James Holmes saw three mental health professionals before shooting

(CBS News) Alleged Aurora, Colo, shooter James Holmes met with not one, but at least three mental health professionals at the University of Colorado prior to the massacre. How long he met with each one and the depth of their involvement is not clear, but it adds to the picture of Holmes being clearly on their radar in the time period leading up to the shootings. When contacted by CBS News, school spokesperson Jacque Montgomery declined comment, citing a judge's gag order.

At the University of Colorado Anschutz Campus, James Holmes had been a PhD student in neuroscience. But last June, he dropped out and was buying guns. Before he left this campus, he had seen at least three mental health professionals associated with student mental health services.

Only one name has been publicly disclosed: Dr. Lynne Fenton, who is subpoenaed to appear in court in the Holmes case. At issue is a package mailed by Holmes to her and recovered in the campus mail room three days after the shootings. Holmes lawyers say it is priviledged material. Legal analyst Raj Chohan says they want to prevent the prosecution from using it, and have it turned over to them now.

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"The defense is going to have every opportunity to present a competent defense and that means Mr, Holmes is going to be able to gain access to all the documents he may have put out there and authored himself," Chohan said.

That includes Holmes medical records. His name was brought to the attention of the university's Behavior Evaluation and Threat Assessment team or BETA for short. A flow chart released by the university shows guidelines for action that could be followed if a person is deemed a direct threat.

University of Colorado campus police were contacted at least for a background check on Holmes, but what happened from there is not clear.

Dr. Richard Martinez, a director of forensic psychiatry with Denver Health Medical Center, said: "At the moment you determine that there is a credible threat here, a credible possibility, the duty to warn is triggered if you will."

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The Colorado massacre suspect

What was going behind the door inside Holmes' off-campus apartment did not become clear until it was too late.

Dr. Fenton is one of at least two people who have received subpoenas from the University of Colorado regarding the Holmes case. In addition, the university has hired an additional attorney to represent a third employee in these proceedings.

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Shooting rampage in Colo. theater

[bmhay1]

I feel badly for ALL the victims and their loved ones, the community, the theater, James Holmes' parents and James Holmes. I know a few people who were struck by mental disease at stressful periods of their lives. Seventeen years ago, I had clinical depression with psychotic episodes and could well have been a mass murderer, but I held on to that "thread of reality."

[Highlandsview]

What's kind of strange about this situation, as more of the details are coming forward about his involvement with the university, is that in the unfortunate wake of several criminal ordeals (Columbine, Virginia Tech, Penn State, etc.) the CU leadership wasn't more concerned about preventing another one of these, or at least covering their butts! What is going on at these places? Seems like there's a lot more to investigate!!!

[CindyAugust]

With what I have seen in others suffering from psychosis, with intensifying delusions, 72 hours would have been enough. That's what the 72 hour hold is all about... the time period needed to observe in order to make a decision to treat over a longer period, with a judge's consent if the patient is unwilling. fact is, I suspect Holmes WAS willing. That's how it works. First the 72-hr hold, and then the 14-day hold. The patient still has rights, but the treating psychiatrist makes recommendations to a judge for treatment, especially if the patient is unwilling. The judge can even force medications if the patient is unwilling. James Holmes saw three university psychiatrists.... with what I know about patients, that indicates a patient seeking help. That notebook he sent to Lynne Fenton an entire week before the shooting also indicates a patient reaching out. I'm sorry.... the University of Colorado dropped the ball, ten times over. His doctors, his program faculty, and fellow students ALL saw the deterioration in James Holmes as he succumbed to a psychotic break. My gosh, even the gun range guy picked up on it in a matter of seconds after he listened to Holmes' phone recording. It didn't take a fancy degree to realize Holmes was sick, and getting sicker.

[choonzer]

Good points, and what was said in those psychiatric visits he received will probably never be known. Was he seeking help for feelings of depression or anxiety? Feeling persecuted? Did he disclose violent thoughts and access to weapons? Whatever the case, he did appear to reach out and the team did identify him as a risk, so what happened from there will be interesting to learn.

My major problem with the system is what to do for patients who aren't reaching out and refusing all intervention, as is often the case. They carry no diagnosis, and are thefore able to purchase firearms and avoid any type of help as long as they don't articulate any violent intent.

