As a booming arts scene began to transform her hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana, Jillian Johnson became one of its driving forces. She opened a boutique store with her husband. She started a T-shirt business with her brother. She hosted a popular radio show. She sang and played the ukulele in an all-woman country-folk band.
She seemed to be everywhere.
On Thursday, Lafayette lost her.
Johnson, 33, was one of two women killed Thursday night by a gunman who opened fire during a screening of the comedy film “Trainwreck.” Nine others were injured.
“She could do everything,” a friend of Johnson’s, Ann Savoy, told NBC News in an exchange on Facebook. “Pottery, photography, web design, music.”
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Her husband, Jason Brown, wrote in a statement on the Facebook page for their shop, Red Arrow Workshop, that she was “a once-in-a-lifetime gal. A mother, daughter, sister and a truly exceptional wife.”
Local public radio station KRVS, where Johnson produced and hosted “As You Were,” a music show that combined Americana, roots and folk music, called her “a beautiful and brilliant spirit.”
Johnson was a member of The Figs, a six-woman band that made two records and built a rabid local following. A bandmate, Caroline Helm, said in a message to NBC News that she was struggling to find words that would help people understand Johnson’s impact on those around her. “Jillian made everything more beautiful. She worked to make Lafayette a more beautiful place, and one of the most tragic things that has ever happened here took her.”
The second dead victim was identified as 21-year-old Mayci Breaux, who was scheduled to start radiology school at Lafayette General Medical Center in the coming days, doctors at the hospital said at a news conference Friday.
“It hurts for our staff,” said David Callecod, president of Lafayette General Health.
Breaux also worked in a local clothing store. The store, coco eros, released a statement describing her as “an amazing young woman” and asked the community to “pray for her family and friends.”
Breaux’s 16-year-old sister, Ali Breaux, told MSNBC that she was a centerpiece of a large extended family, and helped guide her through adolescence.
‘She taught me how to be the strong person I am today,” Ali Breaux said. “She taught me not to care about what other people think, and taught be how to be a good person.”
The younger sister added, “She was my rock.”
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Lafayette General received five patients, ranging in their 20s to 80s. Two of the injured were released overnight, and three remain in stable condition Friday afternoon with multiple gunshot wounds. One of them was hit in the torso and the others were struck in their lower bodies, doctors said.
Another of the nine injured remained in critical condition at another facility, according to officials.








