Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
26 dead, 20 wounded in church shooting
Barrage of bullets rock tiny Texas town; gunman, an Air Force veteran, flees, found dead
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas — A gunman shot and killed at least 26 people and injured about 20 others Sunday inside a small community church in South Texas, and he was found dead several miles from the scene after fleeing, authorities said.
The mass shooting happened during morning services at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, a small town more than 30 miles southeast of San Antonio, and it claimed the lives of people ranging in age from 5 to 72, authorities said.
Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt said the shooter was identified by another law enforcement source as Devin Kelley, 26, a resident of Comal County, Texas.
Witnesses described the shooter as a man wearing all black clothing and a tactical vest. Neighbors said they heard loud bangs and even had bullets
spray into their homes as the gunman released a barrage of gunfire that started outside the church and moved into it before noon.
Diana Segura, 69, said she was in the shower Sunday morning about 11 a.m. when she was startled by a series of bangs so loud she thought a truck’s engine had exploded on the highway behind her home.
Minutes later, sirens burst onto her quiet street and Segura walked outside and saw multiple bodies on the ground outside the First Baptist Church, where she occasionally attends weeknight services. Standing outside her home down the street from the church, Segura stared at the throng of police cars and emergency vehicles, her head shaking in disbelief.
“This is a small town and nothing never happens here,” Segura said. “We are family here, and that church is always filled with friends.”
The Pentagon said the suspect had served in the Air Force. In a brief statement, it said Kelley was an airman “at one point.”
Additional details weren’t available late Sunday.
“At this moment in time, there are 26 lives that have been lost,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said. “We don’t know if that number will rise or not; all we know is that’s too many and this will be a long, suffering mourning for those in pain.”
After dark, Abbott joined a crowd of more than 100 on a grassy street corner within sight of the church for a prayer vigil.
According to a statement from the Texas Department of Public Safety, officials were called to the church for reports of a gunman at 11:20 a.m.
Officials said that the suspect began firing a Ruger assault rifle outside of the church and then entered the building as he continued to fire. Authorities said as the gunman exited the church he was confronted by an armed citizen who began firing at the gunman — prompting the suspect to flee in his vehicle.
“The local citizen pursued him,” said Freeman Martin, a regional director for the Texas Department of Public Service, who said the gunman crashed off the roadway about 11 miles north of the shooting scene. “We don’t know if it was a self-inflicted gunshot wound or if he was shot by our local resident who engaged him in a gunfight.”
Twenty-three people were found dead inside the church building, two people were shot and killed outside, and one person died at a hospital, authorities said.
Two law enforcement officials told The Washington Post that they did not see any immediate sign that the suspect was motivated by international terror groups, but they cautioned the investigation is still in its early stages.
Authorities had not provided any information about a possible motive.
The area was swarming with law enforcement officers Sunday, as officials investigated the scene of the shooting and the scene where the shooter was found.
An official with the San Antonio Police Department said their bomb squad was dispatched to search the shooter’s vehicle for explosives. Authorities said they found multiple weapons in the vehicle.
Federal authorities, including from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI, were on the scene.
The Texas Ranger Division of the state’s Department of Public Safety also was involved in the investigation.
Frank Pomeroy, the pastor of First Baptist Church, told ABC News that his teenage daughter was among the dead.
The shooting Sunday came more than a month after a masked gunman stormed into a small community church outside of Nashville, Tenn., and shot seven people, including the pastor, killing one. Authorities said the suspect in that shooting, Emanuel Kidega Samson, might have been motivated by a quest for revenge for a 2015 shooting that targeted black churchgoers in Charleston, S.C. — a shooting that left nine people dead.
It also came just more than a month after 58 people were killed at a Las Vegas country music festival, in what was the deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history; the assailant, Stephen Paddock, killed himself after a lengthy shooting spree from his 32nd floor Mandalay Bay hotel suite.
President Donald Trump, traveling in Asia, said in a tweet Sunday that he was “monitoring the situation from Japan.” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump spoke with Gov. Abbott.
“May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan,” Trump wrote.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement that his office stood ready to assist local law enforcement as needed: “The thoughts and prayers of all Texans are with the people of Sutherland Springs as tragic reports come out of First Baptist Church.”
A video shared on Twitter by a KSAT reporter showed people crying and holding hands as they waited to find out whether their loved ones were safe.
The church is a part of the Southern Baptist Convention.