TEXAS CHURCH MASSACRE
THE US is again in mourning after a gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire with an assault rifle on the congregation of a small-town Texas church, killing 26 people and wounding 20 more in the nation’s biggest shooting massacre.
President Donald Trump said the nation was living through “dark times” but guns were not to blame for the carnage, which came just five weeks after the worst mass shooting in modern US history.
“I think that mental health is your problem here,” the president said, speaking in Tokyo as part of his Asia tour. “This was a very — based on preliminary reports — a very deranged individual.
“This isn’t a guns situation.”
The victims, who ranged in age from five to 72, were gunned down at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, a rural community of some 400 people 50km southeast of San Antonio.
The gunman, widely identified as Devin Kelley, 26, was described by authorities as a young white male who was found dead in his vehicle after being confronted by a local resident.
The air force said Kelley served at a base in New Mexico starting in 2010 before being court-martialed in 2012 for allegedly interviewing those who were injured.”
Governor Greg Abbott warned the toll could rise.
“There’s so many families who have lost family members. Fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters,” he said.
“The tragedy, of course, is worsened by the fact that it occurred in a church, a place of worship, where these people were innocently gunned down. We mourn their loss, but we support their family members.”
The dead included the 14year-old daughter of pastor Frank Pomeroy, the church leader told ABC News.
Annabelle Renee Pomeroy “was one very beautiful, special child,” her father said.
Frank Pomeroy had been in the neighbouring state of Oklahoma at the time of the shooting, and was driving back to Texas after the tragedy.
Other victims, some of whom were evacuated by helicopter, included a sixyear-old boy named Rylan who was in surgery after being shot four times, his uncle told CBS News.
A two-year-old was also shot and wounded, The Dallas Morning News reported. AFP