kinds of people. This fellow who doesnt seem as though it is possible he could do these things, was also studying neuroscience, and you can BET the military is deep into neuroscience study. Now heres where it gets tinhat.... Mind control. Experimental mind control. Of course, if it were happening, theres no way in heck we would know about it. They arent about to come out and tell us these things. Its just something I toss out there... strange things are happening under the hills of Colorado

Excuse me???? This must be the most delusional statement I've yet to see on Newsvine and that's saying something. Colorado, like other states has one military academy, Air Force, and an army base. They also have Norad. Can you tell me where, exactly, mountains have been 'hollowed out' for secret government operations? And all neuroscience students are about mind control? Really? Seriously bud, seek help. You have the kind of paranoid mind that leads to these mass killings. I won't even bother to mention that his guy is NOT at all a Colorado native.

He planned this carefully, and I am convinced that he wanted to send a message loud and clear. Of all places he chose a movie theater, and a movie packed with violence. Maybe he wanted to give us a taste of what real violence feels like. I cannot help but think that if his actions were a movie, and not something that happened in real life, millions of people would flock to the theaters to see it. Maybe disgust was his only motive and one that doesn't seem to be obvious at all. Violence is glorified in our days, just not when it happens next door.

Let's put something to rest; Holmes DOES NOT have military experience, nothing has been put out to that effect. He was in Medical post graduate school at 24, which means he has significant college time behind him. Even if he was in an excellerated degree plan, graduating before he was 21, it would not have left him enough time to complete the pre-med
requirements.

Two: Buckley is not a Top-Secret facility. They have intel and radar on site, but that is not Super-Secret spy "Sh!t"

Three: Colorado Springs, where Norad is located, is over 90 miles away from Aurora.

devon - I did not SAY this IS the reason behind Holmes' action. I merely tossed it out there as one more theory. Give it creedence, or dont. But to SLAP your hands over your ears and refuse to even consider it, is what makes it possible for the darkest research to occur right under our feets. It simply stretches our concept of reality too much to even give it a moment of serious thought. That is convenient for the ones who work in those shadows. This man simply did not have any of the attributes we would associate with this kind of action, and people are searching for whys. The history of odd experiments done on people by our military AND the proximity of this man to the centers of that research, AND his involvement in neuroscience study leads anyone who has ever held their own narrow belief systems in check long enough to ask the hard questions, to wonder about that possibility in this case. Nor did I state he WAS military. He was simply studying neuroscience, and military grants were involved with his studies - paths cross... You don't have to have a clearance code to end up being one of the test subjects.... You dont even need to know you ARE a test subject. The military is working on things that make our current technology seem like steam engines and wind-up phonographs. You arent going to read about these things in the Daily News while you chomp on your toast because they are TOP SECRET. But leaks do get out... furtive little allusions. Ever notice there are more than a few military men walking around the large cities of Colorado? It is not because Colorado happens to have the same military activity as every other state in the union. Denver is strategically located. It is approximately central to the country, and has one of the lowest levels of potentially catastrophic events that could affect an underground structure, such as earthquakes. It also has a geology that lends itself well to underground structures. The alternative seat of government already exists under Colorado. Colorado is the chosen place for the continuation of government in case of crisis, and it is the chosen place for the seat of secretive military and government work. It just is.

Whether this fellow somehow ended up through the rabbit hole and became a test subject of some surreal work going on over there is anyone's guess, except for the guys in the underground offices with the highest of clearances - but I can assure you that if that were the case (that mind control experimentation is happening and affecting civilians), A. You will NOT ever be made aware of that fact, and B. it was not a special credit assignment handed to Holmes from a professor.

There are things going on in our government regarding military advancements and the international race for advancements in all of the sciences, for military purposes, that would make your hair stand on end if you decided to pile up some books and start reading. And those things are only what has been leaked from the most secretive areas of a government that is hell-bent on maintaining a world-wide presence, with the biggest budget in the world, and not averse at rolling up their sleeves to study things where angels fear to tread. Dont forget - these are the same people who created the atomic weapon, and that was in the 1950s - arguably a much less technologically advanced time than today. If you think they are working on the next cell phone under there, you are sorely mistaken.

