James Holmes told a friend he was "bad news" weeks before the Aurora massacre, report says
(CBS) NEW YORK - James Holmes, the man who is accused of opening fire inside a Colorado movie theater last month, told a friend he was "bad news," according to a report from the New York Times.
Pictures: The Colorado massacre suspect
In a front page article, the Times reports that weeks before the massacre that killed 12 and wounded 58, Holmes text messaged a friend telling her she should keep her distance from him because he was "bad news."
The message reportedly came at the end of a text exchange during which Holmes asked if the woman knew anything about "dysphoric mania," a psychiatric disorder the Times quotes Dr. Victor Reus, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, describing as manifesting in delusions and agitation.
The friend reportedly texted Holmes back saying she didn't know about the disorder and asked if it could be treated.On Friday, CBS Denver reported that recently released court records showed that Holmes had made threats about killing people several months before the massacre at an Aurora movie theater showing the new Batman movie.
Prosecutors wrote that Holmes left the University of Colorado-Denver in June after failing his year-end final and making "threats to a professor at the school."
In a motion seeking school records unsealed by the court they wrote, "The defendant had conversations with a classmate about wanting to kill people in March 2012 and that he would do so when his life was over."
Holmes' defense lawyer, Daniel King, has said Holmes is mentally ill, setting up a possible insanity defense. Holmes' attorneys argue that prosecutors should have no access to his student records. The papers they filed in response to prosecutors do not address the allegations of threats.
The judge has issued a gag order in the case.
Prosecutors argued that gaining access to the school records would establish a motive by showing what Holmes hoped to accomplish at Colorado University and the "dissatisfaction with what occurred in his life that led to this."
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