Washington: At least nine people were killed, including the shooter, and 16 others injured in a mass shooting Sunday that took place near a bar in the US state of Ohio, the second such incident that came less than 24 hours after a similar carnage in Texas where 20 persons were shot dead.
First reports of the shooting came in at about 1 a.m., that took place outside the Ned Peppers Bar in Dayton city’s Oregon area.
“We had officers in the immediate vicinity when this shooting began and were able to respond and put an end to it quickly,” the BBC quoted the Dayton Police Department wrote in a tweet.
Assistant Police Chief Matt Carper told the media that officers on patrol managed to take down the shooter who is yet to be identified.
“Our people are very well trained for a situation like this,” he said, adding it was very fortunate that the officers were in close proximity.
Nothing more was known about the shooter, but Carper said they were ‘anxious to discover’ a motivation.
Police believe the suspect acted alone and that there is no remaining threat to the community, but the investigation, assisted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was ongoing, the Officer added.
Footage posted on social media showed people running as dozens of gunshots echoed through the streets. It also showed several bodies on the floor covered in white sheets.
A note saying staff members were safe appeared on Ned Peppers Instagram page after the incident and on the nearby Hole in the Wall bar’s Facebook page, the BBC said.
Meanwhile, a witness told the BBC that he was at a nearby event when they were told to evacuate.
“I was very shocked,” he said. “We all evacuated quickly and safely. We were told to avoid the Oregon district.”
“I got to my car, I could see cops, multiple ambulances. When I drove past I saw a lot of cops and ambulances.”
Sunday night’s incident came hours after the mass shooting at a Walmart store near the Cielo Vista Mall in the city of El Paso Saturday which also left over 25 people injured.
A 21-year-old suspect is currently in police custody.
The motive for this shooting was also not immediately clear. But the El Paso Police said that the shooting could be dubbed as possible hate crime.
Authorities have termed it as the eighth deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
The two attacks came less than a week after a teenage gunman killed three people at a California food festival.
(IANS)
