All prisoners should have an orange head.

SPCTorres

people are trying to find out what went wrong - sorry eyes fluttering reveals drugs - so what drugs did his psychiatrist - prescibe?

He was diagnosed as schizophrenic - what the hell was going on with his psychiatrist - she had his history - she should have known about him and she prescribed drugs - look at him he is so out of it and not wild eyed - but dead eyed

Dead man walking

It's impossible to know beforehand how a particular drug or combination of drugs will effect an individual. Each of us has a unique brain chemistry. For most people there are no adverse effects, for some symptoms worsen and few just lose it and go nuts. It's a bit premature to say drugs had anything to do with it. Looks like the guy's life was falling apart and he just snapped. Who knows? Certainly not anyone posting on this vine.

I doubt fame was his motivation. More likely he felt the world had wronged him and wanted to teach it a lesson. The media coverage could serve that purpose, like with the shooter in Norway, but wouldn't have been the ultimate goal.

I thought yesterday's article concerning the Psychiatrist was pointless enough, but this has it beat. I guess after the George Zimmerman fiasco NBC went through, they are going to make sure they get something into print that they won't get excoriated for at a later date.

This is not news.

His lawyers are laying the grounds for "the landlord defense."

landlords are indefensible. ROFLMAO

Get his picture off the web. It offends me.

And they just keep on giving and giving his years of fame !

This is news! Shame on NBC for milking this tragedy....! The only story I'm now interested in, is when the judge gives this guy the death sentence!

Whackos are allowed to buy guns legally. He did.

IReadyou

Whackos are allowed to buy guns legally. He did.

That would be a hasty generalization. A more defensible (because more truthful) statement would be, "Whackos who haven't been diagnosed yet are allowed to buy guns legally."

James Eagan Holmes was likely facing eviction

How about just reporting the facts and not speculation or what was "likely"? If there isn't anything factual to report, move on to the next subject until there is.

Nothing has been revealed about what triggered his actions. My understanding is that he is not talking/cooperating with the investigation. He knew he faced eviction once he dropped out of school so I doubt if that was the trigger.

I think he was depressed, his life was going nowhere. At least now he has some direction, straight to the electric chair is my hope.

Good point, Rod. There is no place for these psychos in American society. After all, any depressed or potentially psychotic person poses a deadly danger to the rest of us.

We need laws to fix this problem. Maybe mandatory execution of anyone diagnosed with any sort of possible mental illness. Then we wouldn't need to waste money on care or treatment for them.

Do you agree?

He's a suburban thug, so his actions stem from being "mentally ill". If he were an urban thug, nobody would care. He'd simply be evil.

My eyes flutter a lot when I am suffering from allergies.

I wonder how many armchair psychiatrists we are going to get of the form "Oh, I KNEW there was something weird about him. He was scratching his nose a lot."

I get your point severed. However, not guilty by reason of insanity is a very difficult defense. My opinion, he will be found guilty and it will all boil down to whether he gets death or life.

How could you form any opinion about his intellect? So far we've learned almost nothing about this guy.

VirginiaDemocrat78

How could you form any opinion about his intellect? So far we've learned almost nothing about this guy.

How about reading the last paragraph in the article, for starters:

Friends in Southern California, where Holmes grew up, describe him as a smart, sometimes awkward youth fascinated by science. He came to Colorado's competitive neuroscience doctoral program in June 2011. A year later, he dropped out shortly after taking his year-end exam.

Admittedly, it gives more information about his ability to learn than it does his ability to reason.

Yes, knowledge without wisdom is like a load of books on the back of ass.

He is a smart whacko. Was in a track for med school. Still he is a whacko. What if other whackos actually made it through Doctor school ? Ft. Hood Doctor murdered a bunch of Service personnel. So Doctors can be whackos too. But why are whackos allowed to buy guns ?

Look up MKUltra... government mind control experiments. He may be one.

Gee, next thing you know we'll read an article about how he preferred Big Red gum over spearmint and was seen putting gas in his car a week before the shooting at a BP station. Such useful intel!

There should have been plenty of apartment vacancy within a couple miles of there, which it would have been difficult to afford without a job.

It all leads back to a guy with a Master's degree in brain and central nervous system science being unable to find a job, even though the area that he lived in is immediately home to several major hospitals, with numerous others a short bus ride away.

