The Washington Post - 05.08.2019

MONDAY, AUGUST 5 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU A

helping visitors explore the wilds

of Missoula County, Mont., said

her former supervisor at the

Smokejumpers Visitor Center.

She scored the internship —

which ran from about the middle

of May to July — through a

program run by the Student

Conservation Association, ac-

co rding to Daniel Cottrell, the

manager at the visitor center.

He said that she was a “very

positive person.” While she

worked at the visitor center, she

earned a reputation as a compe-

tent employee well liked by her

peers, according to Cottrell. She

also loved exploring new places

— especially Montana and its

culture, he said.

“We really enjoyed the time

that she spent working here for

us. She was full of life and really

passionate,” Cottrell said in an

interview with The Post. “She

was a very caring individual.”

Cottrell said that he never dis-

cussed C onnor Betts with h er but

that she seemed close with her

family.

When Megan Betts left the job

in Montana, her mother drove to

pick her up, and Cottrell noticed

that the two seemed to have a

good relationship.

“I’m just sad,” Cottrell said of

the shooting. “I am just frustrat-

ed these things keep happening

in this country.”

The Montgomery County Cor-

oner’s Office identified the nine

victims as Megan K. Betts, Moni-

ca E. Brickhouse, Nicholas P.

Cumer, Derrick R. Fudge, Thom-

as J. McNichols, Lois L. Oglesby,

Saeed Saleh, Logan M. Turner

and Beatrice N. Warren-Curtis. A

vigil for the victims was held on

Sunday.

Hours after the shooting, the

scene was cordoned off with

police tape, and the area was

largely deserted. But as daybreak

came over the city, people filed

into Dayton’s convention center

seeking information about their

loved ones at a station set up by

the city.

Joe Oglesby, whose said his

niece Lois was killed in the

attack, said he felt “numb.”

Oglesby said the 29-year-old had

just had a baby last month and

also had an older child.

“She was a nurse’s aide and a

very devoted mother,” Oglesby

said.

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Julie Tate, Jennifer Jenkins and

Morgan Krakow contributed to this

report.

person to be shot, according to

police. But she and the male

companion were among the ear-

liest victims, and it appeared

they were shot when Connor

Betts emerged onto Fifth Street.

Police said officers quickly

ended the attack by shooting

Betts, who began firing about

1 a.m.

Surveillance footage from out-

side Ned Peppers captured the

moment Betts was struck multi-

ple times by police f ire as he tried

to enter the establishment. Po-

lice said they stopped him in

30 seconds.

“Had this individual made it

through the doorway of Ned

Peppers with that level of weap-

onry, there would have been

catastrophic injury and loss of

life,” Biehl said. “So stopping him

before he could get inside there

— where you saw people were

running in there for protection

— was essential to minimizing,

to the d egree we could, casualties

and deaths from this incident.”

People were wounded in the

stomach and extremities, and

injuries such as a cut foot were

suffered in the chaos after the

shooting, officials said. One of

the victims was in critical condi-

tion Sunday afternoon.

Because the investigation is in

its early stages, Biehl said, “any

suggestion of motive would be

irresponsible.”

Midway through Betts’s fresh-

man year at Bellbrook High, the

school became aware that he had

a list of people, including class-

mates, whom he wanted to take

“revenge” on, said Samantha

Thomas, 25, who attended Bell-

brook at the same time as Betts.

“It was a list of girls and all of

these really pretty vile things

that he was going to do to them,”

Thomas said. “A ll the girls were

really freaked out. He got kicked

out of school for it.”

David Partridge, 26, who also

attended Bellbrook with Betts,

said the list included a member

of his family. Partridge said a

friend of his called the Sugar-

creek To wnship police depart-

ment to alert t hem to the list, and

that officers later pulled Betts off

a bus as he was headed to school

one morning.

“I watched as they apprehend-

ed him,” Partridge said.

Bellbrook High officials could

not immediately be reached for

comment. Dayton police de-

clined to comment about the list.

Also unknown is the nature of

the Betts siblings’ relationship.

Megan Betts had spent the past

few months as a tour guide

in Pennsylvania and spent the

summer living in Columbus and

commuting an hour each morn-

ing to the Alliance’s treatment

center.

“Nick was an extraordinary

human b eing. He w as i ntelligent;

he was extremely caring and

kind. He loved his patients, and

he always went above and be-

yond for them,” Erwin said.

Belinda Brown, a 46-year-old

elementary school teacher in

Dayton, told The Washington

Post that her niece was sitting

outside a restaurant when the

shooter, clad in black and wear-

ing a mask, pulled out a large gun

and “just opened fire.” Her niece

jumped up with her friends, ran

inside and hid behind the bar,

where she huddled with employ-

ees, said Brown, who heard the

account later.

