Random Real-Life Crimes And Murders Inspired By The Joker (16 items)

(#13) Big Joker Fan Forcibly Removed From Theater

Here's a tip for all you Joker fans out there: Cosplay as much as you want, but you have to act cool if you're doing it in a movie theater. James Holmes ruined acting like a weirdo and dressing like the Joker in a movie theater for you, and that sucks, but that's the way it is. For instance, all 21-year-old Christopher Sides had to do to get arrested was get all Jokered out at the Premiere Theatre in Melbourne, Florida, and pace around the inside of the theater.

The police were called immediately and, thanks to an existing warrant for failure to appear in court, the cops took him into custody.
(#14) This Joker Tries To Steal Batman Posters

Spencer Taylor was arrested in 2008 after he tried to swipe Batman memorabilia from a mall in Three Rivers, Michigan, after a screening of The Dark Knight. At the time of his arrest, Taylor was decked out in a purple suit, white face paint, and a big red Joker smile. According to the staff at the theater, Taylor attempted to rip some Dark Knight posters down from the wall while exiting the theater and completely failed at this fruitless endeavor.

Police made him pose for mug shots in and out of his face paint.
(#1) James Holmes Really Wanted To Be The Joker

The most famous criminal inspired by the Joker was James Holmes, the Aurora, Colorado, theater shooter. On July 20, 2012, Holmes entered a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises dressed in tactical clothing. He set off tear gas canisters and shot indiscriminately into the crowded theater. He killed 12 people and injured 70 others in the attack. According to two federal agents, Holmes had dyed his hair red and was referring to himself as "the Joker" during the attack. After police captured Holmes, he told agents that he had placed explosive devices in his apartment. This sent everyone into a panic and caused a mass evacuation of not only his apartment building, but also the buildings surrounding it.

After going back and forth for three years about whether or not his mental illness played into the attack, Holmes's trial finally got underway. On July 16, 2015, a jury found Holmes guilty of 24 counts of first-degree murder, 140 counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of possessing illegal explosives. The court sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
(#12) 20 Guns Confiscated From A Joker

This is an interesting story because it's the case of a criminal perpetuating the idea that there are multiple Jokers, perhaps based on the concept that the Joker is more of an idea than a specific person. In 2012, Neil Edwin Prescott, a former subcontractor for Pittney Bowes, was arrested after he allegedly referred to himself as “a joker" and threatened to shoot up his old place of business.

After Maryland police took Prescott away, they removed 20 firearms and 40 boxes of ammunition from his home.
(#8) Joker Fan Robs Store For YouTube Views

When will teens learn that life isn't all about YouTube views? It's about those native Facebook likes, y'all! An 18-year-old in Eastlake, Ohio, was arrested in November 2016 when he sprayed his hair lime green and painted his face up Suicide Squad-style for a YouTube prank. What was the prank?

This Ohio Joker ran into a Walgreens and rushed the pharmacy counter and demanded "all the pills." Classic YouTube prank. Police arrested the suspect, Donald A. Finnie Jr., and charged him with two counts of inducing panic.
(#9) Joker Promises To Murder One Muslim Person A Week

In November 2015, Canadian police arrested an unnamed 24-year-old Québécois man for posting a video where he wore a mask designed to look like Heath Ledger's Joker face, and threatened to take the life of one Muslim a week in the French-speaking province.

"As of next week, there will be murders all across Quebec," he says in the video. "We will eliminate all of them, one by one. Islam has harmed us enough. I will fire a bullet in the head of one Arab per week, starting next week." At about this point in the video, the suspect brandishes an airsoft pistol while he makes his threats.

The video went up a week after the attacks in Paris that claimed 129 lives, and Montreal police spokesperson Laurent Gingras sent a message to any other would-be YouTubers, telling VICE News, "If you make threats on social networks or on the web, there are very concrete consequences in the real world."