NEW YORK (AP) — A gunman opened fire on a crowded movie theater in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Sunday night, killing five people and wounding 12 others before he was shot dead by police, the city’s police chief said.
Police chief Chuck Jordan said the shooter, who was identified as 43-year-old Eric Harris, was a white man and had been previously convicted of aggravated assault and a weapons charge.
He was killed in a shootout with police.
The shooting at the Oklahoma City Center theater came as the country mourns the victims of last week’s massacre at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Police are looking for Harris’ white partner and a female accomplice.
In Tulsa, two women were shot and killed in separate shootings, and a woman was wounded in a shooting at a convenience store.
The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office said Harris, who has a lengthy criminal history, was known to the police.
He has a history of domestic violence and is wanted on a domestic violence warrant in the Tulsa area, sheriff’s spokesman Matt Krempich said.
Authorities have said Harris was driving a black BMW that appeared to be stolen.
The suspect had previously been in custody on a warrant for a misdemeanor assault charge in New Orleans.
Oklahoma’s largest newspaper, the Tulsa World, published an obituary of Harris, a native of West Texas who had recently moved to Tulsa from New Orleans, which is near the border of Louisiana and Mississippi.
“In an act of senseless, unspeakable evil, Eric Harris went to the movie theater with a handgun and fired upon a crowd of innocent people,” the obit said.
“He fired over 100 rounds, killing at least five and wounding many others.
Eric Harris has been arrested several times in New York City and has a long history of drug and violent offenses.
He is a violent, mentally ill person who should not have been able to go on a rampage in the name of entertainment.”
The newspaper also cited court records from Harris’ arrest in New Jersey for a 2014 arrest for aggravated assault.
He also was charged in 2013 with assaulting a police officer, records show.
The Times newspaper reported that Harris had been in trouble with the law before, having been convicted of a weapons violation in New Mexico and for driving with a suspended license in California.
Tulsa is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Oklahoma City.
A gunman killed five people at a movie theater on Sunday in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
A manhunt was underway for the shooter.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.