Nine people killed in another mass shooting just 12 hours after Walmart incident

Nine people have been killed after a gun man opened fire outside a bar in the US.

Police also confirmed at least 16 people had been hospitalised and were in unknown conditions following the attack in Dayton, Ohio at around 1am local time, 6am British time.

Police were called to Ned Peppers, a bar on East Fifth Street in the down town Oregon District of the US city, to reports of an active shooter.

Assistant police chief Matt Carper told reporters the unidentified suspect, who had a long gun and fired multiple rounds, had been shot dead by officers.

He added: "There is one shooter we are aware of. We are working to identify him to see what his motivation was.

"The FBI are on the scene assisting but we are leading the investigation."

The force later confirmed on Twitter there were officers in the area at the time of the incident and they were able to "put an end to it quickly".

Footage and images from the scene show emergency vehicles outside the bar, which is the Dayton's arts and entertainment district.

Clips posted on social media purported to show several bodies in the street outside the bar and one witness claimed he heard up to 50 shots and saw people "trampling over each other".

Another witness who was five foot away told WHIO-TV it was the "scariest moment of his life" when the masked and hooded gun man opened fire.

Popular tiki bar Ned Peppers posted on Facebook that all of its staff were safe and said "our hearts go out to the the victims".

Asst police chief Carper added it was a "very short time line of violence" and that he was not aware of any remaining threat to the public.

He said: "This is unheard of and very sad. This is a tragic evening.

"We're very fortunate that the officers were in close proximity and that they reacted in the way they did and as bad as this is it could have been much, much worse."

Witness James Williams wrote on Facebook: “Sad people are not right. It happened right in front of the patio where I was sitting in front of Neds.

"[The shooter] tried to go into the bar but did not make it through the door someone took the gun from him and he got shot and is dead.

"There are at least eight people dead right by the picnic table where I was at on street. A bunch of people was [sic] taken to the hospital I don’t know how many this place is a disaster.”

The incident comes just hours after 20 people were killed at a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.

A further 26 people were wounded during the shocking attack at a Wall Mart shopping centre in the south of the country. The shooting is the eighth worst in US history.

It happened just a few miles from the Mexican border and saw three Mexican nationals killed and six injured.

Police are investigating whether an anonymous white nationalist manifesto published on line and claiming the massacre targeted the Hispanic community is legitimate.

A 21-year-old named as Patrick Crusius and from the city of Allen about 10 hours from El Paso is in custody.

It's the latest in a series of mass casualty killings in the US involving guns.

This year alone there have been 251 mass shootings in the US, resulting in more than 1,000 casualties.