Gun Range Barred 'Creepy' Aurora Suspect

And young James Holmes talked chillingly of 'temporal illusion'
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 23, 2012 3:05 AM CDT
Updated Jul 23, 2012 7:49 AM CDT

James Holmes might not have triggered any alarms when he purchased his arsenal of guns, but a gun range operator found him so "creepy" that he barred him from the premises a month ago. Holmes, 24, applied for membership in the Lead Valley Range in Byers, Colo., but when owner Glenn Rotkovich called him at home to follow up he heard a "bizarre, freakish" answering machine message inspired by Batman, Rotkovich told ABC News. It so unnerved him that he told his staff not to allow Holmes at the shooting range.

Also chilling: A video ABC obtained in which an 18-year-old Holmes talks about his "work" with "temporal illusion." He adds: "It's an illusion that allows you to change the past." He also talks about studying "subjective experience, which is what takes places inside the mind as opposed to the external world." The videotaped talk, which Holmes made along with others at a San Diego science camp six years ago, reveals him as an extremely intelligent, though nervous and fidgety, young scientist. But it may also show his beginning break with reality. Holmes is expected in court to face charges today in the massacre at the Aurora movie theater that killed 12 people. (More James Holmes stories.)

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