The University denied a 2011 graduate school application from James Holmes, the 24-year-old charged in the mass shooting that took place at an Aurora, Colo. movie theater in July, according to University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald said in an interview on Friday that Holmes applied to the University’s neuroscience graduate program in 2011 and was denied admission. He offered no further information regarding why the application was denied, and the document has not been released to the public.
Holmes killed 12 people and injured 58 when he opened fire at a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises,” the third installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, on its opening night on July 20.
The University of Iowa released Holmes’ application to its neuroscience graduate program, which was also denied. After Holmes had an admissions interview there, the program’s director wrote an urgent e-mail to the admissions committee stating, “Do NOT offer admission under any circumstances.”
A spokesperson for the University of Iowa said Holmes was academically qualified for the program, but was not “a good personal fit.”
The University of Illinois accepted Holmes’ application to a similar program, offering him free tuition and a $22,000 yearly stipend. His Iowa application stated that he also applied to Texas A&M University, the University of Kansas, the University of Alabama and the University of Colorado Denver where he eventually enrolled to pursue a Ph.D in neuroscience.
Holmes left the program at UC Denver six weeks before the Aurora shooting.
—The Associated Press contributed to this report.