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David Mcnew / Getty Images file
Television news crews gather in front of the home of Robert and Arlene Holmes, parents of James Eagan Holmes, 24, who is accused of killing 12 and injuring 58 people in a Colorado movie theater shooting.
As news crews swarmed outside the tile-roofed house of accused shooter James Eagan Holmes’ parents in an upscale suburb of San Diego, a stranger 1,300 miles away in Texas grieved for those inside.
“I’ve been worried about the family,” said Lois Robison, 78. “I know what it’s like to find out your son has killed several people.”
Last Friday, when Holmes allegedly opened fire in a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., his parents, Robert and Arlene Holmes, were instantly thrust into a club that no one wants to join: family members of notorious killers.
Like the parents of Tucson shooter Jared Loughner, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Columbine High School killers Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, they’re quickly becoming pariahs, publicly reviled for raising a monster.
But a group organized on behalf of murder victims’ families urges compassion and understanding for the families of murderers, too.
They suffer in a different way than those who lose loved ones to violence, said Renny Cushing, founder and executive director of Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, or MVFHR, which has organized support sessions for killers' families.
“I became really painfully aware of the ostracism that takes place,” said Cushing, whose father was murdered in 1988. “Immediately, there’s this thought that families must have done something to cause this, that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
That’s all too familiar to Robison, a retired third-grade teacher. Her son, Larry Keith Robison, was executed in 2000 in Texas for the grisly murders of five people, including an 11-year-old boy. He had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at age 21, three years before the 1982 murders.
Though it’s been nearly 30 years since the crime, Robison still clearly recalls the shock and horror of the early days -- and the reaction of some in the community of Burleson, Texas. Reporters surrounded her home; in ensuing months, some parents asked to have their children removed from her class.
No longer were they Ken and Lois Robison, the local schoolteachers.
“We became the parents of a mass murderer,” said Robison.
It’s a shift that happens quickly as a restless public searches for someone or something to blame for senseless acts of murder, said Cushing.
Indeed, Arlene Holmes, 58, a registered nurse, and Robert Holmes, 61, a scientist, are being publicly reviled. Some Internet commenters have called them “abusive” and suggested that they are responsible for their son's alleged acts.
Theater shooting suspect James Eagan Holmes appeared in court for the first time Monday where a judge explained why he was being held on no bond. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.
“Where were YOU Mother why didn’t you take care of him,” read one NBCNews.com comment. “To me it sounds like a bad mother.”
Another expressed “pity” for the family -- but with a twist:
“I know that if it had been one of my sons who did this I would be absolutely shattered (not that it could ever be one of them as there must have been signs.)”
The Holmes family has expressed sorrow for the 12 people killed and 58 injured in the attacks, and, through their lawyer, asked for privacy as they grapple with the situation.
They indicated they would stand by their son through the ordeal.
“I think anyone can imagine how they’re feeling, anyone who’s ever been a parent,” said lawyer and family spokeswoman Lisa Damiani at a press conference Monday.
Ted S. Warren / AP
As many as 12 people were killed and 50 injured at a shooting at the Century 16 movie theatre in Aurora, Colo. early Friday during the showing of the latest Batman movie.
Families of murderers are grief-stricken after such a tragedy, but, unlike the families of the victims, they may feel they have no right to their feelings, said Bud Welch, whose 23-year-old daughter, Julie, was killed in the Oklahoma City bombings in 1995.
Welch met with Bill McVeigh, the father of Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for the crime.
“It’s really difficult for them, it really is,” said Welch, a member of MVFHR, which opposes the death penalty for murderers. “Bill McVeigh can never say anything publicly about anything Tim did that was nice.”
Instead, the family members of the killers struggle for the rest of their lives with shame and guilt over their loved one’s acts.
“I said, 'Bill, you have nothing to apologize for. You did not do it. You did not contribute to it,' " Welch recalled.
That message has provided some solace to other families of murderers. Welch met with the parents of Eric Harris, one of the two killers who led, and died in, the 1999 Columbine High School shootings.
Public sentiment vilified Wayne and Kathy Harris, Eric’s parents, and also Tom and Sue Klebold, the parents of Dylan Klebold, the other Columbine shooter.
“People were so angry. They said, ‘How were those boys raised?’” Welch said. “They weren’t raised any damn different than any of the kids in Littleton.”
