At least 30 people killed in separate US mass shooting incidents
At least 30 people have been killed and many more wounded in two separate mass shootings in Ohio and Texas this weekend.
A gunman killed nine people and wounded at least 26 others in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio, early on Sunday, according to local police.
The suspected gunman was shot dead by police on a routine patrol nearby.
On Saturday 20 people were shot dead in a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, with at least 26 wounded.
The suspected gunman was arrested without being harmed.
Read more: At least 49 dead, 20 injured after ‘terrorist attack’
The suspect in the El Paso shooting has been identified in media reports as Patrick Crusius, a 21-year-old from Allen, Texas, a Dallas suburb 650 miles east of El Paso.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the mass shooting appeared to be a hate crime, and police cited a manifesto they attributed to the suspect as evidence that the bloodshed was racially motivated.
US President Donald Trump yesterday tweeted: “I stand with everyone in this Country to condemn today’s hateful act. There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people.”
Today he tweeted: “The FBI, local and state law enforcement are working together in El Paso and in Dayton, Ohio. Information is rapidly being accumulated in Dayton. Much has already be learned in El Paso. Law enforcement was very rapid in both instances.”
Candidates for the Democratic Party presidential nomination condemned white nationalism and xenophobia and called for tighter gun control laws.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend said: “America is under attack from homegrown white nationalist terrorism.”
Read more: Populism is back, and the Democratic candidates are veering left
El Paso native Beto O’Rourke, a former congressman called for control on the sale of military-style assault weapons.
“Keep that sh*t on the battlefield. Do not bring it into our communities,” O’Rourke said.
US senator for Vermont, Bernie Sanders called for tighter gun control law and attacked “the culture of bigotry espoused by Trump and his allies”.
“After every tragedy the Senate, intimidated by the NRA’s power, does nothing. This must change.
“We need a president and congress that listen to Americans, not the ideology of a right-wing extremist organization.
“We must pass common sense gun safety legislation,” he tweeted.
And added: “We must come together to reject this dangerous and growing culture of bigotry espoused by Trump and his allies.
“Instead of wasting money putting children in cages, we must seriously address the scourge of violent bigotry and domestic terrorism.”
London mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted: “Yet again we have seen the murder of innocent people motivated by hate. Love and solidarity from London to the people of El Paso. Our prayers go out to the victims’ families and all those affected by this horrific act of terror.”