Copycat Killer, John R. Houser, takes two lives and his own inside the Grand Theater 16, a Lafayette, Louisiana theater; several others wounded

The very beautiful Macyi Breaux, 21 who was gunned down by a crazy wacko named John Russel Houser

JULY 24, 2015
 
A gunman killed two people and wounded at least nine others during a showing of “Trainwreck” at a movie theater in Louisiana.

The 59-year-old “lone white male” opened fire about 20 minutes into the film Thursday evening at the Grand 16 theater in Lafayette, roughly 60 miles west of Baton Rouge.

Authorities identified the shooting suspect as John Russel Houser. It appears that he turned the gun on himself after unsuccessfully trying to flee by blending in with the crowd, according to police.

Police officers say they found him dead inside the theater after hearing a single gunshot ring out.

“He previously resided in the state of Alabama. He’s kind of a drifter. He’s been in Lafayette since early July as far as we can tell,” Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft said during a news conference Friday morning.

Houser is from Phenix City, Ala., but had bounced around before ending up at a local Motel 6, authorities said.

Police searched the room they think he was staying in and found wigs, glasses and other items that could be used as a disguise, they said.

A Columbus, Ga., woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told Yahoo News that she had purchased a home that Houser once shared with his wife. The suspect eventually lived in the house alone for two years without making any payments, she said.

“You don’t know crazy. You don’t know what we went through with that house,” she said to Yahoo News over the phone. “He had lots and lots of problems.”

The woman said Houser came from a “fine family in Columbus” — his mother was a schoolteacher, and his father was tax commissioner for Columbus. He used to attend church services years ago, she said.

John Russel Houser has been identified as the man who shot and killed two people in Louisiana on Thursday

She added that Houser once attended law school but dropped out.

“We’ve been up all night with the FBI,” she said. “He was dangerous. I’m just so glad that no more people were hurt than was hurt. It’s sad. We’re sad.”
In 2008, Houser’s wife, Kellie Maddox Houser, and other family members requested a protective order from him.

According to court documents, obtained by the Associated Press, he "exhibited extreme erratic behavior and has made ominous as well as disturbing statements."

The filing said Houser had “a history of mental health issues, i.e., manic depression and/or bi-polar disorder.”

His wife also removed all weapons from their home because she feared his “volatile mental state,” according to the paperwork.

The protective order was at least temporarily granted. She later filed for divorce.

Houser had been arrested several times from 10 to 15 years ago on various charges, including arson, selling alcohol to a minor and speeding, according to the AP.

Jim Mustian, a journalist for the New Orleans Advocate, citing a local sheriff, said that Houser was denied a pistol permit in 2006 in Russell County, Ala.

 

Louisiana police identify 59-year-old John Russell Houser as the suspected lone gunman who opened fire inside a movie theater in LA

The suspect’s Linkedin profile describes him as an entrepreneur in “investment management.” He claimed to have owned two pubs in Georgia and to have tried his hand at real estate development in 2006.

He pursued a bachelor of business administration at Columbus State University from 1985 until 1988 and a juris doctorate (law degree) at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Ala., his profile said.

Houser listed "God's Business" as one of his skills. 

He appeared on "Calvin Floyd Live," previously called “Rise and Shine,” on WLTZ NBC 38 in more than 60 episodes, according to the LinkedIn page. 

“Invited political controversy on every one of them, and loved every minute of it,” he said.

The show’s host, Floyd, told Yahoo News that he invited Houser on his show many times to discuss his radical views because it was entertaining and caused tremendous buzz. 

“He was a guest because he was good TV entertainment, not because it was a respected opinion that he had to say. But he was very entertaining all the time,” Floyd said in a phone interview with Yahoo news. “He had Tea Party-radical Republican views on everything. I’d have a Democratic spokesperson on [for the opposing perspective]. He generated a lot of phone calls.”

Houser was a member of Tea Party Nation, according to the group’s website.

The Hatewatch Blog, which is run by the Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, uncovered that Houser posted about his fondness for Hitler, neo-Nazis and lone wolves on several online forums.

