Colorado Shooting Created 12 years ago2012-07-20 22:54:29 UTC by satchmo

In the aftermath of the worst public shooting in US history, the biggest question on everyone's mind is "why".

From all known accounts of James Holmes, he is an intelligent young man with a bright future. He graduated from the top of his class, and he grew up in a stable family with loving parents.

So what happened to him? What evil forces transformed him from a budding scientist to a monster who carried out unspeakable atrocity?

I think I have the answer for you.

Based on my gut instinct, I'd say that mental illness took over his promising life.

His age, the circumstances around the rampage, and the lack of other reasons all point to schizophrenia as the culprit.

This devastating condition typically strikes people at their prime. James is 24 years old. It does not spare individuals with great intellectual promise. James is in the doctorate program at the University of Colorado after graduating in the top of his class from UC Riverside. Schizophrenia can strike within a short period of time, robbing people of their senses and personality. This aspect of the disease is perhaps the most cruel of them all, and it can leave family members baffled and in denial. What happened to the sweet boy we used to know?

I am afraid that the mental health system in this country has failed James. It has failed the victims of this rampage. It has failed the family members, both of the victims as well as Jamese's.

Perhaps this is a wake up call for those who remain in denial and those who still hold mental illness at arm's length due to the societal stigma associated with psychiatric illnesses. Inaction can lead to tragedy like this. Inaction is not an option.

My deepest sympathies to those who suffered loss in this tragedy.

Truly a tragedy. Hopefully we can keep the comments in this thread appropriate and respectful.

This is how mankind is going to end. Everybody is going to shoot each other.

Of course they are, but not until the zombie apocalypse

But in all seriousness, it is a horrible thing, but I wouldn't immediately claim he had a mental illness until a diagnosis. Sadly, some people's ideals and views on the world are not positive nor healthy. It doesn't take a mental illness for someone to have disruptive behaviour.

Plenty of shootings were perpetrated by 'normal' (although there is no such term) people who simply reach some logical (to them) conclusion that that is what they wanted to do.

But thoughts and prayers with all the familes.

It's horrible how stuff like this can happen, though I wasn't aware it was the very worst in US history.
There have been a lot of shootings in Toronto recently as well, though they're likely gang related, being Toronto.

If it was schizophrenia, hopefully things will improve in relation to awareness and treatment, so it won't happen again with someone else.

The fact that US gun laws are so lax would terrify me if I lived there.

According to wikipedia, it says that this guy James dropped out of phD due to 'poor academic performance'. Dunno if that's true or not.

Any individual (or individuals) who have a latent mental illness cannot be readily identified until they act out in a rampage or something similar. The mental health system of this country (or any country) can do nothing to prevent such tragedies should they occur. Would it be justfied to detain any individual 'suspected to have some mental illness' be constitutional? Prolly not. After reading about a bunch of mental illnesses and shooter rampages on wikipedia recently, I have generally concluded that a good number of people have some type of mental illness or another, to varying degrees.

It's true that a number of murders or tragedies are caused by people with mental disorders. Since it's virtually impossible to identify these individuals prior to adverse behavior, it's necessary that, in order to better preclude these horrific events that we turn to figure out what causes these mental disorders. I'm no doctor, but I'm guessing stuff like 'pregnant woman drinks alcohol/does drugs' or something along those lines are well-linked to individuals with abnormal mentalities. Ultimately, we cannot have laws that prevent pregnant women from doing what they want anyway, so it would seem these problems are, in the end, unpreventable. The only thing to be done, as we are currently doing, is to heed the warning signs if and when they appear, and act accordingly.

My heart goes out to the families of the victims, this is a real tradgedy.

jeff: yes, the rising gang violence(everywhere it seems) is pretty disturbing as well.

edit
this guy looks like rimrook btw(so watch out)

I don't watch the news or read the papers or anything. What happened? I am seeing this everywhere in the last few hours and can't find a single concise description of the event. All I could get was that someone shot someone. In Colorado.

May I ask for a brief description of the event?

Good article on it Stu

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-colorado-shooting-crime-scenes-20120720,0,2546455.story

i just found out too stu(i don't have cable so i never heard about it), when i first saw this thread i thought it was about the columbine shootings..

Thanks Grim.

What a nut. I don't know what to say.

Also I am with Archie.

Perhaps Americans can enlighten me on the matter if I am wrong, but I get this feeling that things like these seem to happen in the US more often than in the rest of the world. Sure, it happened last year in that island in Sweden (or was it Denmark? I forgot) and a few years back in a Brazilian school, but the US seems to be home to these events more often.

*if only Batman had been there, he would have saved the day. </shamelessbadjokethaticouldntresist>*

Considering the US has the largest population in the western world and a huge number of environments/conditions for people to be raised in, it's statistically more bound to happen here I think.

