Colorado shooter: a high achiever's abrupt descent

Reuters ^ | July 23, 2012 | Stephanie Simon and Dan Whitcomb

[Mrs. Don-o]

For most of his 24 years, James Holmes seemed to be doing everything right.

He worked for a summer as a counselor at a camp for needy kids, guiding them through activities designed to teach empathy, compassion and good citizenship. Another summer, he snagged a prestigious internship at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

He attended church with his family in their quiet, upper-middle-class San Diego neighborhood, listening to his sister play bass in the worship band. He breezed through high school and college, taking a strong interest in science and graduating with honors from the University of California, Riverside.

Friends and acquaintances of Holmes say they had no inkling that anything was awry with him --

"It's absurd. It's so out of character for this young man," said Jerry Borgie, senior pastor at Penasquitos Lutheran Church in San Diego, where the Holmes family worshipped. "James had goals. He was going to succeed."

But a few hints have emerged in recent days that Holmes may have struggled far more than those around him realized.

His summer internship at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, in 2006 might have been impressive on paper, but...

[DiogenesLamp]

No, but if they should develop a test that shows a baby/young adult is not producing the chemical in their brain that keeps them predesposed from being violent and a medication or other treatment is available that treats this condition then it should be done...just as thousands of medical conditions of all types are currently being used to treat illness.

Were this possible, we would have no need for this conversation. They would not end up killing someone because they would have had their chemical imbalance corrected. As it is not currently possible, we are still left with the need to address the fact that they are dangerous and have already killed.

To me it's a no-brainer. Mental illness ought not be a shield against the death penalty.

[Persevero]

“Are you saying the Bible(God) say’s we should punish these people with death even though it is 100% out of their control?.....and yes people have such psychosis it is out of their control. “

I see no exception for the death penalty in scripture. If you find one, let me know. Death penalty is for adults, so, we could argue what an adult is. But there is no exception for psychosis or what have you.

If people are that messed up, thinking perhaps I am a demon and need killing, then putting them to death may in fact be a mercy to them. As well as to all of their future victims.

If they are truly innocent they will end up in heaven. God is just. His word is good.

[Wonder Warthog]

"I honestly think there are more people that believe in demonic posession on FR than that believe it’s possible for there to be chemically, structurally, or genetically based mental illness."

I suspect the boy got into some of the experimental brain drugs and fried his thinker. (Commercial: "this is your brain.....this is your brain on drugs").

And in my experience, most of the people who major in any for of "mental health study" are trying to understand why they, themselves, are nuts.

[trailhkr1]

If people are that messed up, thinking perhaps I am a demon and need killing, then putting them to death may in fact be a mercy to them. As well as to all of their future victims. If they are truly innocent they will end up in heaven. God is just. His word is good.

So, a person does something out of their total control and they should be put to death for it? (I think they should be in prison the rest of their lives).... this is why people are running away from religion in droves....Full of fail...or at least your interpretation of it.

[Persevero]

“So, a person does something out of their total control and they should be put to death for it? (I think they should be in prison the rest of their lives).... this is why people are running away from religion in droves....Full of fail...or at least your interpretation of it. “

Sorry you feel that way. . . but here’s how I would phrase it:

So, a person commits a cold blooded murder and should be put to death for it? Yes.

Why you see a life in prison as some compassionate alternative to God’s standards, I don’t know.

[trailhkr1]

So, a person commits a cold blooded murder and should be put to death for it? Yes.

Yes, I agree if it was a crime of passion and the person was sane..

Why you see a life in prison as some compassionate alternative to God’s standards, I don’t know.

God's standard?? Man wrote the Bible...some things in the Bible should be taken literal(Tho shall not kill etc) and some not..The Bible has way too many contradiction to be taken literal...isn't there osme scripture that you should kill your wayward daughter? Camel humpers 3000 years ago knew nothing of causes of mental illness...they thought these people were possessed by demons and goblins..

Can't believe God would want a person dead due to something that was out of their control such as a severe case of pscyhosis...which... didn't God allow that to happen??? Why is God then screwing this innocent person??