Accused Colorado gunman James Holmes may have phoned his former university just nine minutes before last month’s shooting at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises that killed 12 people, his lawyer said.
In a pretrial hearing, defence attorney Tamara Brady raised the possibility of such a call while questioning Dr Lynne Fenton, a University of Colorado psychiatrist who treated Holmes in the month before the July 20th movie house shooting.
“Did you know James Holmes called that number nine minutes before the shooting started?” Ms Brady asked Ms Fenton, referring to a campus number noted on a form related to Holmes’ mental health treatment. Ms Fenton said she did not know.
Holmes, a former neuroscience graduate student who dropped out of the Colorado university in June, is accused of opening fire at the film premiere in Aurora. Fifty-eight people were also wounded.
Prosecutors portray Holmes (24) as a young man whose once promising academic career was in tatters. – (Reuters)