Theater gunman built reputation as an angry provocateur

Officers found at least 13 spent shell casings.

A total of 20 rounds were fired, which struck 11 people, not including the gunman. “Why would you come here and do something like this?”

In April 2008, Houser’s wife Kellie Maddox Houser, daughter and others filed court papers seeking a temporary protective order against Houser, saying he had “perpetrated various acts of family violence” and had a history of bi-polar disorder. Col. Michael Edmonson called “some closure” for the victims’ families.

In February 2014, Norman Bone – who already knew Houser and purchased his home after it went into foreclosure – approached Houser to ask when he was going to leave.

Houser had been in Lafayette since early July.

Earlier, Houser was involuntarily committed to a hospital for psychiatric care, according to court documents.

He was educated in accounting and law, and owned bars in Georgia – including one where he flew a Nazi banner out front as an anti-government statement. Last year, he was evicted from a house he owned in Phenix City, Alabama, and returned to vandalize the property, authorities there said.

A picture emerged Friday of a combative, disturbed man who distrusted government, believed women belonged at home and preached that the United States was about to self-destruct.

“A conversation about her dogs soon led to Houser explaining how he had chased his former cat outside and tried to kill it by clubbing it with rebar…Next came Houser’s proposals for a more convenient way to euthanize pets – by drugging them and then finishing them off with an ax”, the newspaper reported. Police found disguises, including wigs and glasses in his motel room, he added. He had switched its license plates and stashed the keys on top of a tire.

The brother of the gunman who killed two women and wounded nine other people in a movie theater shooting in Louisiana said he “never thought anything like this would happen”. But he said he has officers researching whether Houser would have had the same outcomes if he’d tried to buy guns or apply for concealed carry permits in Louisiana.

At least seven people have been injured in the shootout, some of them with life threatening wounds, the police said.

“It was a odd”.

“She was the kind of person you want in your program”, McLaughlin said. “You needed a second to think, ‘OK, this is real, this is happening.'”.

“I didn’t really hear the screaming until we were out of the theater itself, out of 14 and running down the hall”.

Among the chaos, Jeanerette High School English teacher Ali Martin and librarian Jena Meaux were credited with helping save lives.

He said a woman in her 60s ran past them shouting that she had been shot in the leg. He saw blood pouring down her leg, he said.

Matt Bogaard, whose Bogaard Group Intl. advises companies on security and risk management, said that there aren’t “any pending threats or unusual concerns surrounding the safety of movie theaters today”. “A man had actually dragged her out”.

Mayci Breaux, 21, was in the first year of an associate’s degree program for medical radiology technicians at Louisiana State University-Eunice.

Jillian Johnson, 33, was remembered as an all-around “creative force” who ran clothing and art boutiques, played in a rootsy rock band, helped organize a music festival, and used her design skills on t-shirts and other crafts. “Stay strong Lafayette”, read a sign in front of a Walgreen’s.

Houser had applied for a pistol in Alabama in 2006, according to Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor. In 2005, Houser and his wife, Kim, moved to Phenix City, Ala., just down the road from Columbus. “Then he became your sworn enemy”, Hardin said. CNN reports that Houser originally opted to walk out of the theater alongside the alarmed crowd before changing direction back into the theater upon noticing police outside.

Police have identified the shooter as 59 year-old John Russell Houser, a “drifter” from Georgia who had also lived in Alabama.

It’s unclear where Houser went after the eviction, but his wife filed for a divorce in March. “But I’m not sure there is an answer for this whole mess”, he said, describing his brother as someone who slowly deteriorated over the years. Years ago, he had a regular seat on local television and radio shows and at board meetings, providing a provocative and conspiratorial counterpoint to more mainstream political voices, according to many accounts.