The two women killed by a gunman at a crowded Louisiana movie theater were described as a popular st
(24 Jul 2015) The two women killed by a gunman at a crowded Louisiana movie theater were described as a popular student studying to be a radiology technician and an outgoing artist who ran retail boutiques in two Louisiana cities.
Jillian Johnson, 33, was remembered as an all-around “creative force” who ran clothing and art boutiques, played in a rootsy rock band, helped organize a music festival and used her design skills on T-shirts and other crafts.
She had recently come back from a summer vacation in the Dakotas with the man in her life, Jason, and Jason’s teenage daughter, Paxton, according to the couple’s neighbor, Nolan Martin, Sr.
Martin described Johnson as a giving person with a green thumb who was instrumental in beautifying her Lafayette neighborhood, even planting trees in lawns other than her own and helping neighbors cut their grass.
Mayci Breaux, 21, was in the first year of an associate’s degree program for medical radiology technicians at Louisiana State University-Eunice.
The head of the program, Robert McLaughlin, described her as a sweet, generous person who was always polite and professional.
The school about 40 miles northwest of Lafayette issued a statement saying that the campus was mourning.
A sign outside the boutique clothing and accessories store she worked at, called Coco Eros, was closed Friday with a sign saying the store would be closed due to the tragedy and a heart with Breaux’s name at the bottom.
Authorities say the gunman in the movie theater slayings was armed with a semi-automatic .40-caliber handgun and had one additional magazine.
Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft said Friday that they found at least 13 shell casings inside the theater that was showing “Trainwreck” on Thursday night. Craft says the gunman opened fire and then apparently tried to leave the theater. He dropped a magazine in the lobby, reloaded and then returned to the theater room. He fired one shot, killing himself.
Authorities are investigating whether the gun was bought legally and whether it was purchased by the gunman, John Russell Houser.
Authorities say Houser killed two women and wounded nine others before killing himself at a movie theater.
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