OfficerBlueSutherland 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.
That armed citizen then enlisted Johnnie Langendorff to help him run down the killer. Langendorff described the encounter to KSAT.
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.
Johnnie Langendorff was driving nearby when he saw the gunfight. As he saw Kelley flee, the armed hero flagged Langendorff down and told him that they needed to pursue the killer.
Langendorff drove the armed hero down the highway, driving 95 MPH and going around other cars to catch up to the killer.
Kelley crashed off of the road and was found dead in his vehicle.
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. They range in age from 5-72 years old.
The First Baptist Church records their services, and it’s likely that the shooting was captured on video.
You can see the interview with Langendorff below.