12:52 a.m. ET, August 5, 2019
Classmates say Dayton gunman had a "hit list" in high school
By Paul P. Murphy, Audrey Ash and Gisela Crespo
As a high school student, the suspected gunman in the Dayton, Ohio, massacre had a “hit list” of classmates he wanted to kill or hurt, according to four former students who said they were told by school officials they were on the list.
Spencer Brickler said a counselor at Bellbrook High School told him that he and his sister were on Connor Betts’ hit list. Brickler said he was riding on a school bus when he saw Betts getting escorted off by officers who were investigating the threats.
“He was kind of dark and depressive in high school,” said Brickler, who recalled the incident occurring about nine years ago when he was a freshman. He said he had no idea what prompted Betts, then a sophomore, to put him or his sister on the list.
Another former classmate, who asked not to be identified out of concerns for his privacy, also recalled being summoned to a school administrator’s office and being told he was “number one” on the list of students Betts wanted to kill.