Victim of Lafayette Theater Shooting Was Member of All-Girl Old School Country Band
The news about public shootings that are dominating headlines seemingly daily is difficult enough to digest in statistical form, but when you start putting names to numbers and delving into the personal stories of the victims, the narrative becomes even more heart wrenching.
One of two deceased victims of the deranged man who opened fire at the Grand 16 Theater in Lafayette, Louisiana Thursday night (7-23) was named Jillian Johnson. 59-year-old John Russel Houser killed Johnson and Mayci Breaux, along with injuring nine others before turning the gun on himself. The 33-year-old Jillian Johnson was a pillar of the Lafayette arts community and owned a gift shop with her husband and brother called the Red Arrow Workshop, as well as a T-shirt business. But Jillian Jonson was also “… a phenomenal musician, which is what most of the community knew her for,” says her friend Molly Rowe to CNN. Molly says Jillian’s band was at the “forefront of a movement of a younger generation embracing Cajun/folk music traditions and making them popular and ‘cool’ again.”
Jillian Johnson was doing her part to help save country music in Lafayette like so many local musicians do all across the country and world as a member of the six-piece all-female country and roots outfit called The Figs. She played ukelele and sang harmony in the band. Their Facebook page lists their influences as, “Guitar, Banjo, Country Music, Sassiness, High Heels, Bob Wills,” and describe their sound as “High-Heeled Stomp.”
“Our hearts are shattered,” Jillian’s husband posted on the Red Arrow Workshop Facebook page. “We will love you forever. She was a once-in-a-lifetime gal. A mother, daughter, sister and a truly exceptional wife. She was an artist, a musician, an entrepreneur and a true renaissance woman. She was the love of my life and I will miss her always.”
Jillian Johnson was a graduate of Hillwood High School in Nashville, and attended Nashville’s Belmont University for her first two years of college before transferring to University of Louisiana at Lafayette where she graduated in 2004. The Figs played around Lafayette, would travel down to New Orleans and other places, and played the famous Blue Plate Special in Knoxville.
The band posted to Facebook upon the news, “We wish there were words to penetrate the hearts of the people watching the news to help them understand the kind of person Jillian was. Jillian made everything more beautiful. She was boundlessly creative, passionate, generous, talented, brave, and hard-working. She took pride and care in every detail, and she was easy to delight. She appreciated small beauties. She worked to make Lafayette a more beautiful place, and one of the most tragic things that has ever happened here took her. She was a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, an artist, a collaborator, a bandmate, a friend to so many. We are devastated. Please keep her loving and loved family in your hearts, along with the families of Mayci Breaux and other(s) affected.”
July 25, 2015 @ 10:33 am
Thanks for sharing this. My heart goes out to her family and the community of Lafayette.
July 25, 2015 @ 12:23 pm
It’s hard to find words. This is just too depressing.
May she rest in peace and may her family find some comfort amidst this senseless act of evil.
July 25, 2015 @ 2:42 pm
Nice write up about Jillian. Thank you.
July 25, 2015 @ 3:10 pm
So sad,I can’t imagine what her family and friends are going through.May she rest in peace.
July 25, 2015 @ 3:30 pm
RIP Jillian… 🙁
July 25, 2015 @ 5:46 pm
Absolutely heartbreaking. Our thoughts and prayers are with Lafayette, and Mrs. Johnson’s family.
July 25, 2015 @ 10:16 pm
; __ ;
July 26, 2015 @ 4:01 am
RIP.
Mean people suck and we have too many of them.
July 26, 2015 @ 7:14 am
All I can add is that we all should strive to be so loved and respected in whatever we attempt, especially in this day and uncertain age.
g
July 27, 2015 @ 8:42 am
+ 1. Well said.
July 26, 2015 @ 5:11 pm
89.9 WDVX is based in my town. one of my favorite radio stations. That sucks about what happened.
July 26, 2015 @ 9:24 pm
This senseless tragedy has been on my mind all weekend. The saddest part is that nothing is going to change, so we might as well get used to these types of stories.
Btw, grown women are not referred to as girls (see headline).
July 27, 2015 @ 8:17 am
Agreed. The loss of life is the saddest portion of this story, but following a close second is how numb we have become to these random, senseless acts of violence in this country. As more and more info comes out about the shooter, it seems a lot of people had a chance to stop him and some tried, but the system is so fractured and broken and useless it was all for naught.
But I agree with you, while maybe not on the same scale, these acts of violence are becoming our car bomb in the middle east, where when the news flashes a story about a car bomb going off in parts of Africa or Iraq or whatever, we seem numbed to it due to the frequency of them.
July 27, 2015 @ 8:43 am
It’s like when we were growing up in the ’60s and the evening news gave the day’s casualty statistics. After a while they didn’t mean anything; they were just numbers. The most tragic thing about the current situation is that there isn’t even an ongoing conversation about how to make these tragedies less frequent. Not even a conversation. We just bury the dead and wait until the next such incident, which you can bet will happen soon. No one cares unless it happens to someone they know.
July 27, 2015 @ 10:58 am
I think the problem is the polarization of America. Pretty much every American agrees these tragedies are terrible, but neither side is willing to budge even a little. I remember this weekend Charlie Robison posting about how he, as a gun owner, would be fine with stricter regulations and he was met with insults.
Not trying to turn this thread into a political situation at all, the focus should remain on the loss of life, but nobody seems willing to compromise anymore and Americans have become so disenfranchised with the whole deal we have become numb. Hell, even the President basically says change is hopeless.
In my eyes, Americans see this as a gun issue only. And it is, no doubt this guy, with his history of mental illness, should have never been able to put his hands on a gun. However, we also need to recognize that this is an issue of mental illness and health and how we as a country have largely ignored this rising problem for decades now. The system is awful right now, state to state budgets and the quality of mental health care vary wildly.
Sadly, we will never fully get rid of these tragedies. However, we as a country IMO, need to compromise and recognize that the frequency these tragedies are happening are not okay.
July 28, 2015 @ 4:35 am
Mental health is still the elephant in the room, in many places. Not enough research is being done, and there is still a stigma attached to it, which is why many people don’t seek help.
Then there is the apathy factor….we had a levy for mental health services fail three times in a row, here, and this is one of the worst places in the country for depression, alcoholism, and domestic violence.
It’s typical Appalachian Ohio thinking, though….just pretend the problem doesn’t exist, and it will go away. I suspect it’s that way in a lot of places, though.
July 27, 2015 @ 4:00 am
May her murderer rot for eternity in unfathomable pain and anguish.
July 27, 2015 @ 8:20 am
Thank you for this beautiful and heartbreaking post. Feeling high and lonesome right about now.
July 28, 2015 @ 1:26 pm
Patterson Hood dedicated DBT’s performance of Grand Canyon to Ms. Johnson at Floydfest this past weekend. I guess she was a fan of the band. Its sad that so many times we don’t get to experience these kind of people and then they’re gone. I didn’t even know who he was talking about until I read your write up, so thank you for it.
July 30, 2015 @ 3:40 pm
I can’t even find the words…. so sad.