Movie massacre perpetrator suspect James Holmes worked at a Jewish summer camp for underprivileged children,
the Los Angeles Times reported.
Holmes, who authorities say killed 12 people and injured 58 when he opened fire and set off gas canisters in a suburban theater minutes into the premiere of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises," spent a summer working as a counselor for Camp Max Straus in Glendale, Calif., the Times reported. The camp is run by Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles.
Randy Schwab, chief executive of Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles and director of Camp Max Straus, told the Times in a statement that Holmes’s role “was to ensure that these children had a wonderful camp experience by helping them learn confidence, self-esteem and how to work in small teams to effect positive outcomes."
Schwab said the camp proceeded without incident.
Authorities wouldn't discuss a motive for one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent U.S. history, as makeshift memorials for the victims sprang up and relatives began to publicly mourn their loved ones. Holmes had recently withdrawn from a competitive graduate program in neuroscience; neighbors and former classmates in California have said he was a smart loner who said little.
He apparently had prepared the attack at the Aurora theater well in advance, receiving multiple deliveries by mail for four months to his home and school and buying thousands rounds of ammunition on the Internet, police said.
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