Murder LA 000004: Slightly Tangential Edition

by James Cohen

Meet James. A different James, not me. We already know each other, silly.

He was a good student, top of the top, by some accounts. He interned at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, CA. He was a camp counselor one summer at Camp Max Straus in the Verdugo mountains just north of Glendale.

He graduated with honors, "top of the top," according to Chancellor Timothy White of UC Riverside with a BA in neuroscience.

On July 20, 2012 he allegedly opened fire at a packed midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 58 more, 6 of whom are reportedly still in the hospital as of this article being written.

Over 100 charges have been filed by Colorado prosecutors, including two for each victim, and James Holmes' attorney has predictably stated his client is "mentally ill."

It's now been confirmed that he was seeing a psychiatrist -- not named Quinzel -- before recently leaving his graduate studies at the University of Colorado and according to ABC News she reported him to police several weeks before the shooting. No reports so far on how police handled that, although he legally purchased two pistols, a shotgun, a rifle, and several thousand rounds of ammunition mere weeks prior. I'm not for very strict gun control but it should really get flagged as suspicious when somebody goes on that particular shopping spree.

Holmes, right, during his camp counselor days.

Meanwhile, the landlord of Holmes' infamous booby-trapped apartment filed an eviction suit against him this week, claiming that murder and endangering the property violated the lease. An attorney for the landlord said that if Holmes doesn't send someone to pick up his things they'll be dumped on the curb. The complex has lost several tenants since the incident which resulted in an evacuation and a power outage as a bomb squad dealt with the traps.

There have been a few possible would-be copycats, although they were stopped before they could do anything. Most recently an Ohio man was arrested for bringing a loaded gun and knives to a screening of the movie last weekend. His lawyer says they were for protection in case of another shooting.


COMMENTARY

• At least two couples brought young children with them to the midnight show, including a 6-year-old who died, and all news coverage I saw glossed over what awful parents they are to prioritize a movie over, in one case, a 4-month-old baby.
• In contrast to those terrible people, two of the men who died in the shooting shielded others with their own bodies -- one his girlfriend and one a female friend.