A woman who was once a close friend of Megan Betts, the murdered sister of the Dayton, Ohio, shooting suspect, said that Connor Betts once strangled her inside his home.
Taylor Gould, 22, told Cincinnatti.com that she was a close friend of Megan Betts in middle school but distanced herself from the family after a disturbing incident at a sleepover in the Betts home.
According to Gould’s account, Dayton mass shooting suspect Connor Betts was home at the time, along with his mother, and had been bullying his younger sister.
“He was being really mean to her,” Gould told the news outlet, claiming the she confronted Connor in defense of her friend.
“He strangled me because I got in his face to leave her [Megan] alone,” Gould said, adding that Connor’s mother witnessed the incident.
“His mom saw it,” Gould told Cincinnati.com. The woman said that Connor continued to strangle her until his mother began crying, begging him to stop.
“They were gonna talk to someone,” she said of the family. Still, the incident was enough for her to cut ties with her friend.
The report is the latest account of former friends and classmates who have painted a picture of Betts, 24, as having a dark personality, marked by misogynistic attitudes. Betts allegedly created a “hit list” and a “rape list” when he was in high school, listing the names of the students he intended to target. He also sometimes performed in a so-called hardcore “pornogrind” band, performing vocals on songs that depicted violence against women.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, a former friend said that Betts once pointed a gun at his head, and made vague threats about shooting up a bar.
Betts, 24, opened fire just after 1 a.m. in a popular entertainment district in Dayton, killing nine people — including his sister Megan — before police fatally shot him, less than a minute after Betts began shooting.
Authorities have not yet publicly commented on a possible motive.
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