Texas and Ohio shootings: Gunman's sister among nine dead in Dayton bar massacre as police seek death penalty for El Paso shooter

Bonnie Christian4 August 2019

The sister of a gunman who stormed an Ohio bar, killing nine people, is among the victims of the second mass shooting in the US in 24 hours, police have said.

Megan Betts, 22, was confirmed as being among the dead at a news conference on Sunday where the victims were named.

At least 27 were injured in the Dayton shooting, hours after 20 people were killed when a gunman stormed an El Paso, Texas shopping mall.

The Dayton gunman, named by US media as 24-year-old Connor Betts, was killed by police at the scene.

Mourners gather at a vigil following a nearby mass shooting in Ohio.
AP

Dayton police patrolling the area responded in less than a minute to the shooting, which unfolded at about 1am on Sunday on the streets of the Oregon District, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said at a press conference.

Ms Whaley said if the police had not responded so quickly, "hundreds of people in the Oregon District could be dead today".

The local mayor said the gunman wore body armour and came carrying extra ammunition for his .223-calibre assault rifle with high-capacity magazines.

AP

(AP)Police said all the fatalities happened outside in the street.

US media reported that Ms Betts was found dead in a car with her boyfriend.

She was the youngest victim. Derrick Fudge, 57, was the eldest.

"We don't know the thoughts of the shooter," Mayor Whaley said earlier.

FBI agents are also assisting police with the investigation.

Hours earlier in El Paso, police had responded to reports of a gunman who opened fire inside a busy shopping complex.

A 21-year-old man, named by US media as Patrick Crusius, is in police custody.

Police said he is from the city of Allen, near Dallas.

El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza said the suspect has been charged with capital murder.

US Attorney John Bash said he is working with authorities in bringing federal hate crimes charges and federal firearms charges, which would carry the death penalty against the suspect.

"We are treating it as a domestic terrorism case, and we’re gonna do what we do to terrorists in this country, which is deliver swift and certain justice," Mr Bash said.

El Paso shooting - in pictures

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The suspect was arrested without any shots being fired outside the Walmart near the Cielo Vista Mall, a few miles from the US-Mexican border, police said.

The mass shopping area was packed with as many as 3,000 people during the busy back-to-school season when the gunman opened fired.

CCTV stills said to be of the shooter show a man in a black t-shirt with khaki coloured trousers entering a shop carrying a rifle and wearing ear defenders.

AFP/Getty Images

Police are investigating the possibility the shooting was a hate crime, and whether an anti-immigrant post written online shortly before the attack was penned by the man who was arrested.

El Paso police chief Greg Allen many of the 26 people who were hurt had life-threatening injuries. "The scene was a horrific one," he said.

Leta Jamrowski, 19, said her sister Jordan Anchondo, a mother of three, was shot dead while shopping for back-to-school supplies. Her baby suffered broken bones caused by his mother's fall.

"From the baby's injuries, they said that more than likely my sister was trying to shield him," she told The Associated Press. "So when she got shot she was holding him and she fell on him, so that's why he broke some of his bones. So he pretty much lived because she gave her life."

Presidential candidate and former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke, who is from El Paso, appeared shaken after news of the shooting in his hometown was reported.

He suspended campaigning to fly home and "be with my family and be with my hometown", saying the country needs to "keep that s*** on the battlefield. Do not bring it into our communities."

Former Vice President Joe Biden said he tried to call Mr O'Rourke and told reporters: "Enough is enough."

"This is a sickness," Mr Biden said. "This is beyond anything that we should be tolerating." He added: "We can beat the NRA. We can beat the gun manufacturers."

Mr Trump added in a later tweet: "Today's shooting in El Paso, Texas was not only tragic, it was an act of cowardice. I know that I stand with everyone in this Country to condemn today's hateful act.

"There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people. Melania and I send our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to the great people of Texas."

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