<Tr> <Th> Criminal penalty </Th> <Td> 12 life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole, and an additional 3,318 years </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Criminal status </Th> <Td> Incarcerated </Td> </Tr> <P> James Eagan Holmes (born December 13, 1987) is an American prisoner convicted of the murder of 12 people and the attempted murder of 70 others in the 2012 Aurora shooting at a Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, on July 20, 2012 . Holmes surrendered outside the theater and informed offices he had booby - trapped his apartment with explosives, which were defused one day later by a bomb squad . </P> <P> Holmes had been an elite doctoral student in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Denver, which included a class on psychiatric and neurological disorders . He has stated he went into the field partly to understand his own personal difficulties since childhood . In the Spring of 2012, at the Anschutz Medical Campus, Holmes sought help with anxiety from a social worker, who referred him to a campus psychiatrist, who started him immediately on SSRI medication . Holmes had informed both, and a third psychiatrist who joined for two out of seven sessions, that he was thinking about killing people, without specifying individuals or methods . His mental state deteriorated and campus security were eventually warned . Holmes dropped out of his course and no one outside of the university was warned prior to the shooting . </P>

Who was the guy who shot up the movie theater