Amid nationwide discussions surrounding the latest mass shootings to plague the U.S., some on Twitter are sharing their theories on the motive behind the Dayton, Ohio attack.
24-year-old Connor Betts from Bellbrook, Ohio was identified as the gunman in the Dayton shooting. He was killed 30 seconds after opening fire in Dayton’s popular entertainment district and killed nine people and before heading to the bar Ned Peppers, which is reportedly a well-known bar for the Black community.
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Authorities still haven’t released a confirmed motive behind the shooting, but some have taken to social media to accuse Betts of conducting the terrorist attack due to his anger over his younger sister dating a black man. Of the nine fatal victims, six were Black and three were white (including Betts younger sister Megan).
“U.S. media reported that his sister had been found dead in a car with her boyfriend,” the BBC reported. “But police said the male she was shot alongside was a ‘companion of the suspect’ and did not elaborate on the relationships.”
However, one Twitter user blamed the killings on the shooter’s purported racism.
“The shooter in Dayton killed his sister because she was dating a black man. He then proceeded to kill 5 more black people just because. There is a sickness in this country and Trump’s racist rhetoric had emboldened that sickness. #TrumpsTerrorists #ThisIsAmerica,” the tweet read.
Another Twitter user also shared the same theory.
“Dayton shootings were racially motivated. Killer murdered his sister for dating a black man. I simply cannot process this,” that tweet said.
The fatal victims have been identified as:
- Lois Oglesby, Black female, 27
- Saeed Saleh, Black male, 38
- Derrick Fudge, Black male, 57
- Logan Turner, white male, 30
- Nicholas Cummer, white male, 25
- Thomas McNichols, Black male, 25
- Beatrice Warren Curtice, Black female, 36
- Monica Brickhouse, Black female, 39
- Megan Betts, white female, 22
When considering how the other recent mass shootings were racially motivated, it isn’t too surprising to think that the Dayton shooting was also. An investigation found that the 21-year-old white supremacist who conducted the recent mass shooting in El Paso, TX had a hatred for the Hispanic community and wrote in a manifesto that he was against “race mixing” and supported the idea to “send them back.”
Santino William Legan, the gunman behind the mass shooting at the Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California, had previously posted on social media an endorsement for a book that has been widely tied to white supremacists and white nationalists.
Authorities are still silent on what the exact motive is behind the Dayton shooting.
