James Holmes: Can We Predict the Next Mass Murderer?

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James Eagan Holmes was born on December 13, 1987 in San Diego, California, raised in Castroville, California. His father is a mathematician and scientist with degrees from Stanford University, UCLA and UC Berkeley, his mother is a registered nurse, and he has a sister. In high school he played soccer and ran cross-country. He attended at local Lutheran church with family. In 2006, he graduated from Westview High School in San Diego, California. Holmes moved to Aurora, Colorado where he lived in a one-bedroom apartment on Paris Street in a building where other students that were also in health studies. Prior to attending the University of California, Riverdale, Holmes was an intern at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in 2006. During his internship he was assigned to write computer code for an experiment. Supervisors described his attitude as stubborn, uncommunicative and socially inept. Holmes further supported the perspective of his supervisors as he was assigned to present a project to the other interns, which he never actually completed. In his college application essay he wrote about his experience at the Salk Institute stating: "I had little experience in computer programming and the work was challenging to say the least. Nonetheless, I taught myself how to program in Flash and then construct a cross-temporal calibration model. Completing the project and presenting my model at the end of the internship was exhilarating.” The statement in his college application essay was a completely different opinion of him compared to what the company stated about their experience with him as an intern. In 2010, he received his Associates degree in neuroscience with the highest honors. In college Holmes was a member of... ... middle of paper ... ... movie fanatic. As the case reviled he entered the movie theater as a regular patron and exited the rear exit to retrieve his weapons. There was no way for anyone to predict or prevent this from occurring. We can not only become more aware of our surroundings and not overlook small things that seem out of place. Business owners will now have to predict the possibility of such incidents happening in their businesses. In doing this, they will possibly have to impose tighter security measures and raises prices to ensure that they have the best interest of their patrons in mind. This is no longer the world that our grandparents grew up in where you could leave your front door open and not worry about anyone harming your family. We live in a society that we must stay on constant alert to the possibility that the very person standing beside you will try harm you.

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