As to where these bases are, there are dozens, and most are connected by complex underground structures. Because you dont read about it in the daily news does not mean it doesnt exist.

They also don't hang out HOWDY! Come on in! Signs out front...

But I reiterate. This does NOT mean that this particular Holmes somehow got sucked into some over-the-top military-research shenanigans. But it is just one of several possibilities I toss out there for consideration.

Because it seems surreal and we would rather live in a world where everything makes sense and the government is entirely trustworthy and friendly, well - that doesn't mean these things aren't possibilities, or that the evidence exists right out there in the open to make us question what we think of as reality. Also, I point to the number of positive votes I got to my otherwise collapsed comment. Its on other people's minds too, and we are not really all running around wearing tinfoil hats.

Most of us are regular folks, just going about our lives the best we can, but knowing that when a meat product commercial shows us an image of a happy dancing cow, that is not what is actually happening down at the processing plant.... Many of us have lived through stories of syphilis tests on unsuspecting men, LSD tests, Gulf of Tonkin, WMD lies, and more, to be naieve enough to believe that these are the ONLY and isolated events where our government was doing things that wouldnt exactly be shown on the museum of Freedom and Liberty tour.

People who dare to question the status quo are rarely the popular people. But thank God for those brave people who are willing to ask the hard questions.

Also, YOU are the real danger in this country, to insinuate that someone who dares question the status quo may be as dangerous as the individual in question! That is a tactic as old as time itself to silence people by the use of denigration and fear. The most recent IDENTIFIED time it was used in this era, was McCarthyism. I reject your kind of vanilla thinking that makes you state that I have the kind of paranoid mind that leads to this kind of atrocity! Get out of your little safety zone and ask questions. To ask them, does not mean you then form the answers and accept THOSE without further questioning.

I actually think its highly unlikely that some kind of mind control for ulterior motives was at play here. But because it seems surreal, does not mean I reject it out of hand. I know life can be pretty surreal sometimes. Even if there was something surreal going on here, WE will never be aware of it, at least, not by media headlines. Top Secret and Media Headlines just dont go together.

Also, knock it off with your Colorodian flag-waving. It doesnt matter where this guy is from. There are unbalanced people from all over the country, and if this were some kind of mind control experiment gone awry, or gone just the way it was planned - it doesnt matter if the guy is from Colorado, or Connecticut, or California, or China. All of our brains have the same structures and can be manipulated the same, or can become aberrant just like this guy.

Get out of your narrow little backyard barbecue existence and realize theres a big amazing world swirling around you. If you have strength of mind, I promise you, you won't get sucked down the rabbit hole yourself, simply for wondering about alternate explanations.

No monsters are going to grab you into a closet or down under your bed - but I can't make those promises about mysterious men in unmarked trucks. Those guys? All bets are off.

What will be revealed is that some perv pulled "a Jerry Sandusky" on little Jimmy, little Jimmy went hay-wire, and then did the shooting spree at the Batman moovee.

I DON"T BELIEVE he went Postal due to his reaction from receiving bad grades in Grad School. That mislead is just plain dumb. Or, maybe he realized that little Jimmy is merely average for a Grad School student, and could not deal well with being just average. And then, little Jimmy pulled a Jerry Sandusky on himself. And then still feeling dirty, went on a shooting rampage.

Again Strength, GET HELP. How could you possibly know what 'military clearance' the average person in Denver has. Honestly bud, you're delusional. The military is looking toward increased technology - as is every government and private industry on the planet - and Colorado has a military academy....ergo....secret government evil assassins are at play? You're dangerous.

Strength In Numbers, I believe you have a point with the so-called "tinfoil hat land" ideas. At least one of two unfortunate problems occurred with our Little Jimmy:

1. He participated in a Phase I trial test; the kind advertised locally where participants are paid to be a guinea pig for testing a drug/ device/ technique on humans. But in this case, he was a guinea pig for a test that screwed up his mind. And he was not able to disengage from the trance and get back to reality.

2. During a minute of peace-of-mind, he probably came to the realization that for years he has invested all his time/effort/money/emotion in a field of study whose present-day application only gets utilized as a military weapon; he saw the futility of his efforts which then affected his grades. His dark mind adopted a movie character. Little Jimmy purchased weapons & ammo online and sellers did not question his purchases; and then Jimmy went Postal in a movie theatre in a pre-meditated killing spree.

