Gunman had threatened wife’s mom
Review launched after database didn’t list offense, allowing shooter to buy firearms
Killer had sent threatening text messages to his mother-in-law before attack, police said.
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas — The Air Force launched an internal review Monday into why it failed to provide key information to the FBI that should have prevented the attacker who killed more than two dozen people at a church service from purchasing firearms. While serving in the Air Force, the gunman — Devin Kelley, 26 — was convicted by a general courtmartial on two charges of domestic assault.
Also on Monday, law enforcement officials said the massacre occurred amid an ongoing “domestic situation” involving the gunman and his relatives, at least one of whom had attended the church.
The Air Force acknowledged that Kelley’s offense was not entered into a national database, which meant he was able to pass background checks to purchase weapons. Kelley was convicted on charges of assaulting his then-wife and stepson and served 12 months in confinement before being released in 2014 with a bad-conduct discharge.
“Federal law prohibited him from buying or possessing firearms after this conviction,” Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman, said in a statement.
Precisely how Kelley obtained his guns remained a key question for investigators since Sunday’s attack as authorities probe how Kelley, who spent a year behind bars, was able to purchase guns and pass state background checks for jobs.
While authorities have not publicly identified a motive for the attack, they emphasized that the shooting did not appear to be fueled by racial or religious issues, as has been the case involving other rampages at houses of worship. Instead, they said the gunman had sent “threatening texts” to his mother-in-law as part of this ongoing dispute.
“This was not racially motivated, it wasn’t over religious beliefs,” Freeman Martin of the Texas Department of Public Safety said at a news briefing. “There was a domestic situation going on within the family and the in-laws.”
While the gunman’s mother-in-law had attended the church, she was not there Sunday when the shooting occurred, officials said. But one victim was the grandmother of the gunman’s wife.
There were 26 people killed in the church attack. The dead included eight relatives spanning three generations in a single family. While authorities had said Sunday that the victims ranged in age from 5 to 72, they said a day later that those were the people who suffered injuries and were being treated at hospitals.
“Inside the church, the deceased actually ranged from 18 months to 77 years of age,” Martin said. The family that lost eight relatives said one of them was a 1-year-old girl killed in the attack.
Another 20 people were wounded at the church, 10 of whom remained in critical condition Monday, Martin said.
Texas officials said Kelley of New Braunfels, about 35 miles north of Sutherland Springs, shot at the churchgoers with a Ruger assaultstyle rifle before coming under fire from a local man.
Kelley dropped his rifle, jumped in his Ford Expedition and fled, Martin said. “Our Texas hero” flagged down another young Texan, hopped into his vehicle and they chased Kelley, Martin said.
During the chase, Kelley called his father on his cellphone to say “he had been shot and didn’t think he was going to make it,” Martin said. Kelley shot himself, though the cause and manner of his death will be determined after an autopsy, Martin said.
Three guns were recovered Sunday, according to authorities: a Ruger rifle and two handguns inside Kelley’s vehicle. He had purchased a total of four guns during each of the last four years, officials said.
Kelley had been courtmartialed in 2012 and sentenced to a year in military prison for assaulting his spouse and child. He was reduced in rank and released with a bad-conduct discharge in 2014.
His wife, Tessa Kelley, filed for divorce the same year as the court-martial and it was finalized in October 2012.
Kelley’s discharge was complete in 2014, Stefanek said. That February, sheriff’s deputies arrived at his family’s home in New Braunfels one night to investigate a potential domestic violence case.
Citing a sheriff’s office report, Comal County spokesman Paul Anthony said a friend of Kelley’s girlfriend told authorities she received a text message from the girlfriend that indicated “her boyfriend was abusing her.” The report identifies the girlfriend as Danielle Shields and says Shields reported that “her arms were red.” It includes no additional details about what caused them to be red.
Shields said Kelley had “told her to pack a bag,” according to the report.
When sheriff’s deputies arrived, people at the home said there was a “misunderstanding,” according to the report. It doesn’t make clear who spoke to deputies. No arrests were made.
Kelley married Shields two months later.