The Justice Department announced today that it will unseal charges that filed against a friend of the Dayton mass shooter for the friend’s role in allegedly lying on federal firearms forms. The friend’s identity was not immediately revealed.
U.S. Attorney Benjamin C. Glassman and FBI Special Agent in Charge Todd Wickerham, are expected to reveal further details at a press conference set for this afternoon.
Connor Betts, 24, shot and killed nine people including his sister and wounded more than two dozen others in the early hours of the morning last Sunday in Dayton’s Oregon District, a popular bar and restaurant scene. Betts himself was shot and killed by police less than a minute into his attack. The motivation of the Dayton shooter, who allegedly has a history of making violent threats, is still being explored.
The FBI has been assisting local law enforcement in this investigation.
The mass shooting in Dayton just over a week ago came hours after a mass shooter in El Paso allegedly posted a racist white nationalist manifesto on internet forum 8chan shortly before killing 22 people at an El Paso Walmart. The U.S. attorney said that they are treating the attack as an act of domestic terrorism, considering federal hate crimes charges and federal gun charges, and that the federal government may seek the death penalty.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said last week that the FBI had responded to these attacks immediately and would “bring the full resources of the FBI to bear in the pursuit of justice for the victims of these crimes.”
