James Holmes By: Kelsey Mignano “I knew it was legally wrong. You get punished for killing people. But these were not real people. It was just a kind of amorphous people who were going to get hurt…I just considered them numbers really, not people.”

Background Information Born December 13th, 1987 in San Diego, California Well off parents with good jobs. He has one sister. Holmes was raised in Oak Hills, a community near Castroville, California, where he attended elementary school. At twelve, he movewd back to San Diego and lived in the Rancho Peñasquitos neighborhood, where he reportedly began to decline socially. He went to Westview High School and graduated in 2006. Holmes played soccer and ran cross-country in high school. He attended Penasquitos Lutheran Church with his family. -Holmes began to suffer from mental health issues in middle school and attempted suicide at age 11. Frightened of what he called "Nail Ghosts" that would hammer on the walls at night. He would also see shadows and "flickers" at the corners of his eyes, which would fight each other with firearms and other weapons. Holmes was depressed and "obsessed with killing for over a decade". In Aurora, Holmes lived on Paris Street in a one-bedroom apartment, in a building with other students involved in health studies. Holmes allegedly hired prostitutes and left reviews of them on an online message board. Relationship with Gargi Datta ended when she felt distant from him following an encounter between Holmes and another man who talked to her during a date. Made jokes that made other people feel uncomfortable and expressed his desire to kill people. Described by his supervisor as stubborn, uncommunicative and socially inept. Graduated in the top 1% of his class with a 3.949 GPA (college) Received many scholarships to attend schools to earn a PhD. But educationally declined and dropped out. Holmes' psychiatrists suspected, prior to the shooting, that Holmes suffered from a mental illness and could be dangerous. Two weeks prior to the shooting, Holmes sent a text message asking a graduate student if the student had heard of the disorder dysphoric mania, and warning the student to stay away from him "because I am bad news". Showed a lot of interest in action superhero movies with multiple shootings.

12 people murdered, 70 people wounded Crimes CRIME DATE VICTIM(S) PUNISHMENT 24 counts of first degree murder, 140 counts of attempted murder, 1 count of possession of explosive devices, and inciting violence July 20th, 2012 12 people murdered, 70 people wounded Life in prison James Holmes was found guilty of murdering 12 people and wounding 70 in a Colorado shooting rampage on July 20th, 2012. It took place in Aurora, Colorado where a screening of The Dark Knight Rises was playing. When arrested, Holmes was wearing a gas mask and body armor and had his hair dyed red to resemble “The Joker”. On July 16th, 2015, the jury found Holmes guilty of 24 counts of first degree murder (2 for each of the 12 victims), and 140 counts of attempted murder for the 70 people wounded. Holmes was also found guilty for one count of possession of explosives. Between July 20th, 2012 and July 16th, 2015, Holmes appeared on court multiple times to add more charges against him as well as plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. July 16th, 2015 however, was when the final verdict was made. First Degree Murder: any intentional murder that is willful and premeditated with malice and afterthought. Attempted Murder: A crime simultaneously preparing to commit and unlawful killing and having the specific intention to cause the death of a human being. Possession of explosives: Having explosives on body.

Evidence X-ray and autopsy of photos of 6-year old Veronica Moser-Sullivan The 58-pound child was shot four times before she died. A bullet tore through her liver, spleen, kidney and pancreas. Another went through her right buttock, her hip and her bladder and remained lodged in her. These are all photos of the crime scene as well as Holmes’ apartment. The rods in the theater represent the bullets shot.

The Notebook James Holmes also had a notebook that he wrote in before he carried out the shootings. Later it was found:

Sentence James Holmes was sentenced to one life sentence for each person he killed (12 life sentences), plus 3,318 years for his attempted murders as well as rigging his apartment with explosives. Holmes was first housed at the Colorado State Penitentiary, the highest security prison in the state. He was housed in a pod alone, with authorities watching him at all times. Even with all of the precautions, another inmate was still able to get into his pod and attack him. The attacker was Mark “Slim” Daniels, a convicted car thief. He was attempting to get revenge for the Aurora families, but failed. Holmes was secretly moved to an undisclosed location.

Nicknames One of his nicknames is the “Batman Cinema Killer” because he shot people at the cinema during a showing of Batman’s The Dark Knight Rises. Another one of his past nicknames was “The Llama” because when he was applying to The University of Illinois, he submitted a picture of him feeding a llama. The university’s admission council then began calling him “The llama”.

Book James Holmes’ Mother, Arlene, had written a book titled When Focus Shifts: The Prayer Book of Arlene Holmes. It contains a collection of written journal entries and an assortment of her prayers. It talks about her guilt in the fact that she did not pick up on her son’s mental illness and could not get him help. All of the people that were murdered or injured where mentioned by their names in the book.

Sociological Theory I believe that the sociological theory that best fits with the James Holmes case would be the social control theory. Holmes was brought up in a very good family and had many opportunities because of his high intelligence when he was young. He used to be very well kept and clean. He played sports and went to church as well. Soon after, when he was in middle school, he began to suffer from mental health issues. He even attempted suicide at one point. He started having night terrors and became depressed. He did however continue through his education. As he grew older, he became more and more obsessed with the idea of killing people. He ruined relationships because of his distant mood and strange jokes about murder. He soon began to educationally decline and lost many opportunities after graduating grad school in the top 1% of his class. Thus is when Holmes allegedly started coming up with his plans and carried out his terrible shooting. Overall, Holmes started out with a very good life and had a lot going for him. The fact that he was so insanely smart probably set him apart from others. This could have possibly helped lead him to his depression and mental illness. The mental issues that Holmes was having must have led him to weaken his social ties and therefore there was not much social control left from stopping him from committing deviant acts. He most likely felt distant from others, so no one was there holding him back from his actions. Not being in touch with ones community can lead them to participate in deviant acts and that is what most likely happened in James Holmes’ case.