The Latest: Lafayette woman remembered for artistry, spirit
Jul 27, 2015, 4:36 PM
(Paul Kieu/The Daily Advertiser via AP, Pool)
LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — 5:30 p.m.
Friends of Jillian Johnson paid homage to her independent spirit and her artistic talent during a funeral service.
Johnson was killed Thursday by a gunman in a Lafayette movie theater. Funeral services for the other woman killed, Mayci Breaux, were also held Monday. Nine others were wounded.
The Advocate newspaper (http://bit.ly/1GVwEEw ) reported that 250 people crowded into the chapel.
Johnson’s band mates from a group called The Figs sang during the funeral as her husband, stepdaughter, parents, and brother looked on.
A friend of Johnson’s, Christian Mader, described how success drove her, saying she was “in touch with her limits” but chose not to accept them.
A police spokesman also said that another of the wounded victims has been released from the hospital, bringing the number still hospitalized to two.
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4:40 p.m.
A spokesman for the Lafayette police says The Grand 16 movie theater where two people were killed during a shooting last week has been returned to the owners.
Corporal Paul Mouton says the theater was returned to the company Monday after police finished processing the crime scene.
He said the police will provide security at the building while cleanup crews being their work.
Two people died Thursday when John Russell Houser opened fire during a movie. Nine others were wounded.
Mouton says three people are still hospitalized. One was released earlier Monday.
Mouton also said a “journal type book” was found inside Houser’s hotel room and is being analyzed by a specialist. Authorities are not releasing any information about the content of the journal.
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4:05 p.m.
Family and friends have gathered to remember two women killed during a shooting at a movie theater last week in Louisiana.
Mayci Marie Breaux and Jillian Johnson were killed Thursday when gunman John Russell Houser opened fire in a Lafayette movie theater. Houser died later after turning the gun on himself.
The Daily Advertiser (http://bit.ly/1GVwEEw ) reports that about 500 people thronged a funeral service Monday for Breaux at the Church of the Assumption in Franklin.
Rev. Lloyd Benoit said Breaux was “kind, always polite and always with that characteristic smile.”
Benoit told the standing-room only crowd that many were asking why this tragedy happened but it was a question “…for which I do not have an answer.”
Friends and family also gathered in Lafayette for Johnson’s funeral service.
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