Time for tighter cinema security? Debate rages in wake of Lafayette and Aurora shootings

  • John Russel Houser killed two and injured nine in Lafayette, Louisiana
  • Small changes were made after 2012 Colorado shooting that killed 12
  • Colorado official says that talks going on about new security measures
  • Metal detectors commonplace at cinemas in countries such as Israel

The Louisiana shooting that killed two Thursday night came at a site where national headlines had been grabbed before, the local movie theater.

Gunman John Russel Houser is believed to have open fire at a Lafayette screening of the Amy Schumer comedy Trainwreck, killing two before turning the gun on himself when cornered by police.

The shooting follows a similar attack almost exactly three years ago by James Holmes, who killed 12 and wounded 70 at the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado.

National attention followed the Aurora massacre, when James fired indiscriminately with an assault weapon, though the lives lost in Louisiana has brought renewed attention to cinemas' security policies.

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Another mass shooting at an American multiplex has raised questions about security in the country's movie theaters. Above, The Grand movie theater where John Houser killed two people and himself 

Some predict that movie theaters may lead to increased security measures at theaters. Above, Lafayette victim Mayci Breaux, 21
Jillian Johnson was identified as one the two killed in the Thursday massacre

Some predict that movie theaters may lead to increased security measures at theaters. Above, Mayci Breaux, 21 (left), and Jillian Johnson, 33 (right), have been identified as the two killed in the Thursday massacre

Southern Theaters, which owns the Grand 16 cinema where the Lafayette shooting occurred and is based in New Orleans, said, 'All of us offer our thoughts and prayers to the victims and to the community of Lafayette'. 

As of Friday evening the National Association of Theater Owners had not commented on the Lafayette shooting, where Houser is thought to have fired at least 13 shots 'methodically' and injured nine in addition to the victims who died. 

Leaders of the organization had worked with the Department of Homeland Security to boost security after 2012, according to the Los Angeles Times.

John Russel Houser, 59, is thought to have fired 13 rounds 'methodically' in the Louisiana attack

However, the changes were small-scale, and included securing employee-only doors and back exits. 

'There is no question in my mind that there are meetings going on as we speak, talking about improving security and associated liability. I think it will take time to happen,' Jim Davis, who was executive director for the Colorado Department of Public Safety during the Aurora shootings, said.

Movie theaters generally don't include metal detectors or the security found at events such as sporting events, and some argue that cinemas should be more prepared to stop events such as the Lafayette shooting.

While the measures may seem strange to Americans, increased security such as bag checks is commonplace at theaters and malls in countries such as Israel.

'(Stadium owners) have decided that people are willing to put up with that level of security to go see a game. The question for the movie theaters (or anyone else) is, where is that line?' Davis told USA Today. 

Cinemark and the Century 16 theater in the Aurora attack both face lawsuits from victims of the tragedy who said that it could have been prevented with better security, according to the Denver Post.

Trials for the suits were scheduled to begin in August, though have been delayed until next year as a federal judge waited until after the murder trial of Holmes, who was convicted on 165 counts last week, finished.

The Lafayette shooting occurred three years to the week after James Holmes killed 12 and injured 70 when he opened fire with an assault rifle at a Colorado movie theater (pictured)
Holmes was convicted last week on more than 160 counts for the massacre at the premier of The Dark Knight Rises

The Lafayette shooting occurred three years to the week after James Holmes (right) killed 12 and injured 70 when he opened fire with an assault rifle at a Colorado movie theater (left)

The Aurora movie theater and its parent company Cinemark are facing civil lawsuits from victims of Holmes's shooting. Above, authorities at the scene of the Louisiana shooting on Friday

The Aurora movie theater and its parent company Cinemark are facing civil lawsuits from victims of Holmes's shooting. Above, authorities at the scene of the Louisiana shooting on Friday

Houser's attack was the first mass shooting at an American cinema since Aurora, though the spectre of movie theater violence was raised again last year as hackers threatened retaliation against locations showing Seth Rogen and James Franco's The Interview.

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NATO allowed individual theaters to make their own decisions about showing the film, with major chains such as Regal and AMC choosing not to. 

US movie theaters have been the site of violence since at least the 1970s, though until recent times the incidents were largely gang related, according to Flavorwire.

Six years before the Colorado shooting, 25-year-old medical student Mujtaba Jabbar shot a 62-year old man sitting front of him 

The shooter had reportedly selected him at random during a Maryland movie theater's screening of X-Men 3 after being mad ''just because of the way things are going in my life', according to the Baltimore Sun.

Jabbar was later found guilty of first-degree murder but not criminally responsible due to mental illness.

WHO IS JOHN RUSSEL HOUSER? 

John Russel Houser was both a supporter of the far-right Tea Party and the extremist Christian Westboro Baptist Church, web accounts connected to the 59-year-old Louisiana theater shooter reveal.

John Russel Houser was both a supporter of the far-right Tea Party and the extremist Christian Westboro Baptist Church, web accounts connected to the 59-year-old Louisiana theater shooter reveal.

