Colorado shooting: Palmdale-area Air Force sergeant among victims

 A Southern California native was among the victims in Colorado's movie theater shooting.

Jesse Childress, a 29-year-old Air Force sergeant from the Palmdale area, died a hero when he jumped in front of a fellow service member to shield her from the flying bullets, friends said.

"I can't even comprehend the magnitude of it," Thomas Maxwell, a family friend, told KTLA-TV Channel 5.

THE VICTIMS: Who they were

The sergeant had gone to see "The Dark Knight Rises" with colleagues from the Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora.

Childress, who was from the town of Lake Los Angeles, was on active duty and worked as a cyber systems operator. He loved comic books and playing sports, friends said.

"I don't even know how to say I feel about [the shooting] because I'm so sad," said Laurence Green, a neighbor of Childress' family. "Nobody should ever have to experience something like that."

PHOTOS: 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting

In Aurora, friends placed an Air Force flag at the foot of a memorial, where a teddy bear in a miniature uniform and small, folded blue-and-white flags rested.

"He was athletic, fun to be with -- he really just wanted to serve," said Ashley Wasinger, 31, who served with Childress in the Air Force's 310 Force Support Squadron. She sobbed as she recalled the last time she talked to Childress on Thursday.

"He talked about the movie," she said. "We've all been excited to go. He tried to talk me into going."

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-- KTLA News and Times staff writers

Colorado shooting suspect shy, 'socially inept,' classmate recalls

More details emerged over the weekend concerning James Holmes, the suspect in the "Dark Knight" Colorado movie theater shooting.

Many friends in California said he was a gifted student and intelligent person -- but others said he was more complicated. 

Arash Adami, a UC Riverside student studying for his doctorate, was James Holmes' teaching assistant for a neuroscience class in 2009. The class focused on the nervous system’s importance to controlling other systems in the human body. Adami said nothing really stood out about James except for his intellect.

PHOTOS: 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting

"He was one of the smartest kids in the class," Adami said. "I wasn't in his inner circle or anything, so it's tough for me to say any more about him."

During the summer of 2006, Holmes  was an intern at a prestigious computer laboratory at the Salk Institute at UC San Diego.

A graduate student who worked with Holmes at the Salk Institute’s Computational Neurobiology Laboratory recalled him as a “mediocre” student who was enormously stubborn.

THE VICTIMS: Who they were

“I saw a shy, pretty socially inept person,” said John Jacobson, now a PhD candidate at UC San Diego in philosophy and cognitive sciences. “I didn’t see any behavior that would be indicative of violence then or in the future.”

Colorado shooting suspect was 'smartest guy in the class'

James Holmes, the suspect in the "Dark Knight" Colorado shooting, was "one of the smartest kids in the class," according to a former teaching assistant of the alleged shooter.
 
Arash Adami, a UC Riverside student studying for his doctorate, was James Holmes' teaching assistant for a neuroscience class in 2009. The class focused on the nervous system’s importance to controlling other systems in the human body. Adami said nothing really stood out about James except for his intellect.

"He was one of the smartest kids in the class," Adami said. "I wasn't in his inner circle or anything, so it's tough for me to say any more about him."

Growing up in the suburbs of San Diego, Holmes was described as an intelligent honors student and athlete who showed no signs of trouble.

Another piece of this narrative emerged Sunday when ABC News obtained a video of James Holmes making a science presentation in San Diego while in high school.

The video was taken at Miramar College when Holmes was 18. He is seen giving a presentation to an audience. "Over the course of the summer I've been working with a temporal illusion. It's an illusion that allows you to change the past," he says at one point.

In the video, he is introduced as someone who wanted to become a science researcher. The speaker says Holmes liked soccer, strategy games and had a goal of one day owning a Slurpee machine.

Other friends from that time described Holmes as a promising scientist.

PHOTOS: 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting

 Ritchie Duong, a 24-year-old student at UC Riverside, went to middle school and high school with Holmes in San Diego and to college with him at UC Riverside. Duong said he last saw Holmes in December in downtown Los Angeles when the two joined some other friends to have dinner and see the new "Mission Impossible" movie.

"He didn't seem to change very much from high school," Duong said. "We knew him as the same guy. We would call him Jimmy James. We would laugh all the time about it.

Colorado shooting: Suspect enjoyed video games, movies, school friend says

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details.

The alleged gunman in the Colorado theater shootings enjoyed the company of a few high school friends who liked to play cards, video games and watch movies together as teenagers.

One of James Holmes' friends was Ritchie Duong, a 24-year-old student at UC Riverside who had gone to school with the suspected gunman for more than a decade.

