"Lone-wolf terrorists are extremely intelligent and often come from very good socio-economic backgrounds," said Todd McGhee, a former Massachusetts state trooper who is now managing partner of Protecting the Homeland Innovations, a security training firm in Braintree, Mass.
"But they become despondent. They become isolated from family members. Then they grab on to an ideology. Some people find religion. Some people find anti-government," he said.
There is no doubt the accused shooter knew the theater well, McGhee said.
"He had a level of comfort to walk in to the theater. He had been there before. He knew the layout."
He planned his attack well enough to create what is called "a fatal funnel." When people hunker down to avoid bullets, he throws the tear gas to flush them out and shoots them when they do.
But, he said, Holmes took his attack one step further.
"His mission wasn't to end it right there at the movie theater," McGhee says. "There was a part B to this attack."
Part B was the booby-trapped apartment.
"He can see what he was a part of," McGhee said. "He can view the response. This is what his claim to fame would be."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-07-20/colorado-shooting-holmes/56373668/1