Lois Robison said she and her husband, Ken, now 81, have found comfort and empowerment in speaking out about their son's crime, and about the need for adequate care for mental illness. They had great support from family members and those in the community who knew them, she added.
"When this happened, my husband said 'We can do one of two things,'" Lois Robison recalls. "We can crawl into a cave and pull a rock in there behind us. Or we can tell the truth and try to keep it from happening to someone else.'"
Bud Welch said he’s tempted now to reach out to victims of Aurora, both the families of those who were killed -- and the family of the alleged killer.
“These family members in Aurora, they’re going through so much grief. They need so much help,” he said. “The family of shooter? God only knows they’re going through hell, too.”
More on Vitals:
- Transplanted lungs didn't come from Colo. victims, despite reports
- Mass murderers often not mentally ill, but seeking revenge, experts say
- Colo. ER doc: 'Oh, my heart sank'
In the Colorado city where one of the worst mass shootings in American history took place, the massacre prompted many to seek firearms for self-defense. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.
Leave a Comment:
The news media are like vultures circling carrion!
The ills of our society are pernicious.
The Media Has no business being on their front Lawn and should leave .blaming parents is a waste is a time and completely off base..
One of the earliest conversations I had with my aunt who live in Aurora was she felt bad for the parents of the shooter as she knew they would be vilified by their friends and the press and I had to agree that everyone would look at someone else to blame besides the man who pulled the trigger. This couple is suffering enough as it is. I am sure their circle of friends is shrinking and they are finding out who their real friends are. They are suffering twice as much knowing their son did this and still trying to care about him and than coming to the reality that he did this horrible thing and they should be given as much compassion as someone who was shot as they are victims of this tragedy that their ADULT son perpetrated as much as the people he actually shot. God bless them and keep them safe through this
The media is the ONLY one saying the parents are monsters. They HAVE to, its beyond their ability to not spin lies into the news.
No one I know of ever mentioned his parents. I do not even see one post here blaming them yet the mentality of MSNBC is to create a stroy from nothing. By the looks of the parents lawn, all other news media plays the same game.
You heard the 911 tapes from GZ that NBC posted right? Kind of tells you how trustworthy news outlates really are.
First, there are so many sites discussing the shooting that you can't have read them all (including their comments). Second, I have read numerous comments blaming the parents. Third, if you want to find them, don't look at the article's OWN comments...
God bless them - but in careers like they are employed in - nurse and scientist - they certainly had the intellectual capacity to look at, and scrutinize their adult son enough - to know. If he was changing, if his mental status was changing.
I am certain we ALL can do more to help those that mentally suffer in order to BE BETTER advocates for preventing tragedies like this. The family is the front line of prevention. HELP YOUR RELATIVES in regard to recognizing symptoms of mental disease. Help them - get help. Take psychosis seriously. Just because you are a scientist and/or you are a nurse - don't be so involved in your careers that you fail to recognize your own son slipping into troubling mental distress.
For all we know, their son had cut off contact with them many months, if not years ago, and was four states away. If a person does not want to be found by family members, or in contact with them, it's not as difficult as one might think.
The parents are not to blame for this creep's doings. Once a kid is old enough to be a postdoctoral student, it is well past the responsibility of the parents. Leave them alone and concentrate on why the kid snapped.
Huh? None of us are "responsible" for our family members? Come on....
Of course we are. Especially if we could have HELPED them out - in regard to end running a criminal tragedy.
We are ALL responsible for each other. Especially one family member for another. Or else why do we recognize families are being significant human conditions.
This family needs to be vetted out along with all of the other evidentiary components of this criminal case. If they knew and they did nothing. If they were informed, intellectual adults who KNEW their son was exhibiting deepening psychiatric distress they are RESPONSIBLE to society for not doing enough. Bottom line - could that have done MORE in order to protect society from their son?
We know need a full criminal investigation to answer that troubling appropriate question. We NEED to know more about his parents. Because his family perhaps very really SHOULD HAVE DONE MORE.
If they knew what, exactly?
Should have done what?
