Police officers approach the scene of a mass shooting with weapons drawn in a still image from surveillance video released by police in Dayton, Ohio, U.S. August 4, 2019. Dayton Police Department/Handout via REUTERS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. An ex-girlfriend of the alleged gunman in an August 3 shooting in Dayton, Ohio wrote in an August 5 Medium post that he showed her a “play-by-play” of the October Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.
Adelia Johnson wrote that she met the alleged shooter, Connor Betts, in a psychology class at Sinclair College in January. Their first date was in March, where Johnson claims Betts showed her a video of the Pittsburgh shooting.
“He pulled out his phone and I was too drunk to care that I was watching it,” Johnson wrote. “Thankfully the bar was too loud for me to hear what was going on. Connor gave me the play-by-play of what was happening. Even then, I did realize that that was a weird thing for a first date, but not too weird given the context of our class.”
She went on to explain that “serial killers” was a frequent “off-topic” discussion in their class.
Johnson ended the relationship with Betts in May, saying that Betts needed to “work on himself and find more coping mechanisms” to deal with his “dark thoughts” and “uncontrollable urges.”
Betts allegedly shot and killed nine people – including his sister – and 27 others at Ned Peppers Bar on August 3; police shot and killed Betts at the shooting. Betts reportedly had a “hit list” of boys he wanted to kill and girls he wanted to rape.
On October 31, Robert Bowers was indicted for shooting and killing 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue; Bowers had white nationalist sentiments.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.