University had ‘no time’ to talk about James Holmes

The university psychiatrist treating the young man accused in last month’s Colorado cinema massacre repeatedly tried to discuss her patient with a campus behaviour and security committee nearly a month before the attack, but the group never convened, a new report has said.

News channel KMGH-TV said that psychiatrist Lynne Fenton called members of the University of Colorado team about graduate student James Holmes in early June. It was unclear what Ms Fenton wanted to discuss, the station said.

Holmes dropped out of the university on 10 June. He faces charges of killing 12 people and wounding 58 in a rampage at the opening of the new Batman film in a city cinema. Legal experts have said Holmes’ mental state will play a key part in the case.

KMGH reported that campus officials did not contact Aurora police before 20 July and that the committee did not meet to discuss Holmes because he began the process of dropping out of school.

The university said it could not discuss the report, citing a court order barring the school from releasing details about Holmes’ yearlong tenure there.

The university confirmed that Ms Fenton was a member of a campus Behavior Evaluation and Threat Assessment team, composed of faculty and staff, including campus police. The team was created to address behaviour problems as well as potential security issues involving members of the campus community.

Holmes’ attorneys last week filed a motion that revealed Holmes was seeing Fenton as a patient.

The defence motion demanded that a package allegedly sent to Ms Fenton by Holmes, and received at the university after the shooting, be kept sealed because of doctor-patient confidentiality.