Investigators say the gunman who wounded four people at an Ohio Walmart before killing himself earlier this week was at least “partially inspired by racially motivated violent extremist ideology.”
The FBI’s Cincinnati field office and the Beavercreek Police Department made the announcement in a joint statement issued on Wednesday.
Investigators said they had uncovered journal writings from the gunman, 20-year-old Benjamin Charles Jones, that led them to that conclusion. He shot a white man and woman and two Black women in the attack. All four were shoppers.
As of Tuesday, three of the victims were in stable condition and the fourth was listed in critical but stable condition,
In an update Tuesday, police said three victims are in stable condition while one remains in critical but stable condition, WLWT reported.
Jones used a Hi-Point .45 caliber carbine with a nine-round magazine, which was purchased on November 18 from a store in the Dayton area, the FBI said. Investigators are looking at his answers on his background check to see if he made inaccurate responses.
The Beavercreek Walmart has been the scene of several other incidents, most recently an arson earlier this month, as CrimeOnline has reported. It was also the store where Beavercreek police officers gunned down John Crawford III after another shopper reported he was carrying an assault rifle in the store and pointing it at customers. Crawford was actually carrying a pellet rifle, sold in the store, and talking on his phone, and surveillance footage showed he never once pointed the pellet rifle at any customers.
A grand jury declined to indict the officers involved, but the city of Beavercreek later settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Crawford’s family.
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[Featured image: Benjamin Charles Jones/Beavercreek Police Department]
