Ohio mass shooter Benjamin Jones spouted white supremacist conspiracy theories and had been admitted to a hospital for mental health evaluations three times in the past two years, a source revealed to The Post.
Jones, 20 — who turned a Hi-Point .45-caliber carbine long gun on himself after opening fire at a Walmart in Beavercreek, near Dayton, on Monday, injuring four shoppers — also never attended public school, and hung a Nazi flag on the wall behind his bed, according to the source.
“There were warning signs and red flags,” the source told The Post a day after the shooting, as the first pictures of the suspect emerged, showing him sporting long, shaggy brown locks and scruffy facial hair.
“He talked about right-wing conspiracy theories, that the Holocaust didn’t happen, 9/11 didn’t happen; he’d started talking about white supremacy stuff.”
A man and three women — one of whom remains in critical condition — were injured in the shooting... [snip]
Jones killed himself before he could be apprehended, and his motives were unclear. However, the source, who was close to him, painted a portrait of a troubled young man who was “not socialized” and had only attended online Christian school.
“He had been to the hospital three times over the last two years on 72-hour mental evaluations. His mother had him put in [the hospital] once, then he put himself in,” the insider said, adding that Jones lived with his mother.
“We thought that would be a red flag to authorities, nobody thought he could get a gun, but he’d talked about getting hold of one.”
It was unclear how Jones obtained his firearm. [snip]
“He was very religious, he could quote the Bible. His mother didn’t want him to go to public school. He had never been in school in his entire life, he only did Christian online schooling,” the source said.
“He was not socialized, he spent all his time at home. I don’t think he was able to deal with conflict, girlfriends, breakups and everything else.”
Nazi lover, racist, online home- schooled "Christian," right- wing conspiracy theorist. Check, check, check, and check.
It's the second mass shooting in Dayton in the past 4 years by a young white male.
2 comments:
"He was very religious, he could quote the Bible." Yah, what an asset!! That one sentence has so much to unpack and yet is incredibly simple.
Cleora -- good observation!
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