Lafayette shooter showed some extreme views

Paul Singer | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Louisiana theater shooter showed extreme views With the suspect identified as John Russel Houser, investigators are still on the scene of the mass shooting in a Lafayette, Louisiana move theater.

The perpetrator of a mass shooting in Lafayette, La., on Thursday had a checkered employment history and some extreme political views but described himself as an "entrepreneur" on social media.

In his LinkedIn profile, John Russell Houser said he had expertise in "investment management" and appeared to be seeking investors for projects. "Let us brainstorm some list together," he wrote. He described several past positions, including his ownership of a Lagrange, Ga., pub called Rusty's Buckhead Pub. The LinkedIn post says "We successfully provided entertainment for all while maintaining an atmosphere worth a regular visit."

Public records indicate that Houser declared bankruptcy on the bar in 2002.

In the "Skills" section of the LinkedIn page, Houser listed four items: "Financial analysis, market forecast, public speaking, God's business."

Houser, who was known as "Rusty," appears to have also opened a Twitter account in March 2013. There are only two tweets from the account, both from that June. One tweet supports the controversial Westboro Baptist Church, the religious group that protests against gays at military funerals and other public events.

On a website called Political Forum.com, Houser had a blog where he shared some extreme views about the future of the country. His biography said "believe US will be MAD MAX < 5 years" and added "no family safe in US environment." He shared several posts on the site about the potential collapse of the U.S. economy, but does not appear to have posted on the site since 2013.

Houser had been accused of arson and damaging a rental home, had a history of mental illness and was denied a gun permit, according to Russell County, Alabama, Sheriff Heath Taylor. Taylor said Houser was charged with arson in Georgia in 1990, and had been accused of domestic violence in Alabama in 2005, but never charged.

Jeff Hardin, who said he was a former business associate of Houser's, said on CNN that he is not sure he would describe Houser as an extremist, but "I would venture to say he was more of a conspiracy theory-type guy."

Hardin said Houser had made a living for a while buying and "flipping" houses, which matches the description on Houser's LinkedIn page.

Sharon Fowler went to high school with Houser in Columbus, Ga. Almost 20 hours after the shooting in Lafayette, she drove up to the house in Phenix City that was Houser's last known residence. The flowers, she said, were for the "Rusty" she knew.

"He was a wonderful person," she said. "He was very open-hearted. He would give you the shirt off his back."

Houser grew up in Columbus. According to Fowler, he had an "excellent family," but sometimes showed erratic behavior. It was there that he was charged with arson, but the case was dismissed.

Houser graduated with a law degree from Faulkner University, a Christian college in Montgomery, Ala., the school confirmed. Spokesman Christopher Kratzer said Houser graduated in 1998, before the law school was accredited by the American Bar Association.

In the 1990s, he frequently appeared on a local television call-in show, advocating violence against people involved in abortions, said Calvin Floyd, who hosted the morning show on WLTZ-TV in Columbus, Georgia.

Houser also espoused other radical views, including his opposition to women in the workplace. Floyd described Houser as an "angry man" who made "wild accusations" about all sorts of topics, and said he put him on to counter a Democratic voice because "he could make the phones ring."

Houser moved with his wife, Kim, to Phenix City in 2005, the same year that she filed domestic violence charges against him.

He applied for a concealed carry permit in 2006, but was denied because of the arson and domestic violence charges.

Houser "has a history of mental health issues, i.e., manic depression and/or bi-polar disorder," his family said in court documents in 2008, when he made violent threats in an effort to stop his daughter's wedding. A judge granted the family's petition to have him involuntarily committed to a hospital as "a danger to himself and others."

That same year, Houser's wife removed all guns from the house out of fear for his mental health.

Rick Chancey moved into the home next door to Houser's in 2007. Despite the number of reported issues that came in the years that followed, Chancey says he saw none of it. Another neighbor, Ivins James, called Houser a "little eccentric."

The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported that when Houser was evicted from the home last year, he vandalized and booby-trapped it, cementing the fuse box shut and disconnecting gas lines in the fireplace.

The home had been under mortgage foreclosure and was eventually purchased by Dan Ramsel. Ramsel asked Houser how many days he needed to move out, but Houser became belligerent, Ramsel said.

Ramsel then began eviction paperwork. Houser missed the court date, leading Ramsel to bring an officer to the house in March 2014.

"He had booby-trapped the house to burn," Ramsel said. "He put gas cans everywhere, pulled the gas line out of the fireplace."

Houser also poured concrete down the drains, splattered purple paint across the house and property and threw everything in the house into a heap.

He then disappeared.

"We all thought he was a normal guy until he tried to burn the house down," James said. "I'm just really surprised about all this. We're all surprised it went to that level of violence."

Contributing: Andrew J. Yawn, The Montgomery Advertiser, and the Associated Press