AURORA | James Holmes opened fire in an Aurora movie theater because he thought it would end his depression, and he said he knew the massacre was “legally wrong,” according to a videotaped interview with a state appointed psychiatrist last year.
Holmes told psychiatrist William Reid he knew he could be punished for killing people and repeatedly referred to the shooting that killed 12 people and injured 70 others as a crime.
The exchange came during Reid’s court-ordered sanity evaluation of Holmes conducted last year. Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the July 20, 2012, rampage at an Aurora theater during a midnight premiere of a Batman film. The interview will be a key consideration for jurors as they decide whether Holmes was so distorted by mental illness that he couldn’t tell right from wrong at the time of the attack.
“The shootings were supposed to increase my self worth and that would get me out of the depression,” Holmes told Dr. William Reid during a recorded interview that was played during Day 22 of Holmes’ trial Monday in Arapahoe County District Court.
In the video, Holmes tells Reid he thought about committing suicide but shifted his thoughts to killing people in spring 2012. The homicidal thoughts alleviated his depression, Holmes said.
“Doing the homicide got me out of the depression, it gave me a purpose,” he said, adding that he viewed the shootings as a “mission.”
“The mission was to go to the theater and shoot as many people as possible,” he said.
Holmes told Reid he believed if he killed someone, “their self worth gets canceled out and given to me.”
Jurors watched video of Holmes saying he thought that way at the time of the shooting and still believed that at the time of the interview with Reid in July 2014.
Reid pressed Holmes to explain the theory more, but he balked. Reid told him the idea seemed complex and said there could probably be a book written about it.
“It would probably be a boring book then,” Holmes replied.
Holmes said he didn’t get the idea from any outside source such as books or movies.
“I just made it up,” he said.
Holmes regretted that he killed a young girl when he opened fire on a crowded movie theater and said he viewed children as “morally different” than other victims, Reid said.
Later in the recorded interview, Holmes claimed a person’s self worth was similar to a nation’s gross domestic product, and that he wasn’t concerned about the wounded survivors and didn’t think their injuries increased his self worth the way the murder victims did.
“They are like collateral damage, I guess,” he said.
Holmes said he wasn’t a very good shot, but he didn’t think his lack of skill would matter in a packed movie theater.
“You shoot enough bullets into a crowd, you are going to hit somebody,” he said.
During the interviews with Reid, Holmes had been noticeably calm and gave short answers, sometimes answering with only “yup,” or “nope.”
During questioning from District Attorney George Brauchler, Reid said that while he believes Holmes was depressed, it wasn’t a severe depression.
Reid, who previously testified that he didn’t think Holmes was insane at the time of the killings, said Holmes seemed to have a sound mind in the months before the shooting, thoughtfully purchasing specific guns after researching them.
“He didn’t go out and just buy things willy-nilly,” he said.
Reid said Holmes viewed the dead as “points” to his own self worth and that while that could be a delusional thought, it doesn’t mean Holmes was insane.
“He makes it clear that getting the points, killing the people, was worth it,” he said.
Prosecutors are expected to continue to show the 22-hour-long interview with Holmes until Thursday. After that, the jurors will likely get a second look at the video when Holmes’ defense team cross examines Reid.
Holmes is accused of killing 12 and wounding 70 others during the July 2012 shooting rampage. he has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Other highlights from the videotape shown Monday:
— Holmes says he took cellphone photos of himself and his weapons before the attack “to be remembered.”
— Holmes says he wore body armor and carried first aid equipment and tire spikes in case police shot at him and they followed him in his car. “I wanted to be protected in case it came to a shootout between the police and me,” he says. Officers arrested him without a struggle just outside the theater.
— He says he wanted to look dangerous so the audience wouldn’t try to subdue him. “You don’t want 400 people rushing you. I guess they could easily have overwhelmed me,” he says.
Holmes planned his attack was planned in exquisite detail, which included surviving any conceal carry theater patrons and an ensuing police response. His attack was also planned to support a subsequent insanity defense. True diabolical brilliance, especially if Holmes’ defense team prevails in persuading the jury!