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Gunman kills 20 people at a Walmart store in Texas while another murders nine, including his sister, in Ohio
Thirty people died and dozens were wounded in two mass shootings within just 13 hours of each other in the U.S., shocking the country and prompting calls from some politicians for tighter gun control.
The first massacre occurred on Saturday morning in the Hispanic border city of El Paso, where a gunman killed 20 people at a Walmart store before surrendering to police. Authorities investigating the motive behind the attack said they are treating it as a case of domestic terrorism.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the rampage appeared to be a hate crime, and police cited a “manifesto” they attributed to the suspect, a 21-year-old white man, as evidence that the attack was racially motivated.
Across the country, a gunman opened fire in a downtown district of Dayton, Ohio, early on Sunday, killing nine people, including his sister, and wounding at least 26 others. The assailant was shot dead by police.
The El Paso shooting reverberated on the campaign trail for next year’s U.S. presidential election, with several Democratic candidates calling for gun control.
At least two candidates, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, and El Paso native Beto O’Rourke, a former Congressman, drew connections to a resurgence in white nationalism and xenophobic politics in the U.S.
“America is under attack from homegrown white nationalist terrorism,” Mr. Buttigieg said in Las Vegas.
President Donald Trump branded the shooting “an act of cowardice,” saying in a Twitter post, “I know that I stand with everyone to condemn today’s hateful act. There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people.”
Pope Francis condemned the spate of attacks on “defenceless people” in the U.S. A State prosecutor said they will seek death penalty for the suspect, Patrick Crusius, 21.
Police said the suspect opened fire with a rifle on shoppers, many of them bargain-hunting for school supplies, then surrendered to officers who confronted him outside the store.
In Dayton, Ohio, a gunman dressed in body armour opened fire in a downtown district, unleashing carnage that could have been much worse if not for the rapid intervention of police.
Officers on routine patrol nearby were on the scene in less than a minute and shot the attacker dead, likely preventing a much higher toll.
Assistant police chief Matt Carper named the gunman as Connor Betts, a 24-year-old white male from Bellbrook, Ohio, and said his sister Megan Betts, 22, was among those killed.
