Formal charges are expected to be filed in court on Monday against alleged Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes.
By NBC News wire services
AURORA, Colo. - Colorado shooting suspect James Eagan Holmes was likely facing eviction from the Aurora apartment that authorities say he booby-trapped with explosives, neighbors said.
Holmes, a former University of Colorado graduate student, is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 others in a shooting rampage at a midnight movie premiere of "A Dark Knight Rises" on July 20, and wiring his apartment with enough explosives to have leveled the building if they had detonated.
Colorado prosecutors were due to file formal charges Monday against Holmes.
Neighbors and students in the North Aurora neighborhood where Holmes lived said his withdrawal from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus a month before the shooting would likely have triggered his eviction from the building, which is reserved for people affiliated with the school.
Wounded mom of youngest Aurora victim suffers miscarriage, family says
Officials at the University of Colorado have said Holmes was enrolled in the school's Ph.D. neuroscience program, but he withdrew last month.
Nine days before the shooting, Holmes was seen on Paris Street, asking landlords and neighbors if anyone was aware of a vacant apartment in the area, several neighbors told Reuters.
Ted S. Warren / AP
As many as 12 people were killed and 50 injured at a shooting at the Century 16 movie theatre in Aurora, Colo. early Friday during the showing of the latest Batman movie.
Holmes was arrested in the movie theater parking lot shortly after the shooting, and told officers his apartment contained explosives, police said.
Law enforcement officials told Reuters the third-floor Paris Street apartment was rigged with 30 homemade explosives, chemicals designed to accelerate a fire sparked by the bombs, and trip wires to trigger the blast as soon as a person attempted to enter the booby-trapped apartment.
Billboard compares Obama to Colo. shooting suspect
The building was evacuated. But the explosives were later safely dismantled and removed by authorities, and Holmes' neighbors returned to their homes.
'Eyes kept fluttering'
On July 11, at around 3:30 p.m, Holmes approached neighbor Carl Pedro Allen, 54, who was sitting in front of 1733 Paris Street -- about a block away from Holmes' apartment building. Holmes asked Allen, and others gathered there, if they knew of any vacant one-bedroom apartments.
"We let him know there were no vacancies, but we told him about where he might be able to find an open apartment," Allen said.
Holmes was wearing jeans and sneakers and described himself as a local student, Allen said. But Allen also said he noticed something strange about Holmes' eyes.
Law enforcement officials have said that alleged gunman James Holmes sent the package to the University of Colorado medical center in Aurora. It was said to contain detailed writings about 'killing people' and it was Holmes himself who told police where to find it. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.
"His eyes were fluttering and blinking," Allen said. "It was really weird. I didn't know if he was high or what, but those eyes kept fluttering."
Two others who witnessed the incident, Ashley Jones, 25, and Rosando "JR" Causus, a maintenance man at 1733 Paris Street, independently confirmed Allen's story.
At Holmes' initial court appearance last week, observers said his eyes fluttered wildly and he blinked repeatedly. He is due back in court on Monday.
Joan Holley of Holley Realty, which manages the building at 1690 Paris Street where Holmes lived, could not be reached for comment. She had previously told Reuters that she would not comment on matters related to the building.
Theater shooting suspect James Eagan Holmes appeared in court for the first time Monday where a judge explained why he was being held on no bond. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.
Kylina Washington, 14, said she and her friend Asia Quinn spoke with Holmes around the same time Allen said he did, behind a 7-Eleven where clerks recognized Holmes as a regular customer.
"He said he was moving," Washington said.
Colo. theater lacked security
Tori Everhart, 27, a resident in Holmes' building, said Holley Realty representatives told her the building was reserved for University of Colorado students, faculty and staff.
A second student resident, who was moving his belongings out of a second-floor apartment and into a U-Haul truck on Saturday afternoon and declined to give his name, confirmed the policy.
"Only residents and faculty can live here," he said. The student said withdrawal from the school would require a resident to leave within a month.
Report: Doctor treating Aurora suspect had medical reprimand
A third student exiting the complex, who also declined to allow her name to be used, confirmed the policy.
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.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More content from NBCNews.com:
Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.