Dr. Lynne Fenton, the psychiatrist who had treated James Holmes, who is accused of killing 12 in Colorado cinema massacre, had before warned police he was a danger to the public.
Dr. Lynne Fenton told police of threatening text messages James Holmes sent after he stopped attending counseling, newly released court documents show.
James Holmes, 25, is charged with multiple counts of murder in the attack during a premier of a Batman film at Aurora theatre.
Prosecutors have rejected a guilty plea and seek the death penalty.
The trial had been scheduled for August, but a judge has pushed it back to February 2014.
Dr Lynne Fenton told police of threatening text messages James Holmes sent after he stopped attending counseling
In an affidavit taken after the shooting and unsealed on Thursday, University of Colorado Denver police Officer Lynn Whitten told investigators that Dr. Lynne Fenton had contacted her in June.
Dr. Lynne Fenton was following a legal requirement to report a specific threat to authorities, according to the document.
Lynn Whitten said the psychiatrist was making the report “due to homicidal statements [James Holmes] had made” and that Dr. Lynne Fenton said he sent threatening text messages to her after he stopped attending counseling sessions.
James Holmes was a graduate student in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Denver but was withdrawing from his studies after failing a key exam.
Previous reports said Dr. Lynne Fenton had told campus authorities about James Holmes, but not that she had made a report of specific threats.
A warrant also unsealed on Thursday described a package sent to Dr. Lynne Fenton before the massacre, apparently by James Holmes. It included a brown notebook labeled “Of Life” that officials believe to be a journal, as well as partially burned $20 bills.
The documents were previously sealed, but a new judge overseeing the case ordered them released following requests from media organizations.
Separately, Judge William Sylvester has removed himself from the case after prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty.
Judge William Sylvester said the move meant the case would take up so much time that he could not carry out his administrative duties as chief judge of a busy four-county district.
District Judge Carlos Samour took over the case on Monday.
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James Holmes, the suspect gunman at Aurora cinema, has been formally charged with 142 criminal counts in one of America’s worst mass shootings.
James Holmes, 24, faces 24 counts of murder, two for each of the 12 people killed, and 116 counts of attempted murder, two each for the 58 injured.
For each person killed he faces a count of murder with deliberation and one of murder with extreme indifference.
If convicted, James Holmes could face the death penalty.
James Holmes, the suspect gunman at Aurora cinema, has been formally charged with 142 criminal counts in one of America's worst mass shootings
James Holmes opened fire at random in a crowded movie theatre showing Batman film The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora near Denver on 20 July, according to the authorities.
The judge had banned cameras from Monday’s hearing, so there were no pictures of the defendant, who appeared dazed during his first court appearance last week.
James Holmes was reportedly quiet and unemotional during the hearing. At times, he appeared to be trying to focus his eyes.
Denver Post reporter John Ingold tweeted that the accused appeared “not quite engaged, but listening”.
When asked if he approved a delay in his bail hearing, the defendant leaned towards his lawyer and appeared to say “okay”, and then said “yes” quietly to the judge.
Survivors of the shooting and family members of those killed attended the hearing.
Several wore Batman shirts, including Don Lader, who was in the eighth row of the theatre when the shooting began. He told CNN he had seen the movie twice since that day.
Among the counts on the prosecutors’ sheet, James Holmes faces a gun charge and another of possessing an explosive or incendiary device.
James Holmes allegedly wired his apartment with enough explosives to destroy the entire building had they been detonated. It took authorities several days to dismantle the booby traps.
Court documents filed on Friday by defense lawyers said the suspect had been under the care of a psychiatrist at the University of Colorado Denver, where he had been in the process of dropping out as a neuroscience PhD student.
Monday’s hearing was also expected to address a package – discovered in a campus mailroom three days after the shootings – which the suspect addressed to that psychiatrist, Dr. Lynne Fenton.
The package reportedly contained descriptions of an attack, including drawings of a stick-figure gunman shooting people.
The defense team is seeking a court order requiring prosecutors to immediately turn over all evidence relating to the seizure of a package, citing doctor-patient privilege.
They have also lodged a motion to find out who leaked the existence of the package to the media, which they say could jeopardize the suspect’s right to a fair trial.
Prosecutors have said it will be several weeks before a decision is made on whether or not to seek the death penalty in the case.
As of Sunday, 10 victims of the 20 July shooting remained in hospital, four of them in a critical condition.
Ashley Moser, the critically injured mother of a six-year-old girl killed in the rampage in Aurora, has suffered a miscarriage, her family said on Saturday.
James Holmes, the man suspected of shooting 12 people dead at a Colorado cinema last week, sent a notebook describing a massacre to a psychiatrist at his university, according to US media reports.
It contained crude drawings of stick figures and descriptions of an upcoming attack, US news outlets say.
The University of Colorado, Denver, has confirmed that it received a suspicious package that it has handed to police.
James Holmes, 24, is being held over the massacre at the cinema in Aurora.
The reports emerged as the first funeral of the 12 victims was held.
James Holmes sent a notebook describing a massacre to a psychiatrist at his university
Gordon Cowden, 51, was the oldest of those killed. His teenage children were also in the theatre during the shootings but emerged uninjured.
Fox News, citing an unnamed law enforcement source, was first to report that the suspect had allegedly posted the notebook.
