Photo courtesy of NPR.
Summary: Devin Patrick Kelley murdered 26 people in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
On Sunday morning, Devin Patrick Kelley entered the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas and opened fire on a praying congregation. He killed 26 people and was responsible for the largest mass shooting in Texas history, according to CNN.
On Monday, Freeman Martin of Texas’ Department of Public Safety revealed that Kelley had targetted that church because his mother-in-law attended it. Before the attack, Kelley had sent her a series of threatening messages, which she had not reported to the police.
Martin said that there was no evidence that this attack was racially or religiously motivated.
During his spree, Kelley murdered a baby and a 77-year-old and injured numerous others. The town sheriff said that nearly everyone inside the building had been wounded and that 10 of the 20 who were still alive remained in critical condition.
Kelley’s mother-in-law, however, was not inside when he arrived, and Texas Governor Greg Abbot said it was unclear what Kelley’s motive was or why he had chosen the day his family members were not there.
After the shooting, Kelley left the church unscathed, but he was caught by an armed resident who shot him. Kelley then called his own father to say that he wasn’t going to survive and then he killed himself.
Kelley had used an AR-15 rifle and a military-style Ruger AR-556, according to The New York Daily News. The AR-15 has been used in other mass shootings such as the Las Vegas massacre in October by killer Stephen Paddock.
As authorities try to figure out why Kelley committed this crime, they are looking at his past, which has been filled with cases of anger and violence. Kelley served in the Air Force, but he was dishonorably discharged in 2012 for assaulting his wife and their child. She divorced him later that year, and Kelley ended up taking a security guard job in Texas after his release.
Kelley’s domestic violence in 2012 was not an isolated incident, according to NBC News. He had a history of harassing ex-girlfriends, and one ex, Katy Landry said Kelly was “very sick in the head” and had tried to stalk her.
Kelley remarried in 2014, and NBC News said that there was one incidence of violence reported in that union. It was Kelley’s current wife’s family who attended the Baptist Church where he had taken the lives of almost a dozen children.
President Donald Trump, who is visiting Japan, said at a press conference that he expressed his condolences for the victims and that he believed the shooting was a result of mental health problems in our country.
Kelley’s uncle, Dave Ivey, wrote on Facebook that he was surprised by his nephew’s actions and that the family will forever feel shame.
“I am numb,” Ivey said. “My family will suffer because of his coward actions. … I am so sorry for the victims in Texas.”
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