Crazy is crazy.

Edit: Oh, and relatively easy access to guns

It's all just a setup.

Isn't it suspicious that a 25-year-old in medschool has gained $20,000 worth of gear you can't get as a regular citizen? As in, military-grade stuff?

Isn't it suspicious that he had the knowledge to set up booby-traps in his apartment?

Isn't it very very suspicious that this took place three days before the signing of a bill that involves taking away Americans' guns and adding agents much like the TSA everywhere?

I think it was staged. I really do.

1. You can get everything he had legally.

2. You can learn to make bombs on the internet. It's pretty interesting, but unusable in any practical way without ruining some lives. My friends and I have built some bombs in the past just to blow stuff up for fun.

3. They can't take guns from us completely because it's in the bill of rights. At least not without almost full agreement by both houses of the Congress, which is nigh impossible. I think they should limit guns. There's no legitimate purpose for anything more than pistols, shotguns, or hunting rifles. Semi-automatic rifles can't be used for any good reason.

Even then, why would a guy volunteer to ruin his life?

ha i didn't know you were american grim

I have to agree with dim, that is pretty suspicious/coincedental.

There's no legitimate purpose for anything more than pistols, shotguns, or hunting rifles.

pistols are condidered more dangerous than semi-automatic rifles by law, because pistols are more easily concealed.

I have to kinda agree that there is not a legitamite purpose for assault weapons, but damn i also would like the right to have one, if i choose to drop good money on a nice bushmaster m4

There's no legitimate purpose for anything more than pistols, shotguns, or hunting rifles. Semi-automatic rifles can't be used for any good reason.

The reason the right to keep and bear arms was added into the bill of rights is to protect the people against its own government. That statement alone gives a reason for automatic weapons.

As for a conspiracy theory, I think thats just absurd. That article was all psychobabble.

3. They can't take guns from us completely because it's in the bill of rights

I'm sorry, I was too busy laughing to respond for the past 20 minutes.

The government has stomped all over the face of the Constitution too many times, and it has been in argument whether we should still have the right to bear arms.

I'm sorry, I was too busy laughing to respond for the past 20 minutes.

I guess you didn't read the sentence after that.

Sure politicians bend words, but they can't take every gun from us until they repeal the 2nd amendment. That probably wont happen.

Why are you mocking me for stating truth? >_>

Also your "stomping on the constitution" argument is a fallacy of division. What have they stomped on directly related to guns and the second amendment? There is nothing there saying that they can't regulate guns, and it makes total sense too. There are significantly more "arms" than existed back when the bill of rights was drafted. Without regulation people could legally keep chemical weapons in their garage. Civilians don't need weapons at all, let alone a fraction of the stuff we 'could' have.

Why is politics being argued with a 12 year old kid? I dont think he even learned about US history in school yet lol

I'm just a simple conspiracy theorist traveling the world with my dog companion across the Capital Wasteland.

I still think "the right to bear arms" has been massively misunderstood since the second amendment. Maybe it originally meant that you have the right to have the arms of a bear if you so choose.

It was from very early times, referring to people in local militias.

This is terrible, I heard it on the news. What's frightening is that a few days ago a schizophrenic from a city in our country, apparently a good student, murdered her sister. And then I hear about this...

Oh, also there was a terrorist attack in Bulgaria.
The sense of security around the world is dropping, from what I can tell.

You know what? "had an assault rifle, a shotgun and two Glock pistol" Only in America can a psychopathic 24 year old acquire all those guns, explosives, and chemical gas so easily. In a country where carrying and selling guns is legal, you are wondering why people are getting shot.

Props to the police for checking out the apartment before entering... jeez this guy covered all his bases. It's also remarkable the guy was taken alive..

Shit is fucked up i think the enormity of this is just starting to hit me, it's like a fucking warzone

10% of the population are psychotic maniacs.

This sort of thing can happen anywhere at any time. People are clearly not educated enough.

And these so called students, a good percent of them are useless morons that do not know what do they want with their life. But not all are psychotic like little Jamie here who probably ended up in some sect.

I would judge him life time in prison for being too fucking defected in the head.

[Edit]
I just got up when i wrote this, but the majority of this text still stands.

I went to see Batman on the same day as well, fortunately I do not live in America... but can't say that I'll never go there. Hopefully I won't get caught in one of your shootings :/

This kid belongs in Arkham Asylum with the rest of the lunatics.

This guy used a P90 assault rifle. It has a magazine that holds 50 rounds.

Why would any civilian need an AR that can fire 50 rounds? Are we hunting deer in the entire mountain range before reloading?

He most definitely did not have a P-90. It was a AR-15.

