BATON ROUGE,
La. (AP) -- The mentally unstable gunman who shot up a Louisiana
movie theater last summer left a rambling, hate-filled journal in which
he called the U.S. a "filth farm," railed against women, gays and
blacks, and thanked a man accused of killing nine churchgoers in South
Carolina for his "wake up call."
The
hand-written, 40-page journal released Wednesday doesn't explain why
John Russell Houser decided to kill two people and wound nine at a
screening of "Trainwreck" last July 23. He didn't say a word as he
opened fire, killing Jillian Johnson, a 33-year-old musician and
business owner, and Mayci Breaux, a 21-year-old student. He died from
his own gun before anyone could question him.
But
the contents suggest Houser expected to die, and knew others would read
the words he left in his room at a Motel 6. Shortly before the
shooting, Houser wrote on the last page that he was leaving the journal
"in hopes of truth, my death all but assured."
Houser,
a 59-year-old drifter, also shared his "random thoughts" on politics,
the news media, the presidential race, the Ten Commandments, his
favorite movies and music and his view of the future.
"If you have not stood against filth, you are now a soft target," he wrote on the lined pages of the notebook.
"America is in the midst of celebrating filth, and as such they are the enemy," he later added.
Houser
described Dylann Roof - a young white man accused of killing nine
people inside a historic black church in Charleston that June 17 - as
"green but good."
"Thank you for the wake up call Dylann," he added.
Investigators
described the shooting in gruesome detail in reports that totaled 589
pages. They determined that Houser entered the theater with a handgun
hidden in his pants, and waited several minutes before pulling it out
and opening fire. Police swiftly responded, and eventually interviewed
70 witnesses.
One described seeing Houser
walking down the steps, firing rounds at victims before shooting himself
in the head. Another said she heard someone scream "He's reloading!"
before she ran out.
Authorities also shared
findings of their investigation into Houser's troubled past. In social
media posts, Houser talked about his political beliefs and
"anti-government tendencies," they noted.
"Comments
posted in his own writing revealed his ideals and that he had battled
his local government and had a hatred for the United States Government.
Houser's interests also included 'Golden Dawn' which is a Greek
organization with neo-Nazi beliefs,'" one report stated.
Houser
had a long history of erratic behavior in the Georgia and Alabama
communities where he lived before drifting to Lafayette, a city where
his uncle had lived decades earlier.
In 2008, a
Georgia judge ordered him detained for a mental evaluation after
relatives claimed he was a danger to himself and others. But that judge
did not have him involuntarily committed, which could explain how he
passed a federal background check in 2014. He legally bought the
.40-caliber handgun he used in the shooting from a pawn shop in Phenix
City, Alabama, where he became estranged from his family, lost his
businesses and faced eviction from his home.
Before
he was finally forced out, he ruined the property, pouring concrete
into the plumbing and glue into the fixtures, police said. His estranged
wife, Kellie Houser, filed for divorce in March 2015, saying he had
repeatedly threatened her.
Lafayette Police
Chief Jim Craft has said Houser visited the theater more than once,
perhaps to determine "whether there was anything that could be a soft
target for him."
Investigators found wigs and
disguises in his room, raising the possibility that he had considered
making an escape after the shooting. Police said he did try to blend in
with the fleeing crowd, but turned back and killed himself as police
approached.
"Trainwreck" star Amy Schumer
spoke tearfully of the two women killed in the shooting as she urged
lawmakers to support a gun control bill sponsored by her second cousin,
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer.
