During a showing of the film "Trainwreck," Houser stood up and slowly and methodically fired off an entire ten-round clip. He proceeded to exit the theater, seeing a police cruiser in the parking lot upon arriving at his vehicle. Afterwards, he reloaded his firearm, reentered the theater, and shot three more rounds before fatally shooting himself.
Houser was known to have a history of mental health problems. Despite this, he legally purchased his Highpoint .40 caliber semiautomatic pistol from a pawn shop in Alabama. However, because he had no major convictions, he was able to purchase the firearm despite his mental health history.
What's especially curious about this situation is that Houser had no connection to Lafayette, a city 500 miles away from his home. He demonstrated no signs of a prospective violent outbreak according to those with whom he interacted prior to the incident.
This story has been related to the shooting at the opening showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colorado nearly three years ago to the date. Whether this influenced Houser is unknown, but unsuspected.
In the 204 days of 2015, there have been 204 mass shootings in the United States, which has only sparked increased awareness of the catastrophic problem the US presently faces.
As this story develops, thoughts and prayers are with the families of those whose lives were abruptly taken in this act of violence.
Irfaan Khalid
Source: CNN