9 killed in second mass shooting in U.S. in 24 hours
A gunman wearing body armor opened fire in a popular nightlife district in Ohio, killing nine and injuring 27 others, before he was killed by police, authorities said. The rampage was the second mass shooting in the U.S. in less than 24 hours.
Police responded to the shooting in under a minute early Sunday on the streets of downtown Dayton’s Oregon District, a historic neighborhood home to bars, restaurants and theaters.
The gunman was identified as 24-year-old Connor Betts, of Bellbrook, Ohio, law enforcement sources told CBS News. The sources said police were searching his home Sunday morning.
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In El Paso, a gunman left 20 people dead and more than two dozen others injured on Saturday.
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Prosecutors will seek death penalty for El Paso shooting
El Paso District Attorney Jaime Esparza announced Sunday that prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Patrick Crusius, the suspect of the El Paso mass shooting.
“Very difficult time for our community. Certainly with a heavy heart that I talk to you,” Esparza said in a news conference with police and FBI officials. “We will proceed with the investigation, the state charge is capital murder, the suspect is eligible for the death penalty, and we will seek the death penalty.”
An FBI official at the news conference said they will pursue a criminal investigation, a civil rights hate crime investigation and domestic terrorism charges.
“We are treating it as domestic terrorism,” the FBI official said, saying the shooting carried the “intent to intimidate the domestic population.”
El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen said Crusius purchased his weapon legally. Allen also said that police are beginning to remove bodies from the scene at the Walmart in El Paso.
Esparza added, “We are a very safe community, we pride ourselves on the fact that we are so safe. This county is rocked, shocked, and saddened by what has happened here.”
“We will hold him accountable,” he said of Crusius.
Dayton gunman used assault-style rifle
Dayton police said the gunman used a .223 caliber, assault-style weapon with high capacity magazines. Police have not been able to determine if the shooting was a hate crime but said all the fatalities occurred outside the bar and entertainment area in the Oregon District.
Twenty-seven people were being treated at the Miami Valley Hospital and Kettering Health Network. Fifteen others were discharged. Officials said they were grateful for supporters from the American Red Cross and the community blood bank who have offered assistance.
Beto O’Rourke says Trump’s rhetoric “has a lot to do” with El Paso shooting
Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, one of the two dozen Democrats vying for the party’s presidential nomination, drew a direct link between President Trump’s divisive rhetoric on immigration and the apparent motives of the young white man suspected of killing at least 20 people in El Paso on Saturday.
“President Trump has a lot to do with what happened in El Paso yesterday,” O’Rourke, who used to represent El Paso in Congress, said on “Face the Nation” Sunday.
“Anybody who begins their campaign for the presidency by calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals; anyone who, as president, describes asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border as an infestation or an invasion or animals; anyone who describes those who do not match the majority of this country as somehow inherently dangerous or defective; sows the kinds of fear, the kind of reaction that we saw in El Paso yesterday,” he added.
But O’Rourke also said the massacre highlights a pressing nationwide problem that is “larger than” and predates Mr. Trump’s rhetoric.
“It’s up to all of us to put an end to this racism and make sure that we just don’t tolerate our differences but — as we’ve shown here in El Paso — we embrace them as the very source of our strength and our success,” he added. “And, yes, also our safety and our security.”
El Paso suspect booked on capital murder charges
Law enforcement officials told CBS News that shooting suspect Patrick Crusius has been booked on state capital murder charges. Crusius is currently housed in the El Paso county jail. He is expected to be arraigned on the charges in court either today or tomorrow.
Dayton shooting suspect identified
Law enforcement sources told CBS News the shooter was identified as 24-year-old Connor Betts, of Bellbrook, Ohio. The sources said police were searching his house on Sunday morning.
“Words can’t describe it”
The shooting took place outside, on the 400 block of East 5th Street. Nikita Papillon, 23, was across the street at Newcom’s Tavern when the shooting started.
She said she saw a girl she had talked to earlier lying outside Ned Peppers Bar. “She had told me she liked my outfit and thought I was cute, and I told her I liked her outfit and I thought she was cute,” Papillon said.
She herself had been to Ned Peppers the night before, describing it as the kind of place “where you don’t have to worry about someone shooting up the place.”
“People my age, we don’t think something like this is going to happen,” she said. “And when it happens, words can’t describe it.”
Tianycia Leonard, 28, was in the back, smoking, at Newcom’s. She heard “loud thumps” that she initially thought was people pounding on a dumpster.
“It was so noisy, but then you could tell it was gunshots and there was a lot of rounds,” Leonard said. The FBI is assisting with the investigation.
A family assistance center was set up at the Dayton Convention Center.
Officials “heartbroken” over shooting
“I’m heartbroken,” Whaley tweeted around 6 a.m. Sunday, thanking first responders for their efforts. Gov. Mike DeWine issued his own statement before 7 a.m., announcing that he’s ordered flags in Ohio remain at half-mast and offered assistance to Whaley.
“Fran and I are absolutely heartbroken over the horrible attack that occurred this morning in Dayton, the statement said. “We join those across Ohio and this country in offering our prayers to victims and their families.”
Latest rampage comes hours after Texas massacre
The Ohio shooting came hours after a young man opened fire in a crowded El Paso, Texas, shopping area, 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 Northern California’s Gilroy Garlic Festival.
Sunday’s shooting in Dayton is the 22nd mass killing of 2019 in the U.S., according to the AP/USA Today/Northeastern University mass murder database that tracks homicides where four or more people killed — not including the offender. The 20 mass killings in the U.S. in 2019 that preceded this weekend claimed 96 lives.
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