Police: Shooting suspect mum after attack

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By NICHOLAS RICCARDI and GILLIAN FLACCUS

AURORA, Colo. (AP) - University of Colorado officials were looking Sunday into whether James Holmes used his role in a graduate program there to amass an arsenal used in a theater shooting rampage, but school officials aren't saying whether they had any clue that he was anything more than a hard-working student.

Holmes, 24, was not cooperating with officials as he was being held in solitary confinement at a Denver-area county detention facility, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said.

"He lawyered up. He's not talking to us," the chief said. It could be months before they learn the motive behind the shootings that left 12 dead and 58 injured, with authorities working with FBI behavioral analysts and looking into Holmes' relationships.

Holmes is scheduled for an initial hearing Monday at 9:30 a.m. MDT, and has been assigned a public defender.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120723/DA06ADLO1.html

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Aurora police officers Gary Reno, left, and Douglas Kasten stand guard at the apartment complex of shooting suspect James Eagen Holmes in Aurora, Colo. on Sunday, July 22, 2012. Holmes has been charged in the shooting at an Aurora theatre early Friday that killed twelve people and injured more than 50. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

[freshwest]

1. So he has enough sense to get an attorney...

[kestrel91316]

3. Doesn't mean he's not severely mentally ill.

Mental illness does not equal mental retardation. People in the US have such a hard time understanding the difference - and they are completely different things.

[Jessy169]

5. Does careful pre-medidated planning disprove mental illness?

Seems like I read that somewhere, not sure where. Diabolical might be a better diagnosis.

[kestrel91316]

12. Absolutely NOT. My mom, a paranoid schizophrenic, laid some very

careful plans and executed them very well on numerous occasions over the decades.

These people aren't usually stupid. They can be incredibly intelligent. My mom, for example, though she only had 1 year of college, appeared to have a near-photographic memory.

They can be quite aware that society disapproves of their acts, yet be unable to refrain - the "voices in their heads" have complete control over them. You can talk and argue until you are blue in the face and yet not convince them that their thinking is in error. Worse than Freepers that way........

[struggle4progress]

17. Legally insane isn't necessarily the same as mentally ill

[LisaL]

6. Sure doesn't mean he is either.

In fact there is no evidence to back it up.

[freshwest]

7. I understand the difference very well, dealing with severe cases of both daily for years.

I did not say he was either or neither. I said he was showing 'good sense' to get 'lawyered up' and not 'talk' as the OP said.

I know people who are severely developmentally disabled (you may prefer 'mental retardation,' if that is your habit), others who are severely mentally ill, and those who suffer a combination of the two, and those who with more functional conditions who would not have the good sense to not 'talk' to the police and get 'lawyered up.'

You can read anything you want into my comment. Frankly, I have seen too much of people in any of the four groups I just described, without 'enough sense' who talked to cops and are now doing time for crimes they did not commit by LEOs who simply wanted an easy bust, when they did not have 'enough sense to get an attorney.'

[flamingdem]

8. His father is there. Do you think the dad will be required to push him

to speak? What role does family have in similar cases?

This guy is self protective, he even had a crotch protector as part of his armor. One shrink said his aim is to gloat over his actions and live. That seems like a wild guess but along those lines if he says nothing he may be better off in a trial as they'll surely plead insanity.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

10. Exactly, emulating, "The Joker", from Batman...

... a brilliant but very disturbed individual. Sorry, I cannot help but notice the parallels to the character from, "The Dark Knight".

<snip>
" While still working on the film, in London, Ledger told Sarah Lyall, in their interview published in the New York Times on 4 November 2007, that he viewed The Dark Knight's Joker as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."[31]"
<snip>
[link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Ledger|

[flamingdem]

11. That plus they found a batman mask and some other

movie item. It's almost B movie fare, loss of boundaries of identity and all that. Also, on some UK sites they're saying he was possibly addicted to Vicodan like Heath Ledger, the previous Joker who died.

