Authorities are investigating online posts by Houser – who was was described as a “drifter” – sympathy with the U.S. branch of Golden Dawn, a far-right Greek political party, and with the Westboro Baptist Church.
John Russell Houser — the man who authorities said opened fire inside a movie theater Thursday evening in Lafayette, Louisiana — has a history of criminal allegations, mental health issues, and online posts describing extremist anti-feminism and anti-American views.
Authorities said they were investigating the posts that appeared to have been written by Houser, many of which appear on conservative blogs and political forums and sympathize with the U.S. branch of a far-right Greek political party, the Westboro Baptist Church, Iran, and Hitler.
The 59-year-old lost his home in Phenix City, Alabama, in 2014 when it was foreclosed upon. After the new owner evicted him, Houser rigged the gas line coming into the fireplace so that "if turned it on, [it] would have been blowing gas, fire out," said Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor on Friday.
That, he added, "could have been extremely dangerous." However, the criminal case against Houser was ultimately dismissed by a grand jury.
Houser's 2006 application for a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Alabama was also denied "due to an arrest for arson," Taylor added.
Former attorney John Swearingen told NBC News that Houser had tried to hire someone to burn down his law office in the 1980s. Swearingen represented someone Houser did not like, the former attorney told NBC News, and Houser made the mistake of telling his plans to a police informant.
On Thursday, authorities said Houser — described by police as a "drifter" — drove a 1995 blue Lincoln Continental to the Grand 16 theater and parked near an exit door. He then sat at a screening of Trainwreck — a movie written by and staring Amy Schumer about a female magazine reporter who falls in love with a subject — for about 20 minutes before he stood up and fired about 13 rounds, authorities said.
"It was apparent he was intent on shooting, then escaping," Craft said.
In a Motel 6 room he was staying at, officials found "wigs and glasses and disguises."
Houser is from Columbus, Georgia, and has had run-ins with the law there, Taylor said.
A friend of Houser's, who went to Columbus State University with him from 1985 to 1988 and did not wish to be named to protect his privacy, told BuzzFeed News that he was shocked when he heard the shooter's name.
"Something like this doesn't make sense to me," the friend said, adding that he hadn't seen Houser in more than two decades, but last spoke to him three years ago.
The friend said Houser was from a "prominent family" in Columbus and that he had a brother who was a stock broker.
He also said Houser was married when he was at Columbus State University.
The friend described Houser as "a very social person" who was into the "investment field."
"This is bizarre," the friend said. "He must have snapped."
Houser was the son of a long-serving tax commissioner in Columbus, and in 1996 he ran for the office himself, the Ledger-Enquirer reported. He was arrested on suspicion of stealing his opponent's campaign signs, a misdemeanor, and later withdrew from the race.
Houser would frequently call reporters and editors at the Columbus newspaper, one reporter recalled.
"Rusty was a maladjusted political wannabe who aired strange, deluded, paranoid and fanatical views about everything from local politics to international intrigue," said Jim Houston, who was a reporter at the Ledger-Enquirer. "He loved to pick up the telephone at all hours and call, spouting his spiel until the answerer finally hung up on him, and then he'd call again."
Houser's ex-wife and other family members had asked for a temporary protective order against him in 2008, citing his "extreme erratic behavior" and "ominous as well as disturbing statements," according to court documents obtained by the Associated Press.
From the AP:
The documents said even though he lived in Phenix City, Alabama, he had come to Carroll County, Georgia, where they lived and "perpetrated various acts of family violence."
Houser "has a history of mental health issues, i.e., manic depression and/or bi-polar disorder" the filing said.
The filing says Houser's wife, Kellie Maddox Houser, "has become so worried about the defendant's volatile mental state that she has removed all guns and/or weapons from their marital residence."
The protection order was at least temporarily granted.
She filed for divorce in March.
Houser also allegedly made violent threats against his family because he was opposed to the marriage of his then 23-year-old daughter, Kirbey Houser to Andrew Michael Broome, the New York Daily News reported. Houser felt they were too young to get married and allegedly made "disturbing statements" about not letting their marriage happen.
He also complained about it to the local police chief who "couldn't tell by just talking with Rusty if he was a mental patient or was just a concerned parent," according to the documents.
Houser was involuntary committed to the hospital as "a danger to himself and others" upon the request of his family, the Daily News reported.
Kirbey wrote on her now-defunct blog on Dec. 11, 2014:
My husband is a passionate fisher man. I realized this after we were married when a handful of beach trips had to include a deep sea fishing excursion.
It's funny that he loved it so because I remember my dad had always told me that that was one thing he wanted to take me to do that we never got to. Deep sea fishing.
She did not immediately return a BuzzFeed News request for an interview.
SOURCE: BuzzFeed
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