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BATMAN PSYCHO KILLS 12

A MASKED gun-nut shouted “I’m the Joker” as he shot dead 12 people at a screening of the new Batman film.

Medical school dropout James Holmes was wearing The Joker’s trademark red lipstick and had dyed red hair as he stormed into a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises.

Holmes, 24, who was also wearing body armour and a gas mask, let off a smoke bomb before calmly walking up and down the aisles executing cinema-goers with a rifle and two shotguns.

A three-month-old baby was blasted in the back at point-blank range and a 12-year-old child killed in the carnage.

Another victim was pretty TV sports reporter Jessica Redfield, who had ­narrowly escaped death at a shopping centre shooting in Toronto, Canada, just weeks earlier.

Police said 10 people died in the cinema and two died later of their injuries. ­Another 59 were hurt.

Police arrested Holmes in the cinema car park – where he then warned them he had rigged up his apartment with explosives.

Bomb squad officers rushed to his flat which was laced with “very sophisticated” devices and evacuated the area as they tried to make it safe last night.

Witnesses told how Holmes, described as a “lone wolf” by police, stormed into the sold-out theatre in Aurora, Denver, Colorado, through a fire exit as a shooting scene started in the film.

As Batman appeared on screen he let off a gas canister before opening fire.

Eyewitness Jennifer Seeger said: “There were bullet casings falling on my head. They were burning my forehead.

“Every few seconds it was boom, boom, boom. He would reload and shoot. Anyone who would try to leave would just get killed.”

Shocking video footage showed bloodstained and stunned cinema-goers fleeing the carnage in tears.

Eyewitness Evan, who was with his wife and three children, said: “We thought it was part of the movie but it became very real, very quickly.

“He looked like the Terminator. He didn’t say anything. He was just shooting and shooting and shooting.

“There were people crawling down the stairs trying to escape the hail of gunfire. It was a very bad scene.”

Another witness Salina Jordan, 19, saw one girl hit in the cheek and another shot in the stomach.

Bullets pierced the walls of an adjacent cinema and movie-goer James Cameron, who was sat next door, said: “It’s been a nightmare. It was like something from a sci-fi movie.”

It was believed “recluse” Holmes had been studying for a PhD in neuroscience at Colorado University but dropped out last month.

One student said: “No-one knew him.”

Last night a woman ­reported to be his mum confirmed her son was behind the massacre, saying: “You’ve got the right person.”

Holmes’s family also issued a statement expressing their sympathy to the victims. It read: “Our hearts go out to those who were involved in this tragedy and to the families and friends of those involved.”

Local police chief Daniel Oates said: “This is a horrific event and our hearts go out to the families.”

Last night it emerged Holmes had psyched himself up for the slaughter by listening to one song on his MP3 player on repeat for hours.

It was thought his rampage was ­inspired by a 25-year-old comic book strip featuring a deranged gunman opening fire in a cinema.

In the second issue of The Dark Knight Rises gun-toting Arnold Crimp blasts three people in a blue-movie theatre.

Psychology professor Craig Jackson said: “It’s possible he may have affiliated with the Batman character and the whole genre of comic book fantasy.”

The massacre has again reignited the debate surrounding America’s gun laws.Critics said they must be tightened to bring an end to the mass shootings.

President Barack Obama spoke of his “shock and sadness” and called the killings “senseless, evil and beyond reason”.

Warner Brothers, which made the film, issued a statement saying it was “deeply saddened”.

Last night’s red-carpet premiere in Paris was cancelled as the film’s stars including Christian Bale, 38, and Anne Hathaway, 29, were in shock.

A source said: “They are all absolutely devastated.”

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