The movie theatre gunman who stood up about 20 minutes into the showing of Trainwreck and began firing into the crowd, killing two people, was described as a drifter from Alabama whose escape plan was thwarted by police officers who arrived almost immediately, authorities said. The gunman killed himself.

The family of the man who shot dead two women and wounded nine others before killing himself at a crowded cinema in the US said he was mentally ill and so violent that they hid his guns and sought police help to keep him away.

The cinema gunman who began firing into the crowd, killing two and then himself, has been described as a drifter whose escape plan was thwarted by police officers who arrived almost immediately.

A gunman opened fire at a cinema in Louisiana, killing two people and injuring at least seven others before fatally shooting himself.