Former high school classmates of the suspected gunman who killed at least nine people in Ohio on Sunday say the alleged murderer kept a “hit list” of those he wanted to kill, and a “rape list” of girls he wanted to attack.
The classmates said the Dayton shooting suspect, 24-year-old Connor Betts, had been suspended from school for those lists.
However, police said there was little in the alleged shooter’s background that would have prevented him from buying the .223-calibre rifle and extended magazine he used to commit mass killings.
The shooting began on Sunday morning shortly after 1am local time, and ended when police fatally shot the gunman less than a minute later.
The two former classmates were interviewed by the Associated Press, and said his suspension during his junior year at Bellbrook High School came after the hit list was found written in a bathroom.
Before then, the alleged shooter was suspended for creating a list of female classmates he wanted to sexually assault.
“There was a kill list and a rape list, and my name was on the rape list,” said one female classmate.
The woman, a former cheerleader, said she did not know the shooter, and only found out about her inclusion on the list when a police officer called to tell her.
“The officer said he wouldn’t be at school for a while,” she told the news agency. “But after some time passed, he was back, walking the halls. They didn’t give us any warning that he was returning to school.”
The shooting in Dayton was the second mass shooting within 13 hours over the weekend, following the massacre in El Paso that left at least 20 people dead.
The attacks have once again sparked a national conversation about the nature of mass shooters in America — which are often white men — and the easy access to firearms in most states.
