Closing summary
Here’s a quick revision of our latest summary in the light of that police briefing:
-
Three people have died in a shooting at the Grand Theater in Lafayette, Louisiana.
- Among the dead was the gunman, whom police described as a “lone white male” aged 58, with a “criminal history”, but not a recent one.
- Police said the shooter died before police entered the theater. Officers were unable to make contact with him before he apparently took his own life. His identity has not been released.
- Nine people have been injured, with some of them suffering life-threatening wounds. One woman has had surgery and is said by police to be in a critical condition.
- The gunman used a semi-automatic handgun, firing first at the two people sitting in front of him.
- Police are currently checking several addresses connected to the gunman in “multiple” Southern states.
- They said no “manifesto” has been found that might explain the shooter’s motive.
- The area around the theater was earlier cleared while bomb squad officers detonated a suspicious package in the gunman’s car and a backpack inside the theater. These turned out to be harmless.
- Police say there is no secondary shooter.
- Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal said two teachers were in the theater – one of whom jumped in front of her colleague and was shot, but still managed to pull a fire alarm that alerted authorities and “saved many lives”.
- Amy Schumer, whose movie Trainwreck was showing in the theater where the shooting took place, has tweeted her shock at the evening’s events.
- In an interview that took place shortly before the attacks, president Barack Obama called gun safety the great unfinished business of his presidency; while questions were asked about Jindal – a contender to be Republican presidential candidate – and his opposition to further gun controls.
Updated
Craft says it’s believed the gunman was sitting alone in the theater.
The first two people shot were sitting directly in front of him.
3 dead, 9 inj. confirmed by LPD chief Jim Craft. No further updates from LPD for a few hrs. #LafayetteShooting pic.twitter.com/Ke60KIjor3
— TDA Photography Dept (@TDAPhotos) July 24, 2015
#Lafayette Police Chief Craft said police were unable to make contact with suspect before he killed himself.
— Seth Dickerson (@SDickersonTDA) July 24, 2015
Craft said no “manifesto” has been found that might explain the shooter’s motive.
Two police officers were on the scene in less than a minute after the alarm was raised.
The gunman was dead before police officers entered the theater.
Police earlier said that he took his own life.
Police chief Jim Craft calls the conditions inside the theater “a pretty horrific scene”.
It’s confirmed that 12 people were shot.
Three people have died, including the gunman. One of the victims died in hospital. Two bodies, including that of the shooter, remain inside the theater.
Nine people were injured, one of whom remains in a critical condition.
Updated
Shooter had 'semi-automatic handgun' – police
Police confirm the gunman used a semi-automatic handgun.
Suspect was armed with semi-auto handgun. ATF is working on tracing gun #Lafayette
— Seth Dickerson (@SDickersonTDA) July 24, 2015
Authorities have been holding a further briefing for the media.
Chief Jim Craft of the Lafayette police department (LPD) says the suspicious package spotted in the gunman’s car and dealt with by the bomb squad was not in fact an explosive device.
Craft: Vehicle has been cleared. Suspicious object was found harmless. LPD is back in control of crime scene
— Seth Dickerson (@SDickersonTDA) July 24, 2015
Police will still not release the identity of the shooter as they continue to check addresses connected to him in “multiple” Southern states.
What we know so far
- Three people have died in a shooting at the Grand Theater in Lafayette, Louisiana.
- Among the dead was the gunman, whom police described as a“lone white male” aged 58, with a “criminal history” that was apparently not a recent one.
- Police said the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His identity has not been released.
- Nine people have been injured, with some of them suffering life-threatening wounds. One woman has had surgery and is said by police to be in a critical condition.
- The area around the theater was cleared while bomb squad officers detonated a suspicious package in the gunman’s car and a backpack inside the theater.
- Police say there is no secondary shooter.
- Police said it was to early to suggest a motive for the attack.
- The weapon has not yet been recovered from the scene but police say it was a handgun.
- Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal said two teachers were in the theater – one of whom jumped in front of her colleague and was shot, but still managed to pull a fire alarm that alerted authorities and “saved many lives”.
- Amy Schumer, whose movie Trainwreck was showing in the theater where the shooting took place, has tweeted her shock at the evening’s events.
- In an interview that took place shortly before the attacks, president Barack Obama called gun safety the great unfinished business of his presidency; while questions were asked about Jindal – a contender to be Republican presidential candidate – and his opposition to further gun controls.
Updated
Reporters on the scene in Lafayette say bomb squad officers are continuing to carry out controlled explosions:
Another bomb squad explosion here at crime scene. Police earlier said they found 3 suspicious things in what's said to be suspect's car.
