A "lone wolf" style gunman opened fire on a Lafayette, Louisiana movie theater overnight Thursday, killing two people and injuring seven before committing suicide.
The 58 year-old "lone white male" used a handgun to open fire on the Grand Theater as 100 moviegoers were inside, local police told a news conference.
Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft stated to the press that police know the identity of the shooter, but were not releasing it.
"It appears the shooter died from a self inflicted gun shot wound after discharging his weapon numerous times," Craft said.
Currently the shooter's body is still in the theater and a coroner is at the scene. Local news media reported that the shooting began about 20 minutes into the 7 p.m. screening of the movie "Trainwreck."
Lafayette, a city of about 120,000 people, is 60 miles west of Baton Rouge.
Governor Bobby Jindal called the shooting "an awful night for Louisiana."
"What we can do now is we can pray," Jindal said at the scene. "We can hug these families. We can shower them with love, thoughts and prayers." He added that he wanted to meet with the victims' families.
The movie theater shooting bears resemblance to the July 2012 Aurora, Colorado, shooting at a movie theater that left 12 people dead. Shooter James Holmes was convicted just seven days ago of first-degree murder for the massacre. Both men sprayed a movie theater with bullets mid-screening; both were lone, white males.