Man who got rifle parts for Dayton shooter gets 32 months

CINCINNATI – A man who bought the 100-round magazine and parts for the assault-style rifle used by Connor Betts in last year’s mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, was sentenced Thursday to 32 months in prison.

Prosecutors say Ethan Kollie didn’t appear to know about Betts’ plans.

But U.S. Attorney David DeVillers said in a statement that “Kollie will forever be connected to the tragic events of Aug. 4, 2019, in Dayton, Ohio.”

Kollie, 25, of Kettering, pleaded guilty in November in federal court in Dayton to possession of a gun by a person who uses illegal drugs and lying on a gun-purchasing form.

Five months before the shooting, in March 2019, Kollie ordered for Betts the upper receiver for the rifle and had it shipped to his home. Prosecutors said Kollie helped Betts assemble the rifle, and the two practiced firing it at a Dayton-area shooting range.

Kollie also bought the body armor and the 100-round, double-drum magazine that Betts used with the Anderson Manufacturing AM-15 rifle.

Kollie had the items shipped to his home to “help Betts conceal these items from Betts’ parents,” prosecutors said in court documents.

Betts, 24, of Bellbrook, was shot and killed by police 32 seconds after the shooting began in Dayton’s Oregon District.

Betts killed nine people and wounded more than a dozen.

His motives are still unclear, although Chris Hoffman, the FBI special agent in charge of the Cincinnati field office, said the agency’s soon-to-becompleted investigation may shed light on that.