US mass shootings: 20 killed in Texas Walmart, 9 in Ohio bar district
- Authorities in Texas are investigating the Walmart shooting as a possible hate crime, while the FBI has opened a domestic terror investigation
- Less than 24 hours later, another gunman opened fire in downtown Dayton, Ohio, killing 9 and wounding 16 before being shot and killed
Two mass shootings in the United States have left 29 people dead within 24 hours, the latest such attacks in a nation torn over how to tackle gun violence.
A gunman armed with an assault rifle killed 20 people on Saturday when he opened fire on shoppers at a packed Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. More than two dozen were injured in the attack.
Less than 13 hours later, a lone shooter killed nine people in Dayton, Ohio on Sunday before being shot dead by responding police officers.
At least 16 people were wounded in Sunday’s attack, which took place at about 1am in a popular bar and nightlife district. Officers “put an end” to the incident quickly, Dayton police said on Twitter. The suspected shooter’s identity has not been released.
At a news conference announcing the death toll in El Paso, state governor Greg Abbott described it as “one of the most deadly days in the history of Texas”.
The Walmart attack was the eighth worst mass shooting in modern US history, after the 1984 shooting in San Ysidro that killed 21 people.