tonight, bonnie raitt tells us about the songs that shaped her own. >> from the global resources of abc news. with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden, bill weir, and tonight, juju chang in new york city. this is "nightline." july 23rd, 2012. and good evening. i'm juju chang. today, the man suspected of mass murder in the horrific colorado movie rampage made his first public appearance in court. with new details emerging about who he really is, his bizarre demeanor today adds another piece to a disturbing puzzle. how could a quiet young man described as a promising young student come to the path that led to the carnage of last friday night? >> good morning, please be seated. >> reporter: he may think of his himself as the joker, but today, james egan holms wasn't smiling and he didn't speak a word. >> given the nature of the charges you are currently being held on a no-bond held.

>> what's happening? oh, my god. >> reporter: accused of a diabolical plan of mass murdering. a shooting rampage in a crowded movie theater. a plot that almost seems ripped from the pages of a "dark knight" comic book. if convicted, he could face the death penalty. >> the death penalty has to be made within 60 days of the arraignment. so it is months down the line still. >> reporter: in comic book stories the quest for justice boils down to a conflict between good and evil. but good almost always prevails. a court of law is trickier than that. hard to imagine the joker being tried by a jury of his peers. and yet today, that shock orange hair was impossible to ignore. >> he looked like someone who didn't know what was going on. and that leads to all sorts of important and fascinating legal questions about his mental state. >> reporter: there's no question the guy in that courtroom bore

little resemblance to his own secret identity. >> his goals are to become a researcher and to make science's big discoveries. >> reporter: the mild-mannered kid seen at this high school summer camp. >> in his personal life he enjoys playing soccer and strategy games and his dream is to own a slurpee machine. >> reporter: a video from six years ago obtained exclusively by abc news. >> hello, i'm james. >> reporter: his childhood friends never saw this coming. >> i fondly remember him as a light hearted guy, a little quiet. >> reporter: as recently as six weeks ago, holmes' science career still seemed to be on track. a ph.d. candidate in an elite program with a grant to pay his tuition plus $26,000 a year living expenses. at the beginning of june he took an oral exam on neuroscience, then abruptly dropped out. no explains. >> it's very unusual for a student to withdraw from the program.

>> reporter: bought aurora police psychologist john nicoletti says the evidence so far does not point to a sudden break with reality. >> he didn't snap. in terms of his stockpiling of the armament inventory and setting up the booby trap. there was a lot of thought. this is what we would call a proactive attack behavior. >> this was premeditated? >> premeditated, yeah. >> thought it through? >> thought it through, planned it, had weapons of choice. >> reporter: even before holmes dropped out of his program, he was already buying guns at local gun shops, four of them overall. over the internet he stockpiled 6,000 rounds of ammunition, high-powered magazines. how many thousands of rounds of ammunition do you have to buy before it raises an alarm bell? >> it should raise concern. >> reporter: the government is concerned about how much sudafed you buy. it could be used to make methamphetamine. they are concerned about how much fertilizer you buy because of oklahoma city and the bomb that brought down a federal office building.

yet apparently, you can buy as much ammunition as you want. >> it raises the alarm bell. >> you always hope in these situations. >> reporter: what about all that protective equipment? the full suit of body armor and the gas mask he allegedly wore into the theater. do you think he meant to die? >> he didn't act like he meant to die. >> reporter: how so? >> he has enough protective gear, then he surrendered right away. if you look at a wot of the workplace shootings like the ones we had here with columbine, some of the others, a person kills themselves if they can't get out. >> reporter: one theory, that he wanted to live to see the second act of the plot unfold. all those booby traps police say were designed to kill anyone who stepped into his apartment, including an ied by the door. authorities say it was composed of two liquids which, if combined, would have ignited. >> it was certainly a sophisticated device. >> reporter: the living room

floor covered with 30 potential bombs, each connected to a control panel in the kitchen by wires. holmes could have easily learned from the internet how to build such things. it's curious to note, police say he left almost no digital footprint of any kind. once police safely defused the bombs, they carted away his computer as evidence. >> seems the insanity defense is almost the only defense he could pursue. but it's a hard defense to win. you have to be able to show you didn't understand what you were doing was wrong. this is a guy who was dressed up as the joker. a villain. who's going to say, i didn't understand that what i was doing was wrong. that's not going to be easy. >> reporter: last night the president was here to pay his respects to survivors and the families of the dead. pointedly, he did not mention the alleged perpetrator by name. >> the perpetrator of this evil act has received a lot of attention over the last couple days.

that attention will fade away. >> reporter: also, he made no mention of gun control. this is an election year, after all. and colorado is a battle ground state. earlier this year, forbes named aurora, colorado, the ninth safest city in america. now, like columbine 13 miles away, it will forever be known as the scene of mass murder. i'm david wright for "nightline" in aurora, colorado. >> with so much to consider, our thanks to david wright. next up, what is that instinct that creates real life heros in a split second. the remarkable stories of four young men who sacrificed themselves to shield their girlfriends from a shower of bullets. so what i'm saying is, people like options. when you take geico, you can call them anytime you feel like saving money. it don't matter, day or night. use your computer, your smartphone, your tablet, whatever.

