Friend of Dayton shooter facing federal charges

A longtime friend of the Dayton, Ohio, mass shooter assisted him with his weaponry but did not know about the attack or help plan it, according to the FBI. Ethan Kollie, 24, helped gunman Connor Betts obtain and store body armor, a 100-round magazine, and a gun accessory used during the Aug. 4 shooting that killed nine people.

Will Kollie face charges? He said he kept the items in his apartment to hide them from Betts’ parents. Kollie told agents he helped Betts about 10 weeks before the shooting assemble the AR-15 rifle used in the attack. A couple weeks later, Betts returned to pick up the rifle, magazine, and body armor. Police shot and killed Betts at the scene of the attack. Kollie faces federal charges of denying using drugs when filling out paperwork to obtain firearms and of possessing a firearm as an unlawful user of drugs. When purchasing a Draco pistol in May, Kollie checked “no” when asked if he consumed illegal drugs. But when FBI agents stopped by his house the day of the shooting, they smelled marijuana and found drug paraphernalia. During a subsequent interview, Kollie told agents he used marijuana daily and that he had done hard drugs, including LSD, with Betts five days a week between 2014 and 2015.