Colorado Theater Shooting

Far more sophisticated blogs and news sites will do a far better job covering this, but I thought I would throw my own two cents in.

The alledged shooter, James Holmes, is currently in police custody. Just reading the surface stuff, this fellow appears to be both intellegent and highly disturbed. He obviously planned all this well in advance, striking a target he knew would be packed full of people. His use of armor suggest that he anticipated encountering counterfire (from either police or armed theater patrons) and he wanted to either survive or make sure that it took more than a lucky shot to stop him. He also set up an elaborate booby trap bomb system in his apartment to kill even more people once he had been taken down, one way or the other. The system is elaborate enough that the Denver bomb squad has requested additional assistance from the FBI in disarming the trap.

Naturally, there has been much speculation on his motives and ideology. ABC speculated that he might have been a member of the Tea Party due to a similar name (Jim Holmes) listed as an active member, but that James Holmes has been identified as a man in his 50's while the shooter is listed as 24. Other speculation has tied him to a James Holmes listed as a member of the Black Bloc, an anarchist splinter group of the Occupy movement.

Whatever his ideology, it can be agreed that he is a very dangerously disturbed man who should be locked away for a very long time.

Last report I heard was that the death toll was between 12 and 14, with the youngest confirmed death a six-year old child. May God guide the hands of the doctors to save the rest and comfort the loved ones of the slain.

*UPDATE*

The James Holmes in question seems to have enrolled at University of Colorado a year ago to pursue a PHD in neuroscience and dropped out last month. It has suggested that he may have brewed the gas that he let loose in the theater himself. The doctors treating the victims have been very careful and not simply assumed that they are dealing with either smoke or tear gas. No confirmation has been given about the nature of the gas, one way or another.