Thirty people are dead and dozens more wounded after two mass shootings in the US within just 13 hours of each other, once again sending shockwaves through the country and prompting calls for tighter gun control.
Here’s everything we know so far...The shootingsEl Paso, TexasThe first massacre occurred on Saturday morning in the heavily Hispanic border city of El Paso, where a gunman killed 20 people at a Walmart store before surrendering to police.
At least another 26 people were injured.
The store was packed with as many as 3,000 people during the busy back-to-school shopping season, the Press Association reports.
“The scene was a horrific one,” said El Paso
police Chief Greg Allen, who added that many of the wounded had life-threatening injuries.Dayton, OhioAcross the country, a gunman opened
fire in a downtown district of Dayton, Ohio, early on Sunday, killing nine people and wounding at least 26 others in an area popular for its nightclubs, restaurants art galleries and shops.
The assailant was shot dead by police.
Dayton police patrolling the area responded in less than a minute to the shooting, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said at a press conference.
Whaley said if the police had not responded so quickly, “hundreds of people in the Oregon District could be dead today”.The victimsEl Paso, TexasTwo of the injured were children who were being transferred to El Paso Children’s Hospital, he said. No additional details on the victims have yet been released.
Eleven other victims were being treated at Del Sol Medical Centre, according to hospital spokesman Victor Guerrero. He said those victims’ ages ranged from 35 to 82.Dayton, OhioDetails of the victims have yet to be released.
Nikita Papillon, 23, was across the street at Newcom’s Tavern when the
shooting started, Reuters reports.
She said she saw a girl she had talked to earlier lying outside Ned Peppers Bar.
“She had told me she liked my outfit and thought I was cute and I told her I liked her outfit and I thought she was cute,” Papillon said.The shooters El Paso, TexasThe suspect taken into custody has been identified as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius of the Dallas area.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the rampage appeared to be a hate crime, and police cited a “manifesto” they attributed to the suspect, a 21-year-old white man, as evidence that the bloodshed was racially motivated.
El Paso Mayor Dee Margo said police were investigating whether a document posted online shortly before the shooting was written by Crusius.
In it, the writer expresses concern that an influx of Hispanics into the
United States will replace ageing white voters, potentially turning
Texas blue in upcoming
elections and swinging the
White House to the Democrats.
The writer is also critical of
Republicans for what he described as close ties to corporations and degradation of the environment.Though a
Twitter account that appears to belong to Crusius included pro-Trump posts praising the plan to build more
border wall, the writer of the online document says his views on race pre-dated Mr Trump’s campaign and that any attempt to blame the president for his actions was “fake news”.
Although the writer denied he was a white supremacist, the document says “race mixing” is destroying the nation and recommends dividing the United States into territorial enclaves determined by race.
In the hours after the shooting, authorities blocked streets near a home in Allen, Dallas, associated with the suspect.Dayton, OhioThe gunman, who has not been identified by authorities, was shot to death by responding officers.
He was carrying a .223-calibre rifle and had additional high-capacity magazines with him.
Police believe there was only one shooter and have not yet identified the suspect or a motive.The reactionThe El Paso shooting reverberated on the campaign trail for next year’s US presidential
election, with several
Democratic candidates denouncing the rise of gun violence and repeating calls for tighter
gun control measures.
At least two candidates, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, and El Paso native Beto O’Rourke, a former congressman, drew connections to a resurgence in white nationalism and xenophobic politics in the United States.
“America is under attack from homegrown white nationalist terrorism,” Buttigieg said at an event in Las Vegas.
President
Donald Trump branded the shooting “an act of cowardice,” saying in a Twitter post, “I know that I stand with everyone in this country to condemn today’s hateful act. There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people.”God bless the people of El Paso Texas. God bless the people of Dayton, Ohio.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2019A hallmark of Trump’s presidency has been his determination to curb illegal immigration. Critics say the rhetoric he has used around the issue, as well as other remarks about minorities, is divisive and has fuelled
racism and xenophobia.
Prime Minister
Boris Johnson tweeted: “I’m deeply saddened by the shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Our hearts go out to the victims and all those affected by these appalling acts of violence.”"I'm deeply saddened by the shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. Our hearts go out to the victims and all those affected by these appalling acts of violence." — PM @BorisJohnson—
UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) August 4, 2019Pope Francis condemned the spate of attacks on “defenceless people” in the United States, including a rampage last Sunday in which a gunman killed three people and wounded about a dozen at a garlic festival in Gilroy, California.Related... 20 Dead In El Paso Mass Shooting As Police Investigate If Suspect Deliberately Targeted Hispanics At Least 9 Dead In Second US Mass Shooting In 24 Hours