A man police described as a “drifter” opened fire in a Lafayette, Louisiana movie theater on Thursday night, killing two and wounding nine before the gunman took his own life as police closed in on the situation.
Police officials say that some of the wounded are in “very critical” condition with “life-threatening” injuries.
According to witnesses, the gunman, 58-year-old John Russell Houser, sat in the back of a showing of the film “Trainwreck.” About 100 people were in the theater when he stood up shortly after the film started and began to open fire with a handgun.
“The information we have at this time indicates that he was by himself, he sat by himself and the first two people he shot were sitting right in front of him … When he stood up and started firing, people started rushing out. It looks like he spotted the officers coming in and he turned around, went against the crowd and fired a single gunshot,” Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft told reporters.
Witnesses told NBC that the shooter said nothing as he carried out his rampage.
Governor Bobby Jindal praised two teachers who were inside the theater for their bravery. One took a bullet that was heading for the second teacher’s head, the second pulled an alarm.
“Both teachers ended up shot. The second one, the one whose life was saved, even though she was shot in the leg, she had the presence of mind to pull the fire alarm to help save other lives,” he said.
One of the dead has been identified as 21-year-old Mayci Breaux, a pro-life activist who is being remembered as an “amazing young woman.”
A Navy petty officer wounded in the terror attack on two military recruiting centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee has died from his wounds.
The fallen soldier is Navy Petty Officer Randall Smith. He leaves behind a wife and three young daughters.
Smith’s mother Paula Proxmire went to the memorial site for those slain by Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez and placed an American flag and baseball mitt in honor of her son. She said that America and baseball were her son’s passions.
“My son is a hero. He died doing what he loved. He would have had it no other way,” Proxmire, from Kansas, told NBC News. “He’s been my hero since the day I gave birth to him.”
Meanwhile, the family of Abdulazeez reportedly told investigators that their son suffered from depression and was a drug addict, so they sent him to Jordan to try and get him away from Chattanooga friends who were a “bad influence.” However, relatives and friends admitted they saw changes in his behavior after his return from seven months in Jordan.
Investigators say Abdulazeez sent a text message to a friend before the attacks that included the Islamic verse “Whoever shows enmity to a friend of mine, then I have declared war against him.”
The FBI reports there is nothing to connect the gunman to ISIS or any other international terrorism group.
A Colorado jury has found James Holmes guilty of murder in the deaths of 12 people at an Aurora, Colorado theater.
In addition to the 12 people killed, 70 others were injured in the attack on the opening night of the movie “The Dark Knight Rises.” Holmes had entered the theater in black body armor with his hair colored red in an apparent reference to the Joker, Batman’s arch-nemesis.
The jury rejected the claims of Holmes’ defense team that he has been overtaken by his schizophrenia and that he had no control over his actions that night.
However, prosecutors showed a very detailed plan for the attack that included the booby-trapping of his apartment with explosive devices in an apparently attempt to take out law enforcement after his assault on the theater. The prosecutors claim the plans showed that while Holmes may indeed be mentally ill, he was fully aware of his actions the night of the attack.
Holmes showed no response as the jury found him guilty on all 165 charges against him.
The jury will now take a week off before coming back to determine if Holmes will spend life in prison or be sentenced to the death penalty.
Law enforcement officials have released the name of the shooter who injured three people and killed four marines in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
The alleged gunman is 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez. It is believed Abdulazeez was born in Kuwait, but there is no evidence to the status of his citizenship at this time. He was reportedly from Hixson, Tennessee, a town located across the river from Chattanooga.
Officials have stated that Abdulazeez was “not on the FBI’s radar” before the attacks and that it’s too early to establish a motive.
Abdulazeez was reportedly killed, but no details regarding his death has been released by officials at this time.
A gunman opened fire on two military recruitment centers in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Thursday, leaving soldiers dead and wounded.
Officials in the Chattanooga area say the gunman has been shot and killed and that they believe he is the only one involved in the attacks.
Fox News reported that four Marines were killed at one of the two centers. FBI officials confirmed others were injured and are being treated at local hospitals but there was no information on their condition.
The U.S. Prosecutor for the region said at a press conference the investigation is being conducted “as a case of domestic terrorism.” He added there is a joint federal, state and local investigation which is why much of the information about the shooting is being withheld from the media and public.
The FBI, ATF and the Department of Homeland Security were on the scene within hours and leading the investigation.
Ed Reinhold, special agent in charge of the FBI at the same news conference praised the local police department for the response and for “neutralizing the threat to the community.”
The FBI confirmed the suspect carried “multiple weapons” but would not describe the weapons. They believe that the gunman was residing in the area before the attack. Reinhold also said that while it’s being investigated as domestic terrorism, it’s possible the attack was not related to terrorism and just an act of violence.
The woman who spotted the South Carolina church shooter at a stoplight in North Carolina says it was God that put her in that place at that time.
Debbie Dills says when she looked beside her at the stoplight and noticed the bowl haircut on the white man driving a black Hyundai there was a disturbance in her spirit.
