Ohio shooting: Governor's speech interrupted by protests

  • 2019-08-05 17:08:29
Protesters' chants of "do something" interrupted remarks from Ohio's governor during a vigil for the victims of a mass shooting on Sunday. Republican Governor Mike DeWine was speaking in Dayton, where earlier 24-year-old Conor Betts shot and killed his sister and eight other people. At least 27 people were injured in the shooting, the second in the US within 24 hours. The governor told reporters he is "open to discussion" on gun reform. "We know that we cannot ease the pain of those families who have lost someone," Mr DeWine said during the vigil on Sunday evening, speaking in between the crowd's chants. "We also know that we want to do something." Dayton's Democratic Mayor Nan Whaley later asked the crowd to be more respectful, saying: "This is a vigil for the people that we've lost. There will be time to take action, but let us come together as a community as we work to heal." Sunday's attack lasted less than 30 seconds, police say. Officers engaged and killed the gunman as he tried to make his way into a crowded bar. Dayton police chief Richard Biehl said that had he made it through the door, the loss of life would have been "catastrophic". The gunman's motives are unclear. Following the attack, Mr DeWine - who ran as a pro-gun rights candidate last year - said "everything's on the table" regarding gun control policies, Cleveland.com reported, as long as the measures were constitutional. "What can we do different that maybe we should do that will not eliminate the chance of something like this - I don't know if you can eliminate the chance of something like this - but rather to lessen the chance that it would occur?" The governor this year proposed "red flag" legislation that would allow law enforcement to confiscate guns from those determined to be a threat to themselves or others.

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