James Holmes, the suspect in the Colorado shooting rampage, is described as a medical student from San Diego who dropped out of a doctoral program at the University of Colorado medical school last month.
A profile of the 24-year-old suspect is beginning to emerge only hours after a gunman opened fire in a crowded movie theater and killed at least 12 people.
USA TODAY's Kevin Johnson quotes federal law enforcement officials as confirming the identity of the shooting suspect as Holmes, but says he "was not on anybody's radar" and apparently did not have a record.
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The Denver Post, citing "information provided" to the newspaper, reports that the suspect described himself last year in an apartment rental application as a student who was "quiet and easy going."
Denver's Fox31 reports that police documents show that he moved to Colorado from San Diego to pursue a PhD.
The Associated Press reports that Holmes began a program in neurosciences at the University of Colorado in the fall of 2011, but withdrew last month.
University spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery confirms Holmes was a graduate student at the school of medicine until last month. On May 8, he was scheduled to present a paper on MicroRNA biomarkers for a class on psychiatric and neurological disorders.
The suspect, who was dressed in black and apparently wearing a protective vest, was arrested by his car near the movie theater early today. He had an assault rifle, shotgun and two pistols at the scene, the Associated Press reports.
"He did not resist. He did not put up a fight," says Aurora police spokesman Frank Fania.
The suspect lives at an apartment about four miles from the theater where the shootings took place and in view of Children's Hospital, where some victims were taken.
The suspect told authorities there were explosives at his third-floor apartment, which was quickly surrounded by police.
Aurora Deputy Fire Chief Chris Henderson says the apartment is "extensively" booby-trapped, with numerous liter bottles connected with wires or cord arranged in the front room, along with other unknown devices or items, USA TODAY's Trevor Hughes reports.
Police evacuated several buildings in the area as bomb squads prepared to send a robot into the apartment.
The Denver Post quotes a pharmacy student living in the apartment building as saying that Holmes kept to himself and would not even respond to anyone who tried to say "hello."
ABC News says it spoke to a woman in San Diego who identified herself as Holmes' mother. The woman immediately expressed concern that her son might be involved in the shootings in Colorado.
"You have the right person," she told ABC News. "I need to call the police... I need to fly out to Colorado."
KPBS reports that San Diego police have begun providing security for the woman, identified as Arlene Holmes, who lives in Rancho Penasquitos.
The suspect's family later released a statement expressing sympathy for the victims and their families:
Source
A profile of the 24-year-old suspect is beginning to emerge only hours after a gunman opened fire in a crowded movie theater and killed at least 12 people.
USA TODAY's Kevin Johnson quotes federal law enforcement officials as confirming the identity of the shooting suspect as Holmes, but says he "was not on anybody's radar" and apparently did not have a record.
See Also:
12 dead in 'Dark Knight' Colorado theater shooting (Could A Right Wingers Words Be Behind This?)
The Denver Post, citing "information provided" to the newspaper, reports that the suspect described himself last year in an apartment rental application as a student who was "quiet and easy going."
Denver's Fox31 reports that police documents show that he moved to Colorado from San Diego to pursue a PhD.
The Associated Press reports that Holmes began a program in neurosciences at the University of Colorado in the fall of 2011, but withdrew last month.
University spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery confirms Holmes was a graduate student at the school of medicine until last month. On May 8, he was scheduled to present a paper on MicroRNA biomarkers for a class on psychiatric and neurological disorders.
The suspect, who was dressed in black and apparently wearing a protective vest, was arrested by his car near the movie theater early today. He had an assault rifle, shotgun and two pistols at the scene, the Associated Press reports.
"He did not resist. He did not put up a fight," says Aurora police spokesman Frank Fania.
The suspect lives at an apartment about four miles from the theater where the shootings took place and in view of Children's Hospital, where some victims were taken.
The suspect told authorities there were explosives at his third-floor apartment, which was quickly surrounded by police.
Aurora Deputy Fire Chief Chris Henderson says the apartment is "extensively" booby-trapped, with numerous liter bottles connected with wires or cord arranged in the front room, along with other unknown devices or items, USA TODAY's Trevor Hughes reports.
Police evacuated several buildings in the area as bomb squads prepared to send a robot into the apartment.
