Gunman ‘wanted to carry out shooting’
The gunman who killed nine people in Dayton, Ohio had expressed a desire to commit a mass shooting and showed an interest in violent ideology, investigators said yesterday as the FBI announced it was opening an investigation.
Federal investigators will try to determine what ideologies influenced Connor Betts, 24, who might have helped him or knew in advance of his plan, and why he chose the specific target of Dayton’s Oregon entertainment district for the shooting, said Special Agent Todd Wickerham, the head of the FBI’S Cincinnati field office.
Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said Betts had ‘‘violent ideations that include mass shootings, and had expressed a desire to commit a mass shooting’’.
Wickerham didn’t say whether the FBI was looking at whether the case could be treated as domestic terrorism, as the agency has done in the El Paso, Texas mass shooting earlier in the weekend.
He declined to discuss what specific ideologies might be linked to Betts’ actions but said there was no evidence so far that they were racially motivated.
Investigators haven’t publicly offered a motive for why Betts, wearing a mask and body armour, opened fire with an assault rifle outside a strip of nightclubs in Dayton, killing his sister and eight others before police fatally shot him less than 30 seconds into his rampage.
A woman who said she briefly dated Betts earlier this year wrote in an online essay that he had ‘‘dark thoughts’’, including about wanting to hurt people. Adelia Johnson, 24, said they met in a college psychology class and bonded over dealing with mental illness.
Johnson said that on their first date, Betts showed her a video of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. She said Betts had ‘‘uncontrollable urges’’ that she called ‘‘red flags’’, which eventually led her to call things off in May. When she broke up with him, she reached out to his mother to express her concerns.
The family of Betts and his sister, Megan Betts, released a statement through police yesterday, saying they were devastated and cooperating with the law enforcement investigation.
Johnson’s comments added to a conflicting picture emerging of Betts, with some people defending him as a nice guy and friendly neighbour, while former schoolmates recalled a troubled teenager. –AP