4A z FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2019 z USA TODAY K1 NEWS
recordings and 911 calls.
That’s because teasing things out by
the second is like trying to count rain-
drops. Thirty-two seconds is too fast to
fill your gas tank or reboot your comput-
er or properly brush your teeth.
And yet, 32 seconds was enough time
for Connor Betts to kill nine people, in-
cluding his sister. It was enough time for
police to surround him, to scream at him
to stop, to fire bullets into his armor-clad
body and end the rampage.
Saturday night in the city
The scene in Dayton was as hopping
as it gets on a Saturday night in the Ohio
town of about 140,000. The 416 Diner is
one of 66 businesses in the historic
Oregon District, a trendy chunk of the
city where some of the buildings are
150 years old.
Carpenter, a newly hired cook at 416
Diner, had liked the night’s pace.
“There was nice, consistent business
that night – it wasn’t too busy, wasn’t
too slow,” she said. “The night was just
going so good.”
That good night was ending. The din-
er closes at 1 a.m.
Carpenter walked out front to pull the
diner’s sidewalk sign indoors.
“It was too heavy for me, so my col-
league went out and pulled it in a little
after 1 – 1:06, maybe 1:05.”
Just as the sign came in, shots rang
out.
Summertime in Dayton
The 416 Diner gets the numeric part
of its name from its address on East
Fifth Street. To the west of the diner,
just beyond a narrow strip of outdoor
seating, is an ATM. To the east is
Newcom’s Tavern.
The gunman came from one building
east of that, from a parking lot behind
Blind Bob’s.
Because it’s summer in Ohio, and the
late-night weather was pleasantly in
the mid-60s, people gathered outside
on bar patios. The Oregon District Busi-
ness Association website encourages it,
calling it “patio season.”
Surveillance video shows the chaos
unfold. At 1:05 a.m., the gunman walked
past groups of T-shirt-clad people casu-
ally drinking at tables beneath outdoor
umbrellas. He wore khaki shorts, a
backpack, a face mask, ear protection
and a black sweatshirt that bore an ap-
parent song lyric: “No heart to fear, no
soul to steal.”
That particular video has no audio,
but it’s clear that the first shots were
fired almost immediately as patrons
scurry for cover.Bodies on the ground“We have an active shooter on Fifth
Street!”
The male voice was shaken but clear.
His was among the first calls to 911.
The call recording, released by Day-
ton Police Chief Richard Biehl, helps
illuminate the bedlam. The unidentified
caller at one point screams “Get the f---
inside!” to people fleeing the gunman on
the street.
Nikita Papillion, 23, was already in-side when the shooting began. She had
arrived at Newcom’s around 11:30 p.m.
where, at her mother’s urging, she was
taking a break from her job and her 2-
year-old son to unwind.
At 1:05 a.m., she danced in the bar’s
colored lights and machine-pumped fog
to Cardi B’s pulsing song “Money.” Her
sister, 28-year-old Tanycia Leonard,
had gone outside for a cigarette.
Papillion didn’t hear the first shots.
The music drowned them out. She kept
dancing, oblivious.
Suddenly, Leonard rushed in.
“My sister came running through
telling everyone they’re shooting,” she
said. It took a second for the words to
make sense, but Papillion said security
guards then barked clear commands:
“They’re shooting outside, everybody
get the f---out!”
It didn’t make sense to Papillion that
they were being herded outside, where a
gunman was, but, in her shock, she
followed directions. She, Leonard and
Tiffany McConnell – the sisters’ 43-
year-old godmother – ran toward Papil-
lion’s car.
They saw four bodies on the ground.
Two were clearly dead; the other two
would be soon. The women reached the
car and found another body in front of
the bumper.
Businesses were directing people in-
side to take cover. The conflicting com-
mands were confusing. Peoplescreamed and scattered. Some ran into
Carpenter’s diner, begging for help.
“It was just complete chaos out
there,” Carpenter said. “People were
running into the restaurants, running
into the alleys, running everywhere.”‘I got everybody coming’The Oregon District is typically safe,
in part because there’s strong police
presence. “The Oregon is really kind of a
carefree place,” Papillion said. “Going
down there, you don’t have to worry
about anything.”
This night was no different. When
shots rang out, officers who had been
tooling the street sprang into action.
“Multiple shots fired!” an officer
screamed into his radio. Another fol-
lowed: “We got multiple people down.
We’re gonna need multiple medics.”
The dispatcher responded: “I got ev-
erybody coming to ya.”
It all began at 35 seconds past 1:
a.m., according to one surveillance
video time stamp. It stopped at 1:06:07.
The gunman had bolted down the
street. Dozens had run inside of Ned
Peppers, a popular bar. With no civil-
ians left on the street, the man turned
toward the bar’s front door. Inside, the
place was full of huddled, panicked peo-
ple. If he entered, he could have had 50
more bullets to spray without reloading.
But the police were already in posi-
tion, their weapons drawn. The gunman
rushed toward the bar entrance, and the
officers opened fire.
A witness photograph shared with
The Enquirer shows the gunman face
down still in front of the bar, cuffs
around his apparently lifeless wrists,
bullet wounds visible in his back.Forever in a few secondsFor Carpenter, it was the longest
night of her life. In a way, it doesn’t feel
like it’s ended.
She has had trouble sleeping in the
days since. She’s trying to be proactive
and get counseling straight away be-
cause she knows this is the kind of
trauma that might never leave.
Her life is forever bifurcated: the path
she’s on after the shooting, versus the
path that might have been had a 24-year-
old man left his gun in the car and chose
instead to sit on a patio with a drink.
He made a different choice. It took 32
seconds to change everything.32 seconds
Continued from Page 1A
Discarded shoes lie in the parking lot behind Ned Peppers bar in Dayton, Ohio,
hours after a gunman fired on revelers. KAREEM ELGAZZAR/USA TODAY NETWORKIt all began at 35 secondspast 1:05 a.m., accordingto one surveillance videotime stamp. It stoppedat 1:06:07.