Lorraine, that is a completely ignorant comment. By all accounts, the kid was a successful, brilliant genius up until the day he became responsible for this tragedy. Typically 'bad' parents wouldn't raise a son with that much promise. Since he was an adult, and living in a completely different part of the country, there is a good chance they didn't know anything about his mental state. I don't know many college kids (or teenagers for that matter) that confide in their parents like they do when they are kids. Adults can choose to answer the phone or not, or blow their parents off... C'mon now.... I don't call my daddy every time I have a bad day or I fail a test or I'm out of money. I also don't go shooting up people in movie theaters. As an adult, I am 100% responsible for the choices I do or don't make, just as Holmes is. How dare you point a finger at the parents? My heart goes out to them, and it's so completely sickening that you would make an assumption like that.
He is an adult and responsible for what he did - period. I also do not believe for a moment that he is insane. He was a student of neuroscience - the brain. If anything he knows how to act insane! He had a grant of $26,000 from the government - which it seems he spent on guns. He planned everything to the last detail. He wants to be famous and will go down in infamy -which is what he wants. Any parent of adult children knows there is nothing you can do to help your kids if they don't want to be helped or if they are determined to do something that they want to do, whether you agree with them or not. My heart goes out to these parents and all the families of victims of this horrific act.
Holy crap. I never even thought of his parents until the media brought it up. Look at the flies all over the law of his parents house. Thats so funny. The desperation to get money/ratings is pathetic.
How about showing the braodcasting corps. CEOs cheer every time some mass murder kills a bunch of people.
How about showing the profits of news companies sky rockets when people die.
Leeches. Flies on crap is all they are. Then they cant even cover a story without bias twisting it to make it more sensational.
Hey NBC, have the 911 tapes from G.Z. re-edited lately?
Ah, dude - if you stop and think about it - if the parents knew their adult son was exhibiting signs of deepening psychosis what did the dad who is a scientist and his mom - who is a nurse, for Pete's sake - think was going to happen?
When human beings slip into deepening untreated chronic psychiatric PSYCHOSIS a scientist and a nurse should know that something needs to be done - in order to protect not only their adult son - but every single one of us out in the greater public.
Cautionary news story people - don't ignore your neighbor, your co-worker, you relative - if they are exhibiting signs of having deepening mental health psychosis. Help them. Get them help. Take a huge risk and report them - in order to stop tragedies like Colorado's mass murder from occuring.
Lorraine, do me a favor. Give the police a call and tell them that your uncle is weird and you think maybe he's kinda crazy and might hurt somebody...but to your knowledge, he's never actually done anything illegal and he is not interested in any treatment of any sort because he says he's fine. See how far it gets you. Do you really think, in today's climate of budget cuts, that you're going to get some sort of team to investigate or treat an individual like that, who hasn't actually done anything? Being weird isn't a crime and a lot of times it isn't even indicative of an illness. Unfortunately, hindsight is always 20/20.
Lorraine you seem to forget he was not living at home!!! In any case, the mother being a nurse does not make her an expert in psychiatric matters!
Lorraine,
There is no evidence to support your statement. There was no one that saw him slip into deepening untreated chronic psychiatric PSYCHOSIS, especially not his scientist father or nurse mother. they were not even living in the same state. How would they possibly have been able to see these signs from 4 states away! My adult son is in the Navy in New York about to graduate Nuclear Power School, a very stressful program and I am in IL, I talk to him regularly on the phone, but do not get to see him, tell me how I would be able to know if he is slipping into a deepening untreated chronic psychiatric PSYCHOSIS! I wouldnt be able to anymore than these parents would have! Get over your self-righteous rantings!
Once again, Lorraine, you are ignorant.
I can't recall...have we been able to tar and feather the parents of the racists who lynched black people yet? What kind of monster raises a racist capable of killing someone because of the color of their skin...how about the parents of those white texas punks who dragged the black man to his death...did the local whites tar and feather them or were they given a statue?
Statue.
Ok, I will bite....
What did race have to do with this article?
But to answer your question..."yes". There are certain groups allowed to harrass and threaten (even kill) those who have had children commit crimes racially motivated or just blamed as such. This group always screams "racist" yet commits more racial crimes than any other group.
Just saying.
Just to add, since were "keeping score", hate crimes and retaliation crimes are created and caused by blacks 4.3:1 vs any other race. Thats asian, mexican (although Mexicans were just a hair behind Blacks) and then followed by Whites who are in the tail end.