"Do not mistake yourselves for one minute, the enemy sees all posted on this website," he wrote on a site dedicated to the New York chapter of Greece's far-right Golden Dawn, which espouses fascist and neo-Nazi ideologies.

"I do not want to discourage the last hope for the best, but you must realize the power of the lone wolf, is the power that can come forth in ALL situations.Look within yourselves," he continued.

Heidi Beirich, who leads the Intelligence Project, told Yahoo News that the Greek government is investigating Golden Dawn and considering shutting it down.

“We don’t know what his motivation was for the theater," Beirich said in an interview with Yahoo News. "He obviously loved Hitler and wanted to know about white power groups, but what led him to do that shooting is unclear."

Elsewhere, on the U.S. Message Board, a political discussion forum, he wrote, "Hitler accomplished far more than any other through 'pragmatically forming.'"

Authorities identified the young women he murdered as Macyi Breaux, 21, and Jillian Johnson, 33, and said another person is in critical condition.

Source: yahoo news.com by Michael Walsh

Copycat Killer, John R. Houser, takes two lives and his own inside a Lafayette, Louisiana theater; several others wounded 

It appears to us that this wacko wanted to imitate the theater killings of the Aurora, Colorado "mad man".  These latest killings come on the heels of the Chatanooga, TN killings of 5 soldiers by a Muslim sympathizer and the killings of 9 bible study blacks by a white wacko in Charleston, SC.  Daily events of police killings of men armed with toy guns, actual guns, knifes and so on.

We have made it so easy to commit these killings with the wide availability of guns and the aggressive, violent psychic  of our "culture": endless wars, guns, hate, economic injustice, greed, violent Hollywood movies, and so on.  Enjoy the United States of killings and guns and violence and greed and injustice and economic polarization.

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Gunman kills 2, himself in Lafayette, Louisiana, movie theater

By Saeed Ahmed and Greg Botelho, CNN

Updated 8:52 AM ET, Fri July 24, 2015

Story highlights

• The two women killed were Mayci Breaux, 21, and Jillian Johnson, 33, police say
• The gunman was John R. Houser, 59, a "drifter" who'd lived in Alabama, authorities say

(CNN)[Breaking news update at 8:52 a.m. ET]

The Lafayette, Louisiana, movie theater shooter was 59-year-old John Russel Houser, Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft said Friday.

Craft described Houser as "kind of a drifter" who was from Alabama and had been in Lafayette since early July, staying at a local hotel. Authorities have found various "disguises, basically" at the hotel room where he'd been staying.

Houser fired at least 13 rounds, according to the police chief.

"It appears he was intent on shooting and escaping," Clark said of the shooter. "The quick law enforcement response pushed him back into the theater."

As to his motive, Col. Michael Edmonson of the Louisiana State Police said, "Why did he come here? Why did he do that? We don't know that."

Mayci Breaux, 21, died at the scene, and Jillian Johnson, 33, died later at a nearby hospital, according to Craft.

"He was a guy that was a drifter ... that just happened to be in this theater and took two beautiful lives," Edmonson said of Houser. "Don't lose sight of the fact that these 2 individuals had a vision, had a name, had a future. It wasn't to die as they did horribly in this theater here."

[Original story published at 8:05 a.m. ET]

As the previews ended and the lights dimmed for the screening of the comedy "Trainwreck," a man stood up inside a Louisiana movie theater, pulled out a handgun and began firing indiscriminately.

The shooter, a 58-year-old man, killed two people and wounded nine others at the Lafayette multiplex Thursday night before he turned his gun on himself and took his own life, police said. 

The shooting comes within days of the guilty verdict in the Aurora, Colorado, theater massacre.

"There's nothing to believe that there was any kind of motive," said Col. Michael Edmonson of the Louisiana State Police.

"We want to talk to the (victims') families first and let them know what happened," Edmonson said. "We owe them that respect."

The witnesses: 'Gunshots after gunshots'

About 100 people had sat down to watch the 7:10 p.m. screening of "Trainwreck" at the Grand Theater 16 in Lafayette, a city of about 120,000 people about 60 miles west of Baton Rouge, when the bullets flew.

Jalen Fernell was in a theater next door. 

"I almost thought it was part of the movie at first," Fernell said of the gunshots.

