James Holmes, Aurora shooting suspect, was med-school dropout and loner, say neighbors

The suspected Colorado movie mass murderer was a loner and a 

medical school dropout who described himself last year as “quiet 

and easy-going” on a rental application.

The suspected Colorado movie mass murderer was a loner and a medical school dropout who described himself last year as “quiet and easy-going” on a rental application.

James Holmes, 24, withdrew abruptly last month from the University of Colorado Medical School, spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery said Friday.

She did not know what prompted his decision just weeks before Holmes snapped, killing a dozen people and wounding at least 50 others.

The suspect, who came to Colorado from California, lived in a third-floor apartment in the Denver suburb of North Aurora — about four miles from the theater where the killings occurred.

Neighbors told the Denver Post that Holmes was a reclusive type who ignored other residents when they said hello. 

“No one knew him,” one neighbor told the newspaper. “No one.”

Aurora Police respond to the Century 16 movie theatre early Friday morning, July 20, 2012. Police chief Dan Oates said at least 14 dead and another 50 injured in the Colorado theater shooting.

He booby-trapped the apartment before making the drive to the crowded theater filled with a midnight crowd for “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Holmes also left the same song playing on repeat inside his home, where a poster of Will Ferrell from the movie “Anchorman” hung in the kitchen.

In an online rental application last year, Holmes described himself as a “quiet and easy-going medical student,” the Post reported. He was reportedly seeking his Ph.D. in neuroscience.

Holmes, who wore a gas mask during his attack, was not a military veteran and had no ties to any terrorist groups, officials said.

He moved into the brick apartment building in May 2011, the Post reported. His neighbors were evacuated in the hours after the killings due to the risk from explosives believed housed there.

Holmes still has family in San Diego, where his mother was awakened early Friday with word of the bloody Aurora, Colo., rampage.

“You have the right person,” the stunned woman told ABC News. “I need to call the police ... I need to fly out to Colorado.”

Family and friends wait outside Gateway High School where witnesses were brought for questioning after a shooting at a movie theater showing the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" Friday, July 20, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado

Eyewitness Isaiah Bow hugs his mother Shamecca Davis after being questioned by police outside Gateway High School where witnesses were brought in, Friday, July 20, 2012 in Aurora, Colo. After leaving the theater Bow went back in to find his girlfriend. "I didn't want to leave her in there. But she's ok now." Bow said.

A police officer walks near the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colo., following a shooting on Friday, July 20, 2012

Source: nydailynews.com