Colorado shooting suspect makes first court appearance
CENTENNIAL, Colo. — The man accused of killing a dozen people in a Colorado movie theatre during a showing of the new Batman movie made his first court appearance on Monday, looking drowsy and emotionless, his hair dyed shades of orange and red.
James Eagan Holmes, 24, who was detained immediately after the massacre, appeared groggy during the brief hearing, looking straight ahead and occasionally closing his eyes as if fighting off sleep.
He was shackled at the wrists and ankles.
About 40 members of the victims’ families were seated on the left side of the courtroom. One family member seated in the front row glared at Holmes throughout.
When Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester asked Holmes a question, he remained expressionless and an attorney answered for him.
Police say he presented a far different figure last Friday when, dressed in a gas mask and body armor and toting three guns, he opened fire at a packed midnight show at a theatre complex in the Denver suburb of Aurora in the early hours.
The dead include war veterans, an aspiring sportscaster who had narrowly escaped a shooting in a Toronto mall earlier this summer, and a six-yearold girl.
Fifty-eight other people were wounded, and many of them have serious injuries.
The former neuroscience student also left his apartment booby- trapped with explosives that police said could have destroyed the apartment complex. They conducted a controlled detonation over the weekend.
Police say they are still searching for a motive for the crime, which baffled fellow students and acquaintances.
They described Holmes, a native of San Diego, Calif., as a quiet high-achiever whose past gave little inkling that anything was amiss.
At the hearing the judge set a date of next Monday for formal charges to be filed.
Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers said she would consult with the victims and families of the dead before making a decision on seeking the death penalty.