|
Looking dazed and with bright orange hair, the man accused of killing 12 and wounding 58 in a shooting rampage in a Colorado theatre appeared Monday in court for the first time. James Holmes, wide-eyed and unshaven, appeared not to speak during the brief hearing. He will be formally charged next Monday. Authorities say the 24-year-old former graduate student is refusing to co-operate, and it could take months to learn what prompted one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. A prosecutor said her office is considering pursuing the death penalty. Eighteenth Judicial District Attorney Carol Chambers said a decision will be made in consultation with victims’ families. Holmes has been held in solitary confinement since the shooting. Holmes began buying guns nearly two months before the shooting and recently bought 6,000 rounds of ammunition over the Internet, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said. During the attack, Holmes allegedly set off gas canisters and used a semiautomatic rifle, a shotgun and a pistol to open fire, Oates said. The semiautomatic assault rifle jammed during the attack, forcing the gunman to switch to another gun with less firepower, a federal law enforcement official told The Associated Press. That malfunction and weapons switch might have saved some lives. Holmes’ apartment was filled with trip wires, explosive devices and unknown liquids, requiring police, FBI officials and bomb squad technicians to evacuate surrounding buildings while spending most of Saturday disabling the booby traps. | 