Either way, I think your theory has merit, Strength In Numbers. James Holmes, Jared Loughner, Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold... they need to be analyzed, some things need to be learned, and things need to be done, in order to prevent mass shootings from occurring.

It's obvious that this guy had some kind of personality disorder. These diseases spiral out of control in the early twenties. He was studying psychiatric illness! I think he knew he was 'odd'. He lost sight of reality people, that's what mental illness often does. Should have been on meds long ago. His mother knew something like this was possible, she knew he was sick. I'm not excusing the guy, just making sense of what happened to him. (He always rooted for the villians) I think his family knew he was ill, but never sought help. Many mentally ill people are freakishly intelligent too, sometimes to their detriment.

this is why we have 'title nine witnesses', on the stand, they can 'see' exactly what happened and how it got there in the first place. they're at the hague, too, for war crime trials at that scientific level.

The media is giving the people exactly what they want. When so many people are asking what kind of person would do this, then the media's going to feed the curiosity of the general populace.

News outlets won't waste money or time on something that doesn't grab eyeballs.

If you lost someone in a horrible shooting like this would you not want closure along with peace? In a way this is kind of what the media is doing.

"so people can make decisions about the society" ?

Well, dedman - it continues to be an Orwellian thing you wrote, and I think thats what ptownz was pointing out.

Nothing worse than the feeling that media is attempting to guide people to make very specific "decisions" about "society, laws, etc.".

The right to bare arms is important, regardless of how many of these attacks happen. I am a democrat, and I say this. Because I understand why it was written into the Bill of Rights. I understand the history, and it remains as valid today as it was over 200 years ago. Our founding fathers understood that a tyrannical government seeks to disarm the people, because an unarmed people are subject to the whims of their leaders. They therefore, can be - subjects. Our founding fathers witnessed it, and had memory of this kind of tyrannical government, where the king's men kept the subjects in line... Even then though, pitchforks and torches within the hands of overwhelming numbers, can still overcome tyranny. Attempting to control arms based on these isolated events is motivated by fear. Fear of the people by governments, and the simple visceral fear of the people themselves, being manipulated BY government.

So whenever I see these attacks, then I read allusions written by media about "making decisions about our laws and society", this raises my suspicions that much more. Especially when it is coming right after the Fast and Furious / Holder scandal.

And, I repeat, I am a democrat. But there are some things where towing the party line must be abandoned in favor of rational thought. Any attempts to limit second amendment rights based upon the acts of a few loose cannons, is one of those things where emotion must not trump logic, and where I also become suspicious of false-flag events... I have studied history enough to know that governments intent upon a thing will stop at nothing to achieve that end. Gulf of Tonkin, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Nuremburg, and others that have not yet been identified, and perhaps will forever remain.. unidentified false-flag events, are but a few examples of the deceit leaders are capable of, in the pursuit of molding popular sentiment.

Guns are not necessary to carry out these kinds of atrocities. Anyone intent on mass mayhem will find a way. As an example, I give you the Bath School Disaster.... this happened before the use and abuse of the word "terrorism" entered into our discourse. It was not referred to as terrorism then, it was not spun to any government's propaganda objectives. It was what it was - a vicious attack by a single angry man.

A vicious attack by a single angry man. So many are. Real or imagined wrongs, grudges nutured and stroked, real and imaginary insults and random acts that meant nothing to the person committing them and worlds to the person they affected. Rejected love, no love, incapacity to love or feel compassion. Ancient enmities and grievances, all possible explanations for a rationale into why someone does something as inexplicable and horrible as this.

Generally the person commiting mass murder is getting even, getting revenge and the victims are just the unlucky ones who happened to be in his vicinity. Nameless targets, getting even with society at large andcompensating for their own pathetic insignificance.

Now they'll know who I am. I have made myself larger than life itself and I am no longer insignificant, I am important. LOOK AT ME!!!

