On Sunday night, a masked gunman opened fire in downtown Dayton, Ohio killing nine people.
What We Know:
- Lois Oglesby, 27, Logan Turner, 30, Nicholas Cumer, 25, Thomas McNichols, 25, Derrick Fudge, 57, Beatrice N. Warren-Curtis, 36, Monica Brickhouse, 39, Saeed Saleh, 38, and Megan Betts, 22, the shooter’s sister, were all killed.
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Connor Betts, 24, used a .223-caliber rifle in the attack outside of a crowded Ned Peppers Bar. The weapon was equipped with a 100-round magazine which he modified to carry as many as 250 rounds, Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said. Betts obtained the weapon legally.
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The gunman arrived with his sister and a friend to the scene of the massacre. They visited a bar at around 11 p.m. then he departed 45 minutes before the other two people. In that time he armed himself and dressed in tactical gear before starting the rampage.
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Police were able to kill the gunman 30 seconds after he began shooting. But, in that short time, he was able to kill nine people and injure dozens more. Surveillance video shows a crowd of people running into establishments to evade Betts who fired 41 rounds in the street.
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Authorities have stated that the shooting does not appear to be racially or politically motivated.
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The shooter had a history of troubling behavior. CBS reported Betts was suspended from his high school for making a ‘hit-list’ and a ‘rape list.’ One of his former classmates, Demoy Howell told the Dayton Daily News, ”He [Betts] was always a bit of an oddball, he had a dark sense of humor — jokes about people dying. He would wear all black. I remember sensing a dark energy around him.”
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Another troubling story about Betts came from Taylor Gould, a friend of Megan Betts’, who recounted an instance when the gunman was berating his sister during their childhood. Gould says she stepped in to defend Megan and he strangled her. Gould referred to him as a “psychopath the school ignored.”
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Will El-Fakir, told the newspaper that he ended his friendship with Betts after he held a gun to his head five months ago.
RIP to all the victims in this horrible tragedy.
