Firearms instructor fatally shot gunman in church

WHITE SETTLEMENT, Texas — A man who trained others in his Texas church to use weapons to protect the congregation fatally shot a gunman seconds after he opened fire during a service, the Texas attorney general said Monday.

Jack Wilson fired a single shot, quickly ending the attack that killed two people at the West Freeway Church of Christ in the Fort Wortharea town of White Settlement.

The Texas Department of Public Safety identified the gunman as Keith Thomas Kinnunen, 43, of River Oaks, who killed Anton Wallace, 64, of Fort Worth, and Richard White, 67 of River Oaks.

The FBI said Kinnunen had roots in the area but had arrests in various jurisdictions. Public records show he had been arrested in Tarrant County and other states on charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Wilson’s profile on Facebook listed him as a former Hood County reserve deputy and a firearms instructor. He posted about the attack a few hours after it happened, saying the event “put me in a position that I would hope no one would have to be in. But evil exists, and I had to take out an active shooter in church.”

Speaking outside the church, state Attorney General Ken Paxton said authorities “can’t prevent mental illness from occurring, and we can’t prevent every crazy person from pulling a gun. But we can be prepared like this church was.”

Authorities said the assailant’s motive is under investigation.

Paxton joined other Texas officials in hailing the state’s gun laws, which allow weapons in places of worship. He said the church’s security team was organized after a measure was enacted this year that affirmed the right of licensed handgun holders to carry a weapon in places of worship, unless the facility bans them.

That law was passed in the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history, which was also at a church. In the 2017 massacre at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, a man who opened fire on a Sunday morning congregation killed more than two dozen people. He later killed himself.

In a livestream of Sunday’s church service, the gunman can be seen getting up from a pew and talking to someone at the back of the church before pulling out a gun and opening fire.