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05 August 2019

Connor Betts was in his last year of high school and it was already clear that something was wrong with him. Certainly no one could have imagined that at 24 he would become the umpteenth protagonist of a mass slaughter in America, killing 9 people and wounding 27 others in Dayton, Ohio.

The list of people to attack and rape
But the former comrades of Bellbrock High School in Allen, half an hour's drive from Dallas, now recall disturbing signals. Like when Connor was suspended for being found with a list of people to violently attack and girls to rape. All on a scribbled sheet of paper soon forgotten. But another episode followed, many alarm bells that today appear to be undervalued.

Fantasy: slit a partner
"It's not a mystery to me," recalls someone attending school with Connor, explaining how the police were informed several times about the boy's delusions. A former partner remembers how Connor told her he had a fantasy: to tie her up and cut her throat. Then he showed himself frightened by what he was saying and some boys even tried to help him overcome that obsession with killing and death.

Still unknown motive
The reasons that led the boy to the Dayton massacre are not yet known. And if, due to the El Paso massacre, where 21 people died, it is becoming increasingly clear that the 21-year-old Patrick Crusius was animated by hatred of immigrants from Central America, for Connor it is not yet clear what was the spring of it pushed to kill. And to clarify there is also the death of his sister Megan, 22, who had gone out with him and then continued the evening on his own.

It is not known if he intentionally killed his sister
The chief of police of the Ohio city explained that, at the moment, it is not known whether the killer intentionally killed her or did not notice her presence in the place of the massacre. Megan was one of the first victims to be hit by shots that killed over 30 people in less than 30 seconds. And it could have been much worse, the police always explained, who found out how the boy had more than 250 ammunition with him: if he hadn't been shot down by the intervening agents, the budget would certainly have been heavier. President Donlad Trump, speaking to the indirect TV nation, called Connor a "monster" devoured by a mental illness. The question remains as to how a person with such psychic problems may be able to buy a 223 caliber rifle online from a Texas retailer.