What we know about John Russell Houser, the Louisiana theater shooter

July 24, 2015 7:08 PM PT

A 59-year-old gunman opened fire in a Lafayette, La., movie theater Thursday evening, killing two people and injuring nine others before killing himself, police say.

“We’re trying to put the pieces together to figure out why,” said Louisiana State Police Supt. Col. Michael D. Edmonson.

Here’s what we know about John Russell Houser, the shooter:

Houser was a “drifter” who had been living in a motel nearby

Lafayette police say Houser had been living in a motel in Lafayette. His prior address was in Phenix City, Ala.

He entered the state around July 2 or July 3, officials said Friday, and had traveled up and down the interstate.

"He was looking for a job," said Louisiana State Police Chief Jim Craft. "He needed money."

Houser doesn’t appear to have any major connections to Lafayette. According to police, he had an uncle who once lived there, but he died 35 years ago. Police said they found disguises, including glasses and wigs, in a search of Houser's motel room.

His wife filed for divorce four months ago

Houser’s wife filed for divorce in March of this year, after more than 31 years of marriage, according to Carroll County, Ga., court documents. She said they’d separated in December 2012 and that their marriage was “irretrievably broken.”

According to the filing, Houser’s house in Phenix City, Ala., went into foreclosure after they separated. His wife hadn’t been able to locate him since, she said in court documents.

He was accused of vandalizing a home he lost in foreclosure

According to Sheriff Heath Taylor of Russell County, Ala., Houser was evicted from his house after it went into foreclosure. The person who bought the home after Houser lost it discovered that someone had poured concrete down the plumbing pipes and tampered with the gas pipes.

He expressed anti-Semitic and anti-gay views on online message boards and social media

Houser expressed sympathies with Neo-Nazis and white power groups, and he espoused anti-gay views, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The law center, which tracks hate groups, said he was "caught up with a number of far right-wing ideas and fascinated about 'the power of the lone wolf.'"

According to the center, he praised Adolf Hitler, saying the Nazi leader "is loved for the results of his pragmatism," and tweeted support for the Westboro Baptist Church, well-known for its anti-gay demonstrations.

A Facebook profile believed to belong to Houser posted in 2014 that the United States is "nothing more than a financially failing filth farm."

He had a history of mental illness, according to his family

Houser’s wife, daughter, aunt, and other family members were granted a protective order against him in 2008, according to court documents filed in Carroll County. The order required him to stay at least 100 yards away from them and refrain from calling or contacting family members.

Houser "has a history of mental health issues, i.e. manic depression and/or bi-polar disorder" and had been prescribed medicine, which he sometimes didn't take, family members said in court documents.

His family said he "exhibited extreme erratic behavior" and that they feared for their safety after he made “ominous” and “disturbing” statements expressing his opposition to his daughter’s upcoming wedding.

In a police report included in court documents, his wife told police that she had removed all of the guns from their home.

He had degrees in accounting and law

Houser graduated from Columbus State University in Georgia in 1988 with a degree in accounting, university officials said.

He also received a law degree from Faulkner University, a private Christian university in Montgomery, Ala., in 1998, officials there said. There were no records indicating he had passed the state bar.

He owned a bar in Georgia until it was shut down for serving alcohol to minors

Houser opened a bar in LaGrange, Ga., around 1998, according to friends and city officials. About two years later, Houser was convicted in a jury trial on three counts of furnishing alcohol to minors, according to LaGrange Police Chief Louis Dekmar. He later lost his license and the bar closed sometime in 2000, Dekmar said.

He was once a regular guest on a local morning TV show

In the 1990s, Houser appeared regularly on a show called “Rise and Shine” on WLTZ-TV in Columbus, according to station officials. The host of the show, Calvin Floyd, said Houser often expressed views that prompted outrage from viewers.

Houser was against women’s rights, vehemently opposed to abortion, and anti-gay, Floyd told The Times.

“I had him there because he was controversial. When you’re doing a talk show, you don’t try to get choir boys. You try to get people who will get people angry and to call in. And Rusty would.”

Floyd later stopped inviting Houser to appear after he implied on air that a locally respected official was embezzling money. “I think now I should have been afraid of him,” Floyd said. “He got real angry at me.”

He had previously been denied a concealed carry weapons permit

According to Taylor, the Russell County sheriff, Houser had applied in 2006 for a permit to carry a concealed firearm. The application was denied because Houser had been accused by his wife of domestic violence the previous year and because he had been arrested in connection with an arson case in Columbus, Ga., Taylor said.

For the Record

July 24, 9:35 p.m.: An earlier version of this report, in explaining that Houser was denied a concealed-weapons permit, misidentified him as Taylor.

According to Taylor, Houser’s wife filed the domestic violence complaint on Oct. 23, 2005, but it was never prosecuted because the complainant didn’t pursue prosecution. According to officials in Muscogee County in Georgia, Houser was accused in 1989 of soliciting a man to burn down the law offices of a local attorney. A grand jury declined to indict Houser, but the court ordered he be mentally evaluated. There's no indication the mental evaluation was completed.

At a news conference Friday afternoon, police said the gun used in the shooting was purchased at a pawn shop in Phenix City, Ala., in 2014. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told local officials the purchase was legal.

Times staff writers Michael Muskal and Natalie Schachar contributed to this report.

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