Yeah, I could see how that fact might slowly drive someone insane too. Anyone who hasn't experienced the hopelessness of long-term unemployment need not respond, since you don't have the experience necessary to make an informed comment.

Fortunately I survived living in suburban Detroit in 1981-82 and in Cleveland in 1990-91 when both cities experienced over 20% unemployment, and lived to tell the tale by moving to where the jobs were instead of trying to hang-on to the bitter end, like several former friends who are deceased now did.

Humans are an ignorant species...Americans are perhaps the most ignorant. We use this term "intelligence" to define, limit, entitle, harass, and discriminate against each other. What does the term really mean? Most often I see those who are defined as "intelligent" are usually base criminals, killers, catatonics, autistics, and others who have limited capacity to contribute anything worthwhile to society. So...what we want are a bunch of worthless "intelligent" folks who don't contribute anything positive to society. Does it really matter if a killer is smart or stupid?

AmericanPauper:

Very good rationale as to why humans shouldn't be allowed to carry guns too!!! Killers can come in all variety of brainpower too.

I believe he was in a doctoral program which in no way means he was on track to be an MD one day. A medical doctor is a just what it says MEDICAL doctorate. There are many doctors out there who have nothing to do with medicine. I believe from reading the stories he was being groomed to be a research scientist, and if you look at the projects he was involved in that appears to be the case. He is a loner and socially awkward. These are not the traits of someone who would want to work with people day in and day out like an MD does.

AmericanPauper, maybe there is a reason you are a paper. You don't sound like a person that should be going around calling anyone ignorant. You go on to say that the term intelligence is used to define, harass, and discriminate. But isn't that what you just did by calling humans esp. Americans ignorant. You have just proven yourself ignorant and a hypocrite in your own brief post. And yes, we know exactly what the term intelligence means. It is simply a person of superior IQ which can we have standardized test to evaluate.

Pauper,

The truest definer of intelligence is how you adapt to change. If you cannot adapt to change you are stuck in a 1 dimensional world.

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe."

Albert Einstein

Old Timer, if you are too weak and cowardly to deal with other people replying to your comments and ideas, the ethical thing to do would be to just refrain from saying anything. I will reply to your post when I feel like it since you have put it on a public forum.

I doubt this man's problem was simply long-term unemployment. He was an elite student in a very competitive program. Most of these students don't work or work very little as they need to devote so much time to their research and study. They get by on grants, scholarships, family money, and many take out loans. These are not average students or even average graduate students. They are our brightest students ie elite.

And just having a masters degree does not mean one is qualified to be gainfully employed. That is what many people forget. If you want a job you actually have to have a marketable skill. Nobody cares how brilliant you were in college if your skills don't apply to anything useful. His degree in brain and central nervous system science would qualify him to do what exactly? Had he completed his course of study he might have qualified as a researcher, but with just a masters he wasn't qualified to do much. What job is he going to do that would be useful to someone in the hospital with his degree? Hospitals are practical places where people go to get well. There are not a lot of fluff jobs in a hospital unless you're in business administration or human resources.

It's possible this guy was schizophrenic or suffering from some other mental illness. It also might be true that he realized with horror that he wasn't cut out to be one of the elite and was facing the prospect of life as an ordinary, everyday person. He might have been distressed at the thought of having to start over in a more average setting where he'd have to interact and cooperate with other people which from all accounts he was ill equiped to do. Can you imagine the fall from grace this guy would experience having to train for and accept work as say a lab technician or phlebotimist?

Humans are an ignorant species...Americans are perhaps the most ignorant. We use this term "intelligence" to define, limit, entitle, harass, and discriminate against each other. What does the term really mean?

Well, in your case, it means being good at finding reasons to sneer at your fellow human beings and call them ignorant. Perhaps before criticizing everyone else, you might consider examining your own attitudes somewhat?

a 100 round drum magazine. There ought to be a law !

Nixon...you sound like a douche bag. Here's a suggestion: check your spelling and grammar before talking about "intelligence."

Nixon...remember that in order to obtain something, you have to pursue it. If you aren't interested in obtaining great wealth, chances are that you won't obtain it. American society and most Americans ASSUME that everyone wants the same things. That is IGNORANT!

