AURORA, Colo. (AP) — New York City’s police commissioner says the gunman in the Colorado movie theater rampage had painted his hair red and called himself the Joker — the villain from the Batman movies.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said today that he had been briefed about the shootings that killed 12 and wounded nearly 60 others at a showing of the new Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises” at a suburban Denver theater.

Kelly and his spokesman did not say who briefed him.

Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates would not confirm the information about suspected gunman James Holmes, but confirmed he had spoken to Kelly. The two used to work together in New York.