James Holmes, the man accused of shooting and killing 12 people and injuring 58 others in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater in July, applied to graduate school at Kansas University before being accepted to a neuroscience program at the University of Colorado, Denver, according to records obtained by the Des Moines Register.

James E. Holmes appears in Arapahoe County District Court, Monday, July 23, 2012, in Centennial, Colo. Holmes is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder, and could also face additional counts of aggravated assault and weapons violations stemming from a mass shooting last Friday in a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., that killed 12 and injured dozens of others.

The records released by the University of Iowa, show that Holmes applied to five other graduate schools besides Iowa: KU, Texas A&M University, the University of Michigan, the University of Alabama and the University of Colorado.

A University of Iowa spokesman told the Register that even though student records are protected by federal law, the university was able to release Holmes’ records because he was never admitted as a student.

A professor at the University of Iowa emphatically recommended against Holmes’ admission to the program, the documents show.

“Do NOT offer admission under any circumstances,” wrote the professor, Daniel Tranel.

The Journal-World filed an open records request on Friday seeking access to the records pertaining to Holmes’ admission application to KU.

Jill Jess, a university spokeswoman, said on Friday morning that she could not comment on the situation nor could she confirm that Holmes applied to KU. University officials were trying to determine Friday morning how to respond to the request for information, she said.