The Denver Post quotes a pharmacy student living in the apartment building as saying that Holmes kept to himself and would not even respond to anyone who tried to say "hello."
ABC News says it spoke to a woman in San Diego who identified herself as Holmes' mother. The woman immediately expressed concern that her son might be involved in the shootings in Colorado.
"You have the right person," she told ABC News. "I need to call the police... I need to fly out to Colorado."
KPBS reports that San Diego police have begun providing security for the woman, identified as Arlene Holmes, who lives in Rancho Penasquitos.
The suspect's family later released a statement expressing sympathy for the victims and their families:
Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families andfriends of those involved. We ask that the media respect our privacy during this difficulttime. Our family is cooperating with authorities in both San Diego, California and Aurora, Colorado. We are still trying to process this information and we appreciate that people will respect our privacy.
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UPDATE:
James Holmes, who is accused of shooting 71 people, killing 12, in a crowded theater at a midnight showing of the new Batman movie Friday, was a smart, quiet first-year student in a highly competitive graduate program, former classmates said.
"He was a loner," said a classmate of Holmes' in the neuroscience program at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, who requested anonymity. "He was quiet."
Holmes, 24, graduated with honors from University of California-Riverside with a degree in neuroscience in spring 2010. He enrolled in the University of Colorado in June 2011, and was "in the process of withdrawing" at the time of the shooting, according to a university spokeswoman. Holmes graduated in 2006 from Westview High School in San Diego.
Brian Martinez, Holmes' chemistry lab partner at Westview, recalled that he was a talented student. "He's a smart kid," Martinez said. "He was great at chemistry."
Martinez said Holmes seemed to be a normal teenager. "I never figured he'd do anything like this."
Students in the University of Colorado graduate neuroscience program are "highly motivated and typically have very strong credentials for admission," according to a school website. The program is "very competitive," Holmes' university classmate said.
"Most people who enter get a Ph.D.," he said.
A classmate of Holmes' as an undergraduate at UC-Riverside, remembered him as an "impressive" student. "He is a smart guy and a quick learner,"said Hongxia Wang in an email.
New York Police commissioner Ray Kelly said at a press conference that Holmes had dyed-red hair and said that he was "The Joker," the arch-nemesis of Batman, during the shooting. In a news conference Friday afternoon, Aurora police chief Dan Oates confirmed he had spoken to the NYPD, but declined to confirm Kelly's statements.
"We are not speculating on motive," Oates said.
An FBI spokesman said Holmes had no prior criminal record. His only previous encounter with police in Aurora is for a traffic ticket, Oates said.
Holmes was armed with an assault rifle, shotgun and two pistols, and wore a helmet, gas mask, bulletproof vest and other body armor, police said.
He surrendered to police shortly after the shooting, and alerted them to the presence of explosives in his apartment, a university-managed building 5 miles from the suburban Denver theater, police said. In the news conference, Oates confirmed that Holmes had rigged his apartment with "chemical and incendiary devices."
"Our investigation determined that his apartment is booby-trapped," Oates said. The explosives are "linked together by all kind of wires," he said.
Zhang Yi, who lived in the red-brick apartment building with Holmes, crossed paths with him the night of the shooting. Holmes was carrying two black duffel bags out to his car, and ignored a greeting. "Very unfriendly," Yi said.
Other neighbors reported that loud techno music began playing around midnight in Holmes' apartment. “We heard very loud music coming so I walked upstairs and banged on the door,” Kaitlyn Fonzi, a 20-year old biology student at the University of Colorado at Denver, said on Friday.
She said when she banged on the door, it rattled as if it were unlocked. "I contemplated poking my head in and saying, 'Yo, shut that off'."
Fonzi and her boyfriend had never had a problem with their upstairs neighbor before, she said. "It was like nobody lived there." When she learned about the shooting and that the apartment was wired, Fonzi said she was glad she hadn't poked her head in.
AURORA, Colo. — Ashley Moser drifted in and out of consciousness in the ICU, bullets lodged in her throat and abdomen. In her waking moments, she called for her 6-year-old daughter Veronica.
Nobody had the heart to tell her that Veronica was already dead, the youngest victim killed at a Colorado movie theater in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.
"Nobody can tell her about it," Annie Dalton said of her cousin, Ashley Moser. "She is in critical condition, but all she's asking about is her daughter."
