Looking dazed and with bright orange hair, the man accused of killing 12 and wounding 58 in a shooting rampage in a Colorado theatre appeared Monday in court for the first time.
James Holmes, wide-eyed and unshaven, appeared not to speak during the brief hearing. He will be formally charged next Monday.
Authorities say the 24-year-old former graduate student is refusing to co-operate, and it could take months to learn what prompted one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.
A prosecutor said her office is considering pursuing the death penalty. Eighteenth Judicial District Attorney Carol Chambers said a decision will be made in consultation with victims’ families.
Holmes has been held in solitary confinement since the shooting.
Holmes began buying guns nearly two months before the shooting and recently bought 6,000 rounds of ammunition over the Internet, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said.
During the attack, Holmes allegedly set off gas canisters and used a semiautomatic rifle, a shotgun and a pistol to open fire, Oates said.
The semiautomatic assault rifle jammed during the attack, forcing the gunman to switch to another gun with less firepower, a federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press. That malfunction and weapons switch might have saved some lives.
Holmes’ apartment was filled with trip wires, explosive devices and unknown liquids, requiring police, FBI officials and bomb squad technicians to evacuate surrounding buildings while spending most of Saturday disabling the booby traps.
Officials at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus were looking into whether Holmes, a former doctoral student in neuroscience, used his position in a graduate program to collect hazardous materials.
Holmes’ reasons for quitting the doctoral program in June remained a mystery. He recently took an intense, three-part oral exam that marks the end of the first year. University officials would not say if he passed, citing privacy concerns.
The family’s pastor recalled a shy boy who was driven to succeed academically. “He wasn’t an extrovert at all. If there was any conversation, it would be because I initiated it, not because he did,” said Jerald Borgie, who last spoke with Holmes about six years ago.
Sunday was a day for healing and remembrance in Aurora. Several thousand people attended a prayer vigil, and President Barack Obama visited with families of the victims. Obama said he told the families that “all of America and much of the world is thinking about them.”
北京时间7月24日消息，据国外媒体报道，丹佛影院《黑暗骑士崛起》首映枪击案嫌犯詹姆斯·霍尔姆斯于美国时间周一首次出庭，席上染着红发的他大多时间向下看着桌子，偶尔茫然地抬眼，一言不发。詹姆斯被指控为一级谋杀，如果罪名成立，最终将被判处死刑。
詹姆斯的父亲，罗伯特·霍尔姆斯在儿子作案后第二天飞到科罗拉多，他和詹姆斯的母亲都向受害者家属表示歉意，还通过律师表示不愿意向外界说太多他们和儿子的关系。
与此同时，《黑暗骑士崛起》的片方华纳公司表示将捐款给科罗拉多奥罗拉影院的受害者。据悉，华纳目前已经和科罗拉多州长办公室联系，表达了想要捐钱给基金会。
奥巴马总统也去探望了丹佛枪击案受害者的家属，并向他们保证会帮他们伸张正义。“光明最终会冲破黑暗而到来，虽然行凶者因其酷刑近期得到太多关注，可是最终这种关注会退去，当他接受法律制裁后，最后被记住的还是用行动影响这场悲剧的善行者。”
此前有报道称，詹姆斯曾想加入一家射击俱乐部。但是俱乐部老板因为詹姆斯诡异的言行而拒绝其加入。俱乐部老板格伦说：“现在回头看看，那个声音有点像《蝙蝠侠》里小丑的声音。”
另据霍尔姆斯的同学描述，霍尔姆斯平常十分安静，也有社交障碍，但“并没有到让人怀疑他会成为杀人犯的程度。”
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