The slain sister of Dayton shooting suspect Connor Betts had been living as a transgender man and was only open with a small group of close friends that may not have included his brother, a new report claims.
In the initial aftermath of the mass shooting in the early morning hours last Sunday, a number of reports noted that one of the nine people killed was the sister of the shooter, a 22-year-old named Megan Betts. But as a new report from Splinter News claims, Megan was actually living as a transgender man and went by Jordan Cofer.
“Jordan was my closest friend,” a friend told Splinter News . “He identified with he/him pronouns to people he trusted and knew would support him. Jordan was probably one of the sweetest people you would ever meet, a true saint, but he was also very scared constantly. He tried to give the best to everyone.”
Another close friend confirmed that Jordan was a transgender man, the report noted.
Police said that Jordan was with Connor when the shooter drove to a popular nightclub district, where he would later open fire in an attack that left nine people dead. Jordan would end up being shot to death, but police have not determined if his murder was targeted. It was not believed that any kind of anti-transgender bias played a role in the slaying, however, as a friend told Splinter News that Jordan had not yet come out to his brother.
As the New York Post noted, there appeared to be other evidence online backing the report that the person identified by police as Megan Betts was indeed living as a man. That included social media pages in Jordan’s name and a Tumblr where Jordan described himself as an “ace poly trans boy with a loving heart.” Pictures shared online appear to show evidence of Jordan’s transition.
@CNN @foxnewsalert @ABC Megan Betts was a trans man who went by the name Jordan Cofer pic.twitter.com/lTwUotYqRJ
— k.p. ravenloft (@KPRavenloft) August 5, 2019
While the mass shooting that took place hours before in El Paso, Texas, seemed to have a clear motive and is now being investigated as a hate crime against Hispanics, the motivation for the Dayton shooting remains murkier.
Police have not announced a motive, and the shooter had no obvious ties to extremist elements or any social media postings that hint toward domestic terrorism. Connor Betts was killed by police just one minute after the mass shooting began, reports claimed, so police are left searching elsewhere for clues about the motivation for the shooting.