Veronica was to start learning swimming lessons on Tuesday, Dalton said.
"She was excited about life as she should be. She's a 6-year-old girl," her great-aunt said
The young girl was among the 12 people killed when a gunman barged into a crowded Colorado theater, set off gas canisters and opened fire as spectators dove for cover. Dozens of others were injured, including the 25-year-old Ashley Moser and 10 others in critical condition as of Friday night.
The victims' identities have emerged one by one after authorities told their families of their deaths. By late Saturday morning, relatives and family spokesmen had confirmed the identities of half of those who died.
One is 27-year-old Matt McQuinn. His family's attorney, Rob Scott of Dayton, Ohio, said McQuinn was killed after diving in front of his girlfriend and her older brother to shield them from the gunfire. Scott's account could not be immediately verified.
For Alex Sullivan, it was to be a weekend of fun: He planned to ring in his 27th birthday with friends at the special midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" and then celebrate his first wedding anniversary on Sunday.
Late Friday, Sullivan's family confirmed that police told them he was among those killed.
"He was a very, very good young man," said Sullivan's uncle, Joe Loewenguth. "He always had a smile, always made you laugh. He had a little bit of comic in him. Witty, smart. He was loving, had a big heart."
Micayla Medek, 23, was also among the dead, her father's cousin, Anita Busch, told the Associated Press.
Busch said the news, while heartbreaking, was a relief for the family after an agonizing day of waiting for news.
"I hope this evil act ... doesn't shake people's faith in God," she said.
On Saturday morning, parents of John Larimer released a statement that Navy officials notified them about midnight that their 27-year-old son was one of the 12 killed.
The family said that Larimer's brother is working with the Navy to take his body home to Crystal Lake, Ill. He was with a unit that belongs to U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. Tenth Fleet at Buckley Air Force.
A blogger and aspiring sports reporter who recently wrote of surviving a Toronto shooting was also among those killed, the woman's brother said.
The death of Jessica Ghawi, who was also known as Jessica Redfield, was a "complete and utter shock," said her brother, Jordan Ghawi.
He has been using his blog and Twitter account to update what he knew about his sister's condition. He also appeared on the NBC "Today" show.
Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said Friday evening that 10 victims died at the theater and two others later died from their injuries.
Jordan Ghawi said on his website that a man who was with his sister at the theater described the chaos, saying he and Jessica Ghawi dropped to take cover when the gunman first started shooting. Jessica Ghawi was shot in the leg, her brother wrote, describing details relayed to him by a man identified on the blog only as a mutual friend named Brent.
Jessica Ghawi began screaming when she was shot, and the friend tried to calm her and stop the bleeding, according to Jordan Ghawi.
The man was then shot, but he continued attending to Jessica Ghawi's wound before he realized she had stopped screaming, Jordan Ghawi stated. The man said Jessica Ghawi had been shot in the head.
Jordan Ghawi said the friend escaped the theater after being shot twice, and he was expected to survive. Jordan Ghawi praised the man, saying his "actions are nothing but heroic."
Jessica Ghawi, 24, moved to Denver from Texas about a year ago and friends and colleagues described her as outgoing, smart and witty.
Ghawi blogged at length about surviving the Eaton Centre mall shooting in Toronto that killed two people and sent several others to the hospital. Peter Burns, a radio sports show host with Mile High Sports Radio in Denver, and his girlfriend, Lauren Anuskewicz, both said the blog reflected everything she told them.
Jessica Ghawi wrote of the Toronto shooting: "I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders' faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don't know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath."
Yet, Burns said, Jessica Ghawi seemed more enlivened than intimidated by surviving that shooting.
"After the Toronto incident, I think she even looked at that like, `Hey, even after that, I'm able to pursue my dream,'" he said.
Burns said he was close to her family. He moved to Denver from Texas a few years ago and talked with Jessica Ghawi about establishing a sports radio career there, he said.
Former colleague Mike Taylor, a sports host at KTKR-AM in San Antonio described how she reluctantly changed her name for her career, taking the name "Redfield" as a play on her red hair because it was easier to say than her given name.
Jessica Ghawi was a prolific social media user under the new name. Her last tweet stated in all capital letters, "movie doesn't start for 20 minutes."
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