James Eagan Holmes
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James Holmes
James Eagan Holmes ProfileBornJames Eagan Holmes
(1987-12-13) December 13, 1987 (age 24)
San Diego, California,
U.S.Residence
Aurora, ColoradoNationalityAmericanOther namesJimmy Holmes
[1]Education
Bachelor of Science (
neuroscience)
Alma mater
Known forSuspect in mass shootingCriminal statusIncarcerated, pending trial
It has been suggested that this article or section be
merged into
2012 Aurora shooting. (
Discuss)
Proposed since July 2012. James Eagan Holmes (born December 13, 1987) is the suspected perpetrator of
a mass shooting at a cinema that occurred on July 20, 2012, in
Aurora,
Colorado. He has no known prior criminal record.
[3]
Contents
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hide]
[edit] Background
Holmes was born on December 13, 1987,
[2] the son of a
registered nurse and a mathematician working as a senior scientist.
[4][5][6] His father has degrees from
Stanford,
UCLA and
Berkeley.
[1] James Holmes was raised in
San Diego,
California.
[5][7][8] He graduated from
Westview High School in the
Torrey Highlands community of San Diego in 2006.
[6][9][10] Holmes played soccer and ran cross-country at Westview High.
[1]
He obtained an undergraduate degree with the
highest honors[11][12] in
neuroscience from the
University of California, Riverside (UCR) in 2010.
[13] He was a member of several honor societies, including
Phi Beta Kappa and
Golden Key.
[14] The UCR
chancellor stated that, having received the highest honors, Holmes was at the "top of the top".
[15] He enrolled as a
Ph.D. student in neuroscience at the
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. He received a federal grant to work on his Ph.D. there, and was one of only six neuroscience students at the school to receive
National Institutes of Health grant money.
[16] In 2012, his academic performance declined,
[17] 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.
[18]
Holmes and his family were regular attendees of their local
Presbyterian church.
[19] In the summer of 2008, Holmes worked as a counselor at a summer camp in Los Angeles that catered to needy children aged 7–14. In Aurora, he lived on Paris Street in a one-bedroom apartment, in a building with other students involved in health studies.
[20] He left few
digital footprints, other than a university email address and an old
Myspace photo.
[21]
[edit] Aurora theater shooting
Century 16 at
Town Center at Aurora, scene of the shooting.
Main article:
2012 Aurora shooting
Holmes is suspected of having shot into a cinema audience in Aurora, Colorado on July 20, 2012 with multiple guns after setting off several gas or smoke canisters. The police arrested an unresisting Holmes behind the
Century 16 cinema, next to his car. The responding officers recovered several guns from inside the car and the theater. According to two federal authorities, Holmes had painted his hair red and called himself "
The Joker".
[22] Once apprehended, Holmes told the police that he had
booby-trapped his apartment with explosive devices before heading to the theater.
[8][23][24] Police later confirmed the presence of explosives in the apartment.
[25] A month before the shooting, Holmes had applied to join a private gun range.
[26]
[edit] Detention
Holmes was jailed in the Arapahoe Detention Center, where he was put on
suicide watch in
solitary confinement.
[edit] Court arraignment
On July 23, 2012, Holmes, with hair still dyed reddish orange, made his first court appearance in
Centennial, Colorado, in front of Judge William B. Sylvester. He was read his rights and no bond was given. A mandatory
protection order was issued by the judge. The judge appointed a public defender. Formal charges will be filed on July 30, 2012, at 9:30 a.m.
MDT. Holmes said nothing and never looked at the judge, only looking down at papers he was holding and looking forward.
[27]
The courtroom was completely full, and a room was open to accommodate the number of reporters from around the world that went to report on his first court appearance.
[28] Outside the courthouse, a growing number of reporters and curious onlookers gathered to have a glimpse of Holmes.
[28