The only group I have yet seen that riots in the streets and kills innocent people, destroys innocent businesses, does retaliation crimes are black americans. Mexicans do retaliation crimes but the statistics on them is against their own race.
Sorry, there has, and probably always will be (in your's and mine own l;ifetime) more crimes against whites then against any other race.
But, as far as I care it doesnt matter who does what to whom....they are all scum to me. Hate crime or retaliation crime...they are losers to the Nth degree along with anyone else who hates another race for any peticular reason.
One good thing about hate crimes and retaliation crimes or Racial crimes...it brings out those people who are racist and hateful into the light so you can really see the true numbers and feelings of racists.
Welcome to the light.
You can do your best as a parent, set wonderful examples, be there for them through thick and thin, sometimes you really do end up with a bad seed. This man was an ADULT who according to the media plotted and planned, It seems to have nothing to do with the movie or his childhood years. He made the choice to act the way he did.
How right you are. Nature vs Nurture? 9 times out of 10 NATURE wins.
I really dont see how the parents are to blame in this case, the dude had moved out and was on his own long before he decided to become a notorious killer, it would suck to have the media perched in front of your house like the vultures they are, give them a break until the facts start rolling in.
Media does play a huge role when this kind of tragedy unfolds. For me, the parents of victims suffer the loss of a loved one who can be remembered and talked of with fondness. For the parents of the perpetrator, it is a double loss. First, their child is responsible for causing death. They cannot grieve for such a loss because their child is still alive. Secondly, their child is lost to them because that child will be killed by the state or incarcerated forever because of his/her actions. A second loss. And they suffer the awful words of those who strike out without thinking.
Mental illness is not common. But it is found in many families who work daily to minimize effects in their child. Once that child becomes an adult, they lose some of their authority over the actions of that child. But never do they lose the desire to protect their own and by extension those of others, from the unforeseen actions that might occur.
Whether a Klebold or a Holmes, that too was someone's kid. And that parent is still suffering as is the parent of the child killed at Columbine, as is the parent of the kid killed at Century theatre. Those pains will never go away.
Those parents do not need the vilification of the public to know the horror. They certainly do not need those who justify their remarks by qualifying them with the addendum that "their kids would never..." You do not know what your kids will do. You only know what you taught them. How they chose to disregard or respect what you taught is up to them. It comes with adulthood. In the case of mental illness, there are variables that cannot be seen before a situation arises with horrendous results. Do not judge, lest you be judged.
What do these "journalists" hope to exploit from the parents? That he was a bedwetter? Find something newsworthy.
In my mind there are only two reasons for anyone to blame the parents ...
Either they aren't parents themselves, and so have no idea how challenging the role is ... OR
... they are teriffied they may be raising a monster themselves, and need to feel they'd be able to spot the signs (assuming there ever are any).
Parents raising children like this can't do much, it seems to me. If they report their kid to the police and the kid hasn't done anything yet, the police can't do much. If they put their kid in therapy, the family goes broke with medical bills, traumatizing the other siblings even worse, and the kid is still a threat.
I had posted this the other day regarding another article on this story. I do feel for the parents because I had a boyfriend with schizophrenia and he was able to present himself to his parents as "fine". Everyone thought "I" was crazy for telling them about his strange behaviors, until they finally saw them for themselves around the time he cracked.
I worked as an LPN (nurse) in a mental facility and a drug rehab. Also, my first boyfriend, I was 18 he was 22, he became schizoprhenic, I later found out that it ran in his family and I learned more about mental illness as I became and worked as a nurse. I have seen people come into the drug/alcohol rehabs with both addiction and mental illness issues. While it is horrible what happened to these victims, families and all involved, my thoughts and prayers are with you and yours.
I watched my very intelligent boyfriend run his father's company for a few years. Later I watched his mental capabilities flip on and off. I kept trying to tell his family that something was wrong with him, he would talk to the vents in the ceiling, talk to matchstick books and talk to the tv when it was on a static/snowy channel. He thought the CIA was after him planting microchips in my wristwatch to spy on him. Then when his parents would come home, he could and did act normal. Everyone thought I was crazy. Finally, after about 8 months, he broke down and was put in a mental facility where he was diagnosed as schizophrenic and that he had been having delusions and hallucinations and hearing voices for 2 years prior. I had only seen his behavior change for months. He was then put on heavy medication which made him look and act like this James Holmes did in court.
