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Sutherland Springs church shooting

Ch. 1 of 8
— CH. 1 · INTRODUCTION —

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Sutherland Springs church shooting

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  • On the 5th of November 2017, a regular Sunday service at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, became the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history. It also became the deadliest at an American place of worship, surpassing the Charleston church shooting of 2015 and the Waddell Buddhist temple shooting of 1991.

    The man who carried it out had a violent past, and he had bought his rifle in an ordinary store. How did that happen? What did the people in the pews face, and who ran toward the danger rather than away from it? And what did a grieving congregation decide to do with the building where it all took place?

  • A few minutes after 11:00 in the morning, a white SUV pulled up outside the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs. Around 11:20, the driver, Devin Kelley, stepped out wearing black tactical gear and a ballistic vest. A black mask with a white skull hid his face. In his hands was a Ruger AR-556 semi-automatic rifle.

    He began by firing at the building itself. Then he went through a door into the sanctuary, where worshippers were in the middle of their regular service. Inside, he shouted that everybody would die. He moved up and down the center aisle, shooting into the pews.

    Police later counted 15 empty magazines, each able to hold 30 rounds. Authorities estimated that he fired about 450 rounds during an incident that lasted roughly 11 minutes.

    A camera at the back of the church had been set up to record services for posting online. According to investigators, it captured the attack. The footage shows him shooting methodically, stopping only to reload his rifle.

    Across the street, Stephen Willeford had taken cover behind a truck. He was a local resident and a former firearms instructor, and he held an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. The two men traded fire. Willeford hit the gunman twice, once in the leg and once in the upper left torso, beneath the tactical gear.

    Kelley dropped his rifle during that first exchange. He fired back with a handgun, then fled in his Ford Explorer. Willeford got off one more round as the vehicle sped north on FM 539.

    At the intersection of 4th Street and FM 539 sat a pickup truck driven by Johnnie Langendorff. Willeford climbed in on the passenger side, and the two men set off after the Explorer. The chase lasted about five to seven minutes. By Langendorff's account, they reached speeds of up to 95 mph. They phoned police dispatch to report the route and direction, assuming officers were already heading for the church.

    In the car ahead, Kelley called his wife and spoke with her and with his parents. He told them, "I just shot up the Sutherland Springs church." He told his father that he was hurt and did not think he would survive. He reportedly kept repeating how sorry he was.

    Bleeding from his wounds, Kelley lost control near the Hartfield/Sandy Elm Road intersection. He hit a road sign, crossed a bar ditch, and came to rest about 30 feet into an empty field. Willeford and Langendorff saw that he was motionless, and police took over when they arrived.

    Officers found him dead in the car with three gunshot wounds, one of them a self-inflicted wound to the head. Two handguns lay in the vehicle, a Glock 19 9mm and a Ruger SR22 in .22 caliber. He had bought both.

    Back at the church, the full toll was only beginning to emerge.

  • Twenty-six people were killed that morning, and 22 others were wounded. The dead included ten women, seven men, six girls, two boys, and an unborn child. Two were killed outside, 23 died inside the church, and one died at a hospital. The oldest victim was 77 years old.

    The church's pastor, Frank Pomeroy, was not there that day. His 14-year-old daughter was among the dead. A visiting pastor, Bryan Holcombe, died together with eight members of his family, including an unborn grandchild.

    The wounded were scattered across three hospitals. Connally Memorial Medical Center in Floresville took some, University Hospital in San Antonio took others, and Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston received the rest. One of the injured, Kris Workman, was shot twice and left paralyzed from the waist down.

    After the shooting, the building stopped serving as a church and was kept as a memorial to the victims. A new church, about four times larger, was built next door. Congregational leaders argued that the old building was a painful reminder, and in 2021 they voted to remove it.

    Some victims' families opposed the plan and filed a lawsuit to stop it. In July 2024, a judge issued a temporary restraining order to halt the demolition. Another judge later refused to extend that order, which set the demolition in motion.

    On the 12th of August 2024, crews began taking the building apart. One community member who had opposed the plan said, "The devil got his way. That was God's house."