The pair went to middle school together, and got to know each other in high school over cards and Wii video games. They also attended UC Riverside together, where they’d see each other at least once a week to watch "Lost".

PHOTOS: 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting

Holmes,  suspected of killing 12 people and injuring scores of others, was part of something akin to a clique, and Duong was a member. Duong said he, Holmes and a few others got together as recently as last December in downtown Los Angeles to grab dinner and see the new "Mission Impossible" movie.

“He didn’t seem to change very much from high school,” Duong said. “We knew him as the same guy. We would call him ‘Jimmy James.’ We would laugh all the time about it.”

That leaves Duong and others close to Holmes trying to understand what happened Friday after midnight in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater.

TIMELINE: Mass shootings in the U.S.

Colorado shooting: No incidents in L.A., Riverside, police say

No incidents were reported overnight at movie theaters in Los Angeles or Riverside following a mass shooting inside a Colorado theater during a screening of the new Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises."

Police agencies and movie exhibitors had planned to increase security -- and new rules inside movie theaters -- in the wake of the "Dark Knight" shooting early Friday that left 12 dead and scores hurt.

Los Angeles Police Department officials promised "high-visibility patrol" of theaters Friday night as well as other entertainment venues, using both uniformed and undercover officers.

PHOTOS: 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting

LAPD Officer Norma Eisenman said Saturday that “nothing was reported overnight.” A spokeswoman for the Riverside Police Department said officers had been on “extra patrol,” but no incidents were reported.

“I am outraged by the cowardly attack on innocent movie patrons in Colorado last night," LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said in a statement Friday. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those innocent victims. Since Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the world, it is important that we all remain vigilant and do everything we can to prevent incidents like this from occurring in our communities. Remember, if you see something, say something.”

The shooting in Colorado  left theater owners and police nationwide scrambling to figure out how to beef up security for patrons as the movie opened in more than 4,000 theaters nationwide.

TIMELINE: Mass shootings in the U.S.

The gunman in Colorado reportedly wore a riot helmet and a bulletproof vest and was dressed in black, raising questions about whether theaters should ban or limit costumes at the screenings. Many fans of Christopher Nolan's Batman films attend screenings in costume.

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-- Matt Stevens, Andrew Blankstein and Amy Kaufman

Photo: Movie fans dressed in costume before the midnight premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" in front of the AMC Universal CityWalk Stadium 19 Theatres on Friday. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

Colorado shooting: Suspect's small hometown shaken after rampage

Word spread quickly in Rancho Peñasquitos in San Diego County, where residents continued to grapple with the news that a suspected mass murderer hailed from their suburban community.

James Holmes, 24, who graduated from Westview High School in San Diego in 2006, was arrested after allegedly opening fire in an Aurora, Colo., theater early Friday, killing a dozen people and injuring 58 others.

It was the second violent incident in the last year to shake the small town that its residents call “PQ.” Last summer a veteran San Diego child abuse detective and her 18-year-old daughter were stabbed to death at their home. Authorities charged the detective's son with the slayings.

PHOTOS: 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting

Though Holmes long moved out from his parents’ home in San Diego to pursue neuroscience degrees at UC Riverside and then in Colorado, former high school classmates and community members Friday said they were shocked that so much violence could be tied to their hometown -– a place where families pay a premium for good schools and a safe neighborhood.

“I feel like people in PQ have lived there for a long time and know everyone else. That makes this extra weird that he [Holmes] is a phantom,” said Vanessa Do, 24, Westview’s student newspaper co-editor in 2006. “Everyone knows of him, but no one I knew really knew him. And that’s strange.

“I usually only hear good news coming out of PQ.”

PHOTOS: Suspected Colorado gunman's California ties

Do pointed to the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion who lives in the area, and that the student body elected a special needs student as prom king this year.

Bryce Griffin, 24, a Cal State San Marcos student who graduated with Holmes and had classes with him, called Rancho Peñasquitos “tight-knit.”  

“Because it’s so small, anything that happens, it really effects everyone," Griffin said. "If you don’t know the person directly, you know a person who knew the person.”

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-- Matt Stevens

Twitter.com/mattstevenslat

Photo: The San Diego home of shooting suspect James Holmes' parents. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

Colorado shooting suspect was 'a bright guy,' former teacher says

The suspected gunman in the Colorado movie theater shooting that killed 12 and injured dozens more was a bright student who “cared about his studies,” according to a teacher at his high school.

Few details have emerged in the portrait of James E. Holmes, the 24-year-old former resident of San Diego, but many friends and acquaintances labeled him as brainy. Friends from his high school said Holmes took multiple advanced placement classes while at Westview High, and UC Riverside Chancellor Timothy P. White said that Holmes was an honor student as an undergraduate there.

