Two teachers are being hailed as heroes in the Lafayette, Louisiana movie theatre shooting Thursday night that resulted in the death of three people, including the gunman, and injury to nine others.
Jena Meaux and her friend Ali Martin were inside the Grand 16 Theater when gunman John Russell Houser opened fire 20 minutes after the screening of "Trainwreck." Police described Houser as a 59-year-old drifter from Alabama who had recently moved to Lafayette.
As Houser started his shooting spree on a packed Lafayette movie theatre, Meaux jumped in front of her best friend Martin to shield her from the hail of bullets, officials said. Meaux was hit in the leg.
A bullet also struck Martin in the leg but she still managed to reach the fire alarm and pull it, thus helping save the lives of scores of other people inside the theatre, they said.
Meaux is a librarian at Jeanerette High School while Martin is an English teacher at the school, according to Cammie Maturin, who worked for years with the two women who are both her friends and former colleagues.
Maturin started a Go Fund Me page to raise money to help the women pay their hospital bills.
"They're very well respected," Maturin said. "They did in that theatre what they do every day in the classroom and that is protect others, whether mentally or emotionally."
"One of the teachers [Meaux] jumped on top of the second teacher in an act of braveness," Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said at a news conference Thursday night. "A lot of folks in that situation would just be thinking about themselves."
Of Martin, Jindal said, "Even though she was shot in the leg, she had the presence of mind to pull the fire alarm to help save other lives."
In a Facebook post, Meaux's son, Drake said his "momma is ok, no bone damage and no artery damage, just a soft tissue wound. She should be fine, doc says."
Those killed were identified as Mayci Breaux, 21, and Jillian Johnson, 33.
After shooting, the gunman killed himself. Authorities are still investigating the possible motive behind the incident.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) said Houser "expressed interest in white power groups, anti-Semitic ideas, the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church, as well as a number of conspiracy theories often espoused by the anti-government right."
According to a story by SPLC's Ryan Lenz, Houser wrote about a "lone wolf" in a forum dedicated to the New York chapter of Golden Dawn, a far-right neo-Nazi political party in Greece.
"Do not mistake yourselves for one minute, the enemy sees all posted on this website. I do not want to discourage the last hope for the best, but you must realize the power of the lone wolf, is the power that come forth in ALL situations. Look within yourselves," Houser wrote.
Jindal has ordered the flags of the United States and State of Louisiana at the State Capitol and all public buildings and institutions to be flown at half-staff until July 31 as a sign of respect for the victims.
