Mother- in- law of shooter had been a parishioner
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas – A lone gunman’s gruesome assault on a rural church that killed 26 people andwounded 20 more appears to have stemmed from a domestic dispute, authorities said Monday.
The Texas Department of Public Safety on Monday identified the shooter as Devin Kelley, 26, of New Braunfels. DPS official Freeman Martin said Kelley’s mother- in- law had attended services at the First Baptist Church but was not there during Sunday’s bloodbath, the
deadliest mass shooting in Texas history.
Kelley had sent threatening text messages to his mother- in- law, Martin said. “We can tell you that there was a domestic situation going on within this family,” Martin said. “This was not racially motivated; it wasn’t over religious beliefs.”
Martin said the case was not being investigated as terrorism. Kelley was court- martialed in 2012 for assaulting his spouse and their child, receiving a bad- conduct discharge from the Air Force and 12 months of confinement.
Martin said the victims in Sunday’s rampage ranged in age from 18 months to 77 years. He said 20 people were wounded in the attack, and some remained in critical condition Monday. The ages of the wounded ranged from 5 to 73, he said.
Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt said about half the victims were children. All of the bodies had been removed from the First Baptist Church, he said.
“It’s just a horrific sight,” Tackitt said. “You don’t expect to walk into a church and see something like that, especially when all the bodies were there, and seeing the children. That’s what hurts the most.”
The church usually posts its services online, and Martin said video recordings fromSunday had been “secured.” Tackitt, however, said “very little” of the service had been recorded.
A nearby resident, armed with an assault rifle, confronted Kelley when he fled the church, Martin said. He said Kelley then drove off in his Ford Expedition while the resident flagged down a pickup and pursued the SUV.
Kelley called his father to say he was shot before crashing his car. Martin said Kelley died of an apparent self- inflicted gunshot.
Tackitt said he has spoken with the man who confronted Kelley.
“He doesn’t believe he’s a hero, but I believe he is,” Tackitt said, adding that the man doesn’t want to speak to the media. “If he hadn’t been there, the guy could have possibly gotten away ... because no one would have seen what type of vehicle hewas driving.
“There’s another church 2 miles down the road over there. He could have stopped in there, too.”
Fred Milanowski, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said a rifle and two handgunswere recovered. He said the guns had been purchased by Kelley.
Military legal experts say Kelley should have been barred from owning a firearm under federal laws because he was convicted in a general courtmartial, the most serious form of military tribunal.
“He would not have been able to purchase aweapon based on his court martial conviction,” said Gary Barthel, a former Marine Corps lawyer.
President Trump, speaking at a news conference in Tokyo while on his tour of Asia, said Kelley was “deranged” and that the focus should be on mental health, not gun control. “This isn’t a guns situation,” Trump said.
Martin said Kelley, who did not have a license to carry a concealed handgun, was licensed as an unarmed security guard. This summer, Kelley worked for less than six weeks at SchlitterbahnNewBraunfels as a seasonal unarmed night security guard, the water park said in a statement. The statement said Kelley was terminated in July.
The church’s pastor, Frank Pomeroy, was out of town and not at Sunday’s service. Tackitt confirmed that the guest pastor was among the victims.
Pomeroy’s wife, Sherri, confirmed that their daughter Annabelle, 14, was among the victims.
“We lost more than Belle yesterday, and the one thing that givesmea sliver of encouragement is the fact that Belle was surrounded by her church family that she lovedfiercely,” Sherri Pomeroy said. “Now, most of our church family is gone.”