Dayton police chief: ‘It’s fundamentally problematic’ to have this level of weaponry

The chief of police in Dayton, Ohio, said guns like the one used to kill at least nine people in the early hours of Sunday morning are “fundamentally problematic,” according to ABC News.

“It’s fundamentally problematic to have that level of weaponry in a civilian environment, unregulated,” Chief Richard Biehl said in a news conference Monday morning, adding that the gun “was modified in essence to function as a rifle.”

Dayton police chief on shooting suspect’s firearm: “It is fundamentally problematic. To have that level of weaponry in a civilian environment, unregulated, is problematic.” https://t.co/AD78R0T28J pic.twitter.com/T4KwjiTHD2

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 5, 2019

{mosads}Biehl said Sunday afternoon that the suspect, Connor Betts, allegedly used a .223-caliber rifle purchased legally. Betts was killed by police about 30 seconds after he began firing.

Biehl added that the suspect had been attempting to enter the Ned Peppers bar before he was shot. “Had this individual made it through the doorway of Ned Peppers, there would have been catastrophic injury and loss of life,” Biehl said, according to ABC.

Biehl said that while evidence was still being collected, the shooter would have had up to 250 rounds with him if all his magazines were full at the time of the shooting, according to ABC.

So far, he said, investigators have found at least 41 spent shell casings used by the shooter, but there may have been more.

The Dayton shooting came on the heels of another shooting in El Paso, Texas, by a suspect allegedly tied to a racist, anti-immigrant manifesto.

But Biehl said police do not currently believe Betts was motivated by race.

“We have a lot of evidence still to go through. Just based on where we’re at now, we are not seeing any indication of race being a motive, but we are not through all the evidence. And so until we’re through all the evidence we cannot rule that out. But I’m saying we’re not seeing anything at this time that suggests race is a motive,” Biehl said.