‘Act of evil’: 26 dead in Texas shooting
UPDATE: As the US tries to come to terms with another shocking mass shooting, Donald Trump’s response has shocked many.
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has described the Texas massacre as an “act of evil”, but he says guns are not to blame.
Speaking to reporters in Japan, Mr Trump said the gunman’s state of mind was the cause of the mass shooting during Sunday church in Sutherland Springs, south Texas, which left 26 dead and about 20 injured.
“Mental health is your problem here,” Mr Trump said during a news conference on Monday in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“This isn’t a guns situation.”
Based on preliminary reports, he said the shooter was a “very deranged individual”, adding: “Fortunately there was a person shooting in the opposite direction.”
Mr Trump labelled the massacre an “act of evil” and promised his administration’s full support to the investigation.
He expressed his sorrow over what he called a “horrific shooting” at a “place of sacred worship”, adding that “our hearts are broken but in dark times — and these are dark times — such as these, Americans do what they do best”.
The President ordered that US flags at the White House, public buildings and military posts be flown at half-mast until Thursday evening to honour those killed.
PREGNANT MOTHER AMONG VICTIMS
Families have been ripped apart after the mass shooting at a Texas church left 26 dead and around 20 injured.
Joann Ward was gunned down along with two of her daughters, Brooke Ward, 5, and Emily Garza, 7. Her son Ryland Ward, 5, was in hospital with serious injuries after he was shot four times, in the stomach, groin and arm.
Ryland’s father Chris had been working the night shift and was sleeping while his wife and children were at church. His brother, Michael, heard the gunfire and raced to tell Chris there had been a shooting.
“I said, ‘I’m not lying to you, Chris, they’re all shot,’” he told the Dallas Morning News.
Chris and Michael ran to the church, and Michael carried his nephew out after the shooting had stopped.
“I don’t think he’s going to make it,” he told the newspaper. “It’s unreal ... the church of all places.”
Another member of the family had an incredible escape. A bullet shot the glasses off the face of Chris’s eldest daughter, but she was unharmed.
Crystal Holcombe, who was eight months pregnant, was shot and killed along with three of her five children, her cousin Nick Uhlig told local media. Her other two children — one a three-year-old boy — were in a critical condition.
Crystal’s husband John also lost his parents, Karla and Bryan Holcombe, in the attack.
First Baptist Church Pastor Frank Pomeroy told US broadcaster ABC his 14-year-old daughter Annabelle was among the dead. “She was one beautiful, special child,” he said.
He was not at the church at the time of the massacre. He said he believed “every one” of his family’s close friends had been killed.
In a separate interview, his wife Sherri Pomeroy added: “My husband and I were ironically out of town in two different states. We lost our 14-year-old daughter today and many friends.”
A two-year-old was also shot and wounded, while an eight-year-old is reported to have survived by hiding among the pews.
GUNMAN’S CHILLING FACEBOOK POST
The shooting took place at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, a small community of about 400 people located about 48 kilometres southeast of San Antonio.
Law enforcement sources said the gunman was Devin Patrick Kelley, 26.
Kelley, wearing all-black combat gear, a ballistic vest and carrying an assault rifle, walked across the road and into the white-steepled church firing, Wilson Country Sheriff Joe Tackitt said.
Kelley has a military background and was discharged from the air force for allegedly assaulting his spouse and child. He was a resident of New Braunfels, a suburb of San Antonio, located about 50km from the church.
In the days before the massacre, he posted a picture of an assault rifle on his Facebook profile, with the caption: “She’s a bad b***h”.
HERO NEIGHBOUR
A local law enforcement official said the heroic neighbour prevented even more deaths by exchanging gunfire with the killer and then jumping in a truck to chase him down.
The armed neighbour exchanged gunfire with Kelley after he left the church. But the gunman then escaped in his vehicle, according to Johnnie Langendorff, who witnessed the end of the shooting. Mr Langendorff said he and the neighbour — who waved Mr Langendorff down and jumped in his truck — then chased Kelley for several minutes.
“He got a bit of a jump on us ... so we were going around traffic and everything,” Mr Langendorff said of the chase that reached speeds of up to 140 kilometres an hour.
“Eventually he came to a kind of a slowdown, and we got within a few feet of him and then he got off the road. He just lost control and I put (my) vehicle in park. I was on the phone to (police) dispatch.
“The other gentleman jumped out and had his rifle drawn on him (the gunman) and he (the gunman) didn’t move after that.”
