3 dead after movie theater shooting
LAFAYETTE, La. — A gunman sitting in a packed movie theater stood up about 20 minutes into the showing of “Trainwreck” and began firing into the crowd, killing two and wounding at least nine others before fatally shooting himself, authorities said.
The gunman initially tried escaping Thursday night by blending into the fleeing crowd, but turned back when he saw police heading inside from the parking lot, authorities said. Officers tailing him back into the theater then heard a single gunshot and found him dead inside, police said.
They described the shooter as a 58-year-old “lone white male” with a criminal history but did not immediately disclose his name. Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft said the gunman was by himself and started the rampage by shooting the two people sitting in front of him.
At least one theatergoer described the attack, saying an older man stood up about 20 minutes into the 7:10 p.m. showing of the movie “Trainwreck” at the Grand 16 theater in Lafayette and began shooting.
“We heard a loud pop we thought was a firecracker,” Katie Domingue said.
“He wasn't saying anything. I didn't hear anybody screaming either,” said Domingue, who added she heard about six shots before she and her fiance ran to the nearest exit, leaving behind her shoes and purse.
Stories of heroism immediately began to emerge with presidential hopeful Gov. Bobby Jindal, who traveled to the scene within hours of the shooting, telling reporters a teacher who was in the theater jumped in front of a second teacher, saving her life. The second teacher then managed to pull a fire alarm to alert other moviegoers, he said.
“Her friend literally jumped over her and, by her account, actually saved her life,” Jindal said.
President Barack Obama was briefed on the shooting aboard Air Force One by Lisa Monaco, his homeland security adviser, while on his way to Africa for a two-nation visit, the White House said.
The shooting took place a week after the man who shot and killed 12 people at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo., was convicted and on the very day a jury said his attack was cruel enough to consider sentencing him to death.Nine people ranging in age from their late teens to their late 60s were wounded, Craft said. At least one of those was in critical condition and being operated on at an area hospital, he said. The conditions of the others were not immediately known.State police superintendent Col. Michael D. Edmonson said the body of the shooter and “at least one other person” were still inside the theater. He said there were about 100 people inside the theater at the time of the shooting.Early today, about a dozen law enforcement personnel were gathered at a Motel 6 in Lafayette. Louisiana State Police spokesman Maj. Doug Cain said the investigation led them to a room at the Motel 6. Authorities were investigating whether the shooter had stayed there, Cain said. He said the bomb squad swept the room before going in as a precaution.Edmonson that police believe the gunman fired shots only at the theater and had not waged an attack anywhere else beforehand.However, authorities said they were not releasing his name immediately in part so police could safely track down and interview friends or family who knew the shooter.“We have no reason to believe that this individual acted beyond this location here,” Edmonson said.He said police saw something suspicious inside the shooter's car and that a bomb-sniffing dog “hit on three different locations” in the vehicle, “so out of an abundance of caution we brought in the bomb squad.”
