Texas Church Shooting Leaves at Least 25 Dead, Official Says
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Tex. Nov 6 2017 — A gunman walked into a small Baptist church in rural Texas on Sunday and opened fire, killing at least 25 people and turning a tiny town east of San Antonio into the scene of the country’s most recent mass horror.
Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas confirmed the death toll, which has steadily increased throughout the day after the shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. He said a pregnant woman and children were among the dead.
Two law enforcement sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation, identified the gunman as Devin P. Kelley, 26.
Mr. Cuellar, who said he was briefed by law enforcement authorities, said the gunman came from Comal County, which is northeast of San Antonio.
“He went there, he walked in, started shooting people and then took off” to Guadalupe County, he said.
Albert Gamez Jr., a Wilson County commissioner, told CNN Sutherland Springs is a small community where everyone knows one another.
He said: “You never expect something like this. My heart is broken.”
The unincorporated community has a population that numbers in the low hundreds — the 2000 census was 362, according to the Texas State Historical Association. The preliminary death toll would amount to about 7 percent of the population.
The service at the church last Sunday, which was posted on YouTube, began with a rendition of a song called “Happiness Is the Lord.”
Then the pastor, Frank Pomeroy, told his parishioners — 20 to 30 were visible in the video — to walk around the room and “shake somebody’s hand.”
“Tell them it’s good to see them in God’s house this morning,” he said.
Videos posted online show lyrics to the hymns appearing on television screens with parishioners playing electric guitars and a sign language interpreter translating the songs.
A parishioner, Sandy Ward, said in an interview on Sunday that a daughter-in-law and three of her grandchildren were shot. Her grandson, who is 5, was shot four times and remained in surgery as of Sunday night. She said she was awaiting word on her other family members.
Ms. Ward said she did not attend services on Sunday because of her troubled knees and a bad hip. “I just started praying for everybody who was there” when she learned of the shooting, she said.
Joseph Silva, 49, who lives about five miles northeast of Sutherland Springs, said the police had instructed his family and neighbors to stay indoors.
In a phone interview on Sunday afternoon, he described Sutherland Springs as “a one-blinking-light town.”
“There is a gas station and a post office,” he said. “That’s about all there really is.”
Mr. Silva said he had been approached by a woman who said she had two loved ones at the church who were shot.
“There are a number of individuals just weeping and just wanted to know what’s happened to their loved ones,” he said. “Everybody is pretty grief-stricken. Everyone’s worried.”
The First Baptist Church of La Vernia, Tex., about seven miles away, wrote on Facebook that it would open its doors from 5 to 7 p.m.
“Today an unthinkable tragedy occurred in our community,” the church wrote. “There will be pastors and leaders present to pray with you or to talk, and the altar will be open for us to fall at the feet of Jesus.”
