James Holmes Threats; Psychiatrist, Dr. Lynn Felton Warned Authorities Of Patient Month Before Aurora Colorado Massacre
The psychiatrist who treated mass murderer James Holmes said he warned the authorities of Holmes' "homicidal statements" a month before the Aurora, Colo. movie-theater hooting which left 12 dead and 70 people injured, according to The Daily Beast.
Dr. Lynn Fenton, the University of Denver psychiatrist who treated Holmes, told police in June that Holmes was an imminent threat to members of the public after hearing violent comments made by the shooter.
According to court documents, University of Denver law enforcement alerted the Aurora police department of the threat shortly after the movie-theater massacre had already occurred.
The psychiatrist added that Holmes had stopped visiting her as a patient but had begun sending threatening text messages, which she reported to the police as well.
According to the documents, which were released late Thursday night after District Judge Carlos Samour unsealed the search warrants affidavits at the behest of news outlets, Fenton also received a notebook from Holmes a week before the July 20 shooting which was full of burned $20 bills.
In the days which followed the shooting, university police said that they had never had any contact with Holmes, a graduate student at the college. However, campus police officer Lynn Whitten told investigators following the shooting that Fenton had indeed contacted her, according to an affidavit.
Whitten added that the psychiatrist was following her legal requirement in which such violent threats must be reported to the authorities.
"Dr. Fenton advised that through her contact with James Holmes she was reporting, per her requirement, his danger to the public due to homicidal statements he had made," the search warrant document stated, according to The Huffington Post.
On Monday, case prosecutors announced they planned to seek the death penalty for Holmes even after the defense offered to plead their client guilty in exchange for a life sentence.
Samour is currently presiding over the case and stepped in earlier this week for the previous judge, William Sylvester, said he was unable to commit the time necessary to a death penalty case.