Family laid to rest

3,000 mourn 8 lost at Tex. Church

Some 3,000 mourners filled an event center to capacity Wednesday for the funeral of eight members of a family who were among the more than two dozen massacred at a small Texas church.

Families of the victims accompanied hearses in limousines as fire marshals and sheriff ’s deputies shepherded hundreds more to the funeral in Floresville, about 12 miles from the First Bap- tist Church of Sutherland Springs, where the Nov. 5 shooting occurred.

Church member John Holcombe, among the massacre’s few survivors, invited the public to attend the funeral of his pregnant wife, Crystal, 36, and three of her children, Greg, 13, Emily, 11, and Megan, 9; his parents, 60-year-old Bryan and Karla Holcombe, 58; a brother, 36-year-old Marc Holcombe, and Marc’s 18-month-old daughter, Noah. The dead will be buried privately on an unspecified date.

Reporters were barred from entering the event center.

The gunman, Devin Patrick Kelley, shot 25 people at the church, including crying babies at point-blank range, according to witness accounts. Authorities have put the official toll at 26, because Crystal Holcombe was pregnant.

Kelley died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. Authorities say he was involved in a domestic dispute with his mother-in-law, a member of the church who wasn’t present that day.

SAYING GOODBYE: Texas church-massacre survivor John Holcombe lost pregnant wife Crystal (above) and seven other family members, all of whom were mourned at a mass funeral on Wednesday (top).