Lafayette shooting: Two shot dead by gunman at Louisiana movie theatre - as it happened

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Two women have been shot dead and several seriously injured after a gunman opened fire at a cinema in Louisiana. Here are the latest updates:

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Around 100 people were inside the Grand Theatre in Lafayette at the time to watch Trainwreck, a comedy starring Amy Schumer.

A cinema-goer said she thought the noise of gunshots were firecrackers when they first went off at 7.30pm local time.

“We heard a loud pop we thought was a firecracker,” Katie Domingue told the Louisiana Advertiser.

She said she saw “an older white man” standing up and shooting down into the cinema, but not in her direction.

“He wasn't saying anything. I didn't hear anybody screaming either,” she added.

The gunman, 59-year-old John Russel Houser, fired his handgun “numerous times” before killing himself.

Additional reporting by AP