Four Wounded in Ohio Walmart Shooting

Facts

• Four people were wounded during a shooting in a Walmart in Beavercreek, Ohio on Monday night. The victims were taken to local hospitals, with three in critical condition and one suffering non-life-threatening injuries.¹
• 20-year-old Benjamin Charles Jones of Dayton entered the Walmart and shot the adult victims — three females and one male — before police officers arrived within minutes at 8:39 p.m. Body camera footage shows Jones dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 8:42 p.m.²
• A series of police cars rushed to the store, but police say that no shots were fired by responding officers. One woman posted a video on social media saying that a 'guy walked right past me with an assault rifle and started shooting.'³
• The FBI deployed to the scene alongside state law enforcement agencies, with officials saying that the shooting was still a 'developing situation' but maintained that it was an isolated incident.⁴
• The shooter’s motive remains unclear. He used a Hi-Point 45-caliber carbine long gun to carry out his attack.⁵
• The shooting comes just one day after two people were shot and killed outside a Walmart in Anchorage, Alaska, where police are still searching for the suspect. The same Ohio store was also the scene where police shot a 22-year-old man who was waving a pellet rifle in 2014.⁶

Sources: ¹Abc news, ²Fox19, ³Al Jazeera, ⁴CBS, ⁵NBC and ⁶Associated Press.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by Newsweek. How many more people need to be shot and killed for something to change in the US? Mass shootings continue to take thousands of lives every year, yet we continue the same cycle of offering “thoughts and prayers” while ignoring America’s gun problem. People cannot even go to the store without worrying if a gunman carrying an assault rifle will wreak havoc. Words are not enough. The citizenry demands action.
• Right narrative, as provided by Bearingarms.com. One side is always quick to politicize a tragedy as soon as it happens, but there are some important facts to address regarding the Ohio Walmart shooting. First, the only casualty was the shooter himself. Second, the classification of mass shootings is a disingenuous measure meant to frame the gun debate in an anti-Second Amendment manner. We should focus on a speedy recovery for the victims, not cheap political points.

Predictions