1 Loud Shot: Survivor Describes Movie Theater Shooting

LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — Emily Mann and her friend had come into the theater a bit late for a showing of "Trainwreck" so they quietly found seats near the top of the small theater.

Neither of them noticed the man just a few seats down until 20 minutes into the movie.

That's when John Russell Houser got up and began firing. He killed two people Thursday before turning the gun on himself.

Authorities are still trying to piece together what happened. Houser also wounded another nine people.

Houser had a history of mental problems. He bought the gun in Alabama and arrived in Lafayette in July.

Mann saw Houser fire off a number of shots before she dropped to the floor and fled the theater.

Theater gunman built reputation as an angry provocateur

In 2014, facing eviction from his Alabama home, John Russell Houser set out to make sure no one else could ever live in that house. The new owners found Houser had it booby-trapped: the gas starter tube in the fireplace was twisted out and ignited, the logs removed.

Houser had grown into someone better known by neighbors and colleagues as an angry provocateur.

In April 2008, Houser's wife, Kellie, his daughter and others filed court papers seeking a temporary protective order against Houser, saying he had "perpetrated various acts of family violence" and had a history of manic depression and bi-polar disorder.

Police say his anger culminated Thursday night in a slaughter at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana, leaving two women dead and nine other people hurt.

Houser fatally shot himself inside the theater.