The gunman in a mass shooting was reportedly suspended from school for writing a 'hit list' on a bathroom wall.
Connor Betts, 24, is said to have scrawled the list in a lavatory at Bellbrook High School, in Ohio, US, where he supposedly planned to carry out a rampage.
The bullied former student did not carry out the alleged plan, however did kill nine people in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday.
The massacre took place hours after 21 people were shot dead in supermarket in El Paso, Texas.
Chris Baker, former headteacher of Bellbrook High School, told Dayton Daily News that he 'would not dispute that information' when asked about reports that Betts was suspended over a 'hit list' at the school.
A woman studied alongside Betts told the newspaper: "I know he made the list. I’m not sure who the names were on there. He had a plan to shoot up the school."
She added that the student was bullied at school, although his behaviour improved after he received some help as a result of the list.
Demoy Howell, who was a year behind Betts in school and trained alongside him in the junior reserve officers' training corps, described the suspected shooter as 'a little bit of an oddball'.
He added: "He had a dark sense of humour - jokes about people dying. He would wear all black. I remember sensing a dark energy around him.
"Even though we all knew he was kind of weird, I felt like the colonels kind of kept him together."
Demoy said the school went into lockdown when Betts' 'hit list' was discovered.
He added that the troubled youngster 'kind of fell off the face of the earth' after the incident - and he could not remember him attending graduation.
Betts shot his sister, her boyfriend and seven others on Saturday, although he was shot dead by police officers within a minute of opening fire.
Demoy said he thought the shooting was more of an 'I hate everybody' crime than a hate crime, whereas the El Paso shooting was apparently an 'anti-Mexican' attack.
