Why Texas shooter targeted church

NEW details have shed light on why this “deranged” man chose a small Texas church as his target, and how two heroes stopped him.

Devin Patrick Kelley, named as the gunman who killed 26 people at a church in Texas. Picture: Twitter

INVESTIGATORS say the Texas mass shooter chose the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs to carry out his deadly massacre because he knew it was where his mother-in-law attended Sunday service.

Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, sent her a threatening text message the same morning he donned a black uniform and opened fire on the church, killing 26 people including a 18-month-old baby.

“It’s a senseless crime, but we can tell you there was a domestic situation going on within this family,” Freeman Martin of the Texas Department of Safety told reporters on Monday afternoon.

Devin Kelley, the suspect in the shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday. A short time after the shooting, Kelley was found dead in his vehicle. Picture: Texas Department of Public Safety via AP

“The suspect’s mother-in-law attended this church. We know that she had received threatening texts from him. We know he expressed anger towards his mother-in-law.”

Kelley first aroused suspicion on Sunday morning when he was seen in the southern Texas town wearing all black, including a black mask with a white skull on it, and a bulletproof vest.

He drove up to the church in his white SUV and used an assault rifle to pick off parishioners.

Law enforcement officials continue their investigation at Sutherland Springs Baptist Church during the early morning hours Monday. Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP

Mr Martin said he “moved around freely”, shooting dead 23 people inside the building, the oldest of whom was 77 years old. Another two died outside the church and a third perished in hospital.

But with 20 more injured, including 10 now in a critical condition, Mr Martin said the death toll “could rise”.

A former classmate of Kelley’s, Nina Rosa Nava, wrote on Facebook that Kelley was a militant atheist who ranted online that religious people were “stupid”.

Freeman Martin, regional director of public safety, briefs the press as law enforcement officials continue their investigation at the First Baptist Church. Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP

“He was always talking about how people who believe in God were stupid and trying to preach his atheism,” she wrote.

She told theDaily Mail that he was “an outcast but not a loner”, while another classmate said he “always crept me out”.

However, Mr Martin said he did not believe religion was a factor.

“This was not racially motivated, there was no religious beliefs, there was a domestic situation going on within the family and the in-laws,” he said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also ruled out terrorism as a motive.

HOW HEROES BROUGHT MASS SHOOTER DOWN

Authorities have praised the “Texas hero” who exchanged gunfire with the mass shooter, forcing him to flee.

Stephen Willeford, 55, a plumber who lives over the street from the church, rushed to the scene with his own assault rifle when his daughter told him about the unfolding carnage, according to the Evening Standard.

He managed to hit Kelley in the side through a gap in his body armour, at which point the mass shooter dropped his gun, jumped into his Ford Expedition and fled the scene.

Stephen Willeford, who has no military experience, helped to stop Devin Kelley’s murderous rampage.

But Mr Willeford wasn’t done yet.

He flagged down a vehicle being driven by another Texan, Johnnie Langendorff, and they chased the Ford at 160km/h.

Police said that during the pursuit, Kelley rang his dad on his mobile phone to tell him he had been shot and that he didn’t think he would make it.

Johnnie Langendorff and another man chased down the gunman after he fled the church where he killed 26 people. Picture: Nick Wagner/Austin American-Statesman via AP

Kelley shot himself dead soon after the phone call.

“With all active shooter situations, the number one goal of law enforcement is to neutralise the shooter. In this situation, we had two good samaritans that did that for law enforcement,” Mr Martin said, adding that Mr Willeford was “our Texas hero”.

SHOOTER WAS NOT LICENSED TO CARRY A GUN

Questions have been raised about how Kelley was able to buy four firearms over the past four years, given he did not have a licence to carry a gun.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott told CNN that the shooter had requested a Texas licence but was refused.

Despite this, he was able to buy four firearms — one each year between 2014 and 2017 — including the assault rifle he used in the church massacre, and two handguns found in his car. Two of the firearms were bought in Texas and two were bought in Colorado.

FBI agents comb the scene of a horrific mass shooting at the First Baptist Church, Sutherland Springs. Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP

The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Kelley did have a licence to work as an unarmed private security guard at events such as concerts.

The bureau’s Fred Milanowski said there were no disqualifying factors that would have precluded him from gaining the private security licence.

However, he was dishonourably discharged from the military, which generally prohibits such individuals from possessing or buying firearms.

Mr Milanowski said these details were still being investigated.

Authorities also revealed they were examining video taken inside the church while the shooting was under way.

All bodies have now been removed from the scene and are undergoing autopsies.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump says that the massacre cannot be blamed on guns.

“Mental health is your problem here,” Mr Trump said during a news conference in Japan.

“This isn’t a guns situation.”

He said the shooter was a “very deranged individual” and said it was fortunate there was another armed person there “shooting in the opposite direction”.