WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU A
O’Rourke, who lives in El Paso,
accused Trump of espousing the
same white-supremacist views
embraced by the suspected at-
tacker. Mayor Pete Buttigieg of
South Bend, Ind., called Trump a
white nationalist and unveiled a
proposal Tuesday to boost federal
funding to combat hateful ideol-
ogy and increase federal research
into gun violence.
In Dayton, residents’ unease
with Trump was heightened after
he misspoke during his nationally
televised address on Monday and
referred to the city as “Toledo,”
said Carin Al-Hamdani, who has
organized a protest during the
president’s visit.
She and Baxter, the stay-at-
home mother, started a Go-
FundMe account to pay for a
20-foot high “Baby Trump” bal-
loon to be shipped from Chicago,
quickly raising more than $2,000.
Hamdani, a lawyer, said someone
volunteered to drive the balloon
to Dayton, and that the money
raised would be donated to vic-
tims of the shooting.
The Baby Trump balloon —
which will be filled with air rather
than helium — will be carrying a
sign that says, “Welcome to To -
ledo Dayton! Don’t be a baby —
Stand up to the NRA.” O n the sign,
the word “Toledo” will be crossed
out.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]Hernández reported from Dayton.
Maria Sacchetti and Bob Moore in El
Paso, Kevin Williams in Dayton and
Hannah Knowles and Nick Miroff in
Washington contributed to this
report.people deemed dangerous. He
also backed more focus on
mental-health initiatives and
stricter penalties for those who
purchase firearms illegally.
Some Republicans are showing
an openness to new gun restric-
tions. Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who
has so far refused to allow a vote
on a universal background check
bill passed by the House in Febru-
ary, said Monday that he was
willing to work with the White
House and Democratic lawmak-
ers on legislation to address mass
killings.
In Lexington, Ky., dozens of
people upset with McConnell’s
inaction on gun control and other
legislation held a protest late into
the night outside of his house.
They b anged pots and drums — a t
times even scraping a shovel
across a sidewalk.
It was one of several demon-
strations calling for stricter gun
laws that erupted in cities across
the country this week.
Some of the protests, including
one Monday in front of NRA
headquarters in Northern Vir-
ginia, were organized by gun-con-
trol organizations hoping to capi-
talize on public anger. Others
seemed more spontaneous, in-
cluding the Philadelphia Union
soccer player who grabbed a mi-
crophone during a match Sunday.
“Congress, do something now!
End gun violence,” Alejandro
Bedoya yelled after scoring a goal.
Democrats running for presi-
dent have been most forceful in
linking Trump’s rhetoric to the
attack in El Paso, and pushing for
new restrictions on some fire-
arms.
Former congressman Betothe chance to address Trump di-
rectly to channel the frustration
of their constituents.
“There’s a lot of anger out
there,” s aid El Paso City represen-
tative Cissy Lizarraga, one of six
Latinos on the eight-member city
council, wearing black mourning
clothes. “What we’re trying to do
is to have a unified voice and to
try to bring peace and calm in a
situation, because that’s what’s
going to help to heal our commu-
nity.”
She said she has been deluged
with phone calls and emails about
the president’s visit, which many
oppose.
“I am in mourning, mourning
for my community, and unfortu-
nately a lot of people think that
the president somehow is respon-
sible for this,” she said, adding
that she did not blame him. But
she said she would welcome the
opportunity to “look at the presi-
dent in the face so that he could
see the pain that our community
is suffering.”
Whaley, the Dayton mayor,
said she planned to meet with
Trump on Wednesday and would
“absolutely” tell him “how un-
helpful he’s been.”
She has called for the president
to pursue gun-control measures,
including a ban on the kind of
military-style weapons and high-
capacity magazines used in last
weekend’s attacks.
DeWine stopped short of em-
bracing bans on certain kinds of
weaponry in Ohio, saying Tues-
day that such issues would have
to be dealt with at the federal
level. Instead, he called Tuesday
for the legislature to pass in-
creased background checks and a
law to get guns out of the hands of“My nephew watched his fa-
ther die in his arms,” he said. “I’m
angry. I’m confused. I don’t think
the nation will ever heal if this is
the path we are going to take.”
While comforting grief-strick-
en communities in the wake of
tragedy has been a time-honored
tradition of politicians, there are
growing signs that those affected
by mass shootings want more
from leaders than standard con-
dolences.
