7-27-15
FUNERAL SERVICES FOR BOTH MACEY BREAUX AND JILLIAN JOHNSON, THE TWO VICTIMS IN THURSDAY NIGHT’S THEATRE SHOOTING, WILL BE HELD TODAY. JEFF HORCHEK HAS MORE.
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In 2014, facing eviction from his Alabama home, John Russell Houser set out to make sure no one else could ever live in that house. The new owners found Houser had it booby-trapped: the gas starter tube in the fireplace was twisted out and ignited, the logs removed. Houser had grown into someone better known by neighbors and colleagues as an angry provocateur. Police say his anger culminated Thursday night in the shooting at the Grand 16 theater in Lafayette, leaving two women dead and nine other people hurt. Houser fatally shot himself inside the theater.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has ordered that flags at state government buildings be flown at half-staff in a show of respect for victims of the shooting. Jindal issued the executive order Friday requiring that U.S. and state flags at Louisiana’s Capitol and other public buildings remain at half-staff until July 31.
The new jail in Allen Parish could be ready for inmates by September. Sheriff Doug Hebert III tells The American Press that construction of the 200-bed jail is expected to be completed by Aug. 5. He says administrative offices can move immediately, and security system checks and worker training can begin. The sheriff says they want to be sure everything is working before inmates are moved in.
LIGHTNING IS THE SUSPECTED CAUSE OF A FIRE AT A WELL SITE NEAR GUEYDAN YESTERDAY. SOME RESIDENTS ON PRICE AND LAURENT ROAD, LIVING WITHIN A MILE OF THE WELL SITE, WERE EVACUATED AS A PRECAUTION. THE FIRE STARTED YESTERDAY AFTERNOON AT AROUND 3-45 AS A STORM PASSED AT THE SITE ON L-A 7-17, BETWEEN LAKE ARTHUR AND GUEYDAN, AND FIREFIGHTERS HAD IT CONTAINED SHORTLY BEFORE SIX P-M. THE FIRE WAS ALLOWED TO BURN OUT UNDER SUPERVISION.
A SEVEN-YEAR-OLD LAKE CHARLES GIRL, WITH A RARE CHROMOSOME DISORDER CALLED NOONAN SYNDROME, WILL GET HER WISH FULFILLED TO GO TO DISNEY WORLD IN NOVEMBER. AMY VEULEMAN, A NEIGHBOR OF DAKOTA DOWDEN, IS A VOLUNTEER WITH THE GIVE A WISH ORGANIZATION, AND NOMINATED HER TO GET A WISH GRANTED. VEULEMAN SAYS THEY’VE BEEN TAKING DONATIONS SINCE MAY AND RAISED 16 THOUSAND DOLLARS, ENOUGH TO GRANT A WISH FOR ANOTHER CHILD. DAKOTA’S MOM, DEANNA, TELLS KPLC TV THAT IT’S AMAZING HOW A COMMUNITY COMES TOGETHER WHEN THERE’S SOMEONE IN NEED.
A BICYLIST KILLED ON THE I-49 FRONTAGE ROAD SATURDAY NIGHT HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS 15-YEAR-OLD JUWUAN WASHINGTON, WHO WAS SET TO BE A SOPHOMORE THIS YEAR AT CARENCRO HIGH SCHOOL. POLICE SAY THE 63-YEAR-OLD DRIVER OF A TOYOTA SCION STRUCK JUWUAN, WHO WAS RIDING HIS BIKE IN THE ROADWAY. HE WAS TRANSPORTED TO THE HOSPITAL, WHERE HE LATER DIED. JUWUAN’S MOTHER, SCARLA CELESTINE, TOLD KATC TV THAT JUWUAN WAS RETURNING HOME AFTER HELPING A FRIEND MOVE.
A nonprofit cooperative formed to provide health insurance in Louisiana is on the way to shutting down. Louisiana Health Cooperative said Friday it will honor current policies through the end of the year but won’t offer coverage in 2016. The co-op offered coverage through the federal health care marketplace. Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon says his office is monitoring the situation and working to make sure the company has the financial ability to pay claims to its more than 16,000 policy holders.
