Pence consoles grieving town
NATION’S SUPPORT: Vice president visits as new details of massacre emerge
FLORESVILLE — On a day the names of the 26 victims of the worst mass shooting in Texas history were publicly released, Vice President Mike Pence sought to help rally a community anguished over the deadly attack at a small rural church.
“We come together as one nation and one people to support our fellow Americans in their time of need,” Pence told thousands of people who sat in 50-degree temperatures in a high school football stadium about 10 miles from the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs.
“Faith is stronger than evil. No attack, no act of violence will ever break our spirit or diminish the faith of the American people,” Pence told the crowd.
The vice president also acknowledged that the frequency of tragedy in the United States has been trying for many.
“It seems like too often we hear of another
tragedy — another senseless act of violence against the innocent,” Pence said. “In these times, I expect it is easy for some to lose heart. But as the good people of Sutherland Springs taught the nation this week, faith is the antidote.”
His words came just three days after a gunman opened fire on the First Baptist Church during services in the small close-knit town of Sutherland Springs, killing 26 and injuring at least 26 others.
In that same spirit of defying evil preached by Pence, religious leaders in Wilson County announced they would help the First Baptist Church go forward and hold Sunday service this week. While they cannot use the bullet riddled church, community leaders said they will have the service at the nearby community center. Frank Pomeroy, the First Baptist Church’s pastor who lost his 14-year-old daughter in the tragedy, is one of those scheduled to speak at the service.
It’s all part of a recovery that people in the small towns that make up Wilson County say they know will take a long time to overcome the impact of one of the worst mass slayings in Texas history.
Pastor Paul Buford, from the River Oaks Church in Sutherland Springs said they are doing everything they can to prepare for what happens in the coming weeks as people process their overwhelming grief. For some people, that will happen within days or weeks For others it may take months. The challenge for him and others is to be ready to help when they are needed, Buford said. He said the plan is to make sure there is grief counseling ready for whenever people feel they need it most.
Buford said there will be a point where the shock of what happened goes away, and reality sinks in.
Town receiving help
Already the town is being overwhelmed by help from all over the state. Buford said he’s been moved by seeing help from churches in Rockport, Victoria and Houston — all still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.
“Something evil happened here, but the Bible tells us that the only way to overcome evil is with good,” Buford said.
Pence’s visit also came on a day that new details emerged about the violent background of the shooter who gunned down the dozens of churchgoers, including children. The Comal County Sheriff ’s Office said in 2013 it received emergency calls related to a sexual assault at the home where the shooter Devin Patrick Kelley had been living. Deputies began investigating the case, but in October ended that after they thought Kelley had moved to Colorado.
That trouble came after Kelley was found to have made death threats against his military superiors, smuggled weapons onto his New Mexico Air Force Base and was admitted to a mental health facility with what were described as “mental disorders.”
In 2012, Kelley escaped from the mental health facility. That had occurred just months after Kelley had been court-martialed for domestic violence in a case that left his infant stepson with a fractured skull.
The Air Force never reported the conviction to the FBI, which did not have the information in its database when Kelley purchased four weapons that were used in the deadly shooting rampage on Sunday.
Pence told reporters during a news conference near the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs that he puts blame on the Air Force for failing to do what it should have to prevent Kelley from getting weapons. Pence said the gunman lied on his background check application when buying the weapons.
Kelley purchased two weapons from a Colorado gun shop over a two year period. Jeff Lepp, who owns Specialty Sports and Supply in Colorado Springs, said Kelley bought a pistol from his shop in 2014 and a revolver in 2015. In Sunday’s shooting, Kelley used an AR-15-style rifle.
Three days after the deadly shooting, police still had the church and the blocks around it cordoned off as the investigation continued. DPS officials say they have recovered 15 30-capacity magazines from the scene, the equivalent of 450 shots.
Mutilated by bullets
Emergency workers who were first to arrive on the scene said when they entered the church, people shot suffered multiple shots. Children were shot to the point of mutilation, said Paul Brunner, chief of the volunteer La Vernia EMS.
The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms said the weapon used by Kelley was not an automatic, but instead appeared to be semi-automatic. They also confirmed that there was no bumpstock in use, a device the shooter in Las Vegas used last month during a mass killing there.
The investigation has hit one snag, as FBI officials say they have been unable to get into the Kelley’s cellphone. Because of the encryption system, the phone has been sent to a special FBI crime lab in Virginia to gain access to the data.
Just a few hundred feet from the church building that is marked by dozens of bullet holes, mourners have continued to place flowers and stuffed animals just outside the yellow police tape.
One of those who walked up Wednesday was 17-year-old Alison Gould, who with tears in her eyes, wanted to pay tribute to her best friend, Haley Krueger, who died in the assault.
“I wish I could just take the guy who did this and punish him for the things he did,” Gould said.
Gould said Krueger, 16, attended La Vernia High School and wanted to be a nurse specializing in taking care of babies. She said Krueger liked to go to First Baptist Church because being their made her feel closer to her late father who passed away years earlier.
“She was so amazing,” Alison Gould said. “I want to see her again, but I know it’s not possible.”
In Floresville, Pence was accompanied to the rally by Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and U.S. Reps. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, and Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo.
Before attending the vigil, Pence first visited with shooting victims at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, then attended a briefing in Sutherland Springs from state, local and federal law enforcement.