Brother of Lousiana Theater Shooter ‘Never Thought Anything Like This Would

Chancey said the water was so opaque that you could only see some of the hundreds of koi living in the pond when they came to the surface. In another foreboding post on the site in 2013, he welcomed a newcomer to the forum: “Jump in the deep end, I don’t think we have that long”.

About a dozen law enforcement personnel descended on the Motel 6 in Lafayette where Houser had been staying.

Besides an uncle who died about 35 years ago, he didn’t have any known connection to the city of 120,000.

According to Carroll County court documents, Houser’s family knew he had mental issues. Houser “has a history of mental health issues, i.e., manic depression and/or bi-polar disorder”, his estranged wife, Kellie, told the judge at the time. But Houser’s own resume, posted online, says what he really loved to do was make provocative statements at local board meetings and in the media.

“I think that the very fact that yes it could have turned out differently if someone was carrying a firearm, either if this person even attempted to try to do what he did or in and of itself served as a deterrent from him going in there and attempting it”, says Wilson. The man who lives there now was shocked to learn this.

Was it a loaded gun that killed two innocent women and harmed a host of other people at the Lafayette Grand theater? Houser also swapped the licence plates on his 1995 Lincoln Continental before parking it by the cinema’s exit door. He stashed the keys atop one of its wheels.

Two people were killed and nine were injured; authorities said Houser shot himself to death as officers pursued him in the theater.

“When I first heard the shots, I thought it was a firecracker and some kids snuck into this R rated movie”, Mann said.

Two high school educators – English teacher Ali Martin and librarian Jena Meaux – were credited with helping save lives amid the chaos. Both were shot, including one who pulled a fire alarm after being struck in the leg by a bullet.

“She was bleeding on the grass, in the front of the theater”, Broussard said. She saw “an older white man” standing up and shooting down, not in her direction.

Investigators said they are looking into an online history which appears to include anti-government rants, conspiracy theories and Nazi-sympathizing views. Officers found at least 13 spent shell casings. Breauxs body was brought to the same hospital where she was preparing to become a radiologist. Ms Johnson ran clothing and art boutiques, played in a rock band and planted fruit trees for neighbours and the homeless. None of the victims, who were described as ranging in age from teens to early 60s, were immediately identified by authorities.

The shooting was the latest in a series of mass killings in the United States, including the fatal shooting of five US servicemen in Tennessee, and the massacre of nine African Americans at a South Carolina church in recent weeks. Three patients had been stabilized, including one who remained in intensive care. Until he disappeared. Until Thursday night in Lafayette.

In April 2008, his family told Carroll County Judge Betty Cason that John Houser was a danger to himself and others.

“I wasn’t a bit shocked that it happened”, Floyd said. “Then he became your sworn enemy”.

“They heard a couple of pops and didn’t know what it was”, said Randall Mann, whose 21-year-old daughter, Emily, was sitting in the same row as the shooter Thursday night.

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.

“Everybody scrambled… and the guy was just kind of at ease, just standing there, just shooting”, Sanders said.

Seven years after one of the worst massacres committed with handguns by a mentally unsound shooter, it seems the system aimed at curbing these incidents still needs a lot more work.

After detailing each victim’s wounds, David Callecod, president of Lafayette General Health, pleaded Friday for society to provide as much funding for mental health services as it does for other medical problems.

Pressed to explain why Houser wasnt convicted of anything, Sheriff Taylor pointed instead to cuts in the safety net.

Neighbors recalled Houser as being odd but said they never saw signs that he was violent or unsafe or had guns.