[noduleata]

All of the psychiatry, all of the intervention and drugs don't help the patient one iota, just makes things worse. The LABEL schizophrenia means YOU ARE MAD and as such are TOTALLY unpredictable and capable of EXTREME violence, frightening the patient as much as peers as to what he or she might do. Thus the label is EXTREMELY alienating. Alienation disconnects, disconnection breeds speculation which in turn feed paranoia on BOTH sided.

Antipsychotics are so toxic with such extreme side effects they just convince someone already paranoid they are being deliberately put down by the State. Enforced medication with Modecate just creates even more fear and RESENTMENT. None of this stuff addresses the alienation, worsening bullying, being avoided, patronized, debt, homelessness etc. that FEED psychosis. It is NOT hereditary but results from a process of abuse that may start at birth.

I've read a lot of the abstracts on schizophrenia at the Medical Dept Uni Col Denver and they are pretty bog standard stuff. A genetic predisposition to a defect in cognition crops up a lot in people diagnosed as schizophrenic, therefore said defect predisposes to schizophrenia. Bollocks. The defect in cognition makes the kid a bit 'weird' and might create learning difficulties, difficulties in communication etc. These differences single the kid out for merciless bullying and it is the BULLYING that creates schizophrenia and any resultant violence.

However, after something like this, NOBODY with admit to the tiniest bit of bullying, negligence, incompetence, being patronizing, ridiculing etc. whatsoever. Quite the opposite in fact, bent over backward till the fingers bled trying the help this ungrateful @#%&#*)*. All nod their heads in agreement with each other. Bang, bang, bang. Hey what the hell happened?

Just how many people knew that he was holed up in that flat, armed to the teeth, but were to scared to do anything, cops included, concerned that they MIGHT have contributed to the situation, but would NEVER admit it. Hope he'll blow his brains out then everyone can relax. Holmes would be able to work that out as he has NEVER received any real help whatsoever.

Any threats he made were an attempt to FORCE people to help when begging didn't work, to get PUBLICITY. But all that did was scare people even more, himself included. Massacre becomes inevitable, Holmes by now TOTALLY psychotic, just a bit more so than the rest of the society that bays for his blood.

http://www.tumblr.com/blog/noduleata

[ibsteve2u]

Be interesting to know if Holmes was covered by the medical insurance commonly offered (if not mandated) by large educational institutions.

And if that insurance company or the school itself offered incentives to those who limited usage of expensive services...like inpatient mental health care - whether in terms of "bonuses" or premium reduction.

[JRHoffa]

At the University of Colorado Anschutz Campus, James Holmes had been a PhD student in neuroscience. But last June, he dropped out and was buying guns. Before he left this campus, he had seen at least three mental health professionals associated with student mental health services.

This is about gun control, not whether this guy should have been institutionalized. He saw three mental health professionals and then dropped out of school and went after guns. The red flags were there, we just need a system to catch them. Enough with this Second Amendment crap. We all know that's a ruse anyways.

[ibsteve2u]

A "ruse"? lollll...au contraire. What could ANY of the "powers that be" possibly hope to attain by ensuring that the American people remain armed?

There is an old rule of thumb: Nobody distrusts like a thief. In America, legislation and tax laws have been revamped to force the flow of wealth from the many and to the few. The day will come when unrest results from increasing poverty...and those who now support the Second Amendment as a means of attracting voters will suddenly take the opposite stance lest those they've taken from show up to reclaim their country.

It's all well and good to abhor gun violence, but a disarmed America will, one day, resemble Stalin's Soviet Union rather than the America we increasingly must delude ourselves into thinking "We, the People" control. If America retains her Second Amendment rights, the nation - the American people, that is, who ARE the nation - retain a chance when the power structure of the right finally overreaches and wakes even their somnambulant base up.

A disarmed America...think one gigantic "company town" combined with Stalin's Gulag.

[choonzer]

I am not a gun person and generally support more gun control, but I must disagree that this is about guns. In countries with much stricter controls, mentally ill/angry people go on rampages with machetes or other weapons. The salient issue in this case is how to identify and deal effectively with people who are suffering a mental breakdown. We outlaw guns for felons, and some states limit access to people diagnosed with certain mental illnesses, but intervening sooner and more aggressively AS the person is deteriorating is where we fail. In the name of civil rights, we allow completely psychotic people to roam our streets and refuse all treatment just as long as they're not blatantly threatening anyone or themselves.

