A deep dig into the background of San Diego-native and accused Aurora, CO, shooter James E. Holmes by The New York Times paints the picture of a mentally ill, awkward loner who, as the clock wound down to the night of the deadly shooting, “was descending into a realm of darkness.”
On the one hand he had a “quirky sense of humor,” peers said, taking a class project at Westview High School near Rancho Peñasquitos into an unexpected, comical direction. On the other, he professed to liking hallucinogenic drugs, frequently gave no or one-word answers and told a fellow University of Colorado student he “wanted to kill people 'when his life was over,'” according to the Times report.
Holmes is accused of killing 12 and injuring 58 after opening fire during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises at an Aurora movie theater on July 20. The Times interviewed “more than a dozen people who knew or had contact with Mr. Holmes in the months before the attack.”
See the full Times article here.
