The man suspected of shooting 70 people in a sold-out movie theater was a
neuroscience graduate student who decked himself out in full-body armor
for the attack, dyed his hair red and told police he is the Batman
villain known as "The Joker."
James
Eagan Holmes, 24, legally bought the four weapons he allegedly used.
Police said he opened fire in a suburban Denver theater with four
sold-out showings of the premiere of the Batman movie Dark Knight Rises.
He was dressed head-to-toe in black bullet-proof gear, including
helmet, vest, leggings and a groin and throat protector. He wore a gas
mask, goggles and black gloves.
He threw tear
gas into the crowd to disorient moviegoers, police said. When he was
arrested, he told officers he was the Joker, said New York Police
Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who spoke with Aurora police about the
incident.
Authorities are still piecing together how the young man from San Diego went from the study of human genes to suspected mass murderer.
