By AFP
President Donald Trump said on Sunday that "hate has no place" in the United States after two mass shootings left 29 dead and sparked accusations that his rhetoric was part of the problem. The rampages turned innocent snippets of everyday life into nightmares of bloodshed:
20 people were shot dead while shopping at a crowded Walmart in El Paso, Texas on Saturday morning, and nine more outside a bar in a popular nightlife district in Dayton, Ohio just 13 hours later. "Hate has no place in our country," Trump said, but he also blamed mental illness for the violence "This is also a mental illness problem if you look at both of those cases," added the US president, who is under increased pressure over mass shootings.
"These are really people that are very, very seriously mentally ill," he said, despite the fact that police have not confirmed this to be the case. "We have to get it stopped. This has been going on for years... and years in our country," the president said. In Texas, 26 people were wounded, and 27 in Ohio, where the shooter was killed in roughly 30 seconds by police who were patrolling nearby and prevented a casualty toll that could have been many times greater.
100-round drum magazine
Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl told a news conference that the quick police response was "crucial," preventing the shooter from entering a bar where "there would have been... catastrophic injury and loss of life." But the shooter still managed to mow down dozens of people. Biehl said the gunman wore a mask and a bullet-proof vest and was armed with an assault rifle fitted with a 100-round drum magazine.
