Two Nazi flags, a laptop, external hard drive and several handwritten notes were taken from the Beavercreek Walmart shooter’s Dayton home last week, according to Montgomery County court documents.
Results of a search warrant filed in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court last week showed two Nazi flags — one red and one black — were taken from Benjamin Charles Jones’ home on Buell Lane in Dayton. Investigators also confiscated a computer, an “SS history book,” referring to the secret police of Nazi Germany, an external hard drive, two gaming consoles, and several documents and handwritten notes.
The FBI and local law enforcement agencies are investigating the case as “at least partially” racially motivated, the agency reported last week.
Two of the victims have been released from the hospital, while the other two victims remain hospitalized in stable condition, Beavercreek police said Monday.
A GoFundMe account created Sunday says it is raising money for one of the victims of the Beavercreek Walmart shooting, a Black woman. The Dayton Daily News generally does not name crime victims unless they approve doing so.
The GoFundMe post says the woman was shot multiple times and has undergone multiple significant surgeries on her spine and internal organs. The post had raised just over $10,000 as of noon Monday.
“This investigation remains very active as the FBI is thoroughly examining the attacker’s background, motive, connections, and online activity,” Beavercreek police said Monday. “Anyone with information regarding Benjamin Charles Jones is asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-Call-FBI or online at tips.fbi.gov.”
The gun Jones used — a Hi-Point .45 caliber carbine with one 9-round magazine — was purchased last Saturday, Nov. 18, from a store in the Dayton area.
Officials said investigators are “continuing to look at the background of the subject to determine if any of his answers on the ATF Form 4473 were inaccurate.” Among the items on that form is this question: “Have you ever been adjudicated as a mental defective OR have you ever been committed to a mental institution?”
Under federal law, anyone who has been involuntarily committed to a mental institution is prohibited from “receiving or possessing” a firearm.
Fairborn police were called to Jones’ home in both April and May of 2022, as Jones was experiencing suicidal ideation, according to Fairborn police reports. Both times Jones was “pink-slipped” and taken to Soin Medical Center, according to police. The “pink-slip” process refers to detaining someone for emergency admission to a hospital for mental illness.
Around 8:35 p.m. Monday night, Jones, a 20-year-old from Dayton, reportedly entered the Beavercreek Walmart and opened fire. When officers arrived minutes later, they found Jones on the floor near the store’s vision center dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
