Police: Theater Gunman’s Wife Reported Violence, But He Was Not Arrested

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John Russel Houser, the gunman who killed two people in a Louisiana movie theater before taking his own life on Thursday, was the subject of complaints filed to police in Alabama, but was not arrested for the offenses.

Russell County, Ala., Sheriff Heath Taylor told reporters on Friday afternoon that in 2005, Houser’s wife filed a domestic violence complaint against her husband. However, Houser was never arrested or prosecuted.

In 2006, he was denied a conceal carry permit in Phenix City, Ala., due to the domestic violence complaint and a previous arrest for arson. Houser allegedly tried to hire an arsonist to set fire to the offices of a lawyer representing pornographic theaters in the 1980s, according to Columbus, Ga., newspaper the Ledger-Enquirer.

Most recently, police filed an unlawful detainer in 2014 while Houser was being evicted from his home in Phenix City, Ala. According to Taylor, Houser’s house was foreclosed upon, and when a new homeowner purchased the house, that individual had Houser evicted. Afterward, Houser returned to the home to pour concrete in the drain pipes and tamper with the home’s gas pipes, according to Taylor. Houser was never arrested for the vandalism.

The Associated Press reported that Houser’s wife filed a restraining order against him in 2008 because he “exhibited extreme erratic behavior and has made ominous as well as disturbing statements.”

Online profiles and messages that appear to be linked to Houser show he may have held racist and extreme right wing views. And he was politically active in Columbus, Ga., where he once ran as a Republican candidate for tax commissioner, according to the Ledger-Enquirer.

It’s not yet clear why the gunman opened fire in the Lafayette, La., movie theater.

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  1. Most recently, police filed an unlawful detainer in 2014 while Houser was being evicted from his home in Phenix City, Ala. According to Taylor, Houser’s house was foreclosed upon, and when a new homeowner purchased the house, that individual had Houser evicted. Afterward, Houser returned to the home to pour concrete in the drain pipes and tamper with the home’s gas pipes, according to Taylor. Houser was never arrested for the vandalism.

    Holy Fuck! This man beats his wife and vandalizes a house he used to own – but he was never arrested? Damn, Alabama, what does one need to do before you guys arrest them? Drive while black, perhaps? Gay marry, maybe? Dang! Just dang!

  2. Avatar for pine pine says:

    “White privilege (or white skin privilege) is a term for societal privileges that benefit white people in Western countries beyond what is commonly experienced by non-white people under the same social, political, or economic circumstances.”

  3. Arrest him? Shit man, those idiots in Alabama can’t even spell “Phoenix” right.

  4. Well, good ol’ boy Rusty sure had a lot of “issues,” but it was Chuck Schumer’s mouthy niece that finally sent him over the edge. He ran for office and involved hisself in politics to try and best his daddy, but he was pretty much a loser, which reminds me of a certain good old boy from Texas . . .

    (Wanna bet this hypocrite had a shitload of violent misogynist porn on his computer?)

  5. White male “drifters” don’t get arrested, they just get a bus ticket to the next state over.

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