Nine people were killed and at least 27 others were injured early Sunday in a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, hours after another incident in El Paso, Texas, claims the lives of 20 victims.
Dayton police said the shooting occurred at 1 a.m. in the city’s historic Oregon. Reports have stated that it happened near a bar on East Fifth Street.
Officials said the shooter, who has not been officially identified, was killed by officers, adding that that police do not yet know the motive.
Mayor Nan Whaley (D) told reporters that the shooter used a .223-caliber rifle and had extra magazines. She added that the shooter was wearing body armor and concealed their face.
Whaley said the shooter was “neutralized” in “less than one minute.”
“If the Dayton police had not gotten to the shooter in under a minute, hundreds of people in the Oregon District would be dead today,” she said.
El Passo’s suspect was identified by authorities as Patrick Crusius, 21, of Allen, Texas. He is being held on a charge of capital murder, court records show.
John Bash, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas said on Sunday that federal authorities are investigating the incident as an act of “domestic terrorism,” meaning the suspect was allegedly intent on “coercing and intimidating a civilian population.”
Bash said federal authorities are also considering bringing hate crimes and federal firearms charges against Crusius which carry penalty of death sentences.