Frustrated chants of “Do some-
thing!” drowned out Ohio Gov.
Mike DeWine’s remarks at a Sun-
day vigil in Dayton. On Tuesday,
DeWine (R) announced proposals
aimed at curbing gun violence.
Trump could face a similar out-
pouring of frustration as he visits
Dayton and El Paso. The White
House declined to provide details
of the president’s schedule.
“The President and First Lady
are visiting these communities to
speak with those affected, and
thank the first responders and
medical staff for their heroic ac-
tions,” White House press secre-
tary Stephanie Grisham said in a
statement.
The visits could echo the presi-
dent’s October trip to Pittsburgh,
where hundreds of demonstra-
tors gathered to protest Trump in
the wake of a mass shooting at
Tree of Life synagogue that left
11 people dead. Police said the
alleged attacker had targeted
Jewish people on a social media
account using anti-refugee lan-
guage that complained of refugee
“invaders” around the same time
Trump was railing against cara-
vans of Central American asylum
seekers.
Local leaders in El Paso and
Dayton have said they would likewhich has at times included
warnings of “an invasion” across
the southern border. Trump’s lan-
guage has been embraced by far-
right extremists.
The president has offered sev-
eral proposals for reducing gun
violence but has given few specif-
ics and has largely steered clear of
anything that would restrict
broader access to firearms. In-
stead, he pointed to “gruesome
and grisly video games” and on-
line radicalization as drivers of
the kind of violence that left at
least 31 people dead in back-to-
back mass shootings in the span
of about 13 hours last weekend.
In Dayton, residents struggled
with a mix of emotions Tuesday
including sorrow, confusion and
rage a s they sought to make sense
of how a gunman was able to kill
nine people and injure dozens in
less than a minute.
Dwayne Cargle stood outside
the makeshift memorial where
wilting flowers and the wax of
melted candles cover the side-
walk, shaking his head.
Two of his friends were in the
hospital after being trampled in-
side a bar as a man used an
AR-15-type weapon with 100-
round magazines to fire on revel-
ers in Dayton’s Oregon District
early Sunday.
“It don’t make no sense,” Car-
gle, 57, said. “They try to blame it
on everything else. They say it’s
video games and all this other
mess. It’s hate. Plain and simple.”
Jeffrey Fudge, whose brother
Derrick was killed in the early-
morning rampage, called for lim-
its on the military-style weapon
he said was used to gun down his
brother as he enjoyed a night out
with his son.Megan Baxter, a stay-at-home
mother and local activist organiz-
ing a protest in the city for
Wednesday. “I’m just tired of all
the killing.”
At a makeshift memorial be-
hind the El Paso Walmart where
22 were fatally shot Saturday,
people gathered Tuesday to pray,
to cry and to try to heal. Many s aid
Trump’s planned visit was an un-
necessary intrusion on the com-
munity’s efforts to process the
tragedy and mourn the losses.
“Now’s not the time,” said Da-
vid Nevarez, who describes him-
self as a veterans’ advocate. “We
do not need anybody fanning the
flames of hate, anger and racism.
There’s enough in this world al-
ready.”
Maxine Morales, who was born
and raised in El Paso, brought her
two children to the memorial. She
said the president’s rhetoric
about immigration and the bor-
der have caused deep wounds in
the city.
“A t this moment, I’m just filled
with anger and frustration and
sadness,” Morales said, her voice
breaking. “My parents were im-
migrants. And they came here to
better their lives and to make sure
that we all had better lives. So that
really hits home, and it hurts.”
Authorities think the suspect
in the El Paso attack — a 21-year-
old who has been charged in the
case — is the author of an online
statement that denigrated immi-
grants and warned of a “Hispanic
invasion” i n Te xas.
In a statement Monday, Trump
denounced “racism, bigotry and
white supremacy,” without ac-
knowledging his own rhetoric —
SHOOTINGS FROM A
mass shootings in america
BY MARK BERMANThe FBI said Tuesday it had
launched a domestic terrorism
investigation into the shooting at
a California festival on July 28
that left three dead and more
than a dozen others injured.