— Lanie Lee Cook (@lanieleecook) July 24, 2015
Authorities have just detonated the materials in the shooter's vehicle. @theadvertiser #LafayetteShooting
— Jessica Goff (@JGoffTDA) July 24, 2015
Updated
Sergeant Brooks David of Louisiana state police has confirmed to CNN that the gunman’s vehicle has been “cleared” by bomb squad detectives after a suspicious package was spotted.
Bomb squad officers are now inside the theater, David said, after police dogs alerted to possible suspicious items there.
In a few hours, assuming the crime scene has also been cleared, detectives will be able to enter the theater to begin their investigation there, David added.
The bodies remain inside the theater.
Updated
Police have detonated what they earlier described as a suspicious package in the car belonging to the gunman.
Officers had previously cleared reporters and bystanders from the area.
Louisiana governor – and Republican presidential contender – Bobby Jindal has said that tonight is not the night to be political, when quizzed on what ramifications there might be for the gun control debate in the state.
But many people on social media are pointing to Jindal’s support for firearms – which, along with comments on gun control by Barack Obama shortly before the shooting, is sure to turn more attention on Louisiana’s gun laws in the coming days:
My kind of campaign stop; Capital Armament in Sibley. #IAPolitics pic.twitter.com/26VDrrr9sY
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) July 3, 2015
And others have drawn attention to this older tweet, from 2011:
Honored to have the #NRA support my reelection. We will continue to protect the second amendment together!
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) August 31, 2011
Police say they do not yet have an idea of the motive behind the attack.
Colonel Michael Edmonson of the Louisiana state police told reporters that authorities would be investigating why the shooter targeted the theater.
Why did he go in there by himself?
Why did he go in the theater, and why did he decide to pull a weapon out and to harm individuals and actually kill two individuals?
My colleague Jana Kasperkevic has filed this latest report on the shooting:
A lone gunman opened fire inside a crowded movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Thursday evening, killing two people and injuring at least seven others before taking his own life, police said.
The gunfire erupted during a showing of the film Trainwreck in front of an audience of more than 100 people.
According to witnesses a man, described by police as white and aged 58, stood up and started shooting.
Police said the man had been identified and it is believed he was acting on his own. He died of a self-inflicted wound after discharging his weapon numerous times.
At least seven people suffered injuries ranging from non life-threatening to critical, according to Lafayette police chief Jim Craft.
You can read the full article here:
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, after visiting survivors in hospital in Lafayette, told reporters about a teacher who he said saved the life of her friend and “literally jumped over her” to shield her from the gunman.
Even though she was shot in the leg, she had the presence of mind to pull the fire alarm to help save other lives.
I think as we learn more about the details tonight, we are going to hear about other acts of selfless heroism of people trying to help each other and trying to save other lives.
These were two teachers who were just out to watch a movie during the last few days of their summer break, getting ready for the new semester. They never imagined that their little outing would be interrupted by this senseless act of violence, this awful, awful tragedy.
Some of the victims were seriously injured:
I saw family members that were hoping for the best. They were waiting for information on their loved ones.
They hoped, they believed that even though they wouldn’t be discharged tonight, they would be able to make recoveries …
They were praying. They were fearful. They were anxious. The best thing we have heard from the folks from all over the country – literally all over the country – now is a great time to send them your thoughts, your prayers, your love.
This is a resilient community. Lafayette will come together.
Barack Obama, speaking shortly before the Lafayette shooting, said he is “distressed” he has been unable to strengthen gun-safety laws in America, acknowledging it will be the unfinished business of his presidency.
You can read our full report on his comments here:
What we know so far
- Three people have died in a shooting at the Grand Theater in Lafayette, Louisiana.
- Among the dead was the gunman, whom police described as a “lone white male” aged 58, with a “criminal history” that was apparently not a recent one. His identity has not been released.
- Police said the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
- At least seven people have been injured, with some of them suffering life-threatening wounds. One woman has had surgery and is said by police to be “not doing well”.
- The area around the theater has been cleared while bomb squad officers investigate a suspicious package in the gunman’s car and a backpack inside the theater.
- Police say there is no secondary shooter.
- No motive has been put forward for the attack.
- The weapon has not yet been recovered from the scene but police say it was a handgun.
- Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal said two teachers were in the theater – one of whom jumped in front of her colleague and was shot, but still managed to pull a fire alarm that alerted authorities and “saved many lives”.
- Amy Schumer, whose movie Trainwreck was showing in the theater where the shooting took place, has tweeted her shock at the evening’s events.
Updated
Paige Bearb, who was in the movie theater next door to where the shooting took place, has told CNN the person sitting next to her had received a call from someone who was unable to enter the theater because the doors were locked due to a suspected active shooter.
When the lights came on and the alarm was sounded, Bearb said people in the theater started to run.
Bearb said she saw a woman with a gunshot wound to the leg being loaded into an ambulance.
Of the seven people injured, one has been released from hospital, officials have confirmed.
