Nine dead in shooting in Ohio

Nine people in Ohio have been killed in the second mass shooting in the US in less than 24 hours, police said.

The suspected gunman is also dead.

Dayton police tweeted that an active shooter situation began in the Oregon District at 1am local time, but that officers nearby were able to “put an end to it quickly”.

Lt Col Matt Carper told a press conference that the suspect was shot dead by responding officers.

At least 26 others were taken to local hospitals with injuries, police said.

Police believe there was only one gunman and have not yet identified the suspect or a motive.

Lt Col Carper said the suspect used a long gun and fired multiple rounds.

Miami Valley Hospital spokeswoman Terrea Little said 16 victims have been received at the hospital but could not confirm their conditions.

Kettering Health Network spokeswoman Elizabeth Long said multiple victims from a shooting had been brought to system hospitals but did not have details on how many.

With a population of around 140,000, Dayton is in western Ohio, around 55 miles north east of Cincinnati, 75 miles west of Columbus and 120 miles east of Indianapolis.

The Oregon District is a historic neighbourhood that Lt Col Carper described as “a safe part of downtown”, home to entertainment options, including bars, restaurants and cinemas.

The shooting took place outside, on East 5th Street.

Nikita Papillon, 23, was across the street at Newcom’s Tavern when the shooting started.

She said she saw a girl she had talked to earlier lying outside Ned Peppers Bar.

“She had told me she liked my outfit and thought I was cute and I told her I liked her outfit and I thought she was cute,” Ms Papillon said.

She had been to Ned Peppers the night before, describing it as the kind of place “where you don’t have to worry about someone shooting up the place.”

“People my age, we don’t think something like this is going to happen,” she said.

“And when it happens, words can’t describe it.”

Tianycia Leonard, 28, was in the back of Newcom’s.

She heard “loud thumps” she initially thought was people pounding on a skip.

“It was so noisy but then you could tell it was gunshots and there was a lot of rounds,” Ms Leonard said.

“This is extremely unusual, obviously, for any community, let alone Dayton,” Lt Col Carper said.

“In our Oregon District, this is unheard of.”

The FBI is assisting with the investigation.

The Ohio shooting came hours after a young man opened fire in a crowded shopping area in El Paso, Texas, leaving 20 dead and more than two dozen injured.

Just days before, on July 28, a 19-year-old shot and killed three people, including two children, at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in northern California.

The El Paso shooting was the 21st mass killing in the US in 2019, according to the AP/USA Today/Northeastern University mass murder database.

It tracks all US homicides since 2006 involving four or more people killed – not including the offender – over a short period of time regardless of weapon, location, victim-offender relationship or motive.

That makes Sunday’s shooting in Dayton the 22nd mass killing in the US this year.

The first 20 mass killings in the US in 2019 claimed 96 lives.