  • Devin Patrick Kelley was born on the 12th of February 1991 and raised in New Braunfels, Texas, about 35 miles from Sutherland Springs. At New Braunfels High School he built a long disciplinary record that included seven suspensions. The listed offenses were falsifying records, insubordination, profanity, and a drug-related offense.

    Accounts of him from those years do not agree. One former classmate called him "an outcast but not a loner" who was "popular among other outcasts." A martial arts instructor said Kelley signed up for his class because he was being bullied and did not fit in.

    Kelley graduated in 2009 with a 2.32 grade-point average, ranked 260th in a class of 393. A close friend from middle school onward said that over the years, "we all saw him change into something that he wasn't."

    After graduating, Kelley enlisted in the United States Air Force. He was first slated to become a fusion analyst but washed out before finishing intelligence technical school. In 2011 he was assigned to logistics readiness at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. He married that April.

    By 2012 his work was so poor that his chain of command was assembling a paper trail to justify discharging him for performance.

    Then came far more serious trouble. In 2012 he was charged with assaulting his wife and fracturing his toddler stepson's skull. He answered by making death threats against the superior officers who had charged him, and he was caught sneaking firearms onto the base. He also threatened self-harm to a coworker.

    Kelley was admitted to Peak Behavioral Health Services, a mental health facility in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. He escaped, but he was caught about ten miles away at a bus terminal in El Paso, Texas.

    The facility's director of military affairs later recalled that he stayed several weeks, until his court-martial. While there, Kelley said he wanted "some kind of retribution to his chain of command." He had also used the facility's computers to order weapons and tactical gear to a P.O. box in San Antonio.

    Kelley and his wife divorced in October 2012. In an interview with Inside Edition, she said she had lived in constant fear of him. He once threatened her at gunpoint over a speeding ticket, and he later threatened to kill her and her entire family.

    In November 2012, Kelley faced a general court-martial. He pleaded guilty to two counts under Article 128 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, for assaulting his wife and his stepson. In return, the weapons charges were dropped.

    He was sentenced to 12 months of confinement and reduced in rank to airman basic. An appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces failed. In 2014, the Air Force dismissed him with a bad conduct discharge.

    The next stage of his life began in a converted barn behind his parents' home.

  • The converted barn at his parents' property in New Braunfels was where Kelley lived after his release. He was soon investigated for sexual assault and rape, and for a physical assault on his then-girlfriend. A 2013 statement from the accuser described an alleged attack.

    A separate statement from his first wife said, "For a whole year, he slapped me, choked me, kicked me, water-boarded me and held a gun to my head." The Comal County Sheriff's Office brought no charges. It said the case went inactive because the victim did not answer four follow-up calls and messages from a detective.

    On the 4th of April 2014, Kelley married his then-girlfriend. The couple moved into a mobile home in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In August 2014 he was charged with misdemeanor cruelty to animals for beating his malnourished husky.

    He received a deferred sentence of probation and was ordered to pay restitution and fees. The charge was dismissed in March 2016 after he completed the sentence. In January 2015, a resident of El Paso County, Colorado, was granted a protection order against him.

    From May to June 2014, Kelley attended the First Baptist Church in Kingsville, Texas, and volunteered for one day of Vacation Bible School. He then stopped, turned vocally anti-Christian, and posted about atheism online.

    He called believers "stupid" and expressed an interest in church shootings. His posts drove numerous former classmates to delete him as a Facebook friend.

    By the time of the shooting, he was living on his parents' property again. He reportedly lied about his background to pass a check and obtain a security guard license from the Texas Department of Public Safety. He worked at the Summit Vacation and RV Resort in New Braunfels.

    He had earlier worked as an unarmed guard at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark and Resort in the same town. He was fired in under six weeks. A family who met him at the Summit called him "creepy." One member said, "He seemed angry. He seemed annoyed by us, and he seemed like he wanted to exert some authority."

    A former Air Force colleague who reconnected with him online described a darker side. He claimed he would buy dogs and other animals for "target practice." He also said he was obsessed with mass murders, including the Charleston church shooting, and joked about committing one himself. She blocked him on Facebook.