Dmattheus 3 ....We all wonder.... it is a lesson that we learn from ...what happen to this guy in his childhood? lesson ...How he acted in his last days ...lesson,and so on ....Leave the media alone this is the only source of information , we need to protect ourselves , for future and look around ....who"s next to us ? what trouble people goes through ..? HOW CAN WE HELP TROUBLE SOULS for our own sake by asking questions ,that is the problem in this world..... no one wants to listen ,NO ONE CARES ,we all say,I have my own problems ,yes you do .....but when trouble soul explodes it becomes OUR problem.if you hate media why are you on the forum ......just a thought.

I am a democrat, and I say this. Because I understand why it was written into the Bill of Rights. I understand the history, and it remains as valid today as it was over 200 years ago. Our founding fathers understood that a tyrannical government seeks to disarm the people, because an unarmed people are subject to the whims of their leaders. They therefore, can be - subjects.

No amount of rifles, guns and other such weapons can even come close to matching the military might that the US government is capable of mustering. Should it decide to become tyrannical, it has enough firepower to boil the surface of every rocky planet in the solar system, the earth included, several times over. Your weapons are useless when someone in a deep bunker can destroy you, your family, your neighborhood, your city, your county and your state with the press of a button.

Our Founding Fathers did not understand the kind of weapons that would be commonplace today.

The 2nd Amendment is not a suicide pact.

I have my doubts about the ethics of the upper organization of the US government, but even I doubt the armed forces would agree to using nuclear weapons on US soil to stop a rebellion. Short of that, tell it to the Libyans and Syrians that they can't stop tyranny.

Byron- so our right to bear arms is no match for our modern military? Thanks for my first and probably only laugh about this tragedy. Have you never heard of guerrilla warfare and about the last five conflicts we have engaged in? Yes, we can go in and stomp the living sh!t out of anybody, it is keeping the ground and maintaining order (policies) that is impossible. If you do not like a unarmed populace move to the countries like North Korea, a virtual nirvana from what I have read. This is a tragedy by a truly deranged individual nothing more.

Why are they trying to show us all of this footage and pictures of this mentally ill man

Because they aren't showing pictures and footage of a mentally ill man. They are showing pictures of a violent, murderous THUG who committed pre-meditated murder.

Byron, your comments are disturbing to me. When in history have the ruling class NOT been more heavily armed than the under-classes? In ANY uprising, EVER? And yet, people still have a tendency to overcome. Intent and desire is stronger than steel and fire, over time. Casualties are always higher on the side that isn't armed superiorly, but cunning and perseverence is what wins the skirmish, time and time again. And arrogance and implosion from within is what hastens the fall of tyrannical rulers.

History shows us this. People who are oppressed eventually rise up. The fight can last days, months, or years, but continues until some kind of balance is reestablished. Thats just history.

You can bet when cannons were made, some goofball like yourself said - how can YOU peasants with your pitchforks and torches hope to stand before our BIG SCARY FIRE STICKS - but they did.

Huh.

This is really going quite astray of the Holmes horror - but since the right to bear arms is in the spotlight - AGAIN - any challengers like you - to pretty much one of the last shreds we have left of the union that was formed over 200 years ago - really need to be answered.

If you think that the Constitution and Bill of Rights are "obsolete" what you then, by association, are saying, is that we need to reinvent this country entirely, throw out the wisdom of our founding fathers, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights - scrap it all. Melt down the Liberty Bell, start from scratch. That what you sayin'? Because it is, I suggest we all start up a donation to buy (Lord) Byron a one-way ticket back to England where he is free to not bear arms and be the subject of Queen Mum.

Very interesting point and analogy. Funny your assessment 'honorably' includes the Monarchy; as I now accept the commonsensical fact...that the U.S. WAS declared a gift to the Queen...long before any of 'us' had been thought of! It just makes 'chronological' sense that Her subjects were sent to 'discover' 'explore' or possibly, conquer "new worlds." The Subjects had always remained citizens of England; hence, the Monarchy's claim to America. Just my humble opinion..but I'll bet it's not at all off-base!

Only for the moment, Doc.

Tomorrow it will be a different face.

My guess is that pure evil is much much worse than this.

Tomorrow a mug shot.

