James Eagan Holmes Facts

James Eagan Holmes, 24, is the suspect in a shooting that killed or wounded 71 people early on July 20, 2012 in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater during the midnight showing of the Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.

Colorado prosecutors filed 24 counts of murder and 116 counts of attempted murder against James Holmes on July 30, 2012.

Holmes was born in the San Diego area of Southern California and lived his entire life in the Golden State, except for the past year when he was in Colorado doing research for a doctorate degree.

James Holmes is accused of throwing two smoke bombs, then firing an AR-15 assault rifle (equipped with a high-capacity, drum-style ammunition clip), a Remington 12-gauge shotgun, and a .40-caliber handgun into a packed movie theater in the Denver suburb.

71 were shot, 13 were killed, and 58 were wounded in the Aurora, CO movie theater massacre.

Holmes is being held as a mass murder suspect under suicide watch in solitary confinement inside the Arapahoe County Jail.

James Eagan Holmes Facts

The 1986 comic by Frank Miller, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, contains a scene in which a lunatic kills people in a movie theater.
Columbine High School (1999 shooting) is 13 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 been a patient of Dr. Lynne Fenton, a University of Colorado psychiatrist.
Holmes had dyed his hair orange 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 propping 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 on July 20, waking the residents for questioning and ordering them 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.
All hazards were successfully removed from Holmes' apartment by authorities on July 21.
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.
If police would have responded sooner to blaring music complaints from neighbors, they would have knocked on Holmes' door. After Holmes did not answer the door, police would have tried the doorknob, which was unlocked. Officers would have entered, tripping the explosive wires, which might have blown up the multi-story apartment building full of residents. Instead, when the music timer shut the blaring song off at 1:00 am, complaints simply stopped.
Holmes had received a traffic ticket for speeding in Aurora, CO in October, 2011.
Holmes had no web presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace nor Twitter.
James Eagan Holmes, born December 13, 1987 in San Diego County, California. Male, Caucasian, 6'3", known locally as Jimmy Holmes.
Holmes' father, Robert Milton Holmes, is a manager for a software company.
Holmes' mother, Arlene Rosemary Holmes, is a nurse.
Holmes' family belongs to a Presbyterian church.
Holmes has a younger sister, Chris Holmes, who is a guitarist and student at San Diego State University.
Holmes' paternal uncle, with the same name of James Holmes, lives in Carmel, California.
Holmes was raised upper middle-class in suburban San Diego and played Junior Varsity soccer while attending Mesa Verde Middle School.
Holmes played Varsity soccer at Westview High School on Camino del Sur in the Rancho Penasquitos section of San Diego and was a cross-country runner. He graduated in 2006.
San Diego Police spokeswoman Lt. Andra Brown said Holmes' family members were surprised at the connection of Holmes to the Colorado shooting.
San Diego County Superior Court spokeswoman Karen Dalton said there were no records found under Holmes' name, not even for a traffic ticket.
Riverside County District Attorney spokesman John Hall said prosecutors have no criminal record for Holmes.
Holmes graduated with honors from the University of California-Riverside in Spring 2010 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience. Holmes was a member of several honors societies, including Phi Beta Kappa and Golden Key.
Holmes was an intern at the Salk Institute, where he designed a computer program to illustrate brain injuries.
Holmes had trouble finding a job after earning a master's degree from UC Riverside. Depressed, Holmes took a part-time job at McDonald's before deciding to earn another degree in Colorado.
Holmes was a counselor at Camp Max Straus in the Verdugo Foothills of Glendale, California (owned and operated by Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles) after high school graduation and before college.
From Fall 2011 to Summer 2012, Holmes was enrolled in the Ph.D. neuroscience program at the University of Colorado-Denver.
In July, he was in the process of voluntary withdrawal from the program, and his card-entry access to university research facilities was terminated.