Moral Principle

From the Dalai Lama:
As human beings we are all the same. We have this marvelous intelligence, which sometimes creates problems for us, but when influenced by warm-heartedness can be very constructive. ... In this context we need to appreciate the value of having moral principles.

Sometimes, after incidents such as what happened in Aurora, Colorado, I begin to think that our intelligence can take us in different directions ~~ toward the good or toward the evil. We create problems in different ways. Does it matter that he planned it out? Would it be less evil if he'd just spontaneously gone there and shot up the theater? What is the moral principle here? Whose more principle matters?