DAYTON, Ohio (AP and CNN) — Nine people were killed and at least 26 injured Sunday in a shooting in a popular nightclub district of downtown Dayton, Ohio, police say.
Officers killed the lone suspect after he fired for less than a minute from a ".223 high-capacity" gun, and he had additional magazines with him, Mayor Nan Whaley said. The .223 caliber is used in rifles like the AR-15 assault rifle used in previous mass shootings.
On Sunday afternoon, the shooter was identified as 24-year-old Connor Betts. Police said one of the victims was his 22-year-old sister, Megan.
Deb Decker, public information officer for Montgomery County, said the shooter used an assault rifle.
The event followed by 13 hours a shooting that left 20 dead in El Paso, Texas.
The Dayton shooting took place about 1 a.m. on East Fifth Street in the city's Oregon District, Dayton Deputy Director and Assistant Chief of Police Lt. Col. Matt Carper said early Sunday morning.
The suspect has not been identified. Carper said the shooter fired multiple rounds from "a very large gun, in technical terms." The shooting happened as the suspect was making his way toward a bar called Ned Peppers, Decker said.
Someone from Ned Peppers grabbed the barrel of the rifle, and the shooter "picked up a handgun and was willing to continue shooting," Decker said, when police arrived and killed the shooter.
The shooter wore body armor, she said.
No officers were injured, Carper said.
"In less than one minute, Dayton first responders neutralized the shooter," Whaley said.
"I really want to -- think about that minute. The shooter was able to kill nine people and injure 26 in less than a minute. And if we did not have police in the Oregon District and the thousands of people in the Oregon District enjoying their Saturday evening, what we could have had in this city," Whaley said.
"The question has to be raised, why does Dayton have to be the 250th mass shooting this year?"
Police believe that the suspect acted alone and that there is no remaining threat to the community, but the investigation is ongoing, Carper said, and the FBI is assisting. The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear.
