The man who opened fire in downtown Dayton early Sunday morning and killed nine people was an armed counter-protester at a Ku Klux Klan rally earlier this year, the Dayton Daily News reports. Connor Betts, 24, was seen carrying a gun and protesting against the Ku Klux Klan at a rally in downtown Dayton in May.
The rally attracted about 500 to 600 counter-protesters who opposed the nine Klansman who came from Indiana and protested in Courthouse Square. The counter-protest group was fenced off away from the Klansmen and several people in the crowd were seen carrying firearms.
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Hasan Karim, who was in the same high school class as Betts, was in the crowd accompanying freelance journalists and taking photos of the event. Karim bumped into someone in the crowd and the man said, “You don’t know me.” The two said hello to each other and Karim recognized Betts by his voice, body and mannerisms in their brief interaction, Dayton Daily News reports.
Betts wore a bandana covering part of his face and sunglasses while protesting the Ku Klux Klan rally. He carried a gun, which appeared to be similar in style to the one used in Sunday’s shooting. He did not appear to be part of any group that was in the protest crowd.
The Indiana KKK group’s rally and counter-protest events resulted in no arrests, no uses of force by police and no injuries.
In Sunday’s attack, Betts used a semi-automatic pistol that police say was modified to act like a rifle, with an attached drum magazine that could hold up to 100 .233-caliber rounds. Police say he may have had up to 250 rounds of ammunition on him, and they found a shotgun in the car.
Betts was shot and killed by Dayton police during the Sunday morning rampage that left nine people dead, including his sister. Federal authorities have found no evidence that race was a motivating factor in the attack, FBI Special Agent Todd Wickerham said Tuesday. Six of the nine people Betts killed were African-American. Betts was white.
A friend of Betts told police that Betts had previously discussed mass shootings. But the friend, Will El-Fakir, told the Dayton Daily News that Betts was “definitely not a right-leaning person. His political views definitely leaned to the left.”
The FBI also said that it has determined “no apparent connection” between the Dayton and El Paso, Texas, shootings, both of which occurred over the weekend. A shooter opened fire at a crowded Walmart at a shopping center in El Paso on Saturday morning, killing at least 22 and injuring dozens more.
Photo credit: Matthew Hatcher / Stringer / Getty