    On the night of the 31st of October, less than a week before the attack, Kelley went to a festival at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, dressed all in black. Two parishioners said he behaved so strangely that others watched him closely as a precaution. One person checked that he was not carrying a firearm.

    The Texas Rangers led the investigation, with help from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Investigators said the attack was not racially or religiously motivated. They pointed instead to a dispute with Kelley's mother-in-law, who occasionally attended the church. They found no sign that anyone but Kelley was involved.

    Kelley's estranged second wife sometimes attended the church with her family, and he had sent threatening text messages to her mother. Neither woman was there that morning. His wife's grandmother was, and she was among those he killed.

  • On the 7th of April 2016, Kelley walked into an Academy Sports + Outdoors store in San Antonio and bought the Ruger AR-556 rifle he would later use. He filled out ATF Form 4473 and falsely indicated that he had no disqualifying criminal history.

    Texas law requires an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System check for firearm purchases, except by buyers holding a valid license to carry a handgun. The state had denied Kelley's application for such a license. Yet Texas requires no license at all to buy a firearm.

    The rifle was not his first purchase. In 2012 he bought two guns from the Base Exchange at Holloman Air Force Base. Between 2014 and 2017 he bought four more at stores in Colorado and Texas: the Glock 19, the Ruger SR22, a Ruger GP100 .357 Magnum revolver, and the AR-556.

    On the 29th of October, a week before the shooting, he posted a photo on Facebook of what appeared to be a Ruger AR-556.

    His guilty plea at the court-martial should have made it illegal for him to buy, own, or possess a firearm or ammunition. Federal law prohibits anyone convicted of domestic violence from possessing firearms, even for a misdemeanor. The background check should have flagged the conviction and blocked the sale.

    It did not, because the Air Force never passed the court-martial conviction to the FBI. The service admitted the lapse in a statement. It said the offense "was not entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database" by the Office of Special Investigations at Holloman.

    One day after the shooting, the Air Force announced a review of how it had handled Kelley's criminal records. Three days after the shooting, Vice President Mike Pence visited the scene. He promised, "We will find why this information was not properly recorded in 2012."

  • In 2018, the family of a couple murdered at the church filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. It named the Air Force and the Department of Defense, alleging negligence in reporting Kelley's criminal history.

    In 2021, U.S. district judge Xavier Rodriguez ruled that the federal government's negligence was mostly responsible for the shooting. He wrote that it was "jointly and severally liable for the damages that may be awarded." He later awarded more than $230 million "to survivors and victims' families."

    The case exposed a gap in the system. Since 1996, the Lautenberg Amendment has barred the sale of firearms to people convicted of domestic abuse offenses, even misdemeanors. Gaps in reporting those convictions have persisted all the same.

    On the 15th of November 2017, the day nine of the victims were buried, Senator John Cornyn of Texas introduced the Fix NICS Act of 2017, numbered S.2135. It aimed to fix deficiencies in the reporting process and to impose severe penalties on agencies that failed to report convictions.

    The next day, Congressman Henry Cuellar, whose Texas district includes Sutherland Springs, introduced a House version, H. R. 4434. It was superseded by H. R. 4477, introduced by Congressman John Culberson, who represented a district covering western Houston and Harris County.

    The final version of the Fix NICS Act passed as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. President Donald Trump signed it as Public Law 115-141 on the 23rd of March 2018. A week later, Cornyn met survivors and victims' families at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs to explain the legislation.

    The effect on the Air Force's backlog was already visible. Between the 5th of November 2017 and the 30th of March 2018, it turned over at least 4,000 outstanding records to the FBI.

  • At a press conference in Tokyo, President Trump said, "I think that mental health is a problem here." He added, "this isn't a guns situation." He also said, "Fortunately somebody else had a gun that was shooting in the opposite direction."

    Asked about gun policy in Seoul, South Korea, Trump said that extreme vetting of gun ownership would have made "no difference." He argued that stricter gun control might have prevented Willeford from shooting Kelley. He said, "Instead of having 26 dead, he would've had hundreds more dead."

