File photo of Bobby Jindal (Reuters)
Indian-American Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal met with the survivors of the deadly shooting that killed three persons, including the shooter, at a movie theatre in his state and praised their heroism.
Immediately after the shooting, the 44-year-old White House aspirant rushed to the scene to lead the post-shooting effort.
"Whenever we hear about these senseless acts of violence it makes us both furious and sad at the same time," Mr Jindal told reporters.
"There's no good reason why this type of evil should intrude on the lives of people who are just out for entertainment."
The gunman, according to police, was a 58-year old white man who opened fire indiscriminately at fellow movie goers watching the movie 'Trainwreck' at a movie theatre in Louisiana yesterday evening.
Later gunman shot himself, the Lafayette City Police chief Jim Craft told reporters. He died of self-inflicted wounds.
At least seven others have been injured in the shootout, some of them with life-threatening wounds, police said.
The police said they located the shooter's car across the street from the theatre parking lot and out of an "abundance of caution" called in the bomb squad.
"The best thing anybody can do right now is to think about them, pray for them, shower them with your love is the most important thing we will get through this," Mr Jindal said.
"We will get through this. We are a resilient community. This is an awful night for Lafayette. This is an awful night for Louisiana. This is an awful night for the US," he said.
According to Mr Jindal, two teachers were in the theatre -- one of them jumped in front of her colleague and was shot, but still managed to pull a fire alarm that alerted authorities.
Mr Jindal said the teacher, who was shot in the leg, saved other people's lives through her actions.
Mr Jindal praised the victims and the heroism of the survivors. "Even in the worst of times, it brings out the best in people."
In an interview to the BBC before the shooting, US President Barack Obama said his biggest frustration was the failure to pass "common-sense gun safety laws".
"Even in the face of repeated mass killings. And you know, if you look at the number of Americans killed since 9/11 by terrorism, it's less than 100. If you look at the number that have been killed by gun violence, it's in the tens of thousands," he said.
"And for us not to be able to resolve that issue has been something that is distressing. But it is not something that I intend to stop working on in the remaining 18 months," Mr Obama said.