The gunman suspected of brutally slaying 12 moviegoers during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado has appeared in court for the first time looking disheveled and wide-eyed.
James Holmes, 24, who dyed his hair red in a reported bid to look like Batman's arch nemesis The Joker, looked straight ahead in Arapahoe County Courthouse as the judge advised him of the case.
Holmes is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder after he shot dead 12 cinema-goers and wounded 58 in a horrifying shooting spree just after midnight on Friday morning.
The judge ordered the suspected gunman, who some commentators suggested may have been suffering from a lack of sleep, to have no contact with any surviving victims or their relatives.
