Colorado gunman tried calling crisis line

WHEN Jason Holmes call to a crisis hotline was disconnected, he knew his attack on a Denver movie theatre was "going to happen".

JAMES Holmes lingered outside a suburban Denver movie theatre for a moment or two, thinking someone at a mental health hotline might talk him out of killing people he didn't know, or that the FBI might swoop in and stop him, he told a psychiatrist last year.

BUT his phone call to the crisis line was disconnected after nine seconds, before anyone answered, he says in the videotaped conversation shown in his murder trial on Tuesday.