Frankly, Nixon, you don't seem like you are in any kind of a place to insult anyone's intelligence.

twistmy, I completely agree but the interesting thing about this story is if this guy was looking for a vacancy on the same street days before the shooting. If he was planning it for months, why would he be looking for another apartment on the same street? He was buying guns and ammos for months, but was he really planning this long to do all this killing? And what was his motivation? These are things everyone wants to know. The 'blinking eyes' thing is also interesting, that could mean drugs or some kind of neurological disorder.

twistmy - this is not looking for excuses - this is wondering why - with all of our so called education and somebody seeking help the system failed

Yes he is a cold blooded killer and will probably be put down as a rabid dog - but he did seek help - something failed in our system!

We all talk about bells and whistles yet there were bells and whistles - and nobody heard them

The notebook he mailed to the Dr. will be the most incriminating evidence to determine how long he's been planning all this, but it was strange that he would walk around asking neighbors about vacant apartments. Maybe it was some kind of twisted alibi plan?

Too bad someone didn't suggest the luni bin a block away had a vacancy.

I think it is important to learn why he did this and what preceded this event so that we can take steps to prevent things like this from happening again. Sure, let's not give the guy a soap box to preach from his manifesto or whatever, but let's not ignore his thought process either. Let's learn as much as we can from this.

Barbara Adams Jackson

twistmy - this is not looking for excuses - this is wondering why - with all of our so called education and somebody seeking help the system failed

Why is it that every time some nutbag goes off the deep end, it is necessarily the "system" that has failed?

There are no "loony bins" any more. Reagan closed almost every state mental hospital by cutting off funding, and the Congress at the time failed to follow through on their promise to reroute the funding to community-oriented treatment centers. So even though this guy was diagnosed, there was nowhere to place him for long-term treatment and observation. Most facilities can only keep someone who's having a severe psychotic episode, only until they get it under control. Then the patients are back out on the street again.

flbikerchick is spot on. When Ronnie Raygun killed funding for mental hospitals as they were called they literally turned the inmates lose on the streets. Adn the police and sheriffs have been dealing with them since. Course many of them created victims out of innocent citizens first. The cost of the widespread misery from Ronnie Raygun's folly is proabably worse than the cost of housing and treating (maybe) these whackos in hospital.

Blame funding all you want, but that's just a flat wrong and lazy excuse. The reality is that changes in the law in the 70s and 80s made long-term institutionalization of the the mentall ill virtually impossible. And justifiably so. Deprivation of liberty on the basis someone's unwillingness to act "normal" is morally abhorrent. You may argue that 3 hots and cot in an institution for the mentally ill is better than sleeping in a cardboard box, but at the point where you cannot leave when you want, it's a prison, regardless whether the guards are called "orderlies" or "corrections officers." And anyone who thinks those institutions were in any way humane is completely unaware of the history of forced treatments, including electroshock therapy and drugged catatonia that was forced on these patients in exchange for their three hots and a cot.

Oh, and the argument that "many" of the release patients victimized others and were subsequently jailed is just flat wrong as well. The large majority were never convicted of crimes of violence, although many would spent nights in jail on public drunkeness and similar behaviorally-related misdemeanors.

The law changes "were" decreases in funding. And crime did go up as the inmates were released on society.

And yes, hospitals do abuse folks from time to time. Medical hospitals do it too - infections due to failure to maintain cleanliness and sanitation standards. Doesn't stop new patients from going there - because they have no choice. Some will die as a result. So mental hospitals have bad characters working there. We still need and should have mental hospitals. Many homeless people are out there because they are mentally ill. They are victimized and they prey on others. Not all. Why should they freeze to death in an alley because you have a gripe about mental hospitals ? Why should someone get their head bashed in for the half ounce of beer left in a bottle because you have a gripe from 30 years ago ?

I agree with you. People emotionally or psychologically unstable should be automatically put on a " no weapons allowed" list for their own protection and of course that of others. There should be a link between mental health practitioners and state bureau of investigations to enforce this. That would be taking care of ourselves.

Let's keep in mind...when he purchased his guns all that was asked was if he had ever been diagnosed or treated for a mental illness. No doubt, at the time he purchased these guns, he had NOT been diagnosed, nor treated, as it appears that his illness began to manifest observable signs only in the last several days prior to the attack on the theater.

