A gunman opened fire Thursday evening at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana killing three people, including himself.
The shooting broke out during a showing of the film Trainwreck at the Grand Theatre and the gunman, who is a 58-years-old white male, was in the audience prior to opening fire.
Seven additional victims were shot and taken to three hospitals.
Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft said they believe the killer stood up about 20 minutes into the show and shot two people sitting in the row in front of him.
Craft said as soon as people started fleeing the auditorium, the killer tried to lose himself in the crowd when he saw two police officers.
He said: 'It looks like he spotted the officers coming in and he turned around and he went against the crowd, and he fired a single gunshot. He was seated in the theater just like everybody else.
'The information we have at this time indicates that he was by himself, sat by himself and the first two people he shot were sitting right in front of him.
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal said one teacher managed to clear the cinema of patrons, while shielding her friend from the gunman.
He said the teacher 'jumped in front of a bullet to save her friend's life', before pulling the fire alarm to clear the theatre.
He continued: 'They were just out to watch a movie for summer break. They never thought it would be interrupted by this awful tragedy.
'I think we are going to hear other stories of heroism as well.'
The two teachers have been named as Jena Meaux and Ali Martin of New Iberia in Louisiana. According to eyewitnesses Ms Meaux threw herself between the gunman and her friend Ms Martin taking a bullet. Despite being wounded, Ms Meaux dragged herself to the fire alarm to evacuate the building.
Police chief Jim Craft said they may never know why the gunman opened fire because he killed himself at the scene. He said one of the survivors has just underwent emergency surgery but 'was not doing well'.
Officers have identified the criminal, who had a 'pretty old' criminal history. However, they have not released his name.
Eyewitness Katie Dominigue described the scene of the shooting to the Louisiana Advertiser.
She said: 'We heard a loud pop we thought was a firecracker.
'He wasn't saying anything. I didn't hear anybody screaming either.'
She said she heard at least six shots before she and her fiance, Joshua Doggett, fled the scene, leaving behind her shoes and purse.
The injuries of these victims range from critical to non-life threatening, and their ages from late teens to 60s.
President Obama meanwhile had just given an interview on gun control to the BBC hours earlier expressing how 'frustrated' he was that the country does not have 'common-sense gun safety laws, even in the face of repeated mass killings.'
KLFY reports that a female victim is among those who lost their life.
It is being reported there were approximately 100 people in the audience and that the killer used a handgun.
Police say they do not know if the shooting was a random act or domestic situation, and that the gunman does have a criminal history but nothing that happened in recent years.
The shooter's car has been identified in the parking lot of the theater and the area has been evacuated as the bomb squad checks on a suspicious package, sending in a robot.
The FBI is also on the scene and both they and local police are interviewing witnesses.
Governor Bobby Jindal said that it was a teacher who pulled the fire alarm to empty the theater, this after she jumped in front of a bullet to protect a fellow teacher during the shooting.
'Her friend literally jumped over her, and in her account actually saved her life,' said Jindal.
'If she hadn't done that ... that bullet, she believed it would have hit her in the head.
'Both teachers ended up shot. The second one, the one whose life was saved, even though she was shot in the leg, she had the presence of mind to pull the fire alarm to help save other lives.'
One of those teachers remains in the hospital, while the other has been released.
In his interview with the BBC, President Obama pointed out that less than 100 people have died as a result of terrorist acts since September 11, 2001, but tens of thousands have been killed as a result of guns.
He ended that interview by saying; '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.'
Louisiana allows the open carry of firearms with very few restrictions and the concealed carry of handguns is allowed as long as an individual has a permit.
The Grand Theatre reportedly had a no gun policy which was posted on signs inside the facility.
Katie Domingue, who was at the 7pm showing of the film, said the incident occurred about 20 minutes into the film and that the shooter was an 'older white man.'
'We heard a loud pop we thought was a firecracker,' she said.
'He wasn't saying anything. I didn't hear anybody screaming either.'
'A whole bunch of girls started screaming and we heard that someone was shot,' Roxy Martinez toldCNN.
'There were a lot of people running.'
Robert Martinez, who was with her, added; 'I see a lady full of blood in a dress. She was just looking at me in complete fear.'
Amy Schumer, the star and writer of the film Trainwreck wrote on Twitter; 'My heart is broken and all my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Louisiana.
source dailymail
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