LAFAYETTE, Louisiana — A gunman sitting in a packed movie theater in Louisiana stood up about 20 minutes into the showing of a popular comedy and began firing into the crowd, killing two and wounding at least nine others before fatally shooting himself, authorities said. Thursday's incident was the latest of mass shootings in the United States and the second in three years at a movie theater. While the shootings have shocked the nation, they have not led to major changes in gun control laws in the United States, where many Americans see gun ownership as a fundamental, constitutionally protected right. The gunman initially tried escaping by blending into the fleeing crowd, but turned back when he saw police heading inside from the parking lot, authorities said. Officers tailing him back into the theater in the city of Lafayette then heard a single gunshot and found him dead inside, police said. They described the shooter as a 58-year-old "lone white male" with a criminal history but did not immediately disclose his name. — AP