I would dare to say that there are thousands of individuals who, if seen in a mental health facility, could and would be diagnosed with a mental illness that would lead one to question the wisdom of their having in their possession one gun, let alone numerous guns and untold rounds of ammunition. Think how many have yet to become known simply bacause they have not come to the notice of any authority.

Most of these indivdiuals don't have plans to commit homicide or mass murder. However, with the weapons and the ammunition in their possession, should something occur in their lives that causes them to act beyond the bounds of rational thought, having the guns immediately available to them gives them the power to spontaneously act and take the lives of others. Were the guns not immediately available to them, they would simply be an overly angry individual, an individual who blames others for all that has not worked out in their lives, overly suspcious, or overly fearful individuals. With a gun in their hand, they are potential murderers.

Obvious solution; death to the mentally ill.

Right?

No. Improved accessibility to treatment of mental illness and reduction of the stigma associated with mental illness, along with societal revisions of the need to walk around armed.

@DOCJT

I agree with you 100%. I was working as a forensic psychologist when Reagan and Congress basically destroyed the US mental health system. That was the primary reason I left the field.

@Freedom4Everyone

They guy was allowed to buy guns because the NRA thinks that if we take guns away from psychotics it's the first step toword taking them away from everyone. Their position is that the freedom to bear arms must be absolute. Any restriction one who can own what weapons is a violation of the Second Amendment.

No doubt the agreement we have is the result of my field being clinical psychology with a large proportion of forensic clients. :-)

No doubt. I left the field when the state government I worked for basically defunded the entire forensic psychiatry division. I could have stayed with the state, but it would have been too frustrating, since my job would have fulfilled absolutely no purpose at that point. I would have been nothing but a paper shuffler.

People just don't take mental illness very seriously because they always think "it's not my problem; I'm fine."

As an example look how insurance companies deal with it.

You are attempting to compare the acts of a society with the acts of an individual. One has a cultural and societal etiology; the other a biololigical, psychological etiology. They cannot be compared.

However, it is interesting to note the number of people on this vine that propose the use of more violence to combact violence. In that way, yes; we should take a look at the total lack of empathy and humanity that allows situations like Ruwanda to occur.

DOCJT, good point. And it is important to find out why these things happen no matter what the scale is.

Maybe Hitler was an undiagnosed "James Holmes"?

There are people that make a living out of creating imaginary conspiracy theories these days. These guys make the real conspiracies less credible. :)

I always look for the source of the information, if you can't trace the source, it's almost never credible.

I just read a new conspiracy theory, and this one is a whopper! I won't name names, but there's a conservative blogger claiming that Holmes was a government plant, sent by Obama to shoot up a theatre in an effort to get more strict gun laws passed.

This is getting way too stupid now people.

That doesn't surprise me. The barrage of politics these days is insane. A lot of hatred for Obama but much of that would be aimed at anyone in office right now. You don't exactly see a lot of praise for any one else as much as you see discrimination against the specific targets.

john, that's exactly why the powers that be pay these conspiracy nuts to make loony new theories . . . to hide the real ones in the noise.

Conspiracy theorists generally have their own issues with mental illness.

Who is the blogger?

..Re: 2 pictures.. Who the heck do they think the 2 different people are...Sheeze.

VirginiaDemocrat78----Those who are true believers in the conspiracy BS are as illogical as those who believe there is a seamless societal 'system' and are baffled that a whacko could 'slip through the cracks' or that the 'system could fail.'

It can be a sign of lots of potential things, brain tumor, Tourette's Syndrome, chemical imbalance, severe fatigue, shock, PTSD and so on.

It's a good question and if I was his lawyer I would order an MRI at least on his head and maybe a PET scan. But who's going to pay for it? It's like defending Lee Harvey Oswald who also had a common name and thus the press included his middle name so as to avoid harassment with mistaken ids in the public.

Maybe they should just transfer him between jails without a vest and invite all his victims relatives to the press conference?

It's like defending Lee Harvey Oswald who also had a common name and thus the press included his middle name so as to avoid harassment with mistaken ids in the public.

I'd always wondered why the media always uses the middle names of killers/ suspected killers. That makes a lot of sense.

Just kidding (about allowing killing of the suspect by the victims), the last thing we need is some weird conspiracy to develop out of this tragedy, if this lunatic was killed in custody.

