丹佛槍擊案嫌犯首次出庭拒合作 或面臨死刑

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.

Officials at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus were looking into whether Holmes, a former doctoral student in neuroscience, used his position in a graduate program to collect hazardous materials.

Holmes’ reasons for quitting the doctoral program in June remained a mystery. He recently took an intense, three-part oral exam that marks the end of the first year. University officials would not say if he passed, citing privacy concerns.

The family’s pastor recalled a shy boy who was driven to succeed academically. “He wasn’t an extrovert at all. If there was any conversation, it would be because I initiated it, not because he did,” said Jerald Borgie, who last spoke with Holmes about six years ago.

Sunday was a day for healing and remembrance in Aurora. Several thousand people attended a prayer vigil, and President Barack Obama visited with families of the victims. Obama said he told the families that “all of America and much of the world is thinking about them.”

【新聞快訊】

北京時間7月24日消息，據國外媒體報道，丹佛影院《黑暗騎士崛起》首映槍擊案嫌犯詹姆斯·霍爾姆斯於美國時間週一首次出庭，席上染着紅髮的他大多時間向下看着桌子，偶爾茫然地擡眼，一言不發。詹姆斯被指控爲一級謀殺，如果罪名成立，最終將被判處死刑。

詹姆斯的父親，羅伯特·霍爾姆斯在兒子作案後第二天飛到科羅拉多，他和詹姆斯的母親都向受害者家屬表示歉意，還通過律師表示不願意向外界說太多他們和兒子的關係。

與此同時，《黑暗騎士崛起》的片方華納公司表示將捐款給科羅拉多奧羅拉影院的受害者。據悉，華納目前已經和科羅拉多州長辦公室聯繫，表達了想要捐錢給基金會。

奧巴馬總統也去探望了丹佛槍擊案受害者的家屬，並向他們保證會幫他們伸張正義。“光明最終會衝破黑暗而到來，雖然行兇者因其酷刑近期得到太多關注，可是最終這種關注會退去，當他接受法律制裁後，最後被記住的還是用行動影響這場悲劇的善行者。”

此前有報道稱，詹姆斯曾想加入一家射擊俱樂部。但是俱樂部老闆因爲詹姆斯詭異的言行而拒絕其加入。俱樂部老闆格倫說：“現在回頭看看，那個聲音有點像《蝙蝠俠》裏小丑的聲音。”

另據霍爾姆斯的同學描述，霍爾姆斯平常十分安靜，也有社交障礙，但“並沒有到讓人懷疑他會成爲殺人犯的程度。”