John Russel Houser was both a supporter of the far-right Tea Party and the extremist Christian Westboro Baptist Church, web accounts connected to the 59-year-old Louisiana theater shooter reveal.

Houser, who goes by the name Rusty, committed suicide Thursday night after opening fire in a screening of the movie Trainwreck at a Lafayette, Louisiana theater- killing two others and injuring nine.

At a morning press conference, police did not reveal much about the gunman, other than that he was a 'drifter' who appears to have worked alone and had disguises in his motel room - indicating that he planned to escape.

However, online profiles connected to Houser are revealing more details about him and paint a picture of a man concerned about American economic policy and morals.

'America is so sick that I now believe it to be the enemy of the world. I know next to nothing about Iran, but the little I do tell me they are far higher morally than this financially failing filth farm,' Houser, who goes by Rusty, wrote in a December 2013 post on an apparently conservative Christian website called Fellowship of the Minds.

Also that month, Rusty wrote on his Facebook, asking for help translating Iranian newspapers.

In yet another bizarre Facebook post, Rusty preached a strict adherence to the Bible, while condemning America at the same time.

'The bible doesn't ask me to like what it says, only to obey it. Death comes soon to the financially failing filth farm called the US.'

Houser also had a profile on the conservative website Tea Party Nation, in which he described himself as 'very conservative' and asked for help finding white-power groups.

And in a Twitter account connected to Houser's name, he once voiced support of the extremist Westboro Baptist Church. 

'The Westboro Baptist Church may be the last real church in America [members not brainwashed],' Houser wrote. 

In line with a far-right ideaology, Houser apparently went on a Georgia radio show several times in the 1990s to preach against abortion. 

Calvin Floyd, who hosted a morning call-in show on WLTZ-TV in Columbus, Georgia, says Houser also espoused other radical views, including his opposition to women in the workplace. Floyd, now 71, says he would put Houser on with a Democrat because 'he could make the phones ring.'

Floyd described Houser, as an 'angry man' who made 'wild accusations' about all sorts of local officials and topics. 

Houser appears to have posted this bizarre and racist rant last year

Houser appears to have posted this bizarre and racist rant last year

Above, the two and only tweets connected to an account under Houser's name in which he appears to sympathize with the Westboro Baptist Church

Above, the two and only tweets connected to an account under Houser's name in which he appears to sympathize with the Westboro Baptist Church

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, said it has had John Russell Houser's name in its files since 2005, when he registered at former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke's European-American Unity and Rights Organization conference.

In online forums, Houser wrote of the 'power of the lone wolf' and expressed interest in white power groups, anti-Semitic ideas and the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, which protests soldiers' funerals, the center said.

'Hitler is loved for the results of his pragmatism,' Houser wrote in January on the website stateofmind13.com. 'There is no question of his being the most successful that ever lived. At this time the US is no more than a financially failing filth farm. Soon the phrase `ruling with an iron hand' will be palatable anew.'

In another post on the Golden Dawn website, he said: 'It is a shame Tim McVeigh is not going to be with us to enjoy the hilarity of turning the tables with an IRON HAND.'

Court records have also revealed that Houser's wife and family asked for a temporary protective order in 2008 against him, for 'extreme erratic behavior' and making 'disturbing statements.' 

Houser 'has a history of mental health issues, i.e., manic depression and/or bi-polar disorder' the filing said.

The filing says Houser 'has a history of mental health issues, i.e., manic depression and/or bi-polar disorder'  and that his wife, Kellie Maddox Houser, 'has become so worried about the defendant's volatile mental state that she has removed all guns and/or weapons from their marital residence.' 

The family members also tried to have him involuntarily committed in 2008 'because he was a danger to himself and others,' they said in court documents.  

It's still uncertain exactly why Houser decided to target the crowd at the screening of Trainwreck, a movie about a young woman struggling with commitment, as he killed himself in the immediate aftermath.

Police say that Houser was a 'drifter' and that his last residence was in Phenix, Alabama. They say he had been staying in a hotel in Lafayette since early July and that his only connection to the area was a uncle who once lived there, but has been dead for 35 years.

While he has a long criminal history, Police say Houser hadn't been arrested very recently. His past charges include selling alcohol to a minor and arson - arrests that date back 10 to 15 years. 

On his LinkedIn profile, Houser describes himself as an entrepreneur who holds degrees in both accounting and law but his last listed job was as a real estate developer nearly a decade ago.

Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia, said the gunman, John Russel Houser, earned an accounting degree from there in 1988.

Pat Gregory, a spokesman for Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama, said Houser enrolled in the college's law school in 1994 and graduated in 1998, but the Alabama State Bar said it did not have record of House ever applying to take the bar exam.

Houser also claims to have owned two short-lived bars - Rusty's Buckhead Pub which was open for just two years in Lagrange, Georgia between 1998 and 2000 and Peachtree Pub which was open for a year and a half in Columbus, Georgia and closed in 1980. 

Lafayette Police are asking for the public's help in the investigation, and say anyone with information on Houser should call 337-291-8650.

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