Dayton Mayor Says ‘Hundreds’ Could Have Been Killed if Cops Hadn’t Already Been in Area of Mass Shooting

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley told reporters that “hundreds” of people could have been killed during Sunday’s mass shooting if police had not already been patrolling in the area where a gunman killed nine and wounded at least 26, and were able to kill the murderer within about a minute of shots being fired.

Mayor Whaley briefed reporters Sunday morning on the shooting, which took place around 1 a.m. in a crowded downtown district.

Asked what weapon the shooter used, Whaley replied that it was a “.223 caliber high capacity magazine, he had additional magazines, and he was wearing body armor.”

“Was that a rifle?” Whaley ws asked, to which she replied “Very large gun, in technical terms.”

She added that police do not know, at this point, whether the weapons was legally obtained.

Later in the presser, Whaley was asked “As you saw the mass shooting in El Paso play out yesterday, did you ever imagine or prepare for the first responders acting so quickly, how did you guys prepare for this?”

“I think time and again I have been amazed by Dayton first responders, I think they are a special amazing group of first responders,” Whaley said, adding “If Dayton Police had not gotten to the shooter in under a minute, and think of that, 26 injured and nine dead, hundreds of people in the Oregon district could be dead today. ”

Whaley was later asked if she saw “any changes in the near future, have you thought about that in terms of safety protocol or how you prepare for something like this?”

“I think the police and our first responders have done an amazing job,” Whaley said. “Clearly the question has to be raised, why does Dayton have to be the 250th mass shooting in America? 250. I mean that’s really the question.”

“Are you talking about this year?” a reporter asked.

“This year. El Paso was 249, Dayton was 250 this year,” Whaley replied.

The Dayton shooting took place just 13 hours after a gunman killed 20 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and injured at least 24 more before being taken into custody “without incident.”

Watch the clip above, via CNN.

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