Theater shooter thanked man accused of church slayings
LAFAYETTE, La. — The gunman responsible for a deadly rampage inside a movie theater in the summer left a journal thanking the man accused of killing nine black people in a South Carolina church
Police released a copy Wednesday of 59-year-old John Russell Houser’s handwritten journal, in which he described Dylann Roof, now 21, as “green but good.” The release was in conjunction with the release of the Lafayette Police Department's 589-page final investigative report into the Louisiana shooting.
Houser of Phenix City, La., shot and killed two people and wounded nine others before fatally shooting himself inside an auditorium July 23 at The Grand 16 theater here, police said. Witnesses recall that he didn't say a word as he sprayed the theater with bullets.
Jillian Johnson, 33, a musician and business owner; and Mayci Breaux, 21 and a student, died in the shooting.
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Witnesses interviewed after the shooting said Houser positioned himself in on a corner seat of Theater 14's last row before he stood up and opened fire. He walked his way through the theater shooting at people seated and those fleeing through exit doors. He then fired two or three more shots before putting the pistol in his mouth and pulling the trigger.
Houser's 40-page journal, released Wednesday, reveals a troubled man dissatisfied with his country and his government, who called himself "radicalized" and believed America and Europe were heading for a collapse that would allow countries like North Korea, China and Russia to rise.
He lamented the state of the United States, calling it a “filth farm.”
Some of his favorite songs included That's Where the Music Takes Me, Soldier of Love and Superfly. His favorite artists included the Rolling Stones, Tina Turner and Ray Charles.
The final page of his journal contains a chilling entry that he timestamped at 6:33 p.m.: "Trainwreck 7:15."
Less than an hour after writing that entry, he stood up in room 14 of the theater during a Thursday evening showing of Trainwreck and opened fire.
"Whatever it takes to turn 'America' around is worth the price," Houser wrote.
He contended that the United States cannot afford to have 100 people with views like his yet he said he knew that many people with similar ideas, so he believed that each state has at least 1,000 people with his views.
The journal entries contain no dates, so it's unclear how close to July 23 his musings were made. At one point, about six pages before the final entry, Houser foretold that he would not be captured alive.
"No matter how perverted the presentation of these notes, or censorship, the contribution is made," Houser wrote, lambasting whites, blacks, gays, women — even Fox News — in the pages of his journal. "Therefore I leave it all, in hopes of truth, my death all but assured."
Contributing: Seth Dickerson, The (Lafayette, La.) Daily Advertiser; The Associated Press. Follow Claire Taylor on Twitter: @ClaireTaylorTDA
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