Lafayette Movie Theater Shooting: 911 Calls, Videos Reveal Moments Before, After Shooting
Newly released surveillance footage, police dash-cam video and 911 calls
show what happened just moments before and after a gunman opened fire
in a Lafayette, Louisiana movie theater auditorium, where he killed two
people and wounded nine others last week.
Security video released today by authorities shows 59-year-old John
Russell Houser, wearing an untucked white short-sleeve shirt and khaki
shorts, moments before the shooting this past Thursday.
He can be seen purchasing a ticket, walking through The Grand 16
theater's lobby and going down a hallway to the auditorium where he
opened fire 20 minutes into a screening of "Trainwreck."
Parts of 911 calls made reporting the shooting were released by
authorities today, revealing the horrifying experience theatergoers went
through.
Several callers, who can be heard breathing rapidly, described the
shooter to dispatchers as white man in a white polo shirt and khaki
shorts who was shooting directly at people in auditorium 14 of the
theater.
Even after police and an ambulance arrived on the scene, a frantic
caller requested, "We need more ambulances at The Grand theater."
Police dispatch audio revealed officers' worries about the shooter as
well. Dash-cam video from one police car shows the vehicle speeding down
to the theater with its sirens blaring .
"I don't have time to read all these messages," one responding cop can
be heard saying on dispatch audio. "Can you give me any information on
the suspect? I don't want to walk into a guy with a gun."
Another cop who just arrived at the scene can be heard, saying,
"Alright, headquarters, listen. We need everybody over here. Send me
anybody you got."
One cop can later be helping guide and calm down officers on the scene who were entering the theater the suspect is in.
"Several more victims are down!" one cop can be heard yelling, adding that the suspect was also down.
Houser, who killed himself, is among three people who died, police said.
The other two were Mayci Breaux, 21, of Franklin, Louisiana, who died at the theater, and Jillian Johnson, 33, of Lafayette, who died at the hospital.
Police said it was apparent Houser "was intent on shooting and escaping"
because he left his 1995 blue Lincoln Continental parked near the exit.
After he opened fire on movie-goers, Houser exited the theater through a
side door, the Lafayette Police Department said. Houser reloaded his
weapon just as an officer arrived at the scene. Houser then re-entered
the screening room where he fired his gun again and shot himself, police
said.
The security video disputes a witness account previously given to ABC
News from a woman who described the shooter as "wearing a hat and a big
jacket."
A public information officer for the Lafayette Police Department told
ABC News they are aware of the eyewitness' statement, but that she is
wrong because he was found entering, walking and then dead in the same
untucked shirt and shorts.
There were 300 people in the building at the time of the shooting,
police said, and 25 tickets were sold for the movie where the shooting
took place.
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