Perpetrator Soon after the attack, law enforcement confirmed that the gunman was Connor Stephen Betts, a 24-year-old from Bellbrook, Ohio.[21][12][22] On Betts' Twitter account, he described himself as a leftist, anime fan, and metalhead. He had posted tweets that opposed Donald Trump and supported Elizabeth Warren, socialism, and Satan.[23][24][25] Although many of his tweets were mundane and non-political, he had retweeted posts that supported the antifa movement and opposed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and police officers. In the hours before he opened fire in Dayton, he "liked" a post in favor of gun control, and several concerning the 2019 El Paso shooting, including a tweet that called the El Paso shooter a "terrorist" and a "white supremacist."[25] An FBI investigation is still ongoing, but an official said that the perpetrator was associated with incel groups.[26]
According to Newsweek, Betts was registered as a voter in Greene County, Ohio, as a Democrat.[27] According to law enforcement, Betts had no criminal record except for minor traffic offenses.[28][29][30]
Two former high school classmates stated that Betts was suspended from Bellbrook High School after he made lists of other students he wanted to kill and rape.[31] The "hit list" was discovered in early 2012 and resulted in a police investigation.[31] A classmate also stated that Betts was bullied and had planned to shoot up the school.[28] The notion of Betts having been bullied was disputed by other classmates, who described him as a bully, reporting that he enjoyed scaring people while attending school.[24] Over the past year, Betts performed live vocals for a pornogrind band called Menstrual Munchies, which Vice News described as a "misogynistic, male-dominated" music scene, and Buzzfeed described as focused on gore, violence, and necrophilia, and known for its dark, satirical themes of sexual violence delivered for shock value.[32][33] Betts' high school girlfriend stated that at the time they dated Betts complained of visual and auditory hallucinations, and psychosis, and was afraid of developing schizophrenia.[34][35]
During the day, police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) searched the shooter's home and found writings that showed interest in killing people, with a preliminary assessment of the writings indicating the shooter had no racial motive or political motive.[6] As of August 5, 2019, police investigators stated that the investigation is ongoing and that they are not prepared to speculate about motivation.[36][6] On August 5, Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl stated that "We have a lot of evidence still to go through...based on where we're at now, we are not seeing any indication of race being a motive"[37] and that police had not determined whether he shot his sister deliberately or unknowingly.[37]
Betts had additional ammunition magazines with him, and was wearing body armor, a mask and hearing protection during the attack.[9][38] He reportedly ordered the semi-automatic firearm[a] used in the shooting online from Texas, and the firearm was transferred to a local firearms dealer in Ohio, where he picked it up.[10]
He's not Antifa, and he was probably schizophrenic.