JAMES HOLMES, who is believed to have killed 12 people attending a midnight screening of the latest Batman film in the US town of Aurora, will make his first appearance in court today.
The deaths in the attack, which also left 58 people injured, many of them seriously, have stunned the Denver suburb and shocked Americans.
Today will be the first chance for the public to get a look at Holmes (24) since he surrendered to police in the car park of the Century 16 cinema in the early hours of Friday.
He had apparently dyed his hair red and referred to himself as the Batman villain the Joker as he was being arrested. He is alleged to have burst into the cinema wearing bullet-proof clothing and a gas mask, hurling gas canisters and methodically shooting into the packed audience.
Late on Saturday, police defused a string of booby traps and home-made bombs that Holmes apparently left in his flat.
The court appearance is likely to be brief, as prosecutors must decide whether to seek the death penalty and defence lawyers consider whether they believe Holmes is mentally competent to stand trial.
More details emerged yesterday of the intensive preparations Holmes, a bright science student, carried out in the months before the attack. He apparently spent more than $15,000 (€12,300) on the internet amassing 6,000 rounds of ammunition and bullet-proof clothing. At least 90 packages were delivered to him over four months.
Police have CCTV footage of Holmes collecting his purchases – vital clues for prosecutors seeking to show he planned the crime carefully.
Aurora’s police chief Daniel Oates called it “evidence of, I think, some calculation and deliberation”. Holmes bought his four guns in person at local gun shops. All of his arsenal was bought legally, taking advantage of relaxed US gun laws.
The University of Colorado-Denver is investigating whether Holmes used his position as a postgraduate student to obtain dangerous materials.
However, despite his collection of weapons and bullets, it is clear that no one saw him as a serious threat. Although he was struggling to find work and was leaving his postgraduate studies in Colorado, Holmes has been consistently described as a quiet, shy individual who seemed largely normal and certainly not a potential mass killer.
In a CV posted on job-hunting website Monster.com, he listed himself as an "aspiring scientist". Yet Holmes, instead of finding work, appears to have dedicated himself to creating spectacular carnage. He transformed his flat into a lethal trap by priming explosives and turning on music at a high volume.
Neighbours fortunately did not open the door at the noise and instead called police. “The apartment was designed to kill whoever entered it,” said Mr Oates, outlining a belief that it may have been aimed at killing police officers after the shooting.
If Aurora’s citizens were lucky that Holmes’s flat did not explode as intended, then they also appear to have been fortunate that one of his weapons appeared to have jammed during the shooting at the cinema.
The Associated Press, quoting an unnamed federal law enforcement official, reported that Holmes’s semi-automatic rifle stopped working, forcing him to change weapons to a gun with a much lower rate of fire. This almost certainly reduced the death toll.
However, that news is likely to be little comfort for relatives of the 12 dead and many wounded. As the identities of all the fatalities emerged at the weekend, it was revealed that the youngest was six-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan.
Her mother, Ashley Moser, remained in hospital with several gunshot wounds, as yet unaware of her daughter’s death.
Other victims included a local bartender, a serving soldier and restaurant workers. – (Guardian service)