I’ve been abiding by the “today-is-not-a-day-for-politics’ creed because I want to show a proper respect for the dead and injured and not try to enlist them to win any preexisting political argument. That’s how I roll; your mileage may differ. In any case, I have never used this blog to argue for gun control or to write about gun issues. Today is not the day I am going to start.
It has probably been mentioned elsewhere and I would probably already have written about it if I were more of a movie buff, but I think last night’s crime was completely inspired by the original The Dark Knight movie and I think it might be prudent for the police to familiarize themselves with the plot.
I believe that The Joker uses a gas grenade in his first scene in The Dark Knight. That is how the shooter introduced himself in the theater. The Joker also arranges to have himself arrested so he can be interrogated by Batman. Under interrogation, he reveals to Batman the locations of two of his friends but indicates that he will only have time to save one of them. They are both hooked up to complex incendiary devices on timers. I believe the shooter attempted to do something similar last night. He had his stereo hooked up to turn on by timer at midnight. It was extremely loud, and he knew that it would lead someone to call the non-emergency number to complain, which would lead some police to be dispatched to his apartment, which was booby trapped. When the police found him in back of the movie theater, he offered no resistance but revealed that his apartment was booby-trapped. He may have hoped that the police would be too late to save the respondents, or would find themselves in a race against time to save them.
One final thing to consider is that the shooter may have thought this out one step further. I think it is unlikely that he could pull it off because he is not, in fact, The Joker, but The Joker had a plan to escape from prison. In fact, getting arrested was crucial to his overall plan. But since this guy doesn’t seem to have had many friends, we’ve probably seen the extent of his capabilities.
Still, I may be wrong about his plan for his apartment. It could be rigged in such a way that it can be detonated by sensors or remotely by cell phone or on a timer that is still ticking.
The guy clearly watched The Dark Knight a billion times and decided he wanted to actually be The Joker. What better time to initiate his plan than at the premiere of the sequel?
Given the level of sophistication of his plan and the fact that he is a neuroscience doctorate candidate, and therefore obviously quite bright, I would watch The Dark Knight very carefully, and perhaps all the other Batman movies, and I would not underestimate him.
His apartment could blow up at any time. And it’s not impossible that he still has something up his sleeve.
I heard one report that he bought a ticket and then stepped out the emergency exit when his cell phone rang. He is sophisticated enough to have had his home computer place that call at an established time, but it’s also possible that he has an accomplice.
The guy wanted to be The Joker. He may have been inspired by this part of the movie:
The next day, [Bruce] Wayne tries to figure out what the Joker is after. Alfred relates a story of when he was in Burma with friends attempting to nullify the local criminals by bribing them with jewels. One thief however, tossed these bribes away and continued to raid the local convoys. When Bruce seems confused over this behavior Alfred informs him that some men can’t be reasoned with, they don’t want anything in particular, that they kill for sport. Alfred observes that they just want to watch the world burn, as Bruce fixates on the Joker’s face on a monitor.
This guy may have no real motivation beyond emulating that moral indifference.
