James Eagan Holmes was born on December 13, 1987. Holmes is suspected of having killed 12 and wounded 58 in the 2012 Aurora, Colorado, USA cinema shooting, during the midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" on July 20, 2012, with multiple guns after setting off several gas or smoke canisters. The police arrested an unresisting Holmes behind the Century 16 cinema. The responding officers recovered several guns from inside the car and the theater.

Holmes had dyed his hair red and called himself "The Joker". It was reported that Holmes was a big fan of superheroes, including Batman, and that his apartment was decorated with Batman paraphernalia.