Friend of Dayton shooter: 'We just let it happen'

(5 Aug 2019) High school classmates of Connor Betts, the gunman who killed nine people in Dayton, Ohio, say he was suspended years ago for compiling a "hit list" and a "rape list," and questioned how he could have been allowed to buy the military-style weapon used in this weekend's attack. "It's baffling and horrible that somebody who's been talking for 10 years about wanting to shoot people could easily, so easily, get access to a military grade weapon and that much ammo," says Hannah Shows, who says she was friends with Betts when the two attended Bellbrook High School. Hannah Shows says her friendship with Connor Betts turned sour in High School after Betts expressed romantic interest. She says he verbally lashed out, even threatening to kill himself. "He always loved to imitate guns and shooting people. And he would look at people and imitate shooting or other violent acts. He was the type of person that loved the shock value," she said. Shows says the violent threats came to a climax when the school found  a list of names he had written, targeting girls in the school. Former classmates say Betts was suspended during their junior year  That followed an earlier suspension after Betts came to school with a list of female student. Shows says Betts returned to the school after one year. She wishes that school administrators and authorities took the event more seriously and could have prevented Sunday's attack. "So many of these things got brushed under the rug either as not real or even if they're real they're not taken seriously. Like, if you just don't give him the attention that he wants it will go away. And now we have learned through so much pain that it does not just go away." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...