An alarm went off, followed by an overhead intercom message asking patrons to get out. 

Jordan Broussard first thought a fire had broken out when the alarm went off, lights came on and message rang out overhead. It wasn't until he got outside, heard sirens blaring and saw a woman lying with a gunshot wound to her leg that he realized it was much more than that.

The gravity of the situation dawned on him a few minutes later, when he heard an officer say, "'Get to Theater 14, we have some men down at Theater 14, we need an ambulance.'"

"That was when we were like, wow, this is crazy," the 19-year-old Lafayette native told CNN's "New Day." "...Coming to a movie on a Thursday night, we never expected that we would see a crime scene and a gunman (in our) theater. It's a very sad night."

The auditorium: 'The guy was just kind of at ease'

A man who'd gone to see "Trainwreck" told Keifer Sanders, who was in a nearby auditorium, that it was quiet before the gunfire began, right before the movie started.

"There was no argument, nothing going on at all. And a guy just stood up and started opening fire," Sanders said. "The guy was just kind of at ease, just standing there, just shooting."

Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft backed up the account. 

"He bought a ticket and went into the theater. And sometime during the movie, he started shooting," he said. 

The moviegoers included two teachers enjoying the last few days of the summer break. 

When the bullets flew, one shielded the other and may have saved her life.

"Her friend literally jumped over her," said Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, after speaking with the unnamed teacher. "If her friend hadn't done that, she believed the bullet would have hit her in the head."

A bullet struck her leg instead, but she managed to get to a fire alarm and pull it. 

"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. "The other, even though she was shot in the leg, she had the presence of mind to pull the fire alarm and in the process saved other people's lives."

'An awful night for the United States'

By the time four officers entered the theater, the gunman was dead.

"It appears the shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after discharging his weapon numerous times," Craft said. 

The nine injured range in age from late teens to "probably into the 60s," Craft said. One victim has been released; another is in surgery and is "not doing well," he said early Friday morning.

Bomb squads swept the theater and the parking lot. Police temporarily closed a nearby Grand theater and deployed officers to other movie houses as a precaution. 

"Whenever we hear about these senseless acts of violence, it makes us both furious and sad at the same time," Jindal said. 

"This is an awful night for Lafayette, this is an awful night for Louisiana, this is an awful night for the United States. But we will get through this."

Movie star: 'My heart is broken'

The shooting occurred seven days after the conviction of James Holmes in the Aurora, Colorado, theater shooting that left 12 people dead and 70 people wounded.

On July 20, 2012, Holmes opened fire during a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" using an AR-15 rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and at least one .40-caliber handgun. The rampage ended with the once promising neuroscience student's arrest outside the theater.

Security measures were stepped up at some cinemas after the Aurora shooting. Still, theaters across the United States fundamentally remain freewheeling places, where ticket holders can wander in and out, unbothered by the intense security measures that now typify airports and public buildings. Ticket sales also didn't slump.

Southern Theatres, a New Orleans-based theater chain that owns The Grand, had no immediate comment about the Thursday night shooting. Universal, the distributor of "Trainwreck," declined to comment. 

But the movie's star, Amy Schumer, tweeted, "My heart is broken and all my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Louisiana."

Horror in a movie theater, instead of on a screen

Police chief: 'We may now never know' why

While the shooter may have taken his motive with him with his death, the investigation is far from complete. Authorities will pore over his digital footprint, talk to his family and friends, and retrace his movements to answer the burning question: Why?

"This kind of stuff just leaves you wondering," said Craft, the Lafayette police chief. "Why would a guy come into a theater in this city -- we have a relatively safe city -- and just, you know, randomly start shooting people? It's hard to figure out. He's deceased, so we may now never know."

The gunman had a criminal history, but it dates back several years, Craft said. He didn't elaborate. 

Authorities will also put together a profile of the shooter, search his house and trace the gun, said CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin. 

For now, said Gov. Jindal, "we can pray."

"We can hug these families. We can shower them with love, thoughts and prayers."

CNN's Brian Stelter, Ed Payne, Ralph Ellis, Kevin Conlon, Sam Stringer and Tony Marco contributed to this report.