Family after family struggles to coerce their mentally ill loved ones into treatment, but the laws don't exist to help them. So many psychotic disorders begin with mistrust of family, friends, professionals, etc, before progressing to full-blown paranoia. It's too late by then, and the family can only watch and wait until the person does something illegal or violent. Ask any family member of a person with severel mental illness. They've all laid awake at night wondering if the next phonecall will be tragic news.

[netjunkie1]

Sorry for all the victims that this man is legitimately insane.
As was the Joker(s), in the Batmen stories.

[choonzer]

One of the most difficult things to accomplish legally is to remove somebody's civil rights based on what they "might" do. Each state has different criteria for doing this, but it's not easy anyplace--nor should it be. Mental health professionals can't predict the future, so unless somebody makes overt threats of violence, it's almost impossible to lock them up. Even if you do accomplish it, it probably only buys you about 72 hours, since the person will figure out very quickly what to say in order to get out. If they rescind their threats, they can't continue to be held.

Mr. Holmes was clearly very intelligent and organized. He would have no trouble whatsoever avoiding civil commitment, regardless of whatever concerns mental health professionals had about him. A mental health degree does not equate to a crystal ball, much as we'd all like it to.

[CindyAugust]

With what I have seen in others suffering from psychosis, with intensifying delusions, 72 hours would have been enough. That's what the 72 hour hold is all about... the time period needed to observe in order to make a decision to treat over a longer period, with a judge's consent if the patient is unwilling. fact is, I suspect Holmes WAS willing. That's how it works. First the 72-hr hold, and then the 14-day hold. The patient still has rights, but the treating psychiatrist makes recommendations to a judge for treatment, especially if the patient is unwilling. The judge can even force medications if the patient is unwilling. James Holmes saw three university psychiatrists.... with what I know about patients, that indicates a patient seeking help. That notebook he sent to Lynne Fenton an entire week before the shooting also indicates a patient reaching out. I'm sorry.... the University of Colorado dropped the ball, ten times over. His doctors, his program faculty, and fellow students ALL saw the deterioration in James Holmes as he succumbed to a psychotic break. My gosh, even the gun range guy picked up on it in a matter of seconds after he listened to Holmes' phone recording. It didn't take a fancy degree to realize Holmes was sick, and getting sicker.

[jmn122736]

Throughout early human history the biggest, toughest man was always the ultimate ruler.

This fact did not change even after the discovery and use of metals for knives and swords.

The invention of the gun, however, effectively made ALL men the same size.

Today EVERY American home is made safer by the mere fact that they, more than likely, have guns for self-protection. Even homes without guns are safer because they MIGHT have guns.

While there are public places where guns should NOT be allowed, and many people who are just too mentally unstable, or too prone to criminal action that should not be allowed to LEGALLY buy guns, I doubt very seriously that any law or constitutional amendment that may be passed will prohibit Americans form possessing guns for self-protection.

I firmly believe this is the scenario that Charlton Heston was referring to with his famous statement about the government taking away his guns: "Only from my cold dead hands"
I personally, and I'm sure many other Americans as well, feel exactly the same way.

[jmn122736]

Gun control comments/arguments ALWAYS show up in articles like this.

Some of you might want to consider the effects of other past laws. Take for instance "prohibition" which outlawed the sale or purchase of Alcohol (wine, whiskey, beer, etc) and lasted from 1920 to 1933. The amendment was overturned but only after it caused legal havoc and gave us criminal gangs and infamous characters like Al Capone.

Presently we have outlawed almost all addictive drugs, and that has given us overcrowded prisons (many for relatively minor crimes), and of course the infamous Mexican/American drug cartels.

Just like prohibition and anti drug laws; Excessive gun laws will only HELP the criminal element and HARM the average American citizen

[nomorelibs]

All this story does, is point out the fact that if someone is crazy enough, there is nothing you can do about it. If a Dr were to say "lock him up, he's crazy" they would lose their license and be sued. We live in a free society and these things cannot be avoided. It sucks, but it's true! Arm yourselves and be ready for people like this. It's a lousy way to live, but it's not going to change anytime soon.

[jmn122736]

nomorelibs; the first part of your comment makes sense, the second part is pure crap, and BTW, your moniker turns off more than half of all Americans, and makes both you and your comments incredible.