Shooter driven by rage
TEXAS church shooter Devin Kelley’s rampage was fuelled by fury at his estranged wife and her family as well as an obsession with mass shootings.
Kelley fired 450 rounds from a semiautomatic assault rifle and hit almost every member of the congregation inside the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, killing 26 and injuring 20 on Sunday.
He was stopped by two neighbours, one who shot him twice and another who chased the gunman in his pick-up truck for 13 minutes at more than 140km/h before Kelley ran off the road and ended his life.
Authorities yesterday blamed a clerical oversight for allowing the convicted domestic abuser, 26, to buy four firearms over the past year as his social media posts revealed his dark fascination for all-toocommon gun massacres.
Having served a year in jail for fracturing his baby stepson’s skull before his court martial from the air force in 2012, Kelley should have been flagged in three national databases banning sales to prospective gun owners.
However, the air force confirmed yesterday this had not happened. Kelley was therefore able to “legally’ buy the Ruger AR556 he used.
“Initial information indi- cates that Kelley’s domestic violence offence was not entered into the National Criminal Information Centre database,” the air force said.
Christopher Combs, the FBI special agent in charge, said his name was not flagged in a further two databases.
Authorities last night continued their investigation, setting up tents outside the small, white wooden church where 4 per cent of the farming town’s population perished.
It came as the heroic neighbour who stopped Kelley was identified as plumber Stephen Willeford.
An autopsy revealed the shooter died from a selfinflicted gunshot after being shot twice by Mr Willeford in the leg and the torso.
“I kept hearing the shots, one after another, very rapid shots — just ‘pop pop pop pop’ and I knew every one of those shots represented someone, that it was aimed at someone, that they weren’t just random shots,” Mr Willeford said of his decision to grab his rifle and run barefoot from his home towards the gunfire.
“I just wish I could have gotten there faster.
“I know I hit him. He got into his vehicle, and he fired another couple rounds through his side window.”
Mr Willeford approached the car of Johnnie Langendorff and explained the man had just “shot up the Baptist church” and “we need to stop him”.
Authorities said Kelley’s frenzy was in part due to “domestic issues” he was experiencing with his estranged wife, Danielle, and her family, who attended the church. He had sent threatening messages to his mother-in-law Sunday morning.
The shooting has again sparked heated debate about the US’s lax gun laws.
But President Donald Trump said: “This isn’t a guns situation. This is a mental health problem.”