FBI: Friend of Dayton shooter helped him assemble weapon
A friend of the gunman who killed nine people outside a Dayton, Ohio, bar last week told authorities that he bought body armor and equipment for the attacker and helped him assemble the weapon used in the rampage, according to a court filing unsealed Monday.
These details were included in a criminal complaint charging the friend — Ethan Kollie, 24 — with two counts relating to his purchase and possession of firearms. Neither count relates to the shooting itself.
Benjamin Glassman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, stressed that while the charges emerged from the investigation into the Dayton shooting, they included no suggestion that Kollie knowingly played a role in plotting the attack.
“Mr. Kollie does not stand accused of intentionally participating in the planning of that shooting,” Glassman said at a news briefing. “We have no evidence of that. There’s no allegation of that.”
An attorney listed for Kollie in court filings did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jail records showed that Kollie was arrested Friday evening, the same day the criminal complaint was filed. Kollie was charged with possessing a firearm while being an unlawful user of a controlled substance and making a false statement regarding firearms. He could face up to 15 years in prison, Glassman said.
Authorities said Connor Betts, a 24-year-old with a history of violence against girlfriends and who had a “hit list” of people he hoped to target, had donned body armor and a mask before opening fire with an assault-style weapon in a Dayton nightlife area early Aug. 4.
Before police officers shot and killed him, Betts killed nine people, among them his 22-year-old sister.
The Dayton attack was the second mass shooting in a matter of hours. Not long beforehand, a gunman in El Paso, Texas, opened fire at a Walmart popular with people on both sides of the border with Mexico, killing 22 people and injuring dozens more. Police said the gunman in El Paso told them he was targeting Mexicans, and authorities have called the El Paso shooting domestic terrorism.
In Dayton, the FBI has said it was investigating the shooting after learning that Betts explored “specific violent ideologies.” Officials have said they are seeking clarity on what could have motivated Betts.
Kollie and Betts were friends who had repeatedly done “hard drugs” together, Andrew Gragan, an FBI special agent, wrote in an affidavit included in the complaint.
Kollie told FBI agents that he bought the body armor, equipment for the gun and a 100-round double-drum magazine that Betts later used during the massacre, Gragan wrote.