We do all need to try to figure out everything that happened and why it happened.

virginiademocrat, you're right, most of these really bad guys have common names. :)

Statistically that makes perfect sense too since the percentage of mass killers is a very small percentage of the total population. If you reduce the population to uncommon names, the chances of a mass murderer with an uncommon name goes almost to zero.

The important thing is that we do try to understand what happened with this tragedy.

It could be. It could also be a sign of schizophrenia or another psychotic illness. It could be a sign of side effects from psychotropic medications, but given that there has been no confirmation that James Holmes had even been diagnosed at the time of the shooting, much less taking any psychotropic medication, anything at this point is nothing more than speculation. Observable side effects of psychotropics generally appear after long term use of these medications, however, so I doubt that the eye fluttering is the result of side effects from medications. More likely, it is a physical manifestation of his mental illness.

The news industry uses all three names as a goofey tradition since John Wilkes Boothe.

Boothe was an actor of a well known acting family. He used John Wilkes as his stage names and at that time the reporters used all three names to reduce confusion by the readers as to who he (the murderer)was.

With Lee Harvey Oswald, it seemed the news industry wanted to use all three to emphasize the idea that he was an assassin vis a vie Boothe.

But the industry waivers from this, such as grossly sickening Theodore Robert Cowell Bundy being referred-to as simply Ted Bundy because reporters thought he was cute or sexy and Unibomber Doctor/Professor Theodore John Kaczynski being called simply Ted Kaczynski--to make he seem ordinary rather than blemish the image of professors.

It sometimes seem that news reporters are crazier than the criminals they write about.

I only asked because an inlaw of mine has an inoperable brain tumor and his eyes twitch a lot.

Personally I want to gut this guy and leave him for carrion birds.

CaerRaven, sorry to hear that. You have my prayers.

JeffD, All good points on the name thing, but your own references backup my 'common name' theory that includes the middle name when it is a common name.

Both 'Ted Bundy' and Kacynski are uncommon names. "James Holmes" and "Lee Oswald" are extremely common names. "Jesse James" breaks that rule a little, but he was one of the first famous criminals, so no competition in the press.

Just to cloarify that, Lee (or Leroy or Leonard etc.) Oswald was a very common name before JFK was shot, since then it's not been as popular a name to give to newborn American babies. And most likely there was a rash of people changing their last name since then.

I agree with everything except the 'sparky' part. It would be more humane to use a firing squad. Electrocution is more barbaric than any other form of execution.

But I am a Catholic and I don't believe in "legal execution". I only believe killing in self defense if it is justified.

I hope the kid rots in prison for a very long time with no hope of parole.

There is little doubt that the prosecutors will seek the death penalty and the defense will seek the insanity defense.

Even though I am a Catholic, if I was a prosecuter, I would seek the maximum penalty on the initial charge. It does not conflict with my religion because of the many appeal processes in place and the ability to rescind the request. But as a prosecutor, you would want to seek the maximum penalty no matter what it is, at the start.

Maybe the ACLU can give him money for candy bars and cigarrettes since they only care about criminal rights

I had just realized I had gotten most of the way down this board without a really inane comment. But you just trampled all over that. A reminder the ACLU supported RUSH LIMBAUGH years ago when the law was after his medical records. I suppose that's what you mean by them protecting "criminal rights". Your comment made me want to puke. So stereotypical, so far removed from reality. There's always one clown in every crowd and these days it's about 4 in every ten.

ACLU also supports the KKK for the adopt a highway program....just sayin

no sane person murders innocent people

And we have how many drive-by shootings a week?

Wallace, I understand you want the guy dead, but where do we draw the line? If the guy's psychotic, then you are arguing that all psychotics should be executed, whether they've done anything or not, just because they might in the future.

Charles manson is a great example of keeping people in prison forever, I wish we could do that more often. :)

Contrary to popular belief, this guy lives in a very small cell with very little communication with the outside world, and that's where he belongs.

Charles Manson is the wierdest of the wierdest though, It IS his plan to stay in prison.

The main issue is that they make sure this is the kid who was the lone shooter before they execute him. There has to be absolutely no doubt.

I don't think there is any doubt in this case, but so far, as an outsider, I don't really know yet.

But besides that, I don't believe in sanctioned killings,. Can't we just gather these bad guys up and put them on island and build some wind turbines?