    Trump also issued a proclamation honoring the victims and ordered flags at half-staff at the White House and all public and military sites until sunset on the 9th of November. Willeford was widely called a hero.

    Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the shooting "will be a long, suffering mourning for those in pain." Attorney General Ken Paxton proposed that churches hire professional armed security guards, or at least arm more parishioners. He said church shootings have happened "forever" and will happen again.

    Manny Garcia, deputy executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, criticized Paxton. Garcia said, "Texans deserve more from their chief law enforcement official."

    Meanwhile, fake news websites and far-right agitators spread misleading stories about the shooter. They variously called him a Democrat, a supporter of Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, or a radical Muslim. Some claimed he carried an antifa flag and shouted, "This is a communist revolution!" Others falsely said he targeted the church because its members were "white conservatives."

    Democratic U.S. Representative Vicente González twice incorrectly named the shooter as Sam Hyde, a comedian who is often jokingly blamed for attacks on social media. González said officials had given him that name.

    Conspiracy theories even reached the hospital where victims were being treated. A Washington Post reporter overheard a group of women who said they knew the victims describing the shooting as a false flag operation. When she tried to ask more, they pushed her away, saying she was part of it. Police removed the reporter from the hospital.

    The misinformation echoed theories about the Las Vegas shooting a few weeks earlier, when perpetrator Stephen Paddock was falsely tied to leftist and Islamist groups.

    In 2018, conspiracy theorists Jodi Mann and Robert Ussery were arrested after accosting the church's pastor, whose daughter had been killed. Both were charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. Ussery was also charged with making a terroristic threat and with marijuana possession. The two deny that the massacre happened.

Updated

Common questions

What happened at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs?

On the 5th of November 2017, Devin Kelley shot and killed 26 people and wounded 22 others during a Sunday service. It is the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history and the deadliest at an American place of worship.

Who stopped the gunman?

Stephen Willeford, a local resident and former firearms instructor, shot Kelley twice from across the street. Willeford then joined Johnnie Langendorff in a pursuit until Kelley crashed his vehicle.

Why was Kelley able to buy firearms?

His 2012 court-martial conviction for assaulting his wife and stepson should have barred him from owning guns. The Air Force failed to report the conviction to the FBI, so a background check did not flag it.

What was the legal outcome for the federal government?

In 2021, U.S. district judge Xavier Rodriguez ruled that the federal government's negligence was mostly responsible. He later awarded more than $230 million to survivors and victims' families.

What legislation followed the shooting?

The Fix NICS Act, which addresses gaps in background check reporting, passed as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. President Trump signed it on the 23rd of March 2018.

What happened to the church building?

It was kept as a memorial, and a new church about four times larger was built next door. Congregational authorities voted in 2021 to remove it, and demolition began on the 12th of August 2024 after some families' legal challenge failed to stop it.