Investigators say they found
that the 19-year-old gunman had
delved into “violent ideologies”
and held a list of possible targets
across the country, including reli-
gious institutions, political or-
ganizations linked to both major
parties, federal buildings and
courthouses, said John F. Ben-
nett, special agent in charge of the
FBI’s San Francisco office, at a
news briefing Tuesday. He de-
clined to identity them.
The gunfire at t he Gilroy Garlic
Festival, an event that draws tens
of thousands of visitors annually,
sent terrified visitors fleeing from
a chaotic scene. Among the dead
were two children.
About a week later, a pair of
mass shootings — first in El Paso,
then in Dayton, Ohio — unfolded
just hours apart, leaving a com-
bined 31 dead and dozens more
injured. The FBI is involved in
those investigations as well.
Authorities are investigating
the El Paso shooting as domestic
terrorism and a hate crime. They
think the 21-year-old suspect, ac-
cused of opening fire in a shop-
ping area near the border, wrote
an online manifesto denigrating
immigrants. The bureau has dis-
patched personnel from a domes-
tic terrorism-hate crimes fusion
cell as part of that probe.
In Dayton, where the shooter
— identified as Connor Betts, 24
— targeted a nightlife area , offi-
cials were still exploring a motive.
On Tuesday, the FBI and local
police said they had learned that
Betts was interested in “violent
ideologies,” t hough To dd A. Wick-
erham, special agent in charge of
the bureau’s Cincinnati office, de-
clined to elaborate on what those
were. He said the bureau would
look at what ideology, if any,
influenced the attacker.
The announcements in Califor-
nia and Ohio come amid renewed
scrutiny of how the U.S. govern-
ment treats violent ideologues.
FBI officials have said recently
they were conducting about 850
domestic terror investigations,with racial violence fueling a
large share of such cases. Ques-
tions about the government’s
handling of far-right attackers, in
particular, have been especially
sharp.
In G ilroy, law enforcement offi-
cials had said since the shootingthat they did not know what
could have motivated the attack-
er, identified as Santino William
Legan. Legan, who was from the
area, killed himself after ex-
changing gunfire with police,
they said.
Those killed in California havebeen identified by authorities as
Stephen Romero, 6; Keyla Allison
Salazar, 13; and Trevor Deon Irby,
25.
Scot Smithee, the Gilroy police
chief, said Tuesday that Legan
was wearing a bullet-resistant
vest and had extra ammunition
during the attack. He fired about
39 rounds, Smithee said, and was
struck multiple times by the offi-
cers who confronted him.
Investigators have not deter-
mined a motive for the shooting
at the food festival, nor have they
located a manifesto, Bennett s aid.
He also said that although au-
thorities have found indications
of violent ideas, precisely what
the attacker believed remains un-
clear.
“We have uncovered evidence
throughout the course of our
investigation that the shooter
was exploring violent ideologies,”
Bennett said. “We have seen a
fractured ideology. The shooter
appeared to have an interest in
varying, competing violent ideol-
ogies.”
Bennett did not elaborate. He
said investigators were still ex-
ploring Legan’s digital footprintto determine whether the attack-
er had settled on one particular
ideology, w hether he was in touch
with anyone regarding these be-
liefs and who, if anyone, might
have helped or had advance
knowledge of his plans.
Bennett said a violent attack,
even one on a large scale, “does
not necessarily give us the legal
authority to open a federal terror-
ism investigation.” Rather, he
said, investigators have to find
“the existence of ideological moti-
vation” t hat fueled the violence.
Legan’s relatives released a
statement on Tuesday saying they
were “deeply shocked and horri-
fied by the actions of our son.”
“We have never and would
never condone the hateful
thoughts and ideologies that led
to this event, and it is impossible
to reconcile this with the son we
thought we knew,” t hey said in the
statement. “Our son is gone, and
we will forever have unanswered
questions as to how or why any of
this has happened.”
[email protected]Hannah Knowles contributed to this
report.After assessing teen shooter, FBI opens terrorism probe in Calif. attack
‘We don’t want him here’: Tr ump’s planned visits rejected
KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERSProtesters rally near the White House on Tuesday against guns and white supremacy in response to the weekend’s deadly mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio.
NOAH BERGER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Robbie Ramirez, 10, and his father, Robert, attend a vigil in Gilroy,
Calif., for those slain July 2 8 during its outdoor garlic festival.