You're going to be searching until you accept the only answer: "Because"

I think perhaps his parents were pushing him to do more than he could. He graduated in CA with a degree in neuroscience, very, very smart, but couldn't find a job in CA so he went to CO to get his graduate. Apparently it was more than he could accomplish so he quit. His parents probably were not happy with him not meeting their expectations, possibly berated him, and as he couldn't strike out at them he struck out where he could. I know his Mom made a very odd, negative? response when she was contacted about what he had done.

They could have been the catalyst for what happened but the blame belongs to Holmes. He started purchasing the weapons and ammo shortly after he left the CO school.

The only thing near as catastrophic as finding out that your child or loved one was killed in the massacre is finding out that your son was the one pulling the trigger.

the sad thing is that it is in all of us. we all are born with choices to make. the choice to love and the choice to hate. this could have been a case of what if or i wonder if. to say this is the face of true evil than you have not been watching what has been going on in the world. now what i would call him is a coward. a weak little man that wants attention. also if you look into it almost 80% of the people like him in the world come from the good old USA and we have a museum to tell you all about it. it is sad but just watch the news this will not be the last one there is always a copy cat. but please people it take so much less energy to smile or to open a door for someone so if we could just do one good thing and pay it forward maybe we could stop at least one bad thing from happening

dmatthews3

those pics that they show are from a long time ago im sure he looks nothing like the innocent man he was in them. but thats what the media does confuse us, lets see the real monster with his sinister orange hair the joker... show that media go bug the police for pics and info on what he is saying.

Even with the orange hair he may still look like a nice guy, appearances can be deceptive.

@blah blah blah blah blah Yes we all have choices to make, but fortunately we are not all psychopaths, sociopaths, or narcissistics. Luckily most people couldn't, and wouldn't want to, do what this sick creep did.

It's his family that is the mystery. His mother said something like 'You got the right guy.' Why would she say such a thing? There is obviously something there, something she knows or knew. How about his dad, siblings etc.

This is a mystery guy, and his mothers comment vastly increases the mystery.

Freedman1- I believe she said "you have the right person" and may have been referring to herself confirming that she was the mother of James Holmes of Colorado.

Not according to the way it was reported by Chuck Dodd.

"One might pull from that, that the mother might have known there were some issues or challenges with her son" ~ Cliff Van Zandt, former FBI profiler 07/20.2012

those pics that they show are from a long time ago im sure he looks nothing like the innocent man he was in them.

They are showing pictures of him when he was younger just like they did when they showed photos of a teenaged male who was the recent fatal victim of a shooting. I guess they feel it's better than showing the more recent pictures of him that show him as a suburban thug with dyed red hair.

And the 2012 Speculator of the Year award goes to...

... Shari-2257674

Somebody ran over my dog last month ago. Could it have been James Holmes?

No gang signs there buddy, looks more like Force Lightening hands...

Nope, gang signs. I work in the criminal justice system. Trust me, I know.

Worried about your tax dollars, Jim? Sounds like something someone from "your part of the country" would say.

@ piglizard420

His part of the country don't claim him!

You can't assume that because he was a camp counselor he was a good boy. My guess is he fantasized about doing this for years while going through the motions and then finally acted on it.

Hey Bill Dedman, I appreciate your info about my post, but im sorry thats just how I feel. I Really dont trust the news. I understand thats there job to get information out there but i believe there are different motives out there. As I said before I also understand that media needs viewers to boost ratings which turns to more adds and more money... I just think sometimes less is more.. I have lost someone to a high profile case before and the way the media handled it was annoying.. I think the media persuades viewers to look one way, and with the constant This just in, breaking news, live breaking news,You heard it first here, likes it a game, it keeps getting pounded in your face and it looses its emotion and you just want it to stop... by the way do you work for nbc?

just sayin,

One can't look to a certain type of clothing, for example, and say, that's a dangerous person.

They say hoodies indicate a dangerous person but Holmes wasn't wearing a hoodie.

yeah but james was white toche,,,,

His mom apparently saw it. Hers is the real story.

Bill, I gotta hand it to you. There are not too many reporters that engage the readers of their stories directly. Thanks.

In this case however He turned himself in and confessed wearing the protective gear and carrying the murder weapons.

