The FBI said the gunman who opened fire inside a Walmart in Ohio on Monday, wounding four before killing himself, may have been “at least partially inspired by racially motivated violent extremist ideology”.
It confirmed two of the victims were white and the other two were Black.
An FBI spokesperson told ABC News that two Nazi flags, “the SS history book”, a shooting complex card, handwritten notes and a laptop were among items recovered from the home of the gunman, identified as 20-year-old Benjamin Charles Jones, of Dayton, Ohio.
“Based on evidence collected, including journal writings from the attacker, he may have been at least partially inspired by racially motivated violent extremist ideology,” the spokesperson told ABC, adding that the agency “will continue to investigate the motivating factors leading to this attack”.
Jones entered the Beavercreek store in suburban Dayton at about 8.30pm holding a Hi-Point 45-caliber carbine. He opened fire, hitting three women and a man, before turning the weapon on himself, authorities said.
Police said three of the injured were in stable condition and one of the women was in critical but stable condition on Tuesday.
“Tragedy struck our beloved community Monday evening, and, in the face of adversity, the strength of our community shines through,” Beavercreek’s mayor, Bob Stone, said during a news conference.
Walmart said in a statement that the company was “heartbroken” by what had happened and was working closely with investigators.
An eyewitness, Christopher Suffron, told WHIO-TV in Dayton that he was shopping with his wife when they heard five or six shots ring out. “I turned around and told her to get behind me,” he later recalled. The couple escaped through nearby loading doors as shots rang out behind them.
The Beavercreek store was the scene of a fatal shooting involving police almost a decade ago, when a white police officer shot and killed 22-year-old John Crawford III, who was Black, after he picked up an unpackaged pellet rifle from a shelf. Crawford’s family later reached a $1.7m settlement with the city of Beavercreek.
The Beavercreek shooting was the second to target Walmart in less than 24 hours. A day earlier, a man at an outlet in Anchorage, Alaska, shot and killed a woman before fatally wounding himself. Police in Anchorage said it was a domestic violence-related crime.
Walmart, which has police outposts in some of its 4,600 locations nationwide, has taken steps to address gun violence, including a computer-based active shooter training in 2015.
The latest shootings come a year after a Walmart supervisor in Chesapeake, Virginia, killed six co-workers shortly before Thanksgiving. In 2019, a white gunman killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in a racially motivated attack on Hispanic shoppers.
Soon after, the retail giant stopped sales of certain types of ammunition and asked customers to no longer openly carry firearms in its stores.
“We take a comprehensive approach to promoting a safe shopping and work environment – including policies, training, monitoring and response – as well as regular reviews of security protocols and practices,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to the Associated Press.
“While we don’t publicly discuss security measures we take in our stores, the safety of our associates and customers is a top priority.”