The suspect had been pursuing a doctorate in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora for a year, but had begun the process of withdrawing from the program last month, officials said.

PHOTOS: 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting

Late Friday, one of Holmes' high school teachers told The Times that the suspected mass murderer was “a bright guy.”

“He was one of those guys where academically there was never any concern about getting his stuff done,” said a Westview teacher who spoke on the condition of anonymity because teachers are not authorized to speak to the media on the topic. “There was no reason for me to believe this kid was extraordinarily genius. But he was a good student and good at getting stuff done. He had the personality of a diligent student. He cared about his studies.” 

Colorado shooting suspect worked for a summer as camp counselor in L.A. County

James Holmes, the suspect in the Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting, worked for the summer of 2008 as a cabin counselor at a Los Angeles summer camp -- Camp Max Straus.

Camp Max Straus, founded in 1938 in the hills above Glendale, is a nonsectarian program for underprivileged children ages 7-14, run by Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles.

In a statement to The Times, Randy Schwab, chief executive of Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles and director of Camp Max Straus, wrote that Holmes was responsible for “the care and guidance of a group of approximately 10 children."

PHOTOS: 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting

“His role was to insure that these children had a wonderful camp experience by helping them learn confidence, self-esteem and how to work in small teams to effect positive outcomes. These skills are learned through activities such as archery, horseback riding, swimming, art, sports and high ropes course.”

In a separate email to the Times, Schwab wrote, “He was a counselor that had no incidents or disciplinary concerns.  That summer provided the kids a wonderful camp experience without incident.”

“Our hearts and prayers go out to all the families and friends of those involved in this horrible tragedy,” Schwab wrote. “On behalf of Camp Max Straus I want to offer our deepest sympathies and condolences.”

PHOTOS: Suspected Colorado gunman's California ties

Holmes, 24, is alleged to have fatally shot 12 people and wounded 58 others in Friday's rampage at a post-midnight screening of the latest Batman movie, "The Dark Knight Rises." The gunman was dressed in head-to-foot body armor, including a helmet, gas mask, vest and throat-guard.

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--Sam Quinones

twitter.com/samquinones7

Photo: Shooting suspect James Holmes in an undated photo. Credit: University of Colorado Denver

Colorado shooting suspect avoided social media, left little online trail

The suspect in the slaying of 12 people at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" at a Colorado movie theater left little record of his thoughts or activities online, with no Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Myspace accounts under his name.

Few details in the emerging sketch of James E. Holmes — the 24-year-old alleged to have killed at least 12 people and injured 58 others in Aurora — offer any answer to the question Americans find themselves once again asking after a shooting rampage: Why?

Friends and neighbors were baffled, and Holmes left no clues online as to his potential motives or mental state. He had no criminal record. Authorities say he booby-trapped his apartment in Aurora with explosives and chemical devices, and they were still working to disable them Saturday before they could collect evidence that might yield insight into his thinking.

PHOTOS: 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting

The suspect had been pursuing a doctorate in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Denver Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora for a year, but had begun the process of withdrawing from the program last month, officials said. It is not clear what triggered his decision to drop out, although some reports suggested he was having troubles with his studies.

A neighbor described Holmes as a very shy, well-mannered young man who was heavily involved in the local Presbyterian church.

"He seemed to be a normal kid. I don't know what triggered it," said Tom Mai, a retired electrical engineer. "This makes me very sad."

PHOTOS: Suspected Colorado gunman's California ties

His comments were echoed by many who had passing acquaintance with Holmes. Few seemed to know him intimately, but he was not totally withdrawn; he had friends and played sports. His junior varsity soccer photo shows him looking confidently into the camera wearing his No. 16 jersey.

Colorado shooting: 'Dark Knight' plays with tight security, undercover cops

Amid tightened security, "The Dark Knight Rises" screened at movie theaters across Southern California on Friday without major incident.

Police were out in force both inside and outside theaters in the wake of the shooting in Colorado that left 12 people dead.

Officials said they were concerned about possible copycats as well as troublemakers who might use the fears sparked by the shooting to cause mayhem at theaters.

PHOTOS: 'Dark Knight Rises' shooting

The Los Angeles Police Department, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department and smaller law enforcement agencies plan extra patrols through the weekend and beyond at theaters.

Theaters also tightened security. At the Regal Cinemas at L.A. Live in downtown, ushers checked the purses of some patrons before they entered the show.

“I am outraged by the cowardly attack on innocent movie patrons in Colorado last night," LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those innocent victims. Since Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the world, it is important that we all remain vigilant and do everything we can to prevent incidents like this from occurring in our communities. Remember, if you see something, say something.”

TIMELINE: Mass shootings in the U.S.

Long Beach police will also be on alert.