Calling him the shooter is not prejudicial in this case. Unlike the Travon Martin case he clearly intended murder.

I wish NBC had taken the same care with George Zimmerman. The press seemed intent on railroading him.

Rock,

You are forgetting something called "due process". Even if there WAS a confession, due process MUST be followed based on written laws.

On the other hand, the PPACA being upheld on the fact that taxes can now be imposed on citizens based on CHOICE (for the first time ever) as opposed to INCOME, that should be a problem for you, me, and the rest of the nation as laws were circumvented.

When and Why did we start calling a$$holes like this "suspects" ?

Probably about the time we started acting like a teenaged victim of a recent fatal shooting was a suspect instead of a victim.

Rock,
In this case, yes, he intended murder. In addition, he booby-trapped his apartment.

In Zimmerman's case, NO, he did not intend murder, but he committed it. There are no grey areas. Zimmerman killed an unarmed person, he persued him after being told not to AND he was told the Police were on their way. Whether Trayvon attacked him or not, he was NOT doing what he was supposed to be doing...it sounds to me, my opinion here, that Trayvon was a strange person trying to find his father's girlfriend's house (since all the homes look the same in that neighborhood) walking slow because he was on the phone. Yes, call the Police, but he had no call to say anything to Trayvon, THAT is the Police job, not Zimmerman's. He wanted to be a hero, plain and simple, but ended up killing someone because he is STUPID.

That said, it has NOTHING to do with the shooting in Colorado, different situation, different state and different laws. There is NO comparison here, even through Media coverage.

the guns killed people... that's what they do... no other purpose

A delusional man used guns as weapons to kill people...he also rigged his apartment with explosives (not guns) with the intent to kill/injure people.

Again, while I'm more of a liberal peacenik and not a 2nd-Amendment-NRAer, I think we, as a society, need to look at the bigger picture. When you outlaw ALL of the guns, the law-abiding people won't have them. But a mentally-ill person intent on a massacre will find a way to live out his/her delusional fantasy...regardless of the method of the murder. A black market for guns will exist...just as it does for drugs...and those intent on breaking the law will be just as intent on obtaining the weapon...while the law-abiding citizen will be defenseless. Having said that, I believe that gun laws DO need to be strengthened - you shouldn't be able to hop online and have FedEx deliver enough ammunition to rampage an entire city to your doorstep overnight.

My bigger concern is an obvious mental problem going on for at least the past few months while this was being planned. Did friends/loved ones notice a change in him? Did they fear him - or his capabilities? He obviously took time to create a meticulous plan - he didn't just snap and do this in one day.

So, again, I ask what do we do? What do we look for and how do we help those around us if we feel they may be lapsing into a destructive mental state? That is the only way to attempt to prevent these types of tragedies from occurring.

Lindy and Greg,

I was wondering how long the ignorant NRA haters would wait to leap at the tragedy of this story. This was a person who has some very serious mental problems, but not necessarily the typical ones attributed to this irrational action. As most of the writers have pointed out here is that his historical profile does not fit the terrible thing he did. He is very intelligent to the point of possibly genius.The immense stress of Medical school and higher learning in general is often too much for a sane mind to dear. Look at the Unibomber for example, or Howard Hughes or Ted Bundy as another person mentioned. Intelligence has nothing to do with the value put on human life. You folks always dash straight for the most simple explanation and blame for acts such as this...Guns. Those terrible implements of destruction are the root of all evil, right? I wonder if you ever heard of a thing called Archery? It was the precursor to guns and was used in war, self defence, hunting food, sports competitions, developing self confidence, protecting loved ones.. and so forth. archery is still in use today for most of the above mentioned activities. Have you ever even been in the woods, or gone hunting? I would venture a wild guess and say no, that you are so unfamiliar with that kind of natural life that the closet you have ever gotten to acquiring your food is at a supermarket. A bow and arrow is a tool used for the things mentioned.

