James E. Holmes, the 24-year-old shooter who opened fired at the Century Theater complex in Aurora, Colorado, was sporting reddish-orange hair when he was arrested.
The assailant told police that he was “The Joker,” an obvious reference to the ficticious super-villain and archenemy of Batman.
The University of Colorado graduate student, who recently dropped out of a PhD program in Neurosciences, went on a rampage during a midnight premiere showing of ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ killing 12 and injuring 58.
Dressed in black ballistic gear, the shooter was armed with two handguns, a shotgun and a semi-automatic rifle and 6,000 rounds of ammunition. The weapons were purchased legally within the past two months.
The shooter, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from the University of California, Riverside, isn’t cooperating with police but did warn investigators that his apartment was booby-trapped with explosives. Five apartment buildings have since been evacuated. Efforts Friday to clear the area were unsuccessful and a bomb disposal squad is slated to try again on Saturday.
Police Chief Dan Oates told reporters, “I see an awful lot of wire, trip wires, jars full of ammunition, jars full of liquid and … things that look like mortar rounds.”
Holmes’ father Robert Holmes was flown in from San Diego and was the first passenger to be led off the plane by officers who whisked him away in a patrol car.
His mother, a psychiatric nurse, didn’t seem surprised when a reporter phoned to tell her about the shooting. She replied, “You have the right person. I need to call the police… I need to fly out to Colorado.”
The Holmes family issued this statement, “Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families and friends of those involved.”
More photos below:
Photo: Courtesy Univ of Colorado, Video Screen Grabs