I thought the AR15 was a semi-automatic? He had to have been doing some aiming for the death count to have been as high as it was in the relative short span of the incident.
So am I. A few people interviewed mused that it might have been because he'd only been able to get a job at a McDonalds. Possible but doubtful. That's be a whole lot of overkill <pun unintended> for the chaos and death caused. It was a factor but based on what we've seen, plus his appearance in court; there's more going on underneath his bright red hair.
I think this was the thread where I posted a brief juxtaposition of Holmes and Rush Limbaugh.
Now I find that Holmes graduated from my "alma mater" -- my school, my UC campus.
From all the descriptions, comments and other information published, I was trying to figure out what he was thinking or how he was thinking.
It seems that he may have been "gifted and talented," probably indulged because of it. His parents probably indulged him; his grade-school, high-school -- even college teachers -- probably indulged him. What I get from the news descriptions is a picture of someone who didn't have to work very hard for his grades. At the same time, he apparently didn't have a balanced life -- particularly, much of a social life.
At UC Riverside, he was an hour drive from home. He may have gone home weekly, at any rate, as often as he wanted. It may be that the "umbilical" of parental support was always there for him.
Then, he gets into this prestigious graduate program at Colorado State. Where he probably had few friends in Riverside, he had no friends at Aurora.
What I know -- from personal experience -- about graduate programs, PhD programs etc.: The exams -- qualifying exams and field exams -- are a "formality." The students never know this, and students are challenged. They can make you take those exams three times before giving a pass. But most programs are based on the idea that the selection is made at the beginning -- you either "get in" or you don't. After that, the academic department may think that failing you reflects on their poor judgment, and the student -- if persistent -- will get through the program after going through the gauntlet of rigors and challenges -- eventually. But I've also known PhD candidates who were held up for 12 years in a program that should've been completed after three or four years.
There is also a phenomenon of professors who give grades and criticism as departure from "fair market-value" from objective achievement. So, a professor decides so-and-so has a lot of "potential," but needs an "attitude-change." The student gets a lower-than-deserved mark as a "spur" to work harder. I never agreed with this approach, and do not regard it as a professor's responsibility or right to mess with someone's mind. The classroom can function as a market: objective achievement gets paid in grades.
So this guy goes up to Aurora -- had never been challenged before. Had pretty much glided through his academic life. Suddenly, he's "challenged;" fails one of the prelim exams ( but this is pretty much normal for all PhD candidates -- they always fail students and make them take the exam again).
Twenty-four years old; hadn't matured like others; never had to cope with setbacks or failure; probably even imagined he had "failed" when he was still in the ball-game. So we find out he'd sent this package to a professor at his school, the contents depicting what he had yet to do after sending the package. It was like saying "You did this! You caused this! You ruined my life! So I'm getting even with you and the whole world!"
I don't think unbalanced development or immaturity or anything like that would get someone off on an insanity defense. I'm just stunned at how . . . . screwed up Holmes must have been.
And there's a parallel with Ted Kascinski -- the Unabomber. A lot of similarities. I could guess about Holmes' upbringing and home life from what I know of the Unabomber.
As for the orange hair-dye, the loss of grooming you see comparing earlier pictures with those most recent . . . . Perhaps he should've gone through his rebellion phase at age 16. 24 seems a bit late.
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