Law enforcement officials work at the scene of the attack on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas
On November 5, 2017, a mass shooting took place at the First Baptist Church in the unincorporated community of Sutherland Springs, Texas, about 35 miles (56 kilometres) east of the city of San Antonio. Twenty-six people, aged from 5 to 72, were killed and a further twenty were injured. It is the deadliest shooting in an American place of worship, surpassing the Charleston church shooting of 2015.
At approximately 11:20 a.m. CST, a man wearing black tactical gear and wielding a semi-automatic rifle exited a vehicle at a gas station across the street from the church and immediately began firing in the direction of the church. After crossing the street, he approached the building from the right while firing, and continued to fire as he entered the church. He used a Ruger AR-15-type rifle according to federal law enforcement.The "semi-automatic gunfire" was heard by a witness.
As the gunman left the church, a local resident armed with a rifle shot at him, and may have injured him. The gunman dropped his rifle and fled in his car. The resident flagged down a car driving by, and the driver and resident pursued him at high speed for about five to seven minutes. The gunman lost control of his car and drove off the road in the neighboring Guadalupe County, near the city of New Berlin. He was observed to be motionless by the two men in pursuit. According to one of them, police took over the scene when they arrived. The gunman was found dead by police in his car from a gunshot wound. It is unclear who inflicted it.
Twenty-six people were killed and twenty others were injured. Twenty-three died inside the church, two outside, and one in a hospital. The ages of the deceased ranged from five to 72. The Sunday service is usually attended by approximately 50 people. Several children, one of them the 14-year-old daughter of church pastor Frank Pomeroy, were killed, as was a pregnant woman.
The perpetrator was identified as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, described as a "young, white male" by police. Kelley was a U.S. Air Force member who served in logistics readiness at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico from 2009 until 2014. In 2012, he was court-martialed for two counts of Article 128 UCMJ, for assaulting his spouse and her child. He was sentenced to 12 months of confinement. In 2014 he was dismissed with a bad conduct discharge and a reduction to the lowest service pay grade of E-1.Kelley had a residence in New Braunfels, Texas, which is about a 35 miles (56 km) drive from Sutherland Springs. He was married in April 2011, and divorced in October 2012. His former mother-in-law had a Sutherland Springs mailing address. On October 29, a week before the shooting, he posted a photo of an assault rifle on his Facebook profile.
According to preliminary news reports, Kelley might have had a personal connection to one or more persons at the church he targeted.
