Daily Commentary – Thursday, July 26, 2012 – James Holmes Notebook Outlining Plans for the Shooting Delayed in the Mail Center at CU, Found After the “Dark Knight Rising” Movie Massacre

• James Holmes sent a notebook to a Psychiatrist at CU detailing his plans. Does the University hold any culpability?

Daily Commentary – Thursday, July 26, 2012 Download

From FOX News, Movie massacre suspect sent chilling notebook to psychiatrist before attack.

James Holmes, the individual accused of murdering 12 at last Friday’s midnight “Dark Knight Rising” movie massacre in Colorado, according to Fox News mailed a notebook “full of details about how he was going to kill people” to a University of Colorado psychiatrist before the attack. However, the package sat unopened in a mail room for up to a week before its discovery Monday. Good grief. Had this package been delivered, could the massacre have been averted? The notebook is now in possession of the FBI. Jammie Wearing Fool brings up a good point, it was obvious that James Holmes sent this enough in advance as a cry out for help. Holmes had no idea that the package would never be delivered and collect dust in the mail room. Did Holmes take this as no one taking him seriously and go through on his promise of violence?

Inside the package was a notebook full of details about how he was going to kill people,” the source told FoxNews.com. “There were drawings of what he was going to do in it — drawings and illustrations of the massacre.”

Among the images shown in the spiral-bound notebook’s pages were gun-wielding stick figures blowing away other stick figures.

The source said police and FBI agents were called to the University of Colorado Anschutz medical campus in Aurora on Monday morning after the psychiatrist, who is also a professor at the school, reported receiving a package believed to be from the suspect. Although that package turned out to be from someone else and harmless, a search of the Campus Services’ mailroom turned up another package sent to the psychiatrist with Holmes’ name in the return address, the source told FoxNews.com.

A second law enforcement source said authorities got a warrant from a county judge and took the package away Monday night. When it was opened, its chilling contents were revealed.

The first source on Tuesday told FoxNews.com the package had been in the mailroom since July 12, though another source who confirmed the discovery to FoxNews.com could not say if the package arrived prior to Friday’s massacre. It was not clear why it had not been delivered to the psychiatrist.

Wow, just wow. As Wizbang aptly stated, “did the postal failure prevent someone from alerting authorities about a student going “postal.”

The University of Colorado released the following statement:

The University centrally receives mail from the United States Postal Service. The University then delivers the mail to the address on the Anschutz Medical Campus the same day it is received.  For example, mail delivered on a Friday is delivered on Friday. The University’s mail service is not open on Saturday. Saturday mail is sorted and delivered  Monday morning. The University does not log or track mail/packages unless it requires a signature from the United States Postal Service.”

Citing the ongoing investigation regarding Holmes, a former student at the Anschutz medical campus, CU said it would not comment further about the package or the notebook.

Care to revise that statement, not like there was not a postmark on the package that will most certainly come out as evidence when the trial begins.

4 Responses to “Daily Commentary – Thursday, July 26, 2012 – James Holmes Notebook Outlining Plans for the Shooting Delayed in the Mail Center at CU, Found After the “Dark Knight Rising” Movie Massacre”

1. RK on July 26th, 2012 9:48 am

   From the Denver Post (http://goo.gl/7z2lM):

   “The anonymous Fox News source that the package was received on July 12 and sat on a loading dock is inaccurate,” according to the press release.

   The university said the “suspicious package discovered at the Facilities Services building on Monday was delivered to the campus by the U.S. Postal Service that same day, immediately investigated and turned over to authorities within hours of delivery.

   ———–

   I guess its unclear what revised statements are going to be released by any parties as it relates to the reported timeline of the package and its delivery.

2. joetote on July 26th, 2012 10:01 am

   Ok. No brainer here. No, the university is not culpable! It’s summer. The professor it was addressed to might not even have been on campus for who knows how long.
   _________________
   SM: Its Summer? Does the mail not get delivered in the Summer?

3. Thomas on July 26th, 2012 10:10 pm

   Try opening your mail like NORMAL BUSINESSES!

4. RK on July 28th, 2012 6:58 pm

   Further Denver Post updates on the notebook (http://goo.gl/FfCvt):

   {{
   (DA) Chambers responded by saying that the information in reports by Fox News and NBC were inaccurate, casting doubt on whether the person who leaked the story to the network was a law enforcement agent with access to the correct information.

   “For instance, the Fox News story stated that the FBI took possession of the package — this is incorrect, as it was the Aurora Police Department,” Chambers wrote in the motion filed Friday.

   Police are not examining the contents of the package, Chambers said.

   “The contents were secured and not examined and held for potential in camera review,” she wrote, referring to the process where a judge privately reviews information to decide whether the defense and prosecution may have access to it.

   Chambers also said media outlets may have made up sources and information.

   “To put it bluntly, the People are extremely dubious of the media assertions that ‘law enforcement sources’ exist,” she wrote. The media, she said, are getting information from “hoaxers, fraudsters or maybe from nobody at all.”
   }}

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