Thirteen hours after a gunman who’d allegedly written a racist manifesto before storming a West Texas Walmart, slaying all of the 23 victims he hit in 2019, people had gathered about 1,500 miles away at an entertainment district in Dayton, Ohio, for a weekend night out.
That’s when a different gunman, armed with a 100-round drum magazine attached to a rifle, unleashed terror, shooting 41 bullets in half a minute, indiscriminately wounding 26 people, nine fatally.
They included a man who died in his son’s arms, a mother who was able to call her young children’s father to tell him she’d been shot in the head, a machinist who’d just bought his first house and his “dream car,” and a woman out enjoying a night out with a friend.
Attorneys representing the families of those four victims on Sunday filed a wrongful-death civil lawsuit in Clark County District Court against the manufacturer of the 100-round magazine, Kyung Chang Industry US (KCI USA), a Henderson-based company.
Had the Ohio shooter, Connor Stephen Betts, who was subsequently shot dead by police, not had access to that accessory, the mass shooting wouldn’t have been possible, the lawsuit alleges. “The shooter did exactly what defendants knew or should have known one of its customers would do with their instrument of mass slaughter,” attorneys wrote in the complaint.
A representative of KCI USA did not respond to phone and email messages seeking comment.
The lawsuit was brought by Brady, a prominent gun control group that focuses on education, litigation and legislation.
One of the attorneys, Las Vegas-based Sean Claggett of Claggett & Sykes, wrote in a news release that the firm was “honored” to represent the families of the victims.
“For years now, America has been tormented by an epidemic of mass shootings enabled by companies like KCI that produce gun accessories with one purpose: taking lives,” he said. “We believe this lawsuit can bring about change and help prevent gunmen from obtaining military-style, high-capacity magazines like the one used in the Dayton shooting. No family should have to suffer and grieve like these families have. Our hope is that this lawsuit will help prevent future tragedies by holding KCI accountable for its careless and reckless conduct.”
According to the complaint, Betts bought the magazine from an online vendor identified in the KSI USA website. “They even directed customers to the anything-goes Internet marketplace, where many criminals flock because of its secrecy and lack of rules,” the document said.
Betts opened fire about 1 a.m. Aug. 4 in a popular nightlife district and ended about 30 seconds later, when police gunned him down as he tried to enter a crowded bar. His sister, whom he’d spent time with in the area before the mass shooting, was one of the nine victims, according to the Associated Press.
When he was shot, Derrick Fudge, 57, was standing in front of his son, who held him in his arms and “just wanted to tell his dad that he loved him,” the complaint said.
The night she was killed, Lois Oglesby, 27, left behind two daughters, a 7-year-old and a 2-month old, the complaint said. “Babe, I just got shot in my head. I need to get to my kids,” she purportedly said in the conversation with their father.
Logan Turner had just turned 30 years old, days before he was shot, and had just bought a house, the complaint said. ”He worked as a machinist and a server and was in school to advance his career.”
Beatrice Nicole Warren-Curtis, 36, worked for an insurance company and was out with a friend and co-worker, Monica Brickhouse, who also was slain that night, the complaint said.
“The shooter needed (the) defendants' instrument of slaughter to accomplish his mission — to kill and terrorize many people quickly,” attorneys allege. “Defendants needed the shooter to accomplish their mission — to make as much money as possible.”
The magazine manufacturer hadn’t filed a response to the lawsuit as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Clark County District Court logs.