There was another movie theater shooting Thur? wtf!

[Sonic Boom of the South]

Gunman shoots 11, kills 2 in Lafayette movie theater

Gunman shoots 11, kills 2 in Lafayette movie theater



Tania Dall has the update from Lafayette on Thursday night's theater shooting that left two people dead and nine others injured.

WWLTV.com7:15 a.m. CDT July 24, 2015

WWLTV

Jindal praises hero officers, teachers


Craft said it's not certain what kind of gun the shooter used, but he said it may have been a handgun.

Mass shooting at Lafayette movie theater

Craft said the gunman does have a criminal history, but nothing recent on his record. He said the shooter has been connected to addresses in several southern states; they believe he was from out of state.

The gunman's car was identified, and police found a suspicious package inside, but police cleared both the bag and car with the help of a machine.

Police did not identify the gunman, saying it could jeopardize their investigation to release the shooter's name at this point and time.

Landry Gbery, 26, of Lafayette, was watching a different movie, "Self/less" at the time of the shooting when the lights came up and a voice over the intercom told everyone there was an emergency and they needed to leave.

Witnesses: When you realize what's important

Gbery said he never heard gunshots, and assumed the emergency was a fire until he got outside and saw a woman lying on the ground.

"I was really anxious for everybody at that point," Gbery said. "Fortunately I was lucky. I took the right exit."

Tanya Clark was at the concession stand in the lobby when she saw people screaming and running past her. She said she immediately grabbed her 5-year-old daughter and ran.

"In that moment, you don't think about anything," Clark, 36, told The New York Times. "That's when you realize that your wallet and phone are not important."

Clark's son, Robert Martinez, said he saw an older woman run past with blood streaming down her leg, and screaming that someone had shot her.

Governor: Awful night for Louisiana

Gov. Bobby Jindal said he raced to the scene along with Louisiana State Police, and he lauded local law enforcement who "ran towards the shooting."

"This is an awful night for Lafayette, an awful night for Louisiana, an awful night for the United States," said Jindal.

The governor also praised "heroes" of the night, including two teachers in attendance at the movies. Jindal said one of them jumped in front of the other for protection, while a second teacher, while shot in the leg, still managed to pull a fire alarm to save others.


WWLTV

Reaction to Lafayette theater shooting


Jindal asked the public to have their thoughts and prayers with the victims in the shooting.

"The best thing you can do right now is think of them and shower them with love," he said. "We can pray. We can hug these families. We can shower them with love, thoughts and prayers."

Law enforcement personnel stand near a police line at The Grand Theatre following a deadly shooting in Lafayette, La., July 23, 2015. Paul Kieu/The Daily Advertiser via AP Photo
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Jalen Fernell, 20, of Lafayette, was in the Grand Theatre watching "South Paw" with friends when he heard gunshots.

"They were very faint over the movie. I thought it was part of the movie," Fernell said. "About five seconds later, sirens went off and I realized it wasn't the movie."

Someone came on the intercom and told moviegoers to evacuate, Fernell said. Nobody knew what was going on so they took off running, he said. Outside the theater building police were everywhere.

"I saw a woman lying on the ground outside with blood everywhere. She was shot in the leg," Fernell said.

Everyone started running again, he said.

"We didn't know what to do. You're scared to walk through the parking lot, You don't know if the guy's in a car, hiding in the parking lot," Fernell said.

More police pulled up with assault rifles and went into the building, he said.

"I heard gunshots like a war going on," Fernell said.

When the gunfire stopped, he heard from a police car radio that six people were down in Theater 14, he said.

More police pulled up, charging inside the building and more gunshots were fired. He heard the suspect was down; he had committed suicide, he said.

In the theater where the shooting took place, Emily Mann, 21, was watching "Trainwreck" with a friend in the second row from the top of the theater when she heard popping noises and noticed flashes coming from a gun held by a man in the same row on the other side of the theater, her father, Randall Mann, vice president of marketing and public relations at Acadian Ambulance, said.

Emily wasn't up to speaking to the media Thursday night, he said.

Mann said Acadian Ambulance transported eight patients to area hospitals. The company responded with 10 ambulances and off-duty personnel who heard about the shooting showed up at the scene to help, he said.

"We heard a loud pop we thought was a firecracker," she said.

Katie Domingue of Carencro was at the 7 p.m. showing of "Trainwreck" with her fiance', Joshua Doggett. About 20 minutes into the movie, Domingue said, she heard a loud noise.

 

[Sonic Boom of the South]

Movie theater shooter's mental problems didn't stop him from buying gun
Published July 26, 2015
Associated Press


Movie theater shooter's mental problems didn't stop him from buying gun
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What drove gunman to target Louisiana movie theater?

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LAFAYETTE, La. – John Russell Houser was deeply troubled long before he shot 11 people in a movie theater in Louisiana, but decades of mental problems didn't keep him from buying the handgun he used.

