Gunman shot 26 people in just 32 seconds, video evidence shows

His sister Megan Betts was the first victim

The gunman in last week’s massacre in Dayton, Ohio, shot 26 people in 32 seconds, police said.

With the help of extensive video surveillance, police offered an updated timeline of the gunman’s movements and actions in the hours before he killed nine people and wounded 17 others outside a bar in the city’s popular Oregon entertainment district on 4 August.

Dayton Police Department said the gunman went to the district on the night of 2 August and returned with his sister and a friend at 11pm the following night. “He was not unfamiliar with this territory,” Chief Richard S. Biehl said.

After visiting a bar with them, the gunman left after midnight, the officials said, walking past a police vehicle to go to his car.

They said he went there about 15 minutes before the shooting to retrieve an AR-15-style rifle, ammunition and body armour. He returned wearing a dark hoodie and carrying a backpack, which contained the weapon, they said.

He text his sister and another victim minutes before he started shooting.

The gunman’s sister was among the first people he shot. Though the gunman knew where she and her companion were, he said the department could not conclusively say whether she was a target.

“We have radically different views in this regard,” Mr Biehl said of the many officers who reviewed the video evidence. “Based on the evidence of that night, I don’t think we can make that call.”

The gunman started shooting at 1.05am, striking 26 people in less than a minute before he was fatally shot by an officer. The chief added that the gunman did not wear his body armour in the most protective manner.

“Their response was crucial,” Mr Biehl said of his officers. “Their response was immediate. Their response was effective. And their response was compassionate.”

Mr Biehl did not say whether any victims were struck by bullets fired by his officers, leaving that ruling to the coroner’s report.

There was some evidence of drug paraphernalia in the gunman’s car and that he was awaiting toxicology reports to state whether there was evidence of drug use.

He said the gunman had “undergone some treatment” but would not elaborate.

The police said the gunman was obsessed with mass shootings but declined to say what motivated the attack.

The New York Times