“The Texas church shooter who shot dead 26 people and injured 24 others was an ‘outcast’ who ‘preached his atheism’ online,” Jenny Stanton reports for The Daily Mail. “Former classmates say Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, who stormed First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs in Texas and opened fire on Sunday, was ‘creepy’, ‘crazy’ and ‘weird.'”
“Kelley walked into the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on Sunday, dressed in black, tactical gear with a ballistics belt and an assault rifle, and began shooting, according to local law enforcement sources. Kelley of New Braunfels, a suburb of San Antonio, was shot by Stephen Willeford, 55, before he climbed in an SUV to flee the scene, a local resident told DailyMail.com,” Stanton reports. “Another local resident, Johnnie Langendorff, who had witnessed the confrontation refused to let the shooter get away. Both he and Willeford, a local plumber, jumped in his truck and gave chase… As they approached a sharp curve in the road, near the 307 and 539, Kelley appeared to lose control and his car swerved off the road. Kelley was already dead when they found him. It’s unclear if he committed suicide or died from his pursuers’ gunshots.”
“He reportedly purchased the Ruger AR-556 rifle in April last year from an Academy Sports & Outdoors store in San Antonio, according to CNN,” Stanton reports. “When he filled out the background check paperwork, he checked a box that indicated he didn’t have a past criminal history, an official told said, adding that he listed an address in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Texas Sheriff Joe Tackitt said that the shooter was not known to law enforcement… Local law enforcement say the gunman had a relatively clean criminal record, with just a traffic offenses in recent years.”
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.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 5, 2017
…Americans do what we do best: we pull together. We join hands. We lock arms and through the tears and the sadness, we stand strong… pic.twitter.com/qkCPgtKGkA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2017
“A local resident told DailyMail.com that Willeford, who attends a different church, was first alerted to the shooting when his daughter called him saying there was a man in body armor gunning down church goers,” Stanton reports. “He grabbed his gun and bravely headed down to confront the killer. The local said that while Willeford has no military experience, he is an excellent shot, and when he came face to face with Kelley, he didn’t hesitate; he shot in between Kelley’s body armor, hitting him in his side.”
Read more in the full article here.
Apple CEO Tim Cook offered his condolences to the victims and families of the Sutherland Springs mass murder:
Shocked and sorrowed by the heartbreaking news from Texas. Prayers for all those touched by violence today: victims, survivors, worshippers.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) November 5, 2017
“Kelley was once a member of the US Air Force, spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said. He served in logistics readiness at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, starting in 2010,” CNN reports. “Kelley was court-martialed in 2012 for two counts of Article 128 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, assault on his spouse and assault on their child, Stefanek said. Kelley received a bad conduct discharge, confinement for 12 months and a reduction in rank, she said. The Air Force did not provide a date of the discharge.”
“President Donald Trump said Monday he believed the Texas church shooting was caused by a ‘mental health problem,’ and not because of a problem with domestic gun laws,” Sam Meredith reports for CNBC. “When asked whether U.S. gun control measures could have been the key to the Texas shooting, Trump replied, ‘Mental health is your problem here. This isn’t a guns situation,’ he said, before adding, ‘This is a mental health problem at the highest level. It’s a very, very sad event.'”
Speaking at a joint press conference in Tokyo, Japan, alongside Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump described the shooter as ‘a very deranged individual,'” Meredith reports. “‘Fortunately … somebody else had a gun that was shooting in the opposite direction,’ Trump said at the press conference.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Tragic. We offer our prayers for and condolences to all those affected, as well.
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