A university has said it received a suspicious package but would not confirm the contents or whether the sender was a former student accused of killing 12 people in the Colorado cinema shooting last Friday.

The University of Colorado, Denver, said on Wednesday that the package was immediately investigated and turned over to authorities within hours of its delivery on Monday.

But Fox News’ website reported that shooting suspect James Holmes sent a notebook to the university that sat in the post room unopened since at least July 12, and was not found until Monday.

In the statement, the university disputed that it received the package on July 12 but did not elaborate.

Fox said the notebook contained drawings of stick figures being shot and a written description of an upcoming attack.

The package was addressed to a psychiatrist at the school, the website reported.

It was unclear if Mr Holmes, 24, had had any previous contact with the person.

The neuroscience graduate programme that he withdrew from on June 10 included professors of psychiatry.

NBC News reported that Mr Holmes told investigators to look for the package and that it described killing people.

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies refused to confirm the reports.

The University of Colorado, Denver issued a statement saying it could not confirm the reports or discuss any aspects of the investigation, citing a gag order placed on the case by a judge.

It said that packages to the main post room of the Anschutz Medical Campus, where Mr Holmes studied, are not tracked unless the US Postal Service requires a signature upon delivery.

Before the gag order was issued, police said Mr Holmes received more than 50 packages at the school and his home that apparently contained ammunition, combat gear and explosive materials that he used in the attack and to booby-trap his Aurora apartment.

Mr Holmes was allegedly stockpiling for the attack while he studied at the school’s neuroscience programme. He bought a shotgun and pistol in May, authorities say.

On June 7, the date he took a year-end oral exam, he bought an assault rifle.

Mr Holmes broke no laws when he purchased an assault-style rifle, a shotgun and Glock handgun, and he passed the required background checks.

On June 25, he filed an application to join a private gun range in eastern Colorado, but the club’s owner, hearing what he described as a “bizarre” outgoing voice mail on Mr Holmes’ mobile phone recorded in a low voice with heavy breathing, told his staff to watch out for the man.

Mr Holmes never went to the range.

He is due in court on Monday, when he will hear the charges against him.