Authorities Release New Info On John Russell Houser
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We are learning new details about John Russell Houser, the man police say shot and killed two people Thursday night before killing himself. Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor says the gunman in the movie theater shooting was once refused a concealed weapons permit.
Taylor said Friday that John Russell Houser lived in Phenix City, Alabama, off and on from 2005-14. Taylor said officials received a domestic violence complaint against Houser in 2005, but the victim didn’t want to prosecute.
The sheriff says Houser applied for a concealed weapons permit in 2006, but it was refused because of the domestic violence complaint and a previous arrest for arson in nearby Columbus, Georgia.
Taylor says Houser was evicted from his Phenix City home in 2014, but later returned and caused extensive damage, including pouring concrete in plumbing pipes and tampering with a gas line.
“That was dangerous and could’ve been extremely dangerous,” Taylor said.
Houser killed two women and wounded nine others in Louisiana on Thursday night. Police say Russell opened fire in a Lafayette movie theater while movie-goers were watching ‘Trainwreck.’ The two victims who were killed have been identified as 33-year-old Jillian Johnson and 21-year-old Mayci Breaux.
Alabama court records show Houser filed a small claims court lawsuit in 2004 claiming he was injured when he donated plasma at a Phenix City donation center. He asked for $1,800 to pay his emergency room bill and for a narcotics prescription. The case was settled, according to court records.