Despite obvious and public signs of mental illness — most importantly, a Georgia judge's order committing him to mental health treatment against his will as a danger to himself and others in 2008 — Houser was able to walk into an Alabama pawn shop six years later and buy a .40-caliber handgun.

It was the same weapon Houser used to kill two people and wound nine others before killing himself at a Thursday showing of "Trainwreck." Three people remained hospitalized Saturday.

Court records reviewed by The Associated Press strongly suggest Houser should have been reported to the state and federal databases used to keep people with serious mental illnesses from buying firearms, legal experts said.

"It sure does seem like something failed," said Judge Susan Tate, who presides over a probate court in Athens, Georgia, and has studied issues relating to weapons and the mentally ill. "I have no idea how he was able to get a firearm."

Houser never should have been able to buy a gun, said Sheriff Heath Taylor in Russell County, Alabama, whose office denied him a concealed weapons permit in 2006 based on arson and domestic violence allegations, even though the victims declined to pursue charges.


Houser racked up plenty of complaints, but no evidence has surfaced of any criminal conviction that would have kept him from passing the background check required for many gun purchases. Federal law does generally prohibit the purchase or possession of a firearm by anyone who has ever been involuntarily committed for mental health treatment.

That's what happened to Houser in 2008 after his family accused him of threatening behavior, warning authorities that he had a history of bipolar disorder and was making ominous statements. His wife removed his guns and together, the family persuaded a judge to issue a protective order keeping him away once he left the hospital.

At that point, court officials should have reported Houser's involuntary mental commitment to the Georgia database that feeds the FBI's background check system, which provides for a delay of up to three days when records suggest a buyer may be ineligible.

Questions about gaps in the system also arose after James Holmes bought firearms to kill 12 people and wound 58 others in a Denver suburb three years ago, and after Dylann Storm Roof allegedly used a gun he bought this year to murder nine churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina.

But while both young men showed signs of trouble, neither had criminal convictions, nor were they hospitalized against their will.

Roof had admitted to illegal drug possession in a pending criminal case, however, which under federal rules would have been enough to disqualify him from a gun purchase even though he wasn't convicted.

But the FBI background check examiner never saw Roof's arrest report because the wrong arresting agency was listed in state records, and the three-day hold timed out without a clear answer, so the gun dealer used his discretion to complete the sale.

When Houser tried to buy his gun on Feb. 26, 2014, the system only briefly delayed his purchase, according to a federal official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. The seller was advised the following day that the sale could proceed.

It was Carroll County Probate Judge Betty Cason who authorized authorities to detain Houser in 2008, according to court records. Her court also issued the order involuntarily committing Houser to the West Central Regional Hospital in Columbus, according to legal filings from an attorney representing Houser's wife and other family members.

Judge Tate, who was not involved in Houser's case, said an involuntarily commitment order normally prompts a judge to file a report with the Georgia Crime Information Center, which keeps about 5,000 records on people who cannot buy guns because they have been judged insane, involuntarily hospitalized or legally depend on someone else to manage their affairs. Those state records feed the FBI's database.

It was not clear Saturday whether Cason filed such a report. She did not return a phone message seeking comment.

Like many states, Georgia has a highly decentralized court system, spread over 159 counties. Experts have long worried that probate judges are not reporting every mental health commitment.

The former director of Georgia's criminal records database, Terry Gibbons, wrote in a 2013 email obtained by the AP that "some courts are reluctant to report mental health records due to perceived privacy/HIPPA concerns." Gibbons has since retired and could not be reached for comment Saturday.

"I suspect there may be some courts where the reporting is not done because they are just having trouble keeping up with the day-to-day work of people coming into their offices needing their help," Tate said.

A month after Houser bought the gun last year, the family that bought his foreclosed home filed suit to evict him. By May 2014, a judge ordered him out.

Houser finally left, but only after tampering with the gas lines, throwing paint and pouring concrete in the plumbing, among other vandalism, the sheriff said. But no charges were filed.

This March, Kellie Houser finally filed for divorce, saying their relationship was irretrievably broken and his whereabouts were unknown. He called her the next week, threatening her again, she wrote in a court document.

Then, she got a call from Houser's mother, saying he had threatened to kill himself outside his mother's retirement community if she didn't give him money. She wrote that she urged the mother to seek have him hospitalized again. Instead, police said, the woman gave her son $5,000.

Houser kept writing on right-wing extremist message boards after leaving Alabama. He praised Adolf Hitler and advised people not to underestimate "the power of the lone wolf," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the hate-group watchdog that tracked Houser since 2005, when he registered to meet with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

Outside the theater, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Friday that "now is not the time" to discuss gun control, a position backed Saturday by rock musician and gun enthusiast Ted Nugent, who was in Lafayette for a sportsmen's exposition and came by to lay some flowers.

Asked whether Houser should have been allowed to purchase a gun, Nugent said "I think it's inappropriate to even approach that subject. I think it's all about prayers for the victims and the families."