I believe Holmes was highly medicated and not acting. I believe he is intelligent and you know they say there is a fine line between genius and insanity. I have seen it first hand. I have also seen drug induced schizophrenia, which basically is the same, just not genetic necessarily. Schizophrenia skips a generation usually and I later found out that my boyfriend's grandmother had it. I have a daughter with this guy, whom I left after she was born. Now I have to wonder if she has a child, will it affect her future kids? She is aware of this and is in the medical field as well.
The mind and mental illness are truly not well understood. He could have any mental illness or tumor. I believe that he was on and off insane, prior to and including the incident and I believe he is incompetent, currently to stand trial. Yes, I know you will all hate me and bash me, but if you have any true knowledge of mental illness and the affects of it, you might respond differently.
For those that just want vigilante style justice, you are no better than the crime committed.
And for all of your information, THE MASK FOUND AT HIS APARTMENT WAS OF THE "BATMAN" SERIES,NOT NECESSARILY "BATMAN", and that was reported by police. It could have been the Joker, Catwoman, etc. None of us know for sure. I hope that all the people who want to kill this guy rethink their mental, emotional and spiritual selves. Schizophrenia usually happens in the late teens early 20's and it can happen to your loved ones. It is an ugly disease. And no, most schizophrenics don't commit murder, but my boyfriend almost killed me on 3 occasions, due to his paranoid behavior. That is why I left and took my daughter away and was granted sole custody with monitored visits, which he was never able to participate in due to his mental capacity. My daughter did not see her father from that time for over ten years after they had found some meds that actually worked, when he took them. I hope it never happens to anyone. I wish this incident never happened. I also worked with a doctor in my nursing field who had a schizophrenic son. THe doctor had tons of money but he could not control his young adult son who would go on and off his meds and then walk the streets homeless. THe doctor devoted much time and money into finding cures, raising awareness and trying to help mentally ill patients. He tried to do something good. We all should.... And don't blame the parents just yet or if at all, they may not have known a thing. Mental illness is very strange and a lot is still unkown about it. God Bless the victims and families, those affected and the parents.
I just got an update that James Holmes had sent a notebook with diagrams of the act drawn in it and he sent it to a psychiatrist before the incident but it had not been opened before the shooting. This is from the police. He may very well lapsed into schizophrenia over the time he was in Colorado and cracked on the night of the shooting, but he must have felt that something was wrong with himself in order to send that notebook to the psychiatrist and to inform the cops of the booby trapped apartment. That is how my boyfriend acted, He would be fine for hours or even days and then he would start acting so bizarre. He even had me believing some of his paranoid rants. And yes, I had to seek treatment as a result of that relationship and what happened to me.
.37.2 Much of what you write is true, from the medical standpoint. Some is inconsistant with facts as I have heard them. While Mr. Holmes did tell the police they needed to go to his apartment, he was not totally forthcoming about what they would find. In addition, once they had his address, he refused any other information. He zipped his lip and said nothing else.
Excellent article. Too bad witness protection can't help them out. In this case, it was obvious that the mother, at least, was bending over backwards to help police (her instant response was, "You've got the right person")
This is equal to saying the gun killed these people instead of the person with the gun.
Lay blame where it deserves to be laid.
Until we know ALL - the parents in this specific case could be complicit and an accessory to the crime. Especially if they knew their adult son was slipping in to a deepening distressed psychiatric state.
People wake up - take mental distress seriously. Just because you are a scientist yourself. And your wife is a nurse doesn't mean it can't be YOUR SON that is hit with chronic debilitating mental disease.
Take mental illness seriously. And let's all start protecting those that suffer - and keep them safe. Obviously this man in Colorado needed someone paying attention to his deepening psychosis. Where was his family - in regard to helping him out. Keeping him safe. Protecting him from going off the edge and over the edge and into this monstrous scenario wherein dozens and dozens of innocent people are now his crime victims. All because...
We're never going to know all. As a former mental health professional I'll tell you that right now. And you're already assuming the parents had the responsibility for this.
What you're asking for is proof that they didn't. You can't disprove a negative.
Again, you're proceeding on the assumption that the parents knew there was something wrong, and yet you have absolutely no evidence of this.
