A Friend of the Shooter Is Facing Charges In Connection to the Dayton Massacre

The federal government is pursuing charges against a friend of the Dayton mass shooter, who is accused of lying on federal forms required to purchase firearms.

The Justice Department announced Monday that it is planning to unseal charges against a friend of Connor Betts, who opened fire outside a bar in Dayton, Ohio a week ago, leaving nine dead and more than two dozen injured.

Betts, 24, was killed just 30 seconds after he started firing by responding police. Federal authorities are yet to identify a motive for the massacre.

READ: The Dayton shooter was in a "pornogrind" band that released songs about raping and killing women

Former classmates and friends have described Betts as someone obsessed with violence. He was also briefly expelled from high school for keeping a “rape list” and “kill list” of his peers.

It’s not yet clear who the federal government plans to charge in relation to their investigation into the Dayton shooting.

Hours before the shooting, which took place in the early hours of Aug 4, Betts was seen on surveillance footage inside a bar with his sister, who he later killed, and his friend Charles Beard, who was shot but survived.

Beard also drove the three of them to the bar, reports say.

Cover: People congregate around a memorial to those killed in Sunday morning's mass shooting while the businesses along E. 5th Street in the Oregon District try to return to normal on August 06, 2019 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)