DAYTON, Ohio — The gunman who killed nine people in Dayton, Ohio, early Sunday morning had arrived to the scene of the shooting with his sister and another man, Dayton Police Chief Richard S. Biehl said at a press conference Sunday evening.
Twenty-four-year-old Connor Betts of Bellbrook, Ohio, opened fire with an "AR-15 like" rifle just after 1 a.m. in the Oregon District of Dayton, Biehl said. He was wearing a mask, ballistic vest and hearing protection.
He used a rifle with a high-capacity magazine carrying .223 caliber ammunition, but also had a shotgun in his car. Police say both weapons were purchased legally.
His sister, who was killed in the shooting, and another man who was injured, all drove to the Oregon District together. Betts's car, a 2007 Grey Toyota Corolla registered to his father, was parked nearby.
At some point in the night, Betts separated from the group and retrieved the weapon. He first began shooting on a sideway that intersects 5th Street, where he killed his first victim. Betts then moved onto 5th Street where he killed his sister and the seven others.
Betts was headed into Ned Pepper's liquor store when six officers shot and killed him. It took them only 30 seconds from the time Betts first opened fired. He had already fired dozens of rounds. Those officers were already in the Oregon District, a popular entertainment area usually patrolled.
A neighbor whose property is near Betts' family home said the 24-year-old "seemed like a good kid," but "obviously he had an issue."
The Ohio shooting comes less than one day after a man opened fire in a crowded Walmart in El Paso, Texas, leaving 20 dead and more than two dozen injured. Just days before, on July 28, a 19-year-old shot and killed three people, including two children, at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California.
"I think the question has to be raised, why does Dayton have to be the 250th mass shooting in America?" Mayor Nan Whaley said at a 7 a.m. press conference, referencing the number of mass shootings in 2019.