Guns perform the exact same functions as a Bow and Arrow. When the British professional soldiers with bayonets fixed on their rifles marched on Concord and Lexington, they were met by men who had squirrel guns, axes, and shovels as militia formed to protect them from many threats. The framers of the constitution knew history well and how military might helped despotic rulers to control a population. Right now, the World organization of NATO is trying to disarm the American population with legislation Hillary Clinton introduced in her capacity as the representative of Barry'O. We allowed China and Russia to come into the world community even though they have done more to disrupt peace worldwide with their arms sales to enable certain countries to dominate their populations. America is as guilty in many instances because Huge world corporations stood to gain. Venezuela is one of the most recent examples. With Mexico in the throws of Chaos as the political situation is once again threatening our southern border, and our president closing down Border Guard stations, one has to wonder if he is giving the keys to the city to our special guest arriving each day.

As to this shooter's personal agenda, as the story indicates he was making bombs with common chemicals. Being a smart guy, he was capable of researching many types of ways to kill as a way to make a statement. His generation and the current generation of young adults were fed a constant stream of violent video games. I was a social worker and saw first hand the effects of that addiction as it took total control of the kid's lives. I remember when the first ones hit the open market and everyone wanted them banned and then rated for sex and violence. Folks, that only enticed them to make a greater effort to get them. I had some of the kids try to discuss heaven and hell based on the information they were getting from the games. The kids could not separate the facts of history from the story plots in the games.

I agree with anna and Bill Dedham in that we will all be interested in learning more about the shooter. since he was using guns, I suspect he was somehow influenced by the actual movie plot. I was personally so heartbroken when Heath Ledger died after his rendition of Joker. He seemed to have really became the character in every small detail, even within his eyes during the closeup scenes. I was personally drawn to his performance as an actor would hope that his audience would. The reason I mention this is, if the shooter had wanted to kill masses of people and had knowledge of bombmaking, it would stand to reason that he would have used that tool instead. I question the basic moral values of the youth of today. I am not referring to religion, but the things that good people and Religions all aspire to attain, such as the lack of greed, vanity, hate, corruption, violence, jealousy, and pride. It seems to me that this generation should be referred to as the ME generation because every thing is about what can I do for me?

Lazarus

Bruce ,I am with you. Every person i have seen change unusually rapid has been prescribed mental heath drugs. I also feel those drugs have a low success rate. Personally i feel i am more endangered by such people because you cannot avoid these people 25% of US population is on some psychiatric mental heath enhancement drug. We wont hear that argument because the Government proposed heath care plan banks on big Pharm paying for it... I want these people publicly listed as potentially dangerous.

Greg_S... screen him...? For what? The man for all intents and purposes, appeared to be a "normal" individual - certainly not dangerous. Shall we line up and screen every single person in this country who doesnt appear quite normal? Every shy quiet person? Everyone with hair cut not quite right, or dyed the wrong color? Everyone wearing a t-shirt with a slogan that not everyone might agree with? Everyone with piercings anywhere except for in the earlobes of women? Everyone with a tattoo? Everyone who ever raises their voice in anger? Do you know how long that screening line would be?!? And yet, Holmes would still not probably be screened out as a danger to society!

We have very eccentric people - here and all over the world. Very mentally ill people too. Schizophrenics, severe bipolar. We have guys with scary tattoos who listen to hellish music, and we have people who have that glazed scary bug-eyed look, that never hurt a soul. Then we have clean cut types like Ted Bundy that kills women for the thrill of it, and Whitman, the high-achieving, upwardly mobile man, who had a tumor in his brain pulling a trigger up in a clocktower.

I know what you seek - nice pat answers, rubber on all sharp corners. But life is a hazardous undertaking. There simply is no way to isolate the predators, the loose cannons - because at the end of the day, they dont all fit a nice neat profile. They just don't. And thats the real answer - there IS no answer. Life is just that way... its a scary, hazardous undertaking.

Greg S.

Your blog is almost funny, more like ridiculous...

Drug testing for psychiatric mental health enhancement drugs would 100% point out people with mental heath issues which are potentially dangerous. That is the smoke which leads to the fire.

The gun range owner in Colorado did screen him, to an extent. I think his name is Rotkovich. WHen he called him in response to his application to join his gun club, he dneied him because of his strange outgoing message. Thus far, and to his credit, this Rotkovich guy has shown the only discretion in dealing with ass clown psychoboy Holmes.

@Josephine= That is how the legal firearm community really is, Responsible.