This time it was aimed at African Americans. Ooops, he didn’t know his sister was there…
[SIZE=7][B]Dayton, Ohio, Shooting: Victims Identified; Live Updates[/B][/SIZE]
At least nine people were killed and 27 others were wounded, the police said. It was the second American mass shooting in 24 hours, and the third in a week.
By Timothy Williams and Farah Stockmam
RIGHT NOW
The police named the suspect as Connor Betts, 24, of Bellbrook, Ohio.
[SIZE=6]The police identified the nine killed, and the suspect.[/SIZE]
Questions mounted about the motive of a gunman who killed nine people in a popular entertainment district in Dayton, Ohio, early Sunday morning, less than 24 hours after 20 people were shot dead at a Walmart in El Paso.
The gunman in Dayton was identified as Connor Betts, a 24-year-old white man from Bellbrook, a Dayton suburb. One of the victims was his sister, Megan K. Betts, 22.
Of the eight others killed, six were black.
The police say they are continuing to search for a motive and did not say whether the gunman sought to kill his sister or was aware that she was in the area Saturday night.
Mr. Betts was killed by the police, who responded to the mass shooting in less than one minute, the authorities said.
The other eight people who were killed ranged in age from 25 to 57. The police identified them as:
[ul]
[li]Lois L. Oglesby, 27, a black female;[/li][li]Saeed Saleh, 38, a black male;[/li][li]Derrick R. Fudge, 57, a black male;[/li][li]Logan Turner, 30, a white male;[/li][li]Nicholas P. Cumer, 25, a white male;[/li][li]Thomas J. McNichols, 25, a black male;[/li][li]Beatrice N. Warren-Curtis, 36, a black female;[/li][li]Monica E. Brickhouse, 39, a black female.[/li][/ul]
The authorities said it was unlikely that the gunman shot individuals based on their race.
“It’s hard to imagine that there was much discrimination in the shooting,” said Lt. Col. Matt Carper. “It happened in a very short period of time.”
Dayton, which was hit by 14 tornadoes in May, reacted in grief and shock. “We have suffered two tragedies in Dayton this year, but one was avoidable” Mayor Nan Whaley wrote in a statement that cited one tally of mass shootings compiled by a group that tracks them. (Using a different definition, there have been 32 mass shootings this year). “This same tragedy has been inflicted on our nation 250 times this year alone,” the mayor wrote. “When is enough, enough?”
Relatives came forward to remember the victims. Mr. McNichols was “a great father, a great brother — he was a protector,” said Jevin Lamar, a cousin, in a phone interview. Everyone called him Teejay, Mr. Lamar said, adding that he played kickball at family gatherings.
Mr. Lamar said he also knew a second victim, Ms. Oglesby, who he said had at least two children, including a new baby. “Now she is gone, and they are never going to see their mother again,” he said.