[Content Note: Gun violence; death; self-harm.]
Last night, in Lafayette, Louisiana, a 59-year-old white man named John Houser walked into a movie theater and began shooting. He killed two people, injured nine others, and then killed himself.
The two women he killed have been identified as Mayci Breaux, 21, and Jillian Johnson, 33. My sincere condolences to their family, friends, and colleagues. I am so sad and so angry that Houser took Mayci and Jillian from them in this way.
Authorities say his motive is unknown.
He is being described as a "drifter," and already the "mentally ill" narratives are starting. Just another crazy lone gunman acting in a vacuum.
But Houser didn't walk into just any movie. He walked into a showing of Trainwreck, the audiences for which are two-thirds female. The two people who died are women. At least one of the injured, who'd been shot in the leg, was a woman. This story about a friend saving her coworker is about two women.
Still, maybe that's all just a big coincidence. Isn't it always.
The shooting also took place on the same day that a jury in the trial of James Holmes, who went on a shooting spree in a movie theater in Colorado three years ago, "unanimously decided the death penalty can be considered for Holmes and will move on to the next phase of sentencing."
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