Holmes' attorneys said on August 9, 2012, that their client is mentally ill and that they need more time to assess the nature of his illness. The disclosure was made at a court hearing in Centennial, Colorado, where news media organizations asked a judge to unseal court documents in the case.[46] Prosecutors alleged on August 24, 2012, that Holmes told a classmate that he wanted to kill people four months before the shooting.[47]

A judge ruled on August 30 that a notebook written by Holmes, in which he allegedly described a violent attack, was covered by physician–patient privilege, as he had discussed it with his psychiatrist. This made it inadmissible as evidence unless Holmes' mental health became an issue in the case. Prosecutors eventually dropped their request to gain access to the notebook on September 20, 2012.[48] Due to suicide attempts made by Holmes (see the article on James Holmes), Judge Sylvester agreed to postpone proceedings in the trial until December 2012.

On Wednesday, January 2, 2013, prosecutors and defense attorneys in the case returned to court in advance of the crucial preliminary hearing- the first officially sanctioned look for the people at the evidence, due to the gag order. The hearing is scheduled to begin the following week (specifically, Monday, January 7, 2013). At the hearing, prosecutors will offer their case as to why the trial will proceed, and defense lawyers will argue that it should not. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Sylvester will decide if there is enough relevant, admissible evidence to proceed to a trial.[49]

On that same January 7 date, it is reported that investigators had seized four prescription bottles and immunization records from Holmes' apartment when it was searched in July 2012. It was not revealed what the prescriptions were or what they were for. The judge ultimately ruled in October that prosecutors could keep the items.[50]

Explosive devices
When apprehended, Holmes told the police that he had booby-trapped his apartment with explosive devices before heading to the movie theater.[7] Police then evacuated five buildings surrounding his Aurora residence, about 5 miles (8 km) north of the cinema.[51] The apartment complex is limited to University of Colorado Medical Center students, patients, and employees.[52][53] One day after the shooting, officials disarmed an explosive device wired to the apartment's front entrance, allowing a remotely controlled robot to enter and disable other explosives.[54] The apartment held more than 30 homemade grenades, wired to a control box in the kitchen, and 10 gallons of gasoline.[55] Neighbors reported loud music from the apartment around midnight on the night of the massacre, and one went to his door to tell him she was calling the police; she stated that the door seemed to be unlocked, but she chose not to open it.[56][57][58] A law enforcement official said that a Batman mask was found inside the apartment.[59] On July 23, police finished collecting evidence from the apartment.[60] Two days later, residents were allowed back in.[61]

Responses to the shooting

Government

 

President Barack Obama visiting shooting victims at University of Colorado Hospital on July 22, 2012

The evening after the shooting, a candlelight vigil was held at the site in Colorado.[62] President Barack Obama ordered flags at government buildings flown at half-staff, in tribute to the victims, until July 25.[63] Both Obama's and Mitt Romney's campaigns temporarily suspended television advertising in Colorado for the 2012 presidential election.[64][65] On July 22, President Obama met with victims and local and state officials and gave a nationally televised speech from Aurora.[66][67][68][69][70] Many world leaders sent their condolences, including Queen Elizabeth II,[71] French President François Hollande,[72] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,[73] Russian President Vladimir Putin[74] and Pope Benedict XVI.[75]
 

Memorial across the street from the Aurora Century movie theater, in September 2012.

Entertainment industry
Warner Bros., the distributor of The Dark Knight Rises, stated that it was deeply saddened by the shooting. The studio canceled the film's gala premieres inParis, Mexico, and Japan,[76][77] scaled down its marketing campaign in Finland,[78][79] and decided not to report box office figures for the movie until July 23.[80] Some television advertisements for the film were also canceled.[81] Other major film studios joined Warner Bros. in withholding early box office numbers on July 21.[82] It was reported that Warner Bros. would be making a "substantial" donation to Colorado's Community First Foundation to benefit victims of the shooting.[83]

Christopher Nolan, the film's director, spoke on behalf of his cast and crew and called the event "savage" and "devastating."[84] Christian Bale, who playsBatman in the film series, privately visited victims on July 24.[85] Members of the Colorado Rockies baseball team also visited victims.[86]

Warner Bros. instructed cinemas to stop screening a trailer for the film Gangster Squad, which preceded The Dark Knight Rises screenings in some cities (though not in Aurora),[87] because it contained a scene involving the main characters shooting at a movie theater audience with machine guns.[88][89] The film's release date was rescheduled to January 2013, and the theater scene was replaced by a new sequence in a different setting.[90]

In the wake of the shooting, DC Comics delayed the release of Batman Incorporated #3,[91] which includes a scene in which a female Leviathan agent brandishes a handgun in a classroom full of children while disguised as a schoolteacher.[92] Additionally, it was reported that Warner Bros. Animation would edit the upcoming Cartoon Network series Beware the Batman to make the firearms look less realistic.[93]

Hans Zimmer, who composed the soundtrack for The Dark Knight Rises, recorded a choral song entitled "Aurora" in honor of the victims.[94]

Cinemark agreed to pay any funeral expenses incurred by the deceased victims' families not covered by the Crime Victims' Compensation Fund.[95] Cinemark closed the entire Century Aurora 16 multiplex in the wake of the shooting but reopened January 17, 2013 with a 40-minute ceremony led by Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan.[96]

Soon after the shooting, police departments and cinemas across the United States and around the world increased security for fear of copycat incidents.[97][98] In New York City, police officers were deployed to theaters screening the new film.[99]

The National Association of Theatre Owners distributed checklists from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to its members and said in a July 21 statement that members were "working closely with local law enforcement agencies and reviewing security procedures."[100][101] AMC Theatres announced that it would "not allow any guests into our theatres in costumes that make other guests feel uncomfortable and we will not permit face-covering masks or fake weapons inside our buildings."[102] Security Director News raised the possibility in a July 23 article that "the massacre could be a Virginia Tech for movie theaters, causing security to become a bigger part of the conversation and more stringent security procedures to be adopted at theaters across the country."[103]

Civil litigation
In the aftermath of the shooting, several legal experts said that it would be extremely difficult for victims and their families to pursue claims for civil liability against the shooter or anyone else.[104][105]

Three victims sued Cinemark in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on September 21, 2012 for the company's alleged negligence in failing to provide adequate safety and security measures.[106] Their attorneys released the statement "Readily available security procedures, security equipment and security personnel would likely have prevented or deterred the gunman from accomplishing his planned assault on the theater's patrons."[107] In response, Cinemark's representation filed a motion to dismiss on September 27, 2012 on the grounds that there was no liability under Colorado law for failure to prevent an unforeseeable criminal act.[108] Cinemark's motion quoted extensively from the landmark California appellate opinion[109] that heldMcDonald's had no duty of care to prevent the 1984 San Ysidro McDonald's massacre. On October 30, 2012, the court hearing the criminal case against Holmes denied a motion by some of the survivors that would have let them access sealed evidence for review in their civil action against the theater chain.[110][111] On January 24, 2013, a federal magistrate judge issued a recommendation that most of the claims be thrown out, as they were not allowable under Colorado law, although he also said that claims alleging violations of the Colorado Premises Liability Act could proceed.[112]

On January 14, 2013, Chantel Blunk, widow of victim Jonathan Blunk, filed a lawsuit against the University of Colorado in federal court. She alleged that a school psychiatrist could have prevented the slaughter by having Holmes detained after he admitted he "fantasized about killing a lot of people."[113] This type of lawsuit had been anticipated in an August 2012 article co-authored by bioethicist Arthur Caplan which discussed the applicability of the landmark California Supreme Court decision in Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California (1976) to the facts of the Aurora shooting.