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.
