Authorities say the suspect from the Louisiana Theater shooting on Thursday night bought his gun legally.

John Russell "Rusty" Houser bought a legal handgun from an Alabama pawn shop before shooting 11 people at the theater on July 23, CNN reports.

Houser showed up at the theater during the showing of the recent comedy "Trainwreck." Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craig said he let off a 10-round clip.

The shooter killed two women and shot nine other people.

"Out of 20 rounds he shot 11 people, but some people suffered multiple wounds," Craig said. "One person was shot four times."

The shooter exited the theater through a side door trying to get to his 1995 Lincoln. When he saw police approaching, he went back into the theater to let off three more rounds.

Houser, a 59-year-old law school graduate, had a history of mental problems. After shooting people at the theater, he killed himself with a bullet to the head.

Witnesses heard shots go off just 20 minutes into the movie "Tainwreck," according to The New York Times.

"From the reflection of the movie, the light, you could see his gun shining," said Lucas Knepper, who was seated in the same row as Houser. "And then you could see the flash coming from the chamber."

Talk show host Calvin Floyd said that he knew that Houser had a lot of issues. He frequently featured Houser on his talk show in the 1990s.

"If you gave me 40 names and 40 pictures of people who might have done that, I wouldn't have hesitated to point him out," Floyd said. "I could just sense the anger was there."

Craig said Houser was the kind of guy who thought that women should not work outside their homes and "had a lot of hostility toward abortion clinics."

The shooter was also known for trying to hire a man to start a fire at a law firm in Georgia that represented pornographic theaters.

Houser joins a list of gunmen who have provoked a dialogue about gun violence in the United States, most recently encapsulated by Dylan Roofe, who killed nine people in a Charleston, South Carolina church in June.