A white gunman who opened fire inside an Ohio Walmart store, injuring four people before killing himself, may have been motivated by racist extremism, the FBI announced Wednesday.
Four shoppers — two black women, a white woman and a white man — were injured in an attack at a Walmart in Beavercreek, a Dayton suburb, days before Thanksgiving, the FBI said.
According to the FBI, evidence, including diary entries, indicates the shooting may have been inspired, at least in part, by racially violent extremist ideology.
Police said the suspect, identified as 20-year-old Benjamin Charles Jones of Dayton, entered the store Monday night with a Hi-Point .45 caliber carbine. He fired an unspecified number of shots, leaving injured people throughout the building, before turning the gun on himself, authorities said.
Attempts by The Associated Press to contact Jones’ relatives were unsuccessful.
The FBI said Jones purchased the gun at a Dayton store two days before the incident.Investigators said they were checking to see if he provided false information on background check forms and were also continuing to look into his background and online activities.
Police said Tuesday that three of the victims were in stable condition at area hospitals, and one of the victims, a woman, was in critical but stable condition.
Authorities have refused to release the victims’ identities.
The shooting occurred a day after a man fatally shot a woman outside a Walmart in Anchorage, Alaska, then shot himself to death. Anchorage police announced Tuesday that it was a domestic violence-related crime.
In 2019, a white gunman killed 23 people in a racist attack targeting Hispanic shoppers at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Walmart stopped selling certain types of ammunition shortly after. It also asked customers not to openly carry firearms inside the store. The retailer currently only sells hunting rifles and related ammunition.
The Ohio store where Monday’s shooting occurred was the scene of a fatal police shooting nearly a decade ago. In August 2014, a white police officer shot and killed 22-year-old John Crawford III after picking up an unpackaged pellet rifle he had found on a shelf. The black man’s family has reached a $1.7 million settlement with the city of Beavercreek. The settlement also included changes to police policy.