According to the network, it contained “full details about how he was going to kill people, drawings of what he was going to do in it, and drawings and illustrations of the massacre”.
Other outlets also quoted unnamed sources as saying that James Holmes, who was preparing to quit his studies, had sent a package to the university.
But the college itself appeared to contradict media reports that the package had been sent before the massacre, and that it had remained unopened for days.
Officials at the university’s Anschutz Medical Campus said it had received a suspicious package on Monday that was immediately investigated and turned over to authorities within hours of its delivery.
The FBI refused to comment on the record about the reports, a day after a judge issued a gagging order limiting what officials can say about the case.
James Holmes was a neuroscience PhD student at the college until he took steps last month to leave the programme.
Many remain in hospital after the shootings, with several in critical condition.
Denver-area hospitals that are treating survivors said on Wednesday they would eliminate or limit medical bills for the casualties, some of whom had no medical insurance and faced huge costs.
New reports give details about James Holmes, the psychotic gunman who killed 12 people at a screening of the new Batman film on Thursday night.
James Holmes, 24, was a PhD student who was described as “really smart” but was in the process of dropping out of graduate school at the University of Colorado Denver.
He is said to have had few friends and barely any social life, instead spending hours indoors playing the video game Guitar Hero.
Police are currently baffled as to Holmes’s motives for launching the deadly attack which injured 71 people as they watched blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises at a midnight showing in Aurora, a suburb of Denver.
However, one clue may come in a report that the killer, whose family comes from San Diego, had dyed his hair red and described himself as “the Joker”, implying that he was inspired by the popular Batman series itself.
Although James Holmes described himself as “easy-going”, neighbors and classmates recalled an anti-social recluse who had little contact with others.
Officials do not currently believe that the gunman had terror links, adding to the mystery of his possible motives.
“It clearly looks like a deranged individual,” NYPD police chief Ray Kelly said.
“He had his hair painted red. He said he was <<The Joker>>, obviously the enemy of Batman.”
A neighbor also reported that police, who were searching James Holmes’s apartment for explosives, asked him if he had seen “a white guy with crazy hair, possibly dyed unnatural colors”, the Denver Post said.
But neighbors at university housing in Denver described James Holmes as a recluse who kept himself to himself. One student said: “No one knew him. No one.”
James Holmes was a PhD student who was described as “really smart” but was in the process of dropping out of graduate school at the University of Colorado Denver
James Holmes – who had been working towards his PhD for a year before dropping out – had one techno song blaring from his stereo in the hours before the massacre and left the music on repeat in his booby-trapped apartment as he departed to commit the massacre.
He was also reportedly addicted to video game Guitar Hero.
His shocked mother in San Diego confirmed that he was behind the massacre, telling reporters: “You’ve got the right man.”
After graduating from Westview High School in 2006, James Holmes studied neuroscience at the University of California Riverside, where he graduated with honors.
Neighbors in California said that James Holmes moved to Colorado to attend graduate school after failing to find a job.
The university said he was dropping out because of academic issues, and had not had any disciplinary problems.
The gunman described himself as “quiet and easy-going” in a rental application last year, and high school classmates confirmed that impression in interviews with the Los Angeles Times.
Dan Kim, currently a student at UC San Diego, said: “He didn’t seem like a troublemaker at all. He just seemed like he wanted to get in and out, and go to college.”
James Holmes ran in Westview’s cross country team with Tori Burton, who said: “He was very quiet. He was a nice guy when you did occasionally talk to him. But he was definitely more introverted.”
Another classmate, Keith Goodwin, spoke of his shock at seeing the “generally pleasant” young man hit the news for his role in the massacre.
“James was certainly not someone I would have ever imagined shooting somebody,” said Keith Goodwin.
James Holmes has only ever had contact with police over a traffic violation, according to the New York Times, who spoke to two law-enforcement officials about the gunman.
“He’s not on anybody’s radar screen,” said one official, while the other added: “This guy is somewhat of an enigma. Nobody knows anything about him.”
The killer’s family appealed for privacy as they described their anguish at seeing James Holmes involved in massacre.
“Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families and friends of those involved,” they said in a statement released by San Diego police.
“We ask that the media respect our privacy during this difficult time.
“Our family is cooperating with authorities in both San Diego, California and Aurora, Colorado. We are still trying to process this information and we appreciate that people will respect our privacy.”
Jackie Mitchell, a furniture mover who lives several blocks from the suspect’s apartment building in Colorado, said he had drinks with James Holmes at a local bar on Tuesday night, though he gave no sign of being distressed or violent.
After James Holmes approached him “we just talked about football. He had a backpack and geeky glasses and seemed like a real intelligent guy, and I figured he was one of the college students,” Jackie Mitchell said.
When Jackie Mitchell saw James Holmes’s photo after the shooting, “the hair stood up on my back,” he said.
“I know this guy.”
Another neighbor, Rachel Reed, said she met James Holmes in a local bar when she put rap music by Lil Wayne on the jukebox.
He came over and “made some racially charged comments about rap,” she said. “He seemed like he was a normal dude. He was a little buzzed.”
James Holmes is not talking to police and has asked for a lawyer, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
His first court appearance is set for Monday morning at 9.30.
