A "lone white male" gunman opened fire on a cinema audience in Louisiana yesterday evening, killing two people and injuring at least 12 others, before taking his own life.
Witnesses said the man had been seated in the Grand Theater in Lafayette, with around 100 others in the audience, for a screening of the comedy Trainwreck. After 20 minutes, he reportedly stood up and starting shooting at the audience with a semi-automatic handgun.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft told a press conference in the early hours of this morning that investigators have multiple addresses for the 59-year-old suspect in different states and are following up on those leads.
Two officers responded to the "chaotic scene" in less than a minute as they were close to the theatre, said Craft. They entered as audience members fled and heard a single gunshot, which was Houser shooting himself.
Officers are working at the crime scene, where many people left shoes, bags and other items as they rushed to leave the cinema, reports New Orleans' daily newspaper the Times-Picayun.One witness, who had been buying popcorn at the time, said a group came out screaming for others to run. "Then we saw a lady with blood all over her leg. I just grabbed my child. I mean, we all ran," she said.The attack came as jurors in Colorado unanimously agreed that Aurora cinema gunman James Holmes should be eligible for the death penalty. In a similar case to last night's tragedy, Holmes sat among the audience during a screening of The Dark Knight in July 2012 before opening fire and killing 12 people and injuring 70 others.Last night's shooting also coincided with a BBC interview with Barack Obama, who spoke out against the nation's inability to fix its gun control issue.
He said he was "frustrated" that the US does not have "common sense gun safety laws, even in the face of repeated mass killings".
-
August 9 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include snake oil salesmen, Ghislaine Maxwell's new residence, and more
-
5 hastily redrawn cartoons about redistrictingCartoons Artists take on Donald Trump's draughtsmanship, the White House ballroom, and more
-
Bonnie Blue: taking clickbait to extremesTalking Point Channel 4 claims documentary on the adult performer's attention-grabbing sex stunts is opening up a debate
-
Louisiana man accused of shooting 14-year-old playing hide-and-seek on his propertySpeed Read
-
What we know about the Copenhagen mall shootingSpeed Read Lone gunman had mental health issues and not thought to have terror motive, police say
-
Texas school shooting: parents turn anger on policeSpeed Read Officers had to be urged to enter building where gunman killed 21 people
-
DJ Tim Westwood denies multiple sexual misconduct allegationsSpeed Read At least seven women accuse the radio and TV presenter of predatory behaviour dating back three decades
-
What happened to Katie Kenyon?Speed Read Man charged as police search for missing 33-year-old last seen getting into van
-
Brooklyn subway shooting: exploring New York’s ‘steep decline in law and order’Speed Read Last week, a gunman set off smoke bombs and opened fire on a rush-hour train in the city
-
How the Capitol attack investigation is splitting the RepublicansSpeed Read Vote to censure two Republican representatives has revealed deep divisions within party
-
Is sentencing a Nazi sympathiser to read Shakespeare an appropriate punishment?Speed Read Judge seemed to think introducing student ‘to high culture’ would ‘magically make him a better person’ said The Daily Telegraph
