The police in Dayton, Ohio killed the suspect within just 30 seconds after he started taking random shots, but sadly, not before he murdered 9 people.
The gunman who carried out a deadly mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, this month had cocaine and other drugs in his system at the time, a according to a coroner’s report.
In a news conference on Thursday the Montgomery County coroner, Dr. Kent Harshbarger, said cocaine, antidepressants and alcohol were found in Connor Betts’ system when he opened fire with an AR-15 style gun in the city’s historic Oregon District on Aug. 4, killing nine people before police shot and killed him. That shooting came just hours after another deadly gun rampage, this time in El Paso, Texas.
Harshbarger added that investigators also found a pipe device and a clear bag containing cocaine on the 24-year-old Betts.
The coroner also told reporters that two people shot by Betts also were shot by police, but none fatally. He said all the deadly gunshot wounds to the nine victims came from Betts’ weapon.
Harshbarger said police shot Betts about 24 times in all, mostly striking his upper torso and lower extremities.
Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said the officers’ goal at the time was to “immediately stop the killing.”
On Tuesday, Biehl said Betts shot 26 people in the span of 32 seconds before responding officers fatally shot him.
Surveillance footage released this week, which was pieced together from several local businesses, showed Betts spending nearly two hours in the area before his spree began.
Betts was first caught on camera in the area at 11:04 p.m. when he parked his car and walked to a bar, Blind Bob’s, with his sister Megan and another companion.