Police chief Jim Craft said one woman had required surgery and was “not doing well”.
He said victims’s ages ranged from late teens to 60s.
Shooter had 'criminal history' – police
Jim Craft, police chief in Lafayette, says the gunman did have a criminal history, but “nothing recent”.
He says police are still working to confirm that the identity they have for him is correct. They are not making that identity public yet, and Craft urged people to be cautious on social media:
Please don’t put out any information that could put our officers in harm’s way.
But he reiterated that they believe the shooter acted alone:
We think he was alone … no one reported seeing him sitting with anyone. He appeared to be by himself.
He says police have not yet recovered any weapon from the scene.
Colonel Mike Edmonson of Louisiana state police also says there is a backpack and “several items” in the theater itself that could be suspicious. These all need to be checked before crime scene investigators can begin their work.
Updated
'Suspicious' items in gunman's car – police
Police say they have located the shooter’s car across the street from the theater parking lot and out of an “abundance of caution” called in the bomb squad.
Those officials have seen something in the car that “looks suspicious” and people have been moved back from the scene.
They are trying to secure access to the car and the trunk.
Updated
The Louisiana Advertiser reports that eyewitness Katie Domingue was at the screening where the shooting took place:
We heard a loud pop we thought was a firecracker.
Domingue said she saw “an older white man” standing up and shooting down into the theater, but not in her direction:
He wasn’t saying anything. I didn’t hear anybody screaming either.
Domingue told the newspaper she heard about six shots before she and her fiancé ran to the nearest exit, leaving behind her shoes and purse.
Sandy Phillips, whose daughter Jessica Ghawi was among the 12 people killed in the Aurora theater massacre in 2012, has tweeted her shock at this latest shooting:
Theater shooting in Louisiana. Numbers of injured unknown. Here we go again America. THIS is freedom?
— Sandy Phillips (@MamaRedfield) July 24, 2015
PTSD is in high gear with another #theatershooting in Louisiana tonight. Signing off & going to bed #WakeUpAmerica #gunsense #JessisMessage
— Sandy Phillips (@MamaRedfield) July 24, 2015
Jindal was quizzed, inevitably, on what the shooting could mean for the debate on gun control. He declined to be drawn on it:
Let’s focus on the victims … Tonight’s not the night for us to be political.
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal has visited one of the three hospitals treating injured theater patrons.
He says two teachers were in the theater – one of them, Jindal says, jumped in front of her colleague and was shot, but still managed to pull a fire alarm that alerted authorities.
Even the worst of times bring out the best in people.
He says the teacher, who was shot in the leg, saved other people’s lives through her actions.
In an interview with the BBC on Thursday before the shooting, president Barack Obama said his biggest frustration was the failure to pass “common-sense gun safety laws”:
You mentioned the issue of guns: that is an area where, if you ask me where has been the one area where I feel that I’ve been most frustrated and most stymied, it is the fact that the United States of America is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense, gun-safety laws.
Even in the face of repeated mass killings.
And you know, if you look at the number of Americans killed since 9/11 by terrorism, it’s less than 100. If you look at the number that have been killed by gun violence, it’s in the tens of thousands.
And for us not to be able to resolve that issue has been something that is distressing. But it is not something that I intend to stop working on in the remaining 18 months.
The BBC has the full Obama transcript here.
Law enforcement officials remain on the crime scene.
Theater patrons are not being allowed to remove their cars from the parking lot for now, as the search for evidence goes on.
Amy Schumer, whose movie Trainwreck was showing in the theater where the shooting took place, has tweeted her shock at the evening’s events:
My heart is broken and all my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Louisiana.
— Amy Schumer (@amyschumer) July 24, 2015
Sergeant Brooks David of Louisiana state police confirms three people died on the scene, including the gunman.
All three bodies remain in the theater. The coroner is with them.
He says a second Grand Theater in Lafayette was closed as a precaution but there is no threat to the wider public. Officials have also been carrying out safety checks of the area, he says:
The sweep of the theater has taken place and the sweep of the parking lot has taken place … about 20 to 30 minutes ago.
No vehicles are allowed to leave the parking lot until state police have looked at that vehicle.
What we know so far
- Three people have died in a shooting at the Grand Theater in Lafayette, Louisiana.
- Among the dead was the gunman, whom police described as a “lone white male” aged 58. His identity has not been released.
- Police said the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
- Seven people have been injured, with some of them suffering life-threatening wounds.
- Police say there is no secondary shooter and the scene is secure.
- No motive has been put forward for the attack.
- The weapon has not been identified but police say it was a handgun.
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal is on the scene and speaking to reporters.
He praises the law enforcement officers who ran towards the shots.
“Senseless” and “seemingly random acts of violence” like this “make us both furious and sad at the same time”, he says.
