EWORrLDror let shooter buy rampage gun

TEXAS church shooter Devin Kelley’s rampage was fuelled by fury at his estranged wife and her family and an obsession with mass shootings.

Kelley fired 450 rounds from a semi-automatic assault rifle and hit almost every member of the congregation in 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 fleeing gunman in his pickup truck for 13 minutes at more than 140km/h before Kelley ran off the road and ended his life.

Authori - ties 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 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.

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 has been revealed the neighbour who stopped Kelley was plumber Stephen Willeford.

An autopsy revealed the shooter died from a selfinflicted gunshot after being shot twice by Mr Willeford in the leg and 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