Guard pulls trigger on attacker

ALARMS went off in Jack Wilson’s head the moment a man wearing a fake beard, a wig, a hat and a long coat walked into a Texas church.

By the time the man approached a communion server and pulled out a shotgun, Mr Wilson and another security volunteer were already reaching for their own guns.

The attacker shot the other volunteer, Richard White, and then the server, Anton “Tony” Wallace, sending congregants scrambling for cover. The gunman was heading toward the front of the sanctuary as Mr Wilson searched for a clear line of fire.

“I didn’t have a clear window,” he said, referring to church members who “were jumping, going chaotic”.

Mr Wilson (pictured), a 71year-old firearms instructor who has also been a reserve sheriff’s deputy, said: “They were standing up. I had to wait about half a second, or a second, to get my shot. I fired one round. The subject went down.”

Mr Wilson’s single shot ended the attack that killed Wallace, 64, and White, 67, at the West Freeway Church of Christ in the Fort Worth town of White Settlement.

He said the entire confrontation was over in no more than six seconds. More than 240 congregants were in the church at the time.

“The only clear shot I had was his head because I still had people in the pews that were not all the way down as low as they could. That was my one shot,” Mr Wilson said.

As Mr Wilson approached the fallen attacker, he noticed five or six other members of the volunteer security team he had trained with their guns drawn.

The Texas Department of Public Safety has identified the attacker as Keith Thomas Kinnunen, 43.