The community member stood guard over the gunman until police arrived between five and seven minutes later.
“I was strictly just acting on what’s the right thing to do,” said Mr Langendorff.
Local law enforcement official Freeman Martin said the neighbour who shot and chased Kelly saved lives and stopped more mayhem from happening.
Kelley was found dead after going off the road in neighbouring Guadalupe County. It is not known if he took his own life or was killed by the neighbour.
DEADLY TOLL
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has confirmed the death toll is 26. About 20 others have been wounded.
The victims range in age from five to 72 years old. Twenty-three people were found dead in the church, two were found outside and one died in hospital.
A neighbour said the shooting happened when there were about 50 people at the service — if that number is correct then almost the entire congregation would have been killed or injured.
Kelley pulled up at a petrol station across from the church about 11.20am. He crossed the street and started firing a Ruger AR assault-type rifle at the church as he went in.
Inside, he kept shooting.
There a possibility the deadly rampage may have been caught on camera: previously the church has posted videos of its Sunday services on a YouTube channel.
Sheriff Joe Tackitt told CNN the church recorded its services and confirmed a camera was in use during the deadly attack.
SHERIFF: ‘NO WAY’ TO ESCAPE
Tackitt said there was most likely “no way” for parishioners to escape once the shooting started at the Texas church.
The Wilson County sheriff said on Sunday night that the shooter had fired several shots outside Sutherland Springs church before entering and walking toward the front of the congregation. Tackitt said the gunman then turned around and opened fire on his way back out of the front door.
“I don’t think they could have escaped,” said Tackitt. “You’ve got your pews on either side.”
The sheriff said investigators have not yet determined a motive for the attack.
A teenager earlier also said the layout of the building would have made it difficult for congregants to flee. Hunter Green, 16, described the church as having only small exits on the side and at the back. If a gunman came in the front door, Green said, “they wouldn’t have had anywhere to go.”
Local man Nick Uhlig, 34, was not at the service because he was out late on Saturday night — but he told Associated Press some of his cousins had been shot in the massacre.
He said the cousin who was killed had three children and was pregnant with a fourth. He didn’t know the conditions of his other relatives.
Meanwhile, friends, family and supporters were rushing to hospitals where the survivors had been taken to.
A young man standing outside the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio said he and his mother had been wounded in the shooting and that this father had been killed.
Families in tears wait to see if their family and friends are safe. Praying for the safety of all those involved. pic.twitter.com/yjzK7lZJ1S
— Max Massey (@MaxMasseyTV) November 5, 2017
This is video from the scene of today's mass shooting at a church in #SutherlandSprings. #KSATnews https://t.co/BMSKJ60klk
— KSAT 12 (@ksatnews) November 5, 2017
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
‘WALKED IN AND STARTED SHOOTING’
Amanda Mosel told the San Antonio Express her 13-year-old goddaughter was among the dead.
“From what I’ve heard, someone just walked in and started shooting,” she said.
There are reports the gunman was seen to reload “several times”.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted shortly after the incident was reported: “Our prayers are with all who were harmed by this evil act. Our thanks to law enforcement for their response.”
Carrie Matula, who works at a service station about 140m away from the church, told MSNBC she heard “semiautomatic gunfire” and looked to see what was going on.
“I never thought it would happen here,” Ms Matula added. “This is something that happens in a big city. I would never have thought this would have taken place here. It’s just too tight a community. It doesn’t make sense.”
People living near an address listed for the shooting suspect said they heard intense gunfire from that direction in recent days. Ryan Albers, 16, lives across the road from Kelley’s listed address and said the shooting had been “really loud”.
“At first I thought someone was blasting,” he said. “It was someone using automatic weapon fire.”
Another nearby neighbour said he had also heard gunfire coming from across the street but couldn’t be sure if it came from the property listed as Kelley’s address. He said the sound of gunfire is not unusual in the area given the seclusion and the large acreage of surrounding properties.
A woman who lives about 10 minutes away in Floresville and was monitoring the chaos on a police scanner and on Facebook, said everyone knows everyone in the sparsely populated county.
“This is horrific for our tiny little tight-knit town,” Alena Berlanga said.
The massacre is the worst church shooting in US history, surpassing the nine killed at a Baptist Church in South Carolina in 2015.
It comes just over a month after Stephen Paddock killed 58 people by opening fire on a concert in Las Vegas from his hotel room.
It also means three of the five deadliest shootings in the US have come in the past year.
— additional reporting: Agencies
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