All sources

97 references cited across the entry

  1. 4NewsFrom the first deadly shot until the last — how the Texas church shooting unfoldedAndrew Koubaridis — news.com.au — November 7, 2017
  2. 5NewsAt least 26 people killed in shooting at Texas churchDakin Andone et al. — CNN — November 6, 2017
  3. 8NewsCarnage at small-town Texas church claimed 8 childrenPaul J. Weber et al. — November 8, 2017
  4. 9News15 empty magazines found at Sutherland Springs church massacreKate Winkle et al. — KXAN-TV — November 6, 2017
  5. 10NewsHundreds of shell casings, 15 empty magazines found at churchRob Villalpando et al. — November 7, 2017
  6. 18NewsMeet the two men who chased the gunman in Sutherland Springs shootingsEric Dexheimer et al. — November 6, 2017
  7. 21News26 Dead After Mass Shooting at South Texas ChurchChas Danner — November 5, 2017
  8. 22NewsGunman Kills at Least 26 in Attack on Rural Texas ChurchDavid Montgomery et al. — November 5, 2017
  9. 23NewsAuthorities: Texas church shooter had three gunshot woundsHolly Yan et al. — CNN — November 6, 2017
  10. 24NewsRifle, handguns linked to gunman in Texas church shootingFox News Channel — November 6, 2017
  11. 27NewsAbout Half of the Texas Church Shooting Victims Were ChildrenGabe Gutierrez et al. — NBC News — November 6, 2017
  12. 28NewsFederal judge largely faults Air Force for 2017 Texas church shootingAshley Killough et al. — CNN — July 7, 2021
  13. 30News14-year-old daughter of pastor among victims in Texas church shooting, father saysMeghan Keneally et al. — ABC News — November 5, 2017
  14. 37NewsAuthorities identify gunman in the Texas church massacreEverett Rosenfeld et al. — CNBC — November 5, 2017
  15. 40NM court documents detail Devin Kelley's divorceKaty Barnitz — November 5, 2017
  16. 42NewsIn Air Force, Colleague Feared Church Gunman Would 'Shoot Up the Place'Dave Phillipps et al. — November 11, 2017
  17. 43NewsTexas Gunman Devin Kelley Escaped from Mental Health Facility in 2012Tracy Connor et al. — NBC News — November 7, 2017
  18. 46NewsTexas church attacker identified as former airman Devin KelleyStephen Losey et al. — November 5, 2017
  19. 47NewsTexas Gunman Broke Child's Skull, Assaulted Wife, in Troubled LifeAlan Blinder et al. — November 6, 2017
  20. 48NewsTexas shooter's ex-wife: 'Demons ... hatred' consumed himJoe Sterling — CNN — November 11, 2017
  21. 51NewsHere's everything we know about the Sutherland Springs church shootingMariah Medina — KSAT-TV — November 5, 2017
  22. 52NewsSheriff didn't pursue sex case against Texas church gunmanNomaan Merchant — March 19, 2018
  23. 54NewsDevin Patrick Kelley: What we know about the Texas church shooting suspectJustin Carissimo et al. — CBS News — November 6, 2017
  24. 56NewsTexas church gunman lied about past to become a security guard, records showEva Ruth Moravec et al. — November 21, 2017
  25. 58NewsTexas church gunman 'seemed miserable' as a security guard last weekHolly Yan et al. — CNN — November 8, 2017
  26. 59Texas Church Shooter Devin Kelley Said He Used Dogs As 'Target Practice'Christianna Silva — Yahoo! News — November 9, 2017
  27. 61NewsGunman volunteered one night at church in KingsvilleJonathan Munson et al. — November 6, 2017
  28. 64NewsAir Force Failed to Forward Gunman's Fingerprints 4 Times: IGSeamus McAllastar — React Gear Tactical — December 8, 2018
  29. 65NewsTexas church shooter Devin Patrick Kelley's troubled past emergesEmanuella Grinberg et al. — CNN — November 6, 2017
  30. 66NewsAir Force mistake allowed church shooter to buy gunsMike Ward et al. — November 6, 2017
  31. 67Permanent Brady Permit ChartBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
  32. 69NewsChurch shooter's history puts a spotlight on Texas gun lawsAJ Willingham — CNN — November 6, 2017
  33. 73NewsAir Force Error Allowed Texas Gunman to Buy WeaponsDavid Montgomery et al. — November 6, 2017
  34. 74NewsAir Force failed to relay info that could have stopped firearm sale to gunmanZachary Cohen et al. — CNN — November 6, 2017
  35. 80News'This isn't a guns situation', says Trump after Texas church shootingJustin McCurry et al. — November 6, 2017
  36. 82NewsTrump dismisses question on extreme vetting for gun ownershipJeremy Diamond — CNN — November 7, 2017
  37. 87NewsCritics hit Paxton for encouraging churchgoers to bring firearmsJamie Knodel et al. — November 6, 2017
  38. 91NewsFar right concocts fake news about Texas church shooterMatthew Sheffield — November 7, 2017
  39. 93NewsWas the Texas Church Shooter an Antifa Member Who Vowed to Start Civil War?David Mikkelson — Snopes.com — November 5, 2017
  40. 95NewsFake news: No proof Antifa, communism compelled Texas shooter Devin KelleyJoshua Gillin — PolitiFact — November 6, 2017
  41. 96NewsHoaxes and false information proliferated after Texas church shootingTim Stelloh — NBC News — November 6, 2017

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