Sutherland Springs Church Massacre: Deadliest In Texas History

In Texas, a gunman opened fire with a semi-automatic assault rifle on a Sunday morning church service in the small town of Sutherland Springs, killing 26 people and wounding at least 20 others. Witnesses say a man dressed in black wearing tactical gear and a ballistic vest began firing outside the church before entering the building, shooting dozens of people inside. Among the victims was a pregnant woman, the 14-year-old daughter of the church’s pastor and other children as young as five years old. The suspected shooter has been identified as a 26-year-old white man named Devin Patrick Kelley from New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley was found dead in his car from a gunshot wound shortly after the shooting. It is not yet known whether he killed himself or whether he was shot by a local resident who opened fire on Kelley after the church massacre and then chased him, along with another resident, in his car 11 miles away from the church. Kelley enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 2010. In 2012, he was court-martialed for assaulting his wife and child, leading to a year-long imprisonment and “bad conduct” discharge in 2014. 

For more, we speak with Sarah Tofte, research director at Everytown for Gun Safety. Her team has just published a new report on the links between domestic violence and mass shootings.