America woke up this morning to two mass shootings that claimed nearly 30 lives in about 14 hours.
Patrick Crusius, 21, whom the FBI is investigating as a domestic terrorist, allegedly walked into a local Walmart in El Paso, Texas during back to school shopping and the tax-free holiday that attracts both locals and those from across the border in preparation for the coming school year. As calls for help came into authorities just before 10:40 Saturday morning, the gunman spent about six minutes through the shopping center shooting and killing in total 20, including three Mexican nationals, and injured a total of 26.
Though El Paso is an open carry city and police say at least some witnesses were armed, but no one returned fire at the gunman, including the police, who took the suspect into custody without incident. Various reports online and in the news suggest that the suspected domestic terrorist posted a 2,300 word anti-immigrant and racist screed that was uploaded to the online forum 8chan before the shooting.
Just hours later, near 1:00 am Sunday, another gunman fired into the streets of the popular Oregon District in Dayton, Ohio, killing nine people and injuring 26 in less than a minute before being shot and killed by police. The gunman, whose identity has not been released, wore body armor and had additional high capacity magazines for his .223 caliber rifle.
As the shooting began, officers already patrolling in the area were able to “neutralize” the suspect in less than a minute. The shooter is suspected to also have acted alone in another open-carry city. Authorities have not yet described any motive.
