A lone gunman sitting in a packed movie theatre stood up about 20 minutes into the showing of “Trainwreck” and began firing into the crowd, killing two and wounding at least nine others Thursday night before fatally shooting himself, authorities said.

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 theatre 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. Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft said the gunman was by himself and started the rampage by shooting the two people sitting in front of him.

At least one theatregoer described the attack, saying an older man stood up about 20 minutes into the 7:10 p.m. showing of the movie “Trainwreck” at the Grand 16 theatre in Lafayette and began shooting.

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

“He wasn’t saying anything. I didn’t hear anybody screaming either,” said Domingue, who added that she heard about six shots before she and her fiance ran to the nearest exit, leaving behind her shoes and purse.

Stories of heroism immediately began to emerge with presidential hopeful Gov. Bobby Jindal, who travelled to the scene within hours of the shooting, telling reporters that a teacher who was in the theatre jumped in front of a second teacher, saving her life. The second teacher then managed to pull a fire alarm to alert other moviegoers, he said.

“Her friend literally jumped over her and, by her account, actually saved her life,” Jindal said.

President Barack Obama was briefed on the shooting aboard Air Force One by Lisa Monaco, his homeland security adviser, while on his way to Africa for a two-nation visit, the White House said.

Obama asked his team to keep him updated on the investigation and the status of those wounded. He also offered his thoughts and prayers to the community and to the families of those killed.

The shooting took place a week after the man who shot and killed 12 people at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colo., was convicted and on the very day a jury said his attack was cruel enough to consider sentencing him to death.

Nine people ranging in age from their late teens to their late 60s were wounded, Craft said. At least one of those was in critical condition and being operated on at an area hospital, he said. The conditions of the others were not immediately known.

Craft said at a news conference that police know who the gunman is, and that he had a criminal history, but they are not immediately releasing his name. State police superintendent Col. Michael D. Edmonson said the body of the shooter and “at least one other person” were still inside the theatre. He said there were about 100 people inside the theatre at the time of the shooting.

Edmonson added that police believe the gunman fired shots only at the theatre and had not waged an attack anywhere else beforehand. However, authorities said they were not releasing his name immediately in part so police could safely track down and interview friends or family who knew the shooter.

“We have no reason to believe that this individual acted beyond this location here,” Edmonson said.

He said police saw something suspicious inside the shooter’s car and that a bomb-sniffing dog “hit on three different locations” in the vehicle, “so out of an abundance of caution we brought in the bomb squad.”

No explosives were found in the car or in the theatre complex.