The niece, her friends and the

employees were able to exit

through the rear of the bar, she

added.

Brown’s nephew, meanwhile,

was at a club next door to the

restaurant. As soon as he heard

the loud pops, he began record-

ing with his phone — and run-

ning.

“Nothing ever happens in the

Oregon District. It’s a very quiet,

upscale neighborhood i n Dayton,

and everybody hangs out there,”

Brown said.

Megan Betts was not the first

Erwin said. Another, Kelsey Co-

laric, had been shot in the abdo-

men. A third, Nick Cumer, was on

the ground and rolled onto his

side. The 25-year-old has been

confirmed as one of the people

slain in the shooting.

Cumer was a graduate student

in the master of cancer care

program at St. Francis University

dived toward a doorway next to

the bar. For a minute, all they

heard was more gunshots and

screaming, Erwin remembered.

After what felt like hours, the

couple emerged. “There was just

bodies, blood everywhere,” he

said.

One of their friends, Hannah

Martin, had been shot in the leg,

gunman fired on the Gilroy Gar-
lic Festival in California, killing
three people and wounding 12.
Authorities in Dayton said
four women and five men were
killed. Of the 27 people who were
injured, 15 had been discharged
from the hospital by Sunday
afternoon.
Exactly what precipitated the
chaos is unknown.
The firearm was purchased
legally, police said, and there
was nothing in Betts’s back-
ground that would have raised
concerns — he’d had traffic tick-
ets for speeding and failure to
yield.
Betts had been studying psy-
chology at a community college
and working at a Chipotle res-
taurant. In an online profile,
Betts reportedly described him-
self as “Good under pressure.
Fast learner. Eager to over-
achieve.” But Betts also had been
troubled in high school, at one
point drawing up a “hit list,” and
such incidents, along with his
relationship with his sister, will
be points of interest for the
investigators.
Dayton Police Chief Richard
Biehl said authorities are still
trying to answer “the question
that everyone wants to know:
Why?”
The shooting shattered a typi-
cal summer weekend night’s rev-
elry in Dayton’s Oregon District,
an area east of downtown that
was busy with the nightlife of
bars and restaurants.
Pulling up to the area that
night with the Betts siblings was
a male companion, police said,
and the trio parked a few blocks
from where the shooting would
begin.
At some point, Connor Betts
left the group.
“What they did during that
time they weren’t together is a
question mark,” Biehl said.
Before the first shots rang out,
it was a night of celebration for
the interns from the Maple Tree
Health Alliance, a cancer-treat-
ment center.
One of them was Tyler Erwin,
27, who was standing in line for
the Ned Peppers bar with his
girlfriend, Mary Pelphrey, and
three fellow interns when they
heard the shots as Betts fired
first in an alley and then many
more times on Fifth Street.
Video recordings of this time
show people running past
parked cars as shot after shot
rang out.
Erwin grabbed Pelphrey and

DAYTON FROM A

Mass shootings in America

Police look at gunman’s school days, sibling relationship

PHOTOS BY JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Stray personal items were piled up near the scene of the attack in Dayton on Sunday. The shooting shattered a typical weekend night in the city’s Oregon District, a busy area near downtown.

Mo urners sing during a vigil to remember those who lost their lives in the mass shooting. In addition to

the four women and five men slain, 2 7 were injured. The gunman, identified as Connor Betts, 2 4, was

fatally shot by police. His sister Megan, 22, was among the victims. They had come to the area together,

authorities said, but separated at some point.

In Dayton, Ohio, early Sunday, a gunman began firing at people in a bustling nightlife area.

Police said they are still trying to answer “the question that everyone wants to know: Why?”

BRITTANY RENEE MAYES AND AARON STECKELBERG/THE WASHINGTON POST

Source: Pictometry, Dayton Police Department

Dayton shooting details

WAYNE AVE.WAYNE AVE.

E. FIFTH ST. E. FIFTH ST.

E. SIXTH ST. E. SIXTH ST.

E. FOURTH ST. E. FOURTH ST.

WYANDOT ST.WYANDOT ST.

S. PATTERSON BLVD.S. PATTERSON BLVD.RAILROADRAILROAD

Oregon

District

He fired his first shots,

killing the first person

in the alley beside a

pub called Blind Bob’s.

2

The gunman parked in

a lot west of the scene.

1

He then proceeded to

Fifth Street, killing eight

more people.

3

The gunman was shot and

killed by police in front of

the Ned Peppers bar.

4

Site of

first killing

Site of

first killing

2

3

4 Ned PeppersNed Peppers

1 Oregon District

parking lot

Oregon District

parking lot

20 MILES

Oh

io

R.

OHIO

IND.

KY.

Cincinnati

Columbus

DaytonDayton

Oregon

District

Oregon

District

23

70

71

71

75

32

IND. Dayton

KY