Let them kill each other fighting for food or something. :)

Actually, I think that's how Australia started out with their British penal colonies, but those were mostly petty criminals, the real bad guys got hung or fed to the sharks :)

BTW, hanging is still one of the most humane forms of killing a person compared to electrocution or boched injections.

A Proper hanginging breaks the neck and instantly kills the person. Just like killing a chicken.

If I was going to be executed and given a choice, I would pick nuclear explosion :) How many nanseconds does it take to die again and its outside the earths atmosphere?

We could bus all the death row inmates up towards the international space station and launch them towards the sun :)

Just make sure the DNA evidence is in place :)

Actually, you are right about most of that, but the interesting aspect of the article is the eyewitness testimony of this kid walking around the neighborhood and asking about vacancies in the area. That is new and very interesting.

If he was planning these murders at the time, why would he be looking for a new apartment? Or was it just convulated alibi strategy and that he thought he may have escaped?

If he had multiple personalities, could that explain it ?

Why would his walking around the neighborhood asking about vacancies be either interesting or significant? I dare say anyone faced with knowing they would be evicted after 30 days would be seeking an apartment elsewhere. And, additionally, we are talking about housing reserved for graduate students. One knows when taking up residence in an apartment building reserved for graduate students that one is eligible for that housing only as long as they are an active student in the graduate program at the university. Withdrawal from that program, or completion of the degree, renders them ineligible to live there. Of course one would look for alternative housing.

Dissociative identity disorder could certainly be possibility. However, we have seen nothing from his childhood that would indicate a trauma sufficient to indicate DID.

"Dissociative identity disorder" is the new name which psychiatrists have given for Multiple Personality Disorder. It is the result of having several simultaneous severe phobias caused by repeated psychological trauma. It is curable without drugs or sugery.

It is unlikely that someone with this disoprder would behave as if he were having a sever LSD trip, build bimbs, and shoot a theatre-full of movie goers.

Psychiatrists seem obsessed with renaming disorders (then people buy their books).

Only Holmes himself is to be blamed, pending the evidence. But underlying causes should be discovered if possible.

But underlying causes should never be an excuse for this kind of behaviour.

The underlying problem is GUNS! Get it? What do they expect to learn from him? Even after his useless but almost certain execution, what will they learn form studying his brain or his past? When you have guns in your home and a serious "weed up your arse", the potential to do damage is there. Now on the other hand if your didn't have a gun to access to one????????????

I sure hope they put those guns in prison for a long time. Better yet, execute those guns by lethal injection.

kenny... tell me more about how criminals and lunatics obey laws..... you sound Sooo smart...NOT!!!

I am concerned that some will say he is schizophrenic- that is the cause. Most schizophrenics don't go around shooting people. It is a little more complicated than that.

Lanie,

No one is responsible for someone suffering a psychotic illness. His parents did not do anything wrong, the school did not do anything wrong, financial concerns had nothing to do with it. A psychotic break is an unpredictable and tragic thing. Nor did James Holmes, himself, do anything to cause this illness.

Thank GAWD that incidents such as this are extremely, extremely rare. And, unfortunately, it is one of life's tragedies, on many levels, that simply cannot be explained in concrete and simple terms. There are many who are far less ill than James Holmes that pose far greater danger to others. Perhaps we should concentrate more on insuring that they receive the mental health care they need and less on trying to armchair psychoanalyze a man that very likely has a debilitating psychotic illness from which he will never recover.

True, Salvia. Most schizophrenics do not pose a danger to either themselves or to others. In the case that they do pose a danger, it is generally to themselves. Schizophrenia only occurs in 1% of the population. One individual out of that 1% is extremely rare. Not unheard of, particularly with paranoid type, but extremely rare, all the same.

However, it has not been determined that James Holmes is schizophrenic. That is nothing more than speculation. Schizophrenia is not the only disorder that has psychotic symptoms. And, if he is eventually diagnosed as schizophrenic, it is no indication that all those diagnosed with schizophrenic are inclined to manifest the disorder the same way that he has.

As a former mental health professionsl I'm getting pretty tired of the comments here that equate mental illness to some kind of moral failure.

A number of years ago I did a case review of a woman found incompetent to stand trial for killing her four children. At the time I saw her she'd just broken an attendant's femur, and had basically folded a hospital bed in half. And she was being medicated with 1000 mg of Thorazine when she did it. Any normal person would have been a zombie.