I assume that if you have children, when they're adults, you're required them to live withi 5 miles of your house so you can be "Protecting them from going off the edge and over the edge and into this monstrous scenario."
Because you never know...
It is far too early to know how to "feel" about any of the players in this criminal case. If in fact the parent of this adult male mass murderer knew he was slipping into a psychotic state or was exhibiting symptoms of deepening psychiatric distress they SHOULD have done as much or more - than any other person on planet earth, for the simple reason that this was their son, they were intimately involved in his life, and they are responsible to society to report to the authorities any disturbing change in their adult son. ANY of it.
Far too early to know a danged thing. I reserve my right to wait to be told - just how much this scientist father and registered nurse mom knew about their mass murdering son. They do NOT get a free pass less than a week after his son went on a monstrous mass murdering and mass injuring crime spree. Until we know all - about the parents as well as their son - I reserve my right to suspect everyone in this man's life. Every single one of them. The parents included.
Lorraine-312180, "responsibility to report to authorities" Are you that naive? If every parent called the police for "unusual" behavior on their kids, the phones would be ringing non stop! Police will not get involvled until a crime has been committed!
Seriously? Who would you call? You'd have better luck calling ghost busters!
If you're a mother of a son over the age of 18, you can't even call their doctor and get information, patient/ doctor confidentiality. A concerned mother then looks like a budinsky in their adult sons' life.
Then you should also include his neighbors, his professors, the clerk at the local convenience store as well. Amnyone who had any sort of repeated contact with him. Why shouldn't they also be held responsible?
Lorraine you must be a troll. If not, then you extremely ignorant.
Lorraine,
But you are not waiting! You are passing judgment without any evidence and then making a comment that you reserve the right to wait! THEN WAIT, stop the double talk!!!!!
Lorraine, your comments are presumptuous. He is and ADULT, living in a different city. Hell, parents of adults pretty much only get the warm and fuzzies from their kids, because most kids don't want to alarm or worry parents.
One of the problems is that even though parents might see warning signs that their son is mentally ill, the son is over 21 and the parents have NO way of making them get help. Saddly, the unusual signs are mixed with the normal coming of age angst young men go through. It's a game of wait and see and pray to God every night it's not your son.
I'm not a professional mental health expert but I do believe James was mentally ill. Our society has a long way to go in treating, diagnosing, mental illness.
Prayers for the victims, James and all the families.
I do not believe James is mentally ill. I think he wants us to THINK he is mentall ill, ergo the performance at his court hearing. He wanted to be recognized. He wanted to be famous. Now he is. His family has said they will stand behind him, a fact of which I'm sure he was already aware of. Now he will get his notoriety, fame and get to spend years hearing his name spoken while his family spends hundreds of thousands of dollars clogging the courts with appeals on his behalf, negotiating movie and book deals, and in the meantime, he will be living like a celeb in prison, eating, exercising, watching tv ect. while we foot the bill. Don't fall for the okey doke.
So we can all assume that if you had a child that you had raised and loved for more than two decades and he/she did something like this your immediate response would be to say, "Sorry, I never heard of him. Not my problem."
I don't rightly know. But what I do know is that when you assume, you make as ass out of u & me.
If you "don't rightly know" then who are you to say what the parents should have done?
Don't think I did. Try and keep up Bubba.
Blame the parents?????? These poor people are victims as well! You may as well say Holmes killed 14 people because guaranteed, they are wishing they were dead right about now! In no way can they be held responsible for their adult son's actions!
I do feel very badly for his parents; however, I have to say that since it appears his mother was not a bit surprised to hear her son had committed this act, she obviously knew he was severely disturbed. To know this and just let time go by without moving heaven and earth to get help for her son or to alert authorities in any way is egregious, in my mind. As a parent myself, I know that nothing would stop me from trying to get help for my children, even as adults. It might not be easy, but it is possible.
Where on earth did you hear that?
My only thoughts are with the victims and their families. I will leave it to the Colorado Courts to decide the case. I will say that I feel this is not the parents fault.
I truly feel for the families of murderers. They are victims in their own right & it's sad that they get blamed for what the murderer did. Mr. & Mrs. Holmes, it's not your fault that your son has done what he did. He is a sick individual for whatever reason, no one knows at this point. I pray for you both as you go through the trials & tribulations associated with this. May God Bless & keep you safe.
