Unconnected dots

A poster on the wall is seen inside the apartment where accused killer James Homes lived, Tuesday, July 24, 2012 in Aurora, Colo. (AP)

I admit that after outrages like the theater massacre last Friday, I’m one of those who try to find warning signs. Some flicker which if you read it correctly might at least put you on alert.

Because it’s hard to believe that anyone could plan something so monstrous and keep all it to himself.

So what do we have on James Holmes? The orange hair? Not especially unusual anymore.

His dating profile — he describes his male endowment as “short / average.” Says he’s looking for group sex. His signature line under his screen name says “Will you visit me in prison?”

Again, not much. And evidently nothing in his behavior to tip off the people he worked with so closely at that neuroscience program either.

But there WAS this: ABC is reporting that Holmes had failed a key oral exam, and right after failing it, he bought a high-powered rifle. Within hours.

What if the people around him had been aware of THAT detail?

Now that he’s in custody — everything about him seems weird. The hair, the stare, the twitching eyebrows, calling himself the Joker, using the evidence bags on his hands as puppets.

But that one detail, if it’s true — that he failed a test and within hours bought an expensive gun — what if someone had connected those dots and just started watching?

Of course, we’re not allowed to know that kind of information; it’s very a private thing. But I know this: If he had been under surveillance as a possible terrorist or suspected drug dealer and had managed to buy that gun, and the other guns, and the 6000 rounds of ammo, I bet we’d right now be demanding to know why no one caught it.