“At first I thought, nah, it couldn’t be,” Dills said. “I didn’t want to overreact.”
South Carolina license plate. “In my mind I’m thinking, ‘That can’t be.’ … I never dreamed that it would be the car.”
Dills, a part-time minister of music, had been devastated by the tragedy and had been praying for the victims of the event as she drove on. She pulled off the highway and called her boss to ask him what to do.
“I was nervous, I was scared, I’m normally not that kind of person, and I got back on the bypass to go see just if I could get a tag number, just to see — just had a feeling and I’m sure that was divine intervention,” she told TODAY. “I feel like God has his hand in it and that he had me where I needed to be.”
Roof confessed to the killings after being taken in custody. He claimed that he was targeting blacks because he felt blacks were taking over the country.
State prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty.
Marcus Stanley, a victim of gun violence, showed the world a message of grace and forgiveness in a Facebook comment that has gone viral.
“I love you Dylann… even in the midst of the darkness and pain you’ve caused.”
The Facebook comment was found on the barren profile of Dylann Storm Roof, the suspect of the Charleston shooting. Stanley posted the message before Roof was captured Thursday morning in hopes that he would see it.
“I don’t look at you with the eyes of hatred, or judge you by your appearance or race, but I look at you as a human being that made a horrible decision to take the lives of 9 living & breathing people,” Stanley, a 30-year-old gospel singer, wrote on Roof’s Facebook. “Children do not grow up with hatred in their hearts. In this world we are born color blind. Somewhere along the line, you were taught to hate people that are not like you, and that is truly tragic.”
In 2004, Stanley was shot eight times by a gang during an initiation rite on the streets of Baltimore. CBN News reported that he had lost feeling in his right hand. A few months later, he turned to God and was able to forgive the man that pulled the trigger, according to his Facebook page.
Stanley even encouraged the young man to accept Jesus into his heart and be forgiven.
“Give your heart to Jesus and confess your sins with a heart of forgiveness. He is the only one that can save your soul and forgive you for the terrible act that you have done. I love you Dylann…but more importantly HE loves you.”
Marveled by Stanley’s compassion for Roof, other Facebook users have shared the post nearly 28,000 times.
A white gunman walked into a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday night. He sat in the prayer service for about an hour before he pulled a gun, opened fire and killed 9 people including the pastor who was also a state senator.
The gunman has been identified by the FBI as 21-year-old Dylann Roof of Lexington, South Carolina. He was apprehended Thursday morning in Shelby, North Carolina, about three hours away from the shooting site.
“This is a situation that is unacceptable in any society and especially in our society and our city,” Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen said.
Officials confirmed that three men and six women were killed in the shooting. The gunman reportedly reloaded five times during the assault.
Witnesses said that the pastor, Clementa Pinckney, tried to talk the gunman out of the attack. Sylvia Johnson, a cousin of the pastor who survived the assault.
“He just said, ‘I have to do it. You rape our women and you’re taking over our country,” Johnson said.
The incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
“The only reason that someone could walk into a church and shoot people praying is out of hate,” Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley said. “It is the most dastardly act that one could possibly imagine, and we will bring that person to justice. … This is one hateful person.”
Boston police fatally shot a man Tuesday that was part of a terrorism investigation.
An official with the U.S. Joint Terrorism Task Force says the slain man was part of a terror investigation involving Islamist extremists who were under surveillance and tracking. The man was shot after coming toward police and federal agents with a military-style knife.
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said the man was specifically under investigation for threats against police officers. Details on those threats were not released to the media.
“Unfortunately, he came at the officers and, you know, they do what they were trained to do and, unfortunately, they had to take a life,” Evans said.
The suspect died at an area hospital.
Two officers who were involved in the incident were examined for stress at the hospital but did not suffer any physical injuries.
The shooting is still under official investigation.
A Connecticut Pastor, outside his church on Sunday morning placing American flags in honor of Memorial Day, was shot by an unknown assailant.
Rev. Augustus Sealy, 54, is pastor of First Church of the Nazarene in Hartford, Connecticut. He was planting small American flags in the church yard when someone drove past in a black car and opened fire.
Police say that they received multiple 911 calls and found Rev. Sealy shot in the leg and shoulder. The pastor’s femur was shattered and a metal rod was placed in the leg to stabilize it.
His wife Sharon told the Hartford Courant that while her husband was in a lot of pain he should make a full recovery from his wounds.
“He hasn’t lost any hope,” Sealy’s wife told NBC Connecticut. “You know, this is something that was really terrible and shouldn’t have happened and we’ve already prayed for that person who actually committed the crime.”
Rev. Eustance McDonald of Brooklyn, New York came to the church to preach at the 11 a.m. service and spoke from the book of Samuel where King David and his men had their town burned down by an enemy but did not lose heart.
“Misfortune in life comes to us all,” he said, telling the congregation that what matters most is their response. “You have to go to a place of hope.”
Rev. Henry Brown, who has been working to end gun violence in Hartford, came to the church after the incident to comfort and counsel church members.
“I am tired of people being shot,” he said. “The devil is not going to win here.”