3 dead, 7 hurt in Lafayette movie theater shooting

By News Staff

The Associated Press

news@abc6.com

LAFAYETTE, La. — Authorities are describing the gunman in the movie theater shooting as 59-year-old John Russel Houser, who previously lived in Alabama but is “kind of a drifter'' who had been in the Lafayette area since early July.

Police said Friday that the gunman fired a handgun 13 times inside the theater, killing two people and wounding at least nine others before fatally shooting himself.

Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft said the gunman parked his car near the theater's exit door and was intent on escaping, but couldn't because police arrived so quickly.

Authorities have not determined a motive. They searched a motel room he had been staying in and found wigs and other disguises.

© The Associated Press/WLNE-TV 2015