Inmate claims alleged Colorado killer blames therapist for shooting spree

An inmate who shared a jail cell with alleged Colorado movie theater gunman James Holmes said Holmes told him that his therapist brainwashed him into committing murder.

In an interview with alternative newsweekly Denver Westword , inmate Steven Unruh said he had a four-hour conversation with Holmes in jail on July 20.

Holmes, 24, is the man who allegedly killed 12 people and wounded 58 others at a showing of “The Dark Knight Rises”.

Unruh, 38, was in a different cell that Holmes, but claims he heard Holmes slamming himself into the wall. Unruh alleges he yelled across the hall and persuaded Holmes not to commit suicide.

The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office disputed that detainees can communicate the way Unruh described, and cast doubt on his account.

Unruh, who was locked up on theft and drug charges, told Westword that Holmes described the massacre to him.

"He felt like he was in a video game," Unruh said, according to the newspaper. Holmes allegedly told Unruh that his therapist "programmed" him to carry out the shooting spree in the crowded movie theater.

A judge has imposed a gag order on the case, limiting the amount of official information available to the public.