A black-clad gunman opened fire Sunday at a rural church outside San Antonio, killing at least 26 — including several children — and wounding at least 10, law enforcement officials said.
The killer, pursued by a good Samaritan with a gun, was found fatally shot a short time later in a neighboring Texas county, said a law enforcement official who is not authorized to comment publicly.
Authorities did not immediately identify a motive for the attack at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, and they did not officially identify the gunman. But two law enforcement officials who were not authorized to comment publicly identified the gunman as Devin Kelley, 26, of nearby Comal County, Texas.
“There are no words to describe the pure evil that we witnessed in Sutherland Springs today,” said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Speaking to reporters late Sunday, Abbott said officials were cautiously releasing information on the shooting, including the names of victims, who ranged in age from 5 to 72 years old.
“There’s a lot of information,” Abbott said. “We want to piece the puzzle together.”
Freeman Martin of the Texas Department of Public Safety said the shooter, who was dressed in black and was wearing a ballistic vest, was spotted at about 11:20 a.m. at a Valero gas station across from the church. Witnesses said he drove across the street, got out of his vehicle “and began firing at the church” with a Ruger assault-type rifle.
He moved to the other side and continued firing, then entered the church, Martin said, where he “continued to fire.”
As the suspect left the church, Martin said, a bystander retrieved a rifle and began firing at the shooter, who dropped his Ruger and drove away.
“Our local citizen pursued the suspect at that time,” Martin said.
As law enforcement responded, the suspect drove off a roadway at the Wilson County/Guadalupe County line, Martin said. He was found “deceased in his vehicle,” he said, but officials were not immediately certain if the fatal wound came from a self-inflicted gunshot or from the person pursuing him.
Wilson County, Texas, Sheriff Joe Tackitt told CNN that the shooter “was not from this immediate area.”
Officials said 23 of the 26 victims were shot inside the church.
Frank Pomeroy, who is pastor at the church, told ABC News he was out of town when the rampage took place, but that his daughter was killed. Annabelle, 14, “was one very beautiful, special child,” Pomeroy said.
Paul Buford, pastor of nearby River Oaks Church, said his service was underway when first responders in his congregation were called to the scene. He said some members of the community had “confirmed information” about family members and friends. Buford declined to provide any details.
“We are pulling together as a community,” Buford said. “We are holding up as best we can.”
President Trump, addressing the shooting before speaking to U.S. and Japanese business leaders at a meeting in Tokyo, said the federal government will give “full support” to Texas as it deals with the aftermath of the “horrific shooting” at the church. While these are “dark times,” Trump said, Americans will do “what we do best: We pull together.”
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More: Trump tweets ‘May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs’
President Trump tweeted from his trip to Asia: “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.”
Police, ambulances and helicopters swarmed to the small church 35 miles east of San Antonio.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said agents from its San Antonio office were responding to the shooting. The FBI also was on the scene.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton noted on CNN that Sunday’s shooting took place eight years to the day after the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, which unfolded about 150 miles north of Sutherland Springs. In that shooting, Maj. Nidal Hasan killed 13 and wounded 32 in the deadliest domestic military attack in U.S. history.
Paxton said he wondered if there was a connection between the two shootings. “It’s just strange to me that it happened on the same day and in the same state,” he said.
Carrie Matula, who works at a nearby gas station near, told MSNBC she heard what sounded like semiautomatic gunfire coming from the modest, white clapboard church with a red door.
“This is something that happens in a big city,” she said. “I would never have thought this would have taken place here. It’s just too tight a community. It doesn’t make sense.”
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/11/05/gunman-opens-fire-texas-church/833960001/
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