A number of Facebook pages have popped up praising the suspect in the Aurora, Colorado, movie killings, WND reported Friday.
One page, called "Free James Holmes - He did it for the lulz," says that "nerdz (sic) must die."
The profile picture is that of James Holmes with "666" on his forehead.
As of this writing, the page has 71 likes.
There are several other pages quite similar to this, WND reported.
"Facebook is exploding with dozens of fan pages in support of killer James Holmes that blame society for the murderer’s rampage that has killed 12 and wounded 59 in Colorado – and despite several reports to Facebook from outraged users, the social network has not removed the pages," Chelsea Schilling wrote.
WND reported the pages to Facebook, but the social media giant has yet to respond or take action.
Schilling added that comments on the pages "range from expressions of support for the killer to jokes and even calls for more violence."
"God made james holmes a killer.Respect god's will. (sic)," reads a post on the "Free James Holmes" page.
Other unedited comments include:
- “Sadly he couldn’t brake the breivik’s record. But he will try again (sic)” [referencing Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, who killed 68 people in 2011]
- “Who wants to see james holmes free and killing more people. … ! (sic)”
- “Reporting didn’t work b**thurt idiots (sic)” [referencing Facebook users' futile efforts to get the social network to remove his page]
Some of the more threatening posts were reported, but Facebook took no action, Schilling added.
“Thanks for your recent report of a potential violation on Facebook. After reviewing your report, we were not able to confirm that the specific page you reported violates Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities,” Facebook told WND.
Schilling posted comments from at least seven Facebook pages that included racial slurs and calls for more violence.
“Batman dies at the end, and so do 12 other people,” read one comment at a pro-Holmes page.
Another posted: “I give my props to James Holmes, I mean he killed babies too? He must’ve been a really good shot!”
"He did it for teh lulz. (sic)," one commenter wrote at a "James Holmes" page that was created Friday and already has 419 'likes.'
Facebook's community standards clearly state:
“Safety is Facebook’s top priority. You may not credibly threaten to harm others, or organize acts of real-world violence. We remove content and may escalate to law enforcement when we perceive a genuine risk of physical harm, or a direct threat to public safety.”
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