How Did James Holmes Go From Brilliant Grad Student to Cold-Blooded Killer?
Today, America got their first glimpse of the accused gunman James Holmes, suspected of killing 12 in the movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado. The 24-year-old appeared in court this morning not speaking a word to the judge or even to his defense attorneys. The Daily News uncovered some new details about his actions in prison where he allegedly spit on guards and acted erratically.
How did this once-brilliant graduate student allegedly turn into a cold-blooded killer?
Dr. Keith Ablow shared his diagnosis on the matter on America Live. He explained that there are holes in the mental health care system, including the student health care system on college campuses and in graduate schools, big enough to drive “no pun intended – a mad man through.”
While he isn’t sure these are present in this case, Ablow said that schizophrenia, drug abuse and addiction, bipolar disorder and other delusional disorders can strike people of this age.
In discussing Holmes’s demeanor in court earlier today, he said, “He may have been medicated while in jail, that’s possible. He may in fact be coursing in and out of different states of consciousness, literally attending to voices he hears and therefore at one time, seeming not to be able to attend to things.”
Ablow thinks that they should make him take an MRI to make sure there isn’t a brain tumor or infection of some sort. “Everything needs to be looked at here … we don’t have the ‘why.’ We need it and we might be able to get it and the answer might be, sadly, psychiatric illness.”
He concluded, “Instead of talking about not having as many guns in society, which has nothing to do with this, maybe you want to say we should be screening college students for psychopathology.”
