Three days after the mass shooting at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater, alleged gunman James Holmes appeared in court for the first time on Monday.
Holmes, 24, is suspected of opening fire on a crowded theater of moviegoers at a midnight premiere of the highly-anticipated Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Nineteen-year-old Salina Jordan was sitting in the back of an Aurora, Colo. movie theater watching the opening of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises” when she says the violence on the screen became real as bullets came through the wall.
PHOTOS | A look at some of the 12 people who were slain in the July 20 shooting at Century Cinema in Aurora, Colo.
INFOGRAPHIC | A look at the charges facing James Holmes after the massacre at the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colo.
At least 12 died and dozens were injured in the mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater.
Holmes first hearing
As previously reported by the Post’s David A. Fahrenthold and Carol D. Leonnig:
CENTENNIAL, Colo. — James Holmes made his first public appearance as an alleged killer on Monday, shambling into a Colorado courtroom with a bearing more like that of a teenage delinquent than the comic-book supervillain he reportedly fancied himself to be.
Holmes, 24, did not speak during his brief appearance. A judge ordered him held without bond in the shooting rampage early Friday in Aurora, Colo., that killed 12 and wounded 58.
But Monday provided a first look at the man who allegedly opened fire in a crowded movie theater while wearing body armor and a gas mask that hid his face. Holmes’s hair was dyed an uneven and amateurish red, darkest at the crown of his head and then fading to pink, orange, yellow and finally to the brown of his sideburns.
Holmes walked just a few feet into the courtroom, sitting next to a defense lawyer in a jury-box seat, as far as possible from the family members of victims who were sitting in the gallery. Five sheriff’s deputies stood in the aisle, in case they tried anything. Two deputies stood near Holmes, in case he did.
But Holmes barely moved.
Judge William B. Sylvester read through the boilerplate beginnings of a big trial: orders to stay away from the shooting victims, warnings about Holmes’s right to remain silent. The suspect looked straight ahead. He looked down. He let his eyelids sink, and his shoulders; more than anything, Holmes looked lethargic.
He has not yet been officially charged, and Monday’s appearance, called an advisement, precedes a formal arraignment at the Arapahoe County Justice Center. Holmes is refusing to cooperate with investigators trying to learn what motivated the attack.
“He’s not talking to us,” Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates told reporters. Holmes has been assigned two public defenders, who have not commented publicly.
At Monday’s hearing, Holmes gave “a bizarre performance,” said Joseph E. diGenova, a former U.S. attorney for the District. “His entire demeanor was bizarre. Is this guy acting, or is this real? Is he psychotic? Is he seriously ill?
“There is no doubt he is a very disturbed person,” diGenova said. “But whether he is technically mentally ill for insanity-defense purposes remains to be seen.”
Arrests, threats in other ‘Dark Knight’-related incidents
As previously reported by the Associated Press:
At least 3 men accused of making threats during or after watching the new Batman movie have been arrested in separate incidents, underscoring moviegoers’ anxieties and heightened security in the wake of a deadly mass shooting at a Colorado theater showing the film.
A Maine man was arrested when he told authorities that he was on his way to shoot a former employer a day after watching “The Dark Knight Rises,” Maine state police said Monday.
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