You know what? "had an assault rifle, a shotgun and two Glock pistol" Only in America can a psychopathic 24 year old acquire all those guns, explosives, and chemical gas so easily. In a country where carrying and selling guns is legal, you are wondering why people are getting shot.

Now, if it was a state where you could carry guns in the public, like Ohio, there would be possible resistance in the audience that he was unloading at.

Oh yeah, that's a brilliant idea. Untrained pedestrians shooting blindly back at a man with an assault rifle. That's a superb idea.

Solution to the gun problem? More guns!

Sheesh.

Most pedestrians who obtain firearms usually familiarize themselves with them, and it's better for one man to be shooting back rather than everybody just dying helplessly.

@ Archie
Engineer sure seems to think that way

Guns are something to only be used in defense. And even then I'm against lethal weapons.

The gun debate is completely pointless. I've said it before here and I'll say it again. Personal defense firearms are in the bill of rights. It's unchangeable.

It only demonstrates a lack of understanding to have the discussion in the first place.

The weapon was indeed an AR-15 type weapon, a semi-auto rifle which is very popular, probably because returning GI's are already so familiar with it they choose one for home defense.

And knock it off with the "herp-derp America" bigoted bullshit. Yes, 12 people got shot on that day. About 300,000,000 did not.

Solution to the gun problem? More guns!

If every citizen is required to carry a grenade at all time, this would never have happened.

The shooter would have been blown to smithereens in no time.

Grenades? Nah, BFG9000's!

A society full of rocket launchers is the society I want to live in.

You will.

A society full of rocket launchers is the society I want to die in.

FTFY.

I must be one of those naive hippies, wishing for world peace and all that.

The only shooting I am alright with is the shooting of presidents. Should happen more in the rest of the world, too. Many of them deserve it.

This guy used a P90 assault rifle. It has a magazine that holds 50 rounds.

Why would any civilian need an AR that can fire 50 rounds? Are we hunting deer in the entire mountain range before reloading?

My thoughts exactly. One thing I don't understand is how American law can be so fucked up that it allows people to purchase assault rifles for self protection. I can some what understand allowing a small hand-gun, but a fucking P90 Assault rifle? To protect you from what? King Kong? Fucking Santaclaus and his army of evil gnomes? Are you preparing for a fucking zombie apocalypse over there? Someone with common sense would think that if you needed a gun that shoots 50 fucking rounds in 6 seconds to protect yourself, you'd pretty much be fucked anyway.

It was not a P90, it was an AR-15 type rifle. Nearly every state in the US bans full auto. Civilian versions of ARs are not select-fire.

Go back to herpa-derpa-hate-america-land, driving down the goddamn road is more deadly and I do that for an hour a day.

To protect you from what? King Kong?

For king kong, i think we will need dimbark's rockets, and everyone focus fire your p90s/ar15s, and we will lure him with bananas into someone's trunk

Dimbark's rockets? Just give him Dimbark alone and he'll go back to his island.

Perhaps this is a wake up call for those who remain in denial and those who still hold mental illness at arm's length due to the societal stigma associated with psychiatric illnesses.

uhm...

I'm too wimpy to be harmful to anyone other than myself. I've been looking for a good doctor for a few weeks.

On Dimbark remark, funny that the 71 y-o man just fired and do any sort of ultimatum western style hero shit. Odd that if everyone has the same level of threat, a stalemate happens and people remain kinda safe. Right? :>

That's a big part of the idea.

The second amendment is actually in place to protect the people as a whole. America was born out of a revolution, remember. When the bill of rights was written, the first two rights reflected it.

The first basically says that all Americans are free. We have a gov't of course, but we do not have rulers.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The second basically says that if the gov't tries to change that, we can just shoot them.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Note the wording.

(The More You Know logo flashes across your screen)

it happened last year in that island in Sweden (or was it Denmark? I forgot)

Norway. No firearms are allowed in Sweden unless you are a hunter or a serviceman. Those who want to get over some firearms doesn't seem to have any trouble doing so anyway.

I'm all with Archie when it comes to America treating guns like toys, but as much as I'd which the US to change I can't imagine that it would actually decrease the amount of shootings by a significant amount. Those who seek will still find, just as they do when they seek illegal drugs or prostitution.

I'd like to point out that the P-90 is an SMG. It fires 5.7 rounds, which is pistol ammo. I probably shouldn't know that.

Solution to the gun problem? More guns!

I actually saw a statement on the news from the president of Gun Owners of America (I think) that said about the same thing, but in seriousness. He said gun control would make the situation worse by having 'more unarmed targets for psychopaths'.

Tell me, did anyone shoot back during Columbine? Virginia Tech? No. Because normal people aren't armed during an average day.