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Colorado Batman Movie Shooting Suspect Was Ph.D. Student

The suspected lone shooter of the Batman movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colo., earlier today has been identified as Ph.D. student James Holmes. Based on the suspect’s background the shooting does not appear to be linked to radical terrorism or Islamic terrorism.

July 20, 2012
2 min to read


The suspected lone shooter of the Batman movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colo., earlier today has been identified as Ph.D. student James Holmes, who recently withdrew from his neuroscience studies at the University of Colorado before allegedly shooting up "The Dark Knight Rises" screening.

Holmes, 24, moved to Aurora to pursue his Ph.D. at the University of Colorado's Anchutz Medical Campus, living just blocks from the hospital in an apartment that is now laced with explosives and being searched by Haz-Mat teams.

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Holmes is believed to have killed at least 12 people and injured as many as 50, including U.S. military members, during the midnight premiere of the movie at the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora early this morning. The shooter barged into the theater mid-show, setting off smoke bombs and stalking up and down the aisles firing as many as four weapons at viewers.

Holmes was captured by police in the parking lot while still wearing a ballistic vest, riot helmet, and gas mask.

In New York, security has now been tightened at screenings of "The Dark Knight Rises," in which the villain Bane wears a ballistic vest and gas mask and attacks people in public venues.

It is not known whether there is a correlation between the events of the movie and the shooter's actions. But a senior official in Washington told Good Morning America that based on the suspect's background the shooting does not appear to be linked to radical terrorism or Islamic terrorism.

Read the full story at gma.yahoo.com.

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