Police have released frantic audio of victims caught up in the Lafayette movie theater shooting begging 911 dispatchers for help.
Advertisement
Police say John Russell Houser opened fire about 20 minutes into a showing of “Trainwreck”, killing two people before taking his own life.
The lead officer starts to rally other officers around him in an attempt to surround the shooter – but their tactical discussion is cut short when the dispatcher reveals that Houser had killed himself.
He says: ‘Listen, I need units and I need units with rifles in here.
It was the calm before the carnage: A lone man buying a ticket for a Louisiana movie, strolling through the lobby and heading toward the doors of theater No. 14.
Authorities released a batch of taped emergency calls on Thursday in response to public records requests by The Associated Press and other news outlets.
In one 911 call, a man breathing heavily said he heard six or seven shots from a man who “shot right at people”.
Another person tells a dispatcher there was a shooting, and the dispatcher replies that police and an ambulance are on the way.
Nine people were injured in the shooting, and three others, including gunman John Russell Houser, died. He was armed with a semi-automatic handgun that he legally purchased from a pawn shop in Alabama.
Houser, 59, killed two people – as well as himself – during the attack in the Louisiana town during a screening of Trainwreck last Thursday.
This is the only portion of the video from the theater that has been authorized to be released, since review and analysis of the remaining portions of the video remains ongoing.
The black-and-white footage does not have audio.
Advertisement
The 59-year-old is wearing shorts and a button-up shirt left untucked when he arrives one minute after the 7:10 starting time for the screening of the summer comedy “Trainwreck”. Lafayette Police Department Houser walks to the theater alone.
