Colorado shooting suspect sent package to university staff member - Detroit Free Press

AURORA, Colo. -- The shooting suspect in the movie theater massacre sent a package to a faculty member at the University of Colorado medical campus that was found unopened in a mailroom Monday, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

Two law enforcement officials said it contained a document but that they did not know whether it was a notebook detailing plans for violence, as Fox News reported.

One official said authorities hope the document will shed light on how the attack was planned and carried out.

The officials declined to be named because a court order bars investigators and others from talking about the case.

The package was sent before the rampage that killed 12 people and injured 58 at a showing of the latest Batman movie early Friday, the officials said.

It was delivered by the U.S. Postal Service on Monday and was immediately turned over to police, a statement issued by the university said. University officials declined to comment further, citing the court order.

Discovery of the mail from James Holmes, who recently dropped out of a neuroscience graduate program at the university, was first reported by Fox News.

It said the package contained a notebook "full of details about how he was going to kill people" and drawings of stick figures being shot.

NBC News reported that Holmes told investigators to look for the package. The university disclosed earlier that it had twice found packages that appeared to be suspicious after the shooting.

"In both cases, the packages were deemed not a threat to safety on the campus," the university said in a statement.

The latest discovery raises questions about whether Holmes' behavior had alarmed faculty or staff at the medical center where he was a student.

John Banzhaf, a professor of public interest law at George Washington University, said the discovery increases the likelihood that the university will be sued by victims "for negligent failure to take appropriate steps to prevent the rampage."

He said mailing the package to a psychiatrist, as Fox reported, could suggest that Holmes had seen the doctor "in his professional capacity for therapy and/or counseling."

Also Wednesday, three of the five hospitals that treated victims from the shooting said they will limit or completely wipe out medical bills.

Some of the victims fighting for their lives could face enormous medical bills without the benefit of health insurance.

Members of the public, along with Warner Bros., the studio that released "The Dark Knight Rises," have contributed nearly $2 million to help victims, though it's not clear how much of that will cover medical expenses.

One family is raising money on its own online.