Police:Two Dead in Louisiana Theater Shooting, Middle-Aged Gunman Also Dead
LAFAYETTE, La., July 23 (UPI) — Two moviegoers were shot to death and several were wounded late Thursday at a movie theater in Louisiana after a gunman abruptly opened fire on a crowd, authorities said.
The shooting occurred at about 7:30 p.m., in Lafayette — which is about 60 miles west of Baton Rouge, police said, at the Grand Theatre. Inside, the gunman reportedly pulled a handgun and opened fire inside one of the theaters showing the film Trainwreck.
None of the victims’ names were immediately released, either. Police said the gunfire was contained to just one theater.
“I almost thought it was part of the movie at first,” he said of the gunshots,” Jalen Fernell, who was in an adjacent theater, said in CNN’s report.
“There’s nothing to believe that there was any kind of motive,” Louisiana State Police Col. Michael Edmonson said.
It was reported earlier that just two people, including the gunman, were killed. Authorities revised that toll a short time later.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal offered prayers late Thursday for the shooting victims and their families.
“I’m on my way to Lafayette right now. Please say a prayer for the victims at Grand Theatre and their families,” he tweeted.
There were about 100 people inside the theater at the time of the shooting, officials said. It is believed by police that no one else was involved but the gunman.
“Immediately we get terrified because they are telling us to head out to vehicles,” Fernell said. “We don’t know whether the shooter is in the parking lot. It was kinda like a war going on … gunshots after gunshots.”
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