‘Scared,’ but managed to shoot killer

STEPHEN Willeford, who’s credited with shooting the Texas church killer before the maniac killed himself, says he’s no hero.

Willeford said his daughter told him a man clad in black had opened fire at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, prompting him to grab his rifle and see what was happening.

“Every time I heard a shot, I knew that that probably represented a life,” he told KHBS-TV. “I was scared to death. I was scared for me. I was scared for every one of them, and I was scared for my own family that just lived less than a block away.”

“I’m no hero,” Willeford, 55 (photo inset), insisted. “I think my Lord protected me and gave me the skills to do what needed to be done. And I wish I could’ve gotten there faster, but I didn’t know what was happening.”

The plumber and former National Rifle Association instructor loaded his weapon and rushed barefoot to the church across the street, where he encountered killer Devin Kelley before exchanging gunfire.

Willeford told the TV station he shot Kelley several times as the gunman drove away.

Willeford said he eventually came across Johnnie Langendorff in a pickup truck, and told him, “That guy just shot up the Baptist church. We need to stop him.”

Langendorff told The Associated Press he was driving to pick up his girlfriend when Willeford jumped in the passenger seat.

“He briefed me quickly on what had just happened and said we had to get him, so that’s what I did. We speed over (Highway) 87 through traffic . . . he eventually lost control on his own and went off in the ditch,” Langendorff, 27, recalled. “He just never moved after that.”

Authorities said Willeford’s shots hit Kelley in the leg and torso. The killer died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, they said.

Langendorff said he didn’t have to think twice about pursuing Kelley: “He just hurt so many people and he just affected so many people’s lives. Why wouldn’t you want to take him down?”