Air Force reviewing its blunder

DESCENT INTO HORROR

A CLERICAL error and a lie were all it took for Devin Kelley to get the assault rifle he brought to a Texas church on his godless mission of murder.

On Monday, a day after the former airman slaughtered 26 innocent people, including children, and wounded 20 more at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, retired Air Force Col. Don Christensen said the military, in a “huge failure,” did not report Kelley’s court martial convictions to the FBI.

“The Air Force has admitted they failed to notify the federal government as required about the convictions, so he did not appear in the database,” Christensen said. “So it’s a huge failure on the part of the Air Force.”

Christensen was the chief Air Force prosecutor in 2012 when Kelley faced charges of abusing his wife and infant stepson. He said one of his senior prosecutors handled the case and that he never met Kelley, 26, who was found dead after the Sunday massacre.

“On multiple occasions, (Kelley) was violent toward the stepson, including getting angry with him, pushing him down, throwing him to the ground and shaking him violently. As a result, the stepson suffered a subdural hematoma and a fractured skull,” Christensen told the Daily News. “The abuse was in 2010, 2011.”

He said Kelley also threatened his wife, who divorced him in 2012, with a gun.

“On a number of occasions, he was alleged to have pointed a gun at his wife,” Christensen said.

Kelley pleaded guilty to “assaulting his son on diverse occasions and assaulting his wife on numerous occasions.” He was sentenced to a year in the brig, but the charges carried a potential penalty of five years.

“Based upon what he pled guilty to and was found guilty of, . . . it would have been illegal for him to possess or purchase a firearm because he was found guilty of an offense with an authorized term of punishment more than one year,” Christensen said. “It’s also illegal because he was convicted of a domestic violence charge. So, for two reasons, he should not have had a gun.”

Kelley received a bad-conduct discharge, which wouldn’t preclude a person who didn’t have a domestic violence conviction from buying a gun.

Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said the inspector general’s office will conduct a review of the handling of Kelley’s case and look for similar instances.