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"nightline" continues from new york city with juju chang. they were there to see a movie about a super hero. instead, they became real-life examples of the superhuman courage they came to watch on screen. as new details emerge about what really happened in the movie theater in aurora, colorado, amazing stories come to life of heroism in the face of gunfire. so what does it take to rise above in a swirl of chaos? as abc's john donvan reports, it takes a special personality. >> reporter: in the chaos and the danger, these are the ones we call the first responders and it is their job. but sometimes the ones who really respond first, we call them heroes. and they are harder to explain. this young woman hugging the president, she is stephanie davies, and she is one of those heroes. that night when it was still happening inside and her friend

allie young had been shot in the neck and was on the ground, she could have run to the street to save her own life. instead, she saved her friend's. >> stephanie, 21 years old, applied pressure the entire time while the gunman was still shooting. >> we both survived. more than i can ask. >> and it's something we will go through together. >> reporter: tonight, the first time speaking publicly. >> everyone's like running out. the next thing i know, she's telling me to stay down. allie, just stay down. i can't breathe, i can't breathe, do something. she's like, stay down, be quiet. >> i see him up there and i'm hearing him yell at people. and then you just hear the rounds going off. just, boom, boom, boom, boom. >> that's all i could hear. was the rounds. >> reporter: there were others that night, four men who had no connection to one another, all had the same instinct -- to put themselves between the gunman and the woman they brought with them just for a night at the movies. all four died saving another

life. >> he was a hero to me and so many other people. way before that awful night. >> reporter: one, alex teves, was 24 and had just finished at the university of denver. he pushed his girlfriend amanda to the floor, but he was shot before he could get down. tonight, she tells abc news -- >> didn't even -- didn't even hesitate. i sat there for a minute. not knowing what was going on. and he pulled me down. and he covered my head. and he said, shh, it's okay, shh. he did. he'd do anything for me. he always told me that too. i just -- i wish i could have protected him the same way he protected me. and he -- i've been telling people he was my angel that night.

but he was my angel every day i knew him, from the day i met him. >> reporter: in another part of the theater, another man with the same instinct, john larimer, a navy man, who jumped over his seat to cover his girlfriend, julia. appearing on fox news, she told her side of it. >> he just ducked over and held my head tight and put his body in front of mine. and in the process of doing so, he actually got shot. >> reporter: these stories are heartbreaking, but they are also inspiring. how do you explain these few? part of it is just a mystery, says psychologist frank farley, who's studied heroism for years. >> it's almost like an impulsive act. they just had to do it. >> listening to jerrell brooks who is 19 and got shot in the leg helping another mother and her two young children. >> i saw them, first thing i'm thinking, if someone's going to get out, they're going to get out before i do. >> reporter: it is not everybody, says rob willer who studies altruism at berkeley.

>> there are some people who believe if they take action, even under extreme circumstances, those actions will be successful. >> reporter: what is more, these people are risk takers. >> they believe they can control their fate, their destiny. they can often be fast thinkers, they can think on the spot. >> reporter: on the spot. that means no time to think. >> there are bullets flying. you can't ponder. and weigh the costs and the benefits of your action. you just do it. >> reporter: and some die just doing it. and some live and get to know the thanks of those they saved. in either outcome, the word "hero" applies. there is no other. i'm john donvan for "nightline" in washington. >> our thanks to all the heroes among us and john donvan. just ahead now, we are going to change gears and give you something to talk about. bonnie raitt tells us what songs inspired her own music.

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90 calorie brownie. you know, the great bluesman muddy waters used to sing, the blues had a baby and they named it rock nn roll. when it comes to bonnie raitt, it's as if the blues and country rock gave birth to her songs. and now, ms.raitt tells us about the muse thak made her play list ♪ let's give them something to talk about ♪ ♪ how about love >> i got different strains. there is a rock side of me and r&b and a blues side. i fell in love with a blues

guitar. ♪ my little girl peaches and cream ♪ >> to me, growing up the daughter ore after great broadway singer was falling in love with music, listening to "carousel" and when he sang "my little girl" that was the highlight of my childhood and he sang it of the my wedding. my dad is my biggest influence. ♪ the times are achanging >> you know, i went to summer camp and everyone has campfire circles and we all sang peace songs. but i have to say, the song that i wanted to play was "times are a changing" and bob dylan was able to articulate songs about social justice and peace. something more than just a beautiful melody moved me.

♪ i never loved a man the way that i love you ♪ >> for me, aretha franklin was the top singer i ever heard. "the way i loved a man" was soulful. and sings those lyrics, they caught me about the kind of pain i was going to be in for when i grow up. that might be the one that gets me the most. ♪ i can't make you love me if you don't ♪ >> it was written by two talented men. it was simple and pure expression of what it's like when you know that someone doesn't love you anymore. and the heart break of saying just spend one more night with me, i will close my eyes so i don't have to see. i know you don't love me -- it's getting to me now. ♪ because i can't make you love me if you don't ♪ >> the fact that adele covered

"i can't make you love me", it makes me proud and grateful that it's associated with me. ♪ bring it home baby >> sing me of a few of their line, tore it up for me. if you are down in the dumps and you play blues, you can't stay blue very long. if you are really mournful and lonesome and you are horny, you can get a stronger feeling of sexy or lonely. when i want to make love or feel sentimental, and when i went to get sexy and funk it out, i will play a version of those songs. if i could only have one artist on a desert island, it would be

bruce hornsby. i think he is the best of taking the bluesy seal and putting with it rock music, modernize it and electrify it. the marriage of lyrics and rhythm is what makes music appeal to me. ♪ all those crazy dreams i just put them behind ♪ >> if that whets your appetite, hur latest album is in stores now. sally ride, the first american woman to fly in space, died today after a battle with pancreatic cancer. she was a physicist. wasn't always comfortable with her celebrity status but used it toer spire children, especially girls to study math. ride was 61 years old. thanks for watching abc

news. we always online at abcnews.com. jimmy kimmel is next. see you tomorrow night. >> dicky: up next on an all-new "jimmy kimmel live," >> emily maynard and her new fiance, jef. they are here. >> dicky: ben stiller. >> if you want to take the pun out of ping-pong, do a 12-hour tu