Colorado Shooting Suspect Was Turned Away from Gun Range
Published at
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(AURORA, Colo.) — James Holmes, the man who allegedly killed 12 people and wounded 58 at a packed screening of the latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, applied to join a Colorado gun range last month, but was rejected by the owner, who found him “creepy.”
Glenn Rotkovich, who owns the Lead Valley Range in Byers, Colo., told ABC News that Holmes applied for membership about a month ago via email, but when Rotkovich called him to follow up, he said he got a “bizarre,” Batman-inspired voicemail message.
He told his staff not to allow Holmes into the club if he showed up for an orientation.
The gun range owner’s reaction adds to a growing portrait of the 24-year-old accused of carrying out the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, and who police say rigged his apartment with dozens of explosive devices set to go off when the door was opened.
The search of Holmes’ apartment yielded a computer and a variety of Batman paraphernalia, including a poster and a mask, more evidence of his apparent obsession with the comic book hero.
Investigators also found 10 gallons of gasoline, which were removed from the apartment and detonated at a remote site.
Holmes is currently in custody at Arapahoe County Jail.
Some recently released inmates from the jail said Holmes is not likely to get a warm welcome from the other prisoners.
“They’re paying really close attention to keeping him separate,” Steven Phillips, who was recently released from there, told ABC News. “He’s in red, he’s in chains, his arms are chained up in like a jacket. When he came in, they said he had a bullet proof vest on over his clothes so somebody wouldn’t stab him.”
Phillips heard that Holmes is being kept in 23-hour lockdown, one of the most protected types of confinement. He is given one hour outside his cell per day to shower and use the phone.
Jacob Wesson, also recently released from Arapahoe County Jail, said that because Holmes allegedly killed children, if he was kept with other inmates, they would hurt him.
“He wouldn’t last,” Wesson said.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio