XPost: sac.politics, alt.politics.socialism.democratic, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh XPost: talk.politics.guns

Another White / Republican / Trump / NRA "American" just murdered 26
people in a Texas Baptist Church. This After 58 In Las Vegas Last Month


TEXAS CHURCH SHOOTER IDENTIFIED: Devin P. Kelley Kills 26; At Least 24
Injured; Shooter Shot Dead

A man opened fire inside of a church in a small South Texas community on Sunday, killing at least 26 people and wounding 24 others before being
killed or killing himself.

The suspect has been identified as Devin P. Kelley, 26, who police say
killed family members before launching his attack at First Baptist Church
in Sutherland Springs.

A U.S. official said Kelly lived in New Braunfels, Texas, a San Antonio
suburb and doesn’t appear to be linked to organized terrorist groups. The official said investigators are looking at social media posts Kelley may
have made in the days before Sunday’s attack, including one that appeared
to show an AR-15 semiautomatic weapon.

CBS News reported Kelley is a former U.S. Air Force member who served from
2010 to 2014. He was dishonorably discharged and court martialed in May
2014.

Federal law enforcement swarmed the small community 30 miles southeast of
San Antonio after the attack to offer assistance, including ATF
investigators and members of the FBI’s evidence collection team.

Among those killed was the 14-year-old daughter of the church’s pastor,
Frank Pomeroy, and his wife, Sherri. Sherri Pomeroy wrote in a text
message to the AP that she and her husband were out of town in two
different states when the attack occurred.

“We lost our 14 year old daughter today and many friends,” she wrote.
“Neither of us have made it back into town yet to personally see the devastation. I am at the charlotte airport trying to get home as soon as i can.”

The wounded were taken to hospitals. Video on KSAT television showed first responders taking a stretcher from the church to a waiting AirLife
helicopter. Some victims were taken by medical helicopter to the Brooke
Army Medical Center, the station said.

Megan Posey, a spokeswoman for Connally Memorial Medical Center, which is
in Floresville and about 10 miles from the church, said “multiple” victims
were being treated for gunshot wounds. She declined to give a specific
number but said it was less than a dozen.

Alena Berlanga, a Floresville resident who was monitoring the chaos on a
police scanner and in Facebook community groups, said everyone knows
everyone in the sparsely populated county.

“This is horrific for our tiny little tight-knit town,” said Alena
Berlanga. “Everybody’s going to be affected and everybody knows someone
who’s affected,” she said.

Regina Rodriguez arrived at the church a couple of hours after the
shooting and walked up to the police barricade. She hugged a person she
was with. She had been at an amusement park with her children when she
heard of the shooting.

She said her father, 51-year-old Richard Rodriguez, attends the church
every Sunday, and she hadn’t been able to reach him. She said she feared
the worst.

Nick Uhlig, 34, is a church member who didn’t go Sunday morning because he
was out late Saturday night. He said his cousins were at the church and
that his family was told at least one of them, a woman with three children
and pregnant with another, is among the dead. He said he hadn’t heard
specific news about the other.

“We just gathered to bury their grandfather on Thursday,” he said. “This
is the only church here. We have Bible study, men’s Bible study, vacation
Bible school.”

“Somebody went in and started shooting,” he said, shaking his head and
taking a long drag of his cigarette.

President Donald Trump tweeted from Japan, where is his on an Asian trip,
that he was monitoring the situation following the shooting. Texas Gov.
Greg Abbott called the shooting an “evil act,” and promised “more details”
from the state’s Department of Public Safety soon.

Sutherland Springs is in a rural area where communities are small and tight-knit. The area is known for its annual peanut festival in
Floresville, which was most recently held last month.

“We’re shocked. Shocked and dismayed,” said state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, a Laredo Democrat whose district includes Sutherland Springs. “It’s
especially shocking when it’s such a small, serene area. These rural
areas, they are so beautiful and so loving.”

Zaffirini said she had called several county and local officials but not
been able to get through and didn’t have any firm details.

The church is a white, wood-framed building with a double-door at the
entrance and a Texas flag on a pole at the front area. A morning worship service was scheduled for 11 a.m. The first news reports of the shooting