After two years of treatment she was stable enough to interview in a clinical setting, and she was appalled at what she'd done. Leter she was found not guilty for reasons of insanity, but will spend the rest of her life under confinement in a psychiatric facility.

As soon as we, as a society, begin to grasp that mental illness is NOT a weakness nor a moral failure, the sooner we will begin to have more effective and timely treatment for these individuals. Most seem to take the stance of "I am a good person, this could never happen to me." Guess what...yes, it very well could. You could be diagnosed with a debillitating mental illness. No one is immune. Mental illness knows no boundaries. It is even more likely that you could, at some point in your life, be diagnosed with a mental disorder that makes your life a living hell, but not quite to the severity of a psychotic illness. Your husband, your wife, your children, your grandchildren, could be the next one that mental illness strikes. This is an ILLNESS. No one chooses it.

Too bloody right it's not a moral weakness, but from reading many of the postings here that understanding is not just around the corner.

And then I read the posts here where people are saying, "I don't care of he's mentally ill or not; he deserves to die."

Agreed. Execution of those diagnosed with illness seems to be a viable solution for many. Who's next? Those stricken with cancer, or those stricken with an autoimmune disorder? So many ill people to choose from.

I daresay, those who are calling for execution of the mentally ill would quickly change the tune they sing if they, themselves, underwent an assessment and received their own diagnosis. Seems many would qualify at least on Axis II.

As I recall, Adolph Hitler's approach was execution of the mentally ill. And it went downhill from there. Homosexuals, Gypsies. Jews.

I sure hope we aren't headed that way here.

Stupid comment!

I agree with you, but we do need to learn everything we can about these lunatics. I am glad he's still alive so we can study him. I would like to see that guy sentanced to a University or drug lab so they can study his brain :)

I hope you realise that gun control is not the answer in the USA. It's too late for that. If they wanted gun control, George Washington would have done it. There is no comparison between the USA and Europe when it comes to arms.

Moderation is in order though, these huge clips should be regulated and limited etc etc. But no kidding, the argument that there is too many guns in the USA is not valid. Its the access to the guns that is the problem.

No kidding though, I doubt if either Obama or Romney will touch that gun control issue. So soon after this tragedy anyway. Neither will try to create federal laws to limit arms.

But I would be surprised if Colorado does not tighten gun laws as a result of this tragedy.

Just think of the damage that could have been done with a few oz's of gasoline and a match. Block the outside exit and create the bottleneck at the lobby exit. Loss of life, property damage.....all done without a gun.

I was taught at a young age to think outside the box. It's always proven to be sound advice.

If gun control is not the answer, johnbarker, what is the answer?

Intelligent approaches to crime and insanity rather than political grandstanding.

Electing a handful of politicans in the 1980s because of the murder of two other politicians has not stopped murders from occurring during the past twenty-five years (although it did waste time and money).

Put politics in the toilet where it belongs.

LOMFL! pay your bills, keep your home.

We wouldn't need airport like security at movie theaters if people were not walking around with loaded weapons in public places.

We wouldn't need airport like security at movie theaters if people were not walking around with loaded weapons in public places.

And last night in Thornton (about 10 miles from Aurora) an idiot walked into a theater carrying a loaded pistol in a holster on his hip. Not concealed; he doesn't have a CC permit. Theater management and concerned patrons called the police and he was arrested. Now he's claiming his Second Amendment rights were being violated!

And some people are supporting him. Had one guy actually post that old saying "An armed society is a polite society." Right! Look how well that's working out in Somalia.

Exactly, SHIAJ. And we don't need a "polite" society. We need a humane society.

I don't think he is "crazy," I think he is just
plain evil, and needs to be put down like a rabid dog.

Wrong---to attempt to stop these events in the future, ignoring the cause will not be good. The more that is learned the fewer of these murderous events will occur.

Obviously, your experience with the mental health field is not in the area of diagnosis and rendering treatment, but more likely in receiving treatment.

Mental illness quite often interferes with an individual's ability to take responsibility.

@DOCJT

And with the comments by Paul Rathwell and Pedro 4U I rest my case in the point I made in post 15.10

A point well made and taken.

That and decorating his apartment with explosives.

That has nothing to do with the reason he would have been evicted. His withdrawal from his PhD program at the university would have been the reason for eviction.