Nine people were killed and at least 27 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.
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.
He said police have identified a suspect but not released a name.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. “The question has to be raised, why does Dayton have to be the 250th mass shooting this year?”