Those killed in the shooting were Monica Brickhouse, 39; Nicholas Cumer, 25; Megan Betts, 22; Derrick Fudge, 57; Thomas McNichols, 25; Lois Oglesby, 27; Saheed Saleh, 38; Logan Turner, 30; and Beatrice Warren Curtis, 36.
Here is a look at how the night unfolded.
The shooter
Connor Betts, 24, had mental health problems in addition to drug use. The FBI also said that Betts had fantasized about killing for more than a decade.
Betts had recently been kicked out of his band and was also going through a breakup with a girlfriend.
The girlfriend told the FBI that Betts was previously addicted to methamphetamine but he quit cold turkey while on vacation with his family.
A friend of Betts who was wounded at the scene of the shooting told federal investigators that Betts had relapsed with cocaine in late July, and it was “not interacting well,”
Credit: Ty Greenlees/Staff
Credit: Ty Greenlees/Staff
The FBI said Betts’ “inability to cope” with personal struggles contributed to him making that final decision to to conduct the violent attack.
An otherwise ordinary night
It was a typical Saturday night in the Oregon District. The restaurants and bars were busy.
Betts fired into a crowd of people at around 1 a.m. near Ned Peppers Bar and Blind Bob’s on Fifth Street in the Oregon District.
Credit: Marshall Gorby/Staff
Credit: Marshall Gorby/Staff
It was immediate chaos. People were screaming and running in every direction to find safety.
The loud boom of the weapon echoed for blocks.
The gunman fired 41 shots in less than 30 seconds.
Police responded quickly
Dayton police officers in the area returned fire and killed Betts about 30 seconds after he opened fire.
Dayton Police officers Jeremy Campbell, Ryan Nabel, Brian Rolfes, David Denlinger, Vincent Carter and Sgt. W. Chad Knight have been credited with saving countless lives when they charged toward the gunman,
Campbell said it was his first night patrolling the Oregon District and him and some other officers were resolving another situation when he was first alerted something was wrong.
“As I am finishing something up on the computer we hear what initially sounded like gun shots and I say out loud, I remember ,’is that gun shots?’” Campbell said. “Officer Rofles takes off running as fast as he can towards what he hears and the rest of us follow and that was the very initial thoughts.”
Knight said he was in car talking to Denlinger when he heard the noise. They jumped into action and the gunfire continued, he said.
“His second volley (of gunfire) had started and it didn’t stop until we stopped him,” Knight said.
“In an instant when I took that one step onto the side walk, and I’m still scanning for the threat and I see the threat and I see a guy wearing khaki shorts, black hoodie, black mask and he has a rifle with a drum mag, which I never seen something like that before, so in my mind I’m like ‘is this real?’” Campbell said. “I’ve already got my gun, I’ve already got him in sight and it was in an instant where you see that bullets are hitting the ground, smoke flying up, you see bullets hitting people, people falling, people running everywhere.
“It’s a chaotic situation, but for me I just focused in, just this hyper vigilance almost on him and that’s when I decided to shoot,” Campbell said. “It was all very quick.”
The officers noted that there were many first responders who urgently went to the scene that night and helped people and said they are heroes too. They also gave credit to employees working in the Oregon District and regular citizens who also quickly acted to aid those who were shot.
For their actions, the six police officers were awarded the Medal of Valor by President Donald Trump. They also said they received a lot of gratitude from the community.