[freshwest]

13. Unless his father was previously persuaded nto being his adult guardian, after ruled incapacitated,

No one has the power to get the father to do anything. As an independent adult, not judged incapacitated by a court, Johnny is responsible for his own actions. Since his father did not appear to have physical or legal custody of his son, that's not the case.

No matter what his mental status, unless his father is proven to have knowingly aided him in a variety of ways, he has no obligation to help anyone. As far as his father or other family getting him to speak for the benefit of the police or the public curiosity, I doubt he would.

In such cases the family may cooperate in the interests of justice and reconciliation, but are not required to do so. It is certainly hoped that the family had no knowledge that any of this was coming and should not be harassed.

Generally, the family is an advocate for a person who has done something violent and liable for criminal punishment. They will try to portray him in the most favorable light. That is not wrong, for he has no friends or allies in the system.

I doubt they knew their son was in possession of the weaponry he used. It is interesting to me he had the ability to purchase so much. I don't know what level of income the young man had. A weird thing would be if he was looking at a huge student loan debt, but there is no good reasoning.

As far as being self-protective in clothing, that would be part of the costume for the role he wanted to play. I've seen some people who had been subjected to being isolated with too much violent media and other stress factors suffering from lack of sleep who had psychotic breaks. At that time, they are living out the movies they saw. Perhaps this guy in CO had a psychotic break. If he did, he was without sufficient social supports and supervision.

If on the other hand as you describe him enjoying it, he could be the Brevik type. Who was regarded as capable until it was decided he was insane. I think that Zimmermann had mental problems and he was on psychotrophics. But he is not or has not been judged insane. Perhaps this fellow will be judged insane, or having some kind of sociopathy.

It will not be up to his famliy to decide if he is sane, it will be the court. They really have little to do with this, unless by some bizarre chance they knew about it. Those are my guesses, we are just speculating. I'm not an expert in this kind of thing, just had to deal a lot of stuff.

[flamingdem]

14. Thanks that's a very clear explanation

I see how distant the role is for the father. He must be in such a state of shock himself. He'll be forced pretty much to make a statement. I think the purchases could have been funded via credit cards. He seems smart enough to work the system in that area. He might end up not getting the insanity defense due to all the pre-meditation, though as I posted elsewhere there is some theory about a psychotic break that is genetic and functions for a period of time.

[freshwest]

15. I've seen a psychotic break that lasted for a month. That person was not seeing the people around

Him in real life but only saw what he'd seen in the film. For him it was a science fiction film and there was a character who was unstoppable, but looked human and could morph his body into weapons to kill. The other film he'd been exposed to was of a female assassin who had sex with her victims and then killed them.

He regarded everyone in his area as one or the other and spoke to them continually, also ran around the ward to get away from them. He did not even recognize if another patient struck him, he just was not seeing and hearing the same things other people did. He did not recognize family members when he saw them for a month. As far as eating, bathing, walking and other functions, he did out all of those things as if he had no impairment. He was on 24/7 suicide watch in a mental ward, dangerous enough to himself and others that they also watched him while he slept.

It is possible this guy in CO, while intelligent enough to handle many things, may have been like a sleepwalker. If he ever comprehends what he did the sense that most of us would, in context of what his life would or should or once had been, it may be too much for him to handle. Although the individual I cited did not remember anything that happened during the break. If the shooter goes to prison and gets some psychiatric care there, it may not be enough. So we don't know.

It's emotionally satisfying to judge this person and wish him evil for what he has done. It would be best if Americans could move away from this model of dealing with prisoners and those whose mental state is dysfunctional. At times we get angry and lash out here as others do, but I think we can come to a better conclusion.

Well, I must get some rest.

[Tunkamerica]

16. I know! People in the US are so stupid!

Every other country in the world totally gets it. I'm with you on that.

[ladjf]

2. That's because without his paraphernalia he's just a chicken shit coward. nt

[sofa king]

4. Trust me, UK friends, Mum didn't do it.

[flamingdem]

9. I read a new theory. That he had a genetic psychotic break

and this kind of disorder happens in the late teens to mid twenties. So perhaps there can be a combination of psychopath and psychotic break.