SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas, Nov. 5, 2017 (UPI/Gephardt Daily) — Police in Texas said 26 people are dead and 20 people are injured after a man opened fire in a church outside of San Antonio on Sunday morning.
Among those killed at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, about 40 miles southeast of San Antonio, was a 14-year-old girl, according to her father, Frank Pomeroy, who is a pastor at the church, ABC News is reporting. None of the victims’ names have been released pending notification of family, officials said, but their ages range from 5 to 72.
A witness reported a man walked into the church and began shooting at about 11:20 a.m.
Twenty-six people were killed in the shooting, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a news conference Sunday night. Twenty-three people were found dead inside the church, two dead outside the church, and one died on the way to an area hospital.
Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Robert Murphy told CNN the shooter led police on a brief chase from Wilson County into Guadalupe County. There, police killed the shooter, Wilson County News reported.
The shooting suspect has been identified as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, CBS News is reporting. Kelley is a former U.S. Air Force member who served from 2010 to 2014.
The Los Angeles Times reported later Sunday that, according to a statement from Ann Stefanek, the chief of Media Operations for the Air Force, Kelley served in logistics readiness at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico starting in 2010 and was court-martialed in 2012 for two counts alleging assault on his spouse and assault on their child.
Kelley was convicted and sentenced to 12 months in custody and given a bad conduct discharge, Stefanek said. He was discharged in 2014.
Federal law enforcement sources say the suspect used an AR-15 type rifle, it is being reported.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the Texas Department of Public Safety would provide more information when available and offered condolences to the victims.
“Our prayers are with all who were harmed by this evil act,” he said. “Our thanks to law enforcement for their response.”
The FBI was responding to the scene, a spokeswoman for the agency’s San Antonio field office said.
President Donald Trump tweeted that he is monitoring the situation from his trip to Japan.
“May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene,” he tweeted.
This story will be updated as information becomes available.