Amen!
Kat, I too second your comments. God bless and keep you safe, Mr. and Mrs Holmes. And God help your son. Amen.
That's because there are too many people in this country that are just plain ignorant.
Leave the parents out of it, it would be the right thing to do.
People are scared because of what happened and need to explain it by blaming the parents. While it may very rarely be that simple, it hardly ever is. And while there may have been signs that he wasn't completely mentally healthy, I think that might apply to half of the people who are trying to blame the parents.
My heart goes out to the families of the victims as well as the family of the shooter. They didn't participate and not only do they have to deal with the horror of what their son did, they have to deal with narrow minded people who try to blame them for what happened instead of blaming the man wielding the gun.
Its the news media lying about people blaming the parents. Read the posts here.....not one thinks the parents are to blame. The article is just hype to create a story.
Lok at the yard....I bet there is not ONE normal person there. I would bet my life its all media personel and they have to justify and create from nothing a stroy about it.
Lorraine does; she's alread said it here several times.
Morons arise!!! I was waiting for this. Has to be the parents fault. In these kinds of bizarre stunts, parents have no way of knowing what someone else is up to when they are no longer raising them. Is it their fault if their father or brother does something too? What the frack! These are blood thirsty aholes who accuse and they are just as potentially dangerous as the nut who pulled the trigger. Irrational hatred is always dangerous.
You do realize not ONE person in this post believes the parents are to blame.
I hope you understand that everyone in the lawn of his parents are the media reporters.
I hope you understand its just to create and spin the news for ratings. Get angry at the news outlets not fictional person blaming the parents.
Robert,
Are you even reading these posts, Lorraine wants the parents to be charged as accessories to murder!!
Lorraine seems to think they had a fair amount to do in it...but even she is not going so far as to say "Incarcerate them too"
Musicgirl23,
Yes she is look at these quotes:
Both of these clearly indicate that she wants the parents to be held accountable and prosecuted along side their son.
Numerous forms of mental illness do not begin to manifest themselves until a person reaches their later teens or early adulthood. Many people who start to notice the symptoms within themselves will keep quiet about it, as mental illness still has an enormous stigma attached to it. If someone is on the quiet side anyway (which it seems this young man was), the people who have been around him all his life may not notice changes as readily....especially if he were aware of them and working to keep them hidden. The people at his school, who were around him on a daily basis, may have just assumed he was quiet and eccentric, as is the case with a lot of very intelligent students. On a campus of 30,000 students, it's easy to fall into a crack, especially if you're a bit weird.
If you go to the University of Colorado - Boulder website, there is a link to "Mental Health Services" on the main page. The web page for mental health services at UC Riverside is a bit more difficult to locate, but wouldn't be a problem for an intelligent student to find. All the shooter had to do was take advantage of services that were readily open, available, and confidential (and, as a student, completely free of cost) and he would have been on his way to getting help. He is the one who chose not to seek help on a daily basis once the insane thoughts began to manifest, and instead proceeded with his plan. The rest of his family had nothing to do with it.
Many with mental health problems do not even realize it, especially if this was a form of psychosis (such as schizophrenia). Therefore, it is almost impossible for them to reach for help on their own. If it was depression or anxiety, where a person can still generally function, to a degree, that is one thing, but even then...
Probably, if there is a mental illness, he did not even realize that it was going on.
I sincerely feel for the parents, and I can't begin to imagine what it is like to be in their shoes. At the same time, my heartfelt prayers go out to the victims and their families.
I really wish that the media vultures would quit adding to their distress by camping out on the lawn of Holmes' parents. As for ignorant commenters/posters who are spewing their hate toward the parents, I would remind them of the Golden Rule.
Well I do especially feel bad for the holmes parents they have been ostracized from day one when a reporter called the house at 5:45 am and asked if she was Arlene holmes and if her son was james holmes and said does he live in Colorado, she said yes you have the right person, that was referring to herself arlene. But here is the media trick, when she said yes you have the right person they ran with it like a guy with diarrhea trying to get to the bathroom!!! All the news media were reporting even the mother new her son was mental and has issues...So from Saturday morning the have been attacked hard by that reporter only listening to what he wanted to report, to get that pat on the back... In cases like this there should be know speculations or guesses only the facts..
Just sayin