Back-to-Back Outbreaks of Gun Violence in El Paso and Dayton Stun Country

The nine victims were men and women ranging from 22 to 57 years old, including Mr. Betts’s sister, Megan K. Betts, who was 22. Twenty-seven other people were injured.

The authorities said they still had not established a motive for the shooting. They said Mr. Betts arrived in the entertainment district Saturday evening with his sister and another “companion.” Mr. Betts then split from the rest of the group for a period of time before opening fire, the authorities said.

Across the country, Americans tried to process the weekend of violence while going about their usual routines. On Sunday morning at the National Cathedral in Washington, the Rev. Dr. Leonard Hamlin Sr. spoke to Americans struggling to grasp the violence and loss of life, on top of what can feel like a long list of national and personal struggles.

“Our real challenge is to look within,” he said. “If you are honest this morning, all of us need to be transformed at little bit more.”

In Cambridge, Mass., people said they had little hope that the events would lead to any policy changes.

“It’s disheartening, I think, to see so many politicians just keep doing the same kind of wash-rinse-repeat kind of cycle of: mass shooting happens, and then it’s tweet about thoughts and prayers, and then it becomes, ‘We can’t talk about political ideology, we can’t talk about this and that,’ ” said Greg Cameron, 31, who does marketing for a bike-share company.

Laura Platt, 33, a physician, said she wanted to see better gun policies enacted but had no expectation that that would happen.