Police temporarily closed a nearby Grand theater and deployed officers to other movie houses as a precaution.
Advertisement
According to CNN news the Louisiana Gov ordered, “that flags at all state building be flown at half-staff until July 31 out of respect for the Lafayette theater shooting victims”.
The shooter, a 58-year-old white man, killed two people and wounded seven others at the Louisiana multiplex Thursday night before he turned his gun on himself and took his own life, police said.
Lafayette residents poured out love on Friday for Jillian Johnson, who was killed Thursday in a mass shooting at the movies in Lafayette, and known to the community as an artistic and creative soul and business owner.
John Russel Houser, 59, stood up about 20 minutes into the movie and fired first at two people sitting in front of him, then aimed his handgun at others.
“By the time I got to the bottom of the stairs a woman pulled me around”. “This just shows these senseless acts of violence can literally happen anywhere”. His vehicle had a “switched license tag” on it, police said. Disguises including glasses and women’s wigs were later uncovered in a local motel room where he was staying. His body remained inside the theater several hours later.
Police said they did not know why the suspect launched the attack in Lafayette, roughly 55 miles (90 km) southwest of Baton Rouge.
“What we can do now is we can pray”, Jindal said.
President Barack Obama, who was traveling to Kenya, received a briefing about the shooting during a refueling stop in Germany, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
The shooting comes one week after James Holmes was convicted of killing 12 people and wounding 70 others in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.
The victims: “Awful night for the United States”.
They say it appears he planned to escape after the shooting.
‘ATF has informed us that the purchase was legal, ‘ Craft said, in reference to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the agency that tracks firearms.
The dead were named tonight as Jillian Johnson, 33 and Mayci Breaux, 21.
Just days after her death, Breaux was due to start radiology school at Lafayette General Hospital.
“I saw people bleeding from the leg, they were shot”, she said.
Randall Mann said his daughter Emily and her friend escaped uninjured.
Of the nine others injured, one was in critical condition Friday afternoon, and two had been released, Craft said.
Ms Martin then risked being shot by rushing over to the fire alarm at the edge of the auditorium and pulling it in a desperate bid to evacuate the building and save more people from the crazed killer.
Houser refused to back down after getting out, however, so his wife, daughter and other relatives also obtained a protective order preventing him from coming near them.
“When you think about it – two friends together – one jumps in the way of a bullet to save her friend’s life”, Jindal said from the scene of the shooting. He said now was “not the time” to discuss policy. According to the clerk of court’s office the divorce had not been finalized.
The gunman was described by police as a “drifter” who was living in a motel.
The Russell County, Alabama, Sheriff says John Houser was treated for mental health issues from 2008 to 2009. “That’s what you’re supposed to do, you’re supposed to run”, Mann said. Columbus State University in Georgia said he also was a 1988 graduate from there, with a degree in accounting.
He also complained about how hard it was to actually find and join hate groups.
Houser wrote on a forum dedicated to the New York chapter of Golden Dawn, Greece’s far-right neo-Nazi political party, despite his feeling that “the enemy sees all posted on this website”. “I could have taken a shower”.
Advertisement
Bobby Peters, a former mayor of Columbus, Georgia, said Houser was an “erratic” local activist who came to council meetings and had a talk show where he interviewed elected officials. He tried real estate in Phenix City, Alabama.
