America in shock after shootings in Ohio and Texas
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Two mass shootings, in Texas and Ohio, that killed 29 people in less than 24 hours in the United States has prompted debate over whether President Donald Trump’s rhetoric was partly to blame for the surging gun violence.
The first assault occurred on Saturday morning in the border city of El Paso in Texas, where a gunman killed 20 people at a Walmart store before surrendering to the police.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the gun assault appeared to be a hate crime, and police cited a “manifesto” they attributed to the suspect, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, as evidence that the bloodshed was racially motivated.
Crusius was arrested at the scene of the attack in the city of El Paso, near the US-Mexico border.
He is believed to have posted an online document calling the attack a response to “the Hispanic invasion of Texas”.
Police on Sunday said he had been charged with capital murder, meaning he could face the death penalty.
Evidence markers of shell casings line the street at the scene of a shooting in the Oregon District of Dayton, Ohio, USA, 04 August 2019. EPA-EFE/TOM RUSSO
In Dayton, Ohio, the suspected shooter was shot to death by responding officers. Authorities said the shooter was carrying a .223-caliber rifle and had additional high-capacity magazines. No motive has been given for the attacks.
The gunman behind the mass shooting in Dayton, killed his sister and eight other people in an attack that lasted less than 30 seconds, police say.
A handout handout frame grab from a surveillance video made available by the Dayton Police Department shows several officers (top L, top R) firing at and killing Connor Betts (bottom L at doorway), who they identified as the gunman, seconds after he began killing people outside a bar in Dayton, Ohio, USA, 04 August 2019. Betts killed nine people including his sister, and injured 26 others in Dayton, Ohio. EPA-EFE/DAYTON POLICE DEPARTMENT
Nearby police officers engaged Connor Betts, 24, shortly after hearing gunfire, as he tried to make his way into a crowded bar.
Dayton police chief Richard Biehl said that had he made it through the door, the loss of life would have been “catastrophic”.
Children hold candles at a vigil for victims of the mass shooting, at a ball park in El Paso, Texas, USA, 04 August 2019.. EPA-EFE/LARRY W. SMITH
Democratic presidential candidates sought to lay blame Sunday on President Donald Trump following a pair of mass shootings in Ohio and Texas, saying his language against minorities promotes racial division and violence.
At public events and on television, several candidates pointed to a need for more gun restrictions, such as universal background checks. But they directed much of their criticism at Trump, seeking to draw a link between the shootings in Dayton and El Paso that have left more than two dozen dead and months of presidential rhetoric against immigrants and people of colour.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg said confronting white nationalist terrorism would be embarrassing for a president who “helped stoke many of these feelings in this country to begin with.”
“At best, he’s condoning and encouraging white nationalism,” Buttigieg said.
On Sunday, Trump tweeted praise of law enforcement and said that “information is rapidly being accumulated in Dayton” and that “much has already be learned in El Paso.”
“Hate has no place in our country, and we’re going to take care of it,” Trump declared before boarding Air Force One for the flight back to Washington from New Jersey, where he spent the weekend. While connecting “hate” and mental illness to the shootings, Trump made no direct mention of gun laws, a factor brought up by Democratic officials and those seeking their party’s nomination to challenge Trump’s reelection next year.
He tried to assure Americans he was dealing with the problem and defended his administration considering criticism following the latest in a string of mass shootings. “We have done much more than most administrations,” he said, without elaboration. “We have done actually a lot. But perhaps more needs to be done.”
What we know so far about the double shootings
29 people have been killed and dozens injured in two separate shootings
Police are treating the attack in Texas as “domestic terrorism”
They are looking at an anti-immigrant manifesto posted online just before the shooting
The sister of the gunman in Dayton was among nine people killed
He was shot dead by police within a minute of opening fire
Police in Ohio have just said they cannot yet answer the question – why?
