OfficerBlueSutherland Springs, TX – The gunman who opened fire in a Texas church on Sunday is dead following a pursuit by police, according to Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office.
No official word has been released if the gunman was killed by police or he killed himself.
KGW is reporting that the police killed the suspect, but their source isn’t clear at this time.
CNN reports that 27 people were murdered, including children, after the shooter entered First Baptist Church on Sunday and opened fire at around 11:30 am. An estimated 30 additional people have been wounded.
The First Baptist Church records their services and it’s likely that the shooting was captured on video.
“My heart is broken,” Wilson County Commissioner Albert Gamez Jr. told CNN. “We never think where it can happen, and it does happen. It doesn’t matter where you’re at. In a small community, real quiet and everything, and look at this, what can happen.”
UPDATE: Shooter identified as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley.
UPDATE: Law enforcement didn’t take down the gunman, and armed citizen hero did.
FULL UPDATE:
Sutherland Springs, Texas – Authorities announced at a press conference on Sunday that the Texas church shooter was not taken down by law enforcement, as originally reported, but that he was was instead stopped by an armed citizen.
At the press conference authorities said that the shooter, now identified as Devin Patrick Kelley, parked his car across the street from First Baptist Church.
The shooter then approached the church and used a rifle to open fire on the church from the outside. The shooter then went in the church and continued shooting his victims.
A community member saw the shooting, grabbed his rifle, and engaged Kelley in a gunfight. During the gunfight, Kelley dropped his weapon and was forced to flee from the community hero.
The armed citizen pursued Kelley until his car went off the road and he was found dead.
It has not been confirmed if Kelley died from the citizen’s bullets or if he killed himself while fleeing.
Kelley was dead before law enforcement arrived.
Twenty-six people have been confirmed to have been murdered by Kelley in the shooting, which occurred at around 11:30 am Sunday, with twenty more injured, ages range from 5-72 years old.
The First Baptist Church records their services and it’s likely that the shooting was captured on video.
A witness described what she heard during the shooting:
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