The gunman who fatally shot nine people — including his sister — and injured more than two dozen in Dayton, Ohio, early Sunday was “anti-Second Amendment” and “never spit out a conservative opinion on gun control,” according to a former classmate and friend.
Conner Betts, 24, who was killed by police less than a minute after he opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle outside a crowded bar, attended Bellbrook High School with Will El-Fakir, the Dayton Daily News reported.
El-Fakir told the paper he stopped talking to Betts five months ago after Betts allegedly held a gun to his head.
El-Fakir told the paper that Betts was “definitely not a right-leaning person. His political views definitely leaned to the left. And believe it or not, he was actually pro-gun control. He was actually anti-Second Amendment.”
“I don’t know if this is the motive that made him snap,” El-Fakir told the Dayton Daily News.
In the last months of their friendship, El-Fakir said Betts was getting violent with friends and surveyed bars as good places to do “damage.”
A Twitter feed which appears to have belonged to Betts also showed left-leaning tweets lamenting the 2016 election of President Trump. The account @iamthespookster didn’t bear Betts’ name, but did show selfies that resembled known photos of him.
Twitter took the account down late Sunday, fueling speculation that it belonged to Betts. Betts also appeared to support 2020 Democratic presidential contender Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, according to The Associated Press.
The account stands in contrast to the one operated by Patrick Crusius, who is accused of a shooting massacre in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday that claimed 22 lives. That 21-year-old suspect espoused anti-immigrant leanings, according to a manifesto authorities allege was his.
Betts was reportedly suspended during his sophomore year of high school for compiling a “hit list” of those he wanted to kill and a “rape list” of girls he wanted to sexually assault.
Following a police investigation, Betts returned to school and had nothing on his record that would have prevented him from buying the weapon used in Sunday’s mass shooting, Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said.
In middle school, he also allegedly told a female classmate he fantasized about slitting her throat. In an attempt get him help, the girl and her parents approached school administration but they said they weren’t taken seriously.
The gunman’s sister, Megan Betts, 22, a student at Wright State University, was among the nine people who died in the shooting. Police have not released a motive.
