Aurora theater shooter was smart and socially awkward, former prof testifies

CENTENNIAL | Aurora theater shooter James Holmes was socially awkward and quiet during his time at a University of Colorado neuroscience program, but his failure there was still a surprise, Holmes’ academic mentor testified Tuesday.

Sukumar Vijayaraghavan, director of the neuroscience graduate program at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, said Holmes struggled in social situations from the moment he met him in February 2011, but he was so intelligent that Vijayaraghavan still had him among his top finalists for the competitive graduate program.

“He was quiet and a little socially awkward, but definitely someone who had the caliber to be in the program,” he said.

Holmes struggled in lab experiments, Vijayaraghavan said, and some staff felt he didn’t try hard enough in the lab or to communicate with others.

Vijayaraghavan said Holmes also had a few nervous ticks, including opening his eyes wide and stretching his scalp at odd times, and he’d make uncomfortable jokes during his presentations.

When Holmes failed a crucial comprehensive exam in June 2012 — a little more than a month before prosecutors say he opened fire in a packed Aurora theater, killing 12 and wounding dozens more — Vijayaraghavan said he and other staff wanted Holmes to take the exam again.

But instead of trying again, Holmes quit the program, Vijayaraghavan said.

“That was unexpected,” he said.

District Attorney George Brauchler had Vijayaraghavan read some emails between he and Holmes that Brauchler said showed Holmes wasn’t slipping deeper into insanity at the time as Holmes’ lawyers say he was.

“This guy is as responsive in June 2012 as he was in August 2011,” Brauchler said.

Public Defender Tamara Brady, one of Holmes’ lawyers, said Holmes’ ability to send mundane emails that scheduled meetings and other things don’t prove anything about his schizophrenia.

Holmes sat quietly and seemed to pay particularly close attention as Vijayaraghavan testified.

The jury of 19 women and five men continued to pay close attention to testimony. When Vijayaraghavan finished his comments and answers, the jury sent more than 10 questions for the judge to ask him, with topics ranging from Holmes’ demeanor to details about specific classes in the neuroscience program. 

The FBI bomb technician who led the effort to disarm Holmes’ bomb-laden apartment also testified Tuesday and said the elaborate set up could have been deadly.

Agent Garrett Gumbinner said that had someone hit the fishing line strung across the apartment door, dumping a thermos of glycerin into a pan of potassium permanganate, a massive explosion would have erupted.

“If you moved into the apartment, hit that fishing line, that would have caused the whole apartment to explode and catch on fire,” he said.

Holmes’ defense team said that while Holmes laid out the elaborate bombs — and even set up two different trigger mechanisms, both of which failed — he cooperated with police after his arrest and gave them the information they needed to safely defuse the Paris Street apartment.

But Deputy District Attorney Rich Orman said that while the bombs didn’t explode, it wasn’t because Holmes laid them out just “for show.”

Gumbinner agreed and said had someone walked into the front door unaware of the trap, they would have been killed or maimed.

The hazards Holmes scattered around his home were from common items purchased legally, Gumbinner said. The glycerin is available at drug stores, the potassium permanganate is common in water filtration, and he used chemicals from cooler packs.  

There were close to 20 victims and their loved ones in the courtroom Tuesday after only eight were in the courtroom at the end of Monday’s session. 

A newlywed woman who was wounded in the shooting testified Tuesday that when the shooting began, she told her husband she loved him because she feared they wouldn’t survive.

“I didn’t know if it was the last time I would be able to do so,” Denise Axelrod told the jury.

Axelrod said she and her husband, Brandon, had just returned from their honeymoon when they went to the theater with a friend, Joshua Nowlan, to watch a Batman movie.

Brandon Axelrod suffered leg injuries when they dropped to the floor to hide from the gunfire. Nowlan also was shot.

Testimony is set to continue Wednesday morning and will likely include more testimony from Holmes’ neuroscience professors.