James Holmes, 24, is seen in this undated handout picture released by the University of Colorado, Friday. Holmes is the suspect in a shooting attack which killed 12 people at a midnight premiere of the new Batman movie in a suburb of Denver early Friday. – Reuters AURORA – The suspect, James Holmes, 24, in a shooting spree in a US movie theater had no prior criminal record and seems to have been working alone, the police chief in Aurora, Colorado said Friday at the scene. “His history with the police department is one traffic summons for speeding in October of 2011. We have no other criminal history,” said Dan Oates. The suspect wearing a gas mask set off an unknown gas and fired into the crowded Colorado movie theater at a midnight opening of the latest Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises”, killing at least 12 people and injuring at least 50, authorities said. US President Barack Obama Friday ordered US flags to be flown at half-mast for six days to honor the victims. “As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels ... until sunset, July 25,” Obama said in a statement. Eyewitnesses said that when the smoke began to spread, some moviegoers thought it was a stunt that was part of the most highly anticipated films of the summer. Then they saw a silhouette of a person in the smoke at the front of the theater, pointing a gun at the crowd. “There were bullet (casings) just falling on my head. They were burning my forehead,” Jennifer Seeger said, adding that the gunman, dressed like a SWAT team member, fired steadily except when he stopped to reload. “Every few seconds it was just boom, boom, boom,” Seeger said. “He would reload and shoot and anyone who would try to leave would just get killed.” Authorities did not release a motive. The FBI said there was no indication the shooting was tied to any terrorist groups. FBI agents and police also discovered Holmes' apartment was booby trapped. Authorities evacuated five buildings as they determined how to disarm flammable and explosive material. The Pentagon said some military members were either killed or wounded. Aurora is home to a large Defense Department satellite intelligence operation at Buckley Air Force Base. Holmes was studying neuroscience in a PhD program at the University of Colorado-Denver graduate school, university spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery said. University officials earlier said he was a student at the university's medical school. Holmes was in the process of withdrawing at the time of the shootings, Montgomery said. “The Dark Knight Rises” opened across the world Friday, but the shooting prompted officials to cancel the Paris premiere, with workers pulling down the red carpet display at a theater on the famed Champs-Elysees Avenue. – Agencies
