Local man identified as Beavercreek Walmart mass shooter; FBI and police search for motive – WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio
BEAVERCREEK — Beavercreek police are sharing more information about the shooting at Walmart that left four people injured Monday night.
The shooter was identified Tuesday afternoon as Benjamin Jones, 20, of Dayton. Investigators said he had returned to Dayton within the past year.
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Police confirmed Tuesday morning that four adults, three women and a man, were injured in the shooting. Three of them are in critical condition and one suffered non-life-threatening injuries. In an update Tuesday afternoon, three were now reported to be in stable condition and one was still listed as critical, but stable.
Jones allegedly entered the store on Pentagon Blvd. with a .45-caliber High-Point rifle long gun, then began shooting, according to 911 callers.
All of the victims were identified as shoppers at the store.
Investigators said he did not appear to be targeting any specific person and his victims were found throughout the store.
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As News Center 7 previously reported, Jones died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was found dead in the store at 8:42 p.m., less than 10 minutes after dispatchers received their first 911 call.
Police showed body camera video from an officer who rushed into the store after the shooting and found Jones dead behind the store’s vision center.
Police confirmed they found Jones’ car in the parking lot. News Center 7 was on scene when they towed it early Tuesday morning after obtaining a search warrant to search it. This was not the only search carried out on Tuesday.
“We did, with the assistance of the FBI, conduct a search warrant at his residence,” said Beavercreek Police Capt. Chad Lindsay, acting police chief.
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An FBI representative said they were looking into Jones’ background to try to determine a motive for the shooting.
News Center 7’s Mike Campbell asked Zrinka Dilber, FBI special agent in charge of the agency’s Cincinnati office, if the shooting was racially motivated.
“We are looking for motivation. We’re working with Beavercreek, but we don’t know if it was racially motivated at this time,” Dilber said.
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