We’re a resilient community … This is an awful night … We will get through this.
Updated
Craft says police don’t yet know what type of weapon was used, but it was a handgun.
He confirms the shooter was a white man in his 50s.
Three people dead, including gunman
Police have updated the casualty numbers.
Craft confirms that three people have died, including the gunman.
He says seven people are injured. Some do have life-threatening wounds, he says.
Updated
About 100 people were inside the theater when the shooting took place, police say, and are being interviewed as witnesses.
Gunman died from self-inflicted wound – police
Jim Craft, police chief in Lafayette, says officials do know the identity of the gunman but are not releasing it at this time.
He says:
It appears the shooter has died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
Four police officers entered the theater and heard shots being fired at that time, he says.
Updated
'No secondary shooter' – police
David continues: there is “not a secondary shooter”.
We have the scene stabilised.
He says two other movie theaters have been cleared as a precaution, but there are no wider security concerns.
Three people critically injured
David confirms that three of the wounded have critical injuries.
Updated
Shooter was 'lone white male, aged 58' – police
Sergeant Brooks David of Louisiana state police tells CNN the gunman was a “lone white male”, aged 58.
The gunman is one of the two confirmed dead. The coroner is currently inside the theater with the two bodies.
The man “was actually a patron at the theater”, David says, and fired multiple shots.
It is too early to speculate on motive, he says: “It’s unknown exactly what could possibly cause that.”
Updated
Louisiana state police has issued a statement on Facebook; it doesn’t contain any fresh information at this point:
Troopers are working closely with the Lafayette Police Department as well as numerous other agencies to provide assistance and investigate the shooting incident at the Grand Theater.
Please keep the families of the victims in your thoughts and prayers.
We know the FBI and ATF are also on the scene.
'Two confirmed dead' – ambulance VP
Clay Henry, vice-president of operations for Acadian Ambulance, has confirmed that two people have died in the shooting.
He could not confirm if one of them was the shooter, although police have said they believe the perpetrator is dead.
Henry said nine injured people have been taken to three separate hospitals in Louisiana.
He said there were a “range of injuries”, some of them serious.
Police attended the scene at around 7.30pm local time; the Trainwreck screening began at 7pm. It’s believed the shooting began around 20 minutes into the movie.
Lafayette Police received the call at approximately 730 pm, shooting involves multiple victims.
— Lafayette PD (LA) (@LafayettePD_LA) July 24, 2015
The Louisiana shooting comes as jurors are still considering whether the death penalty should be applied to the case of James Holmes in Aurora, Colorado.
Holmes killed 12 people and injured 70 when he went on the rampage at a movie theater on 20 July 2012 during a showing of the Dark Knight Rises.
Holmes has been convicted on 165 counts: two charges of first-degree murder for each of his deceased victims, two charges of attempted murder for each of the victims he wounded, and one charge of explosives possession.
Updated
We are seeing some images from the scene now.
It’s worth reiterating that the Lafayette police chief has said the situation was confined to the movie theater.
Clay Henry, vice-president of operations for Acadian Ambulance, which covers much of Louisiana, has told the Associated Press that 10 people were shot.
Henry said eight people were brought to the hospital.
He said the gunman and one other person were pronounced dead on arrival.
Emergency workers got the call to go to the theater about 7.30pm local time.
'We think the shooter is deceased' – police
Jim Craft, police chief in Lafayette, has told reporters that police think the shooter has died. Officers entered the theater to “engage the shooter”, he confirmed.
He said the “situation is contained” to the theater.
He could not confirm the number of fatalities.
A number of people have been wounded, but Craft did not give details of their injuries.
Updated
CNN is currently hearing from Keifer Sanders, who was reportedly in a theater across the hall from the one in which the shooting took place.
He tells CNN he did not hear shots. People in his theater were evacuated and Sanders says he saw at least one person injured, a woman who had been wounded in the leg.
He says police were yelling at everyone to move out of the way, but he did not see officers fire any shots.
The shooting reportedly took place during a screening of the Amy Schumer movie Trainwreck.
The map below shows the location of the Grand 16 movie theater in Lafayette.
Updated
Associated Press has a report from an unnamed ambulance official that at least two people are dead, including the gunman.
I should stress that this is unconfirmed at present. But it does appear that there have been fatalities and injuries in the shooting.
Opening summary
There are multiple reports of a shooting that has taken place in the Grand Theater in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Although there are local reports of fatalities, this has not yet been confirmed.
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal is on his way to the scene and has tweeted confirmation of the attack:
Prayers for Lafayette at Grand Theater. Talking to state police colonel about shooting in Lafayette.
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) July 24, 2015
I'm on my way to Lafayette right now. Please say a prayer for the victims at Grand Theatre and their families.
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) July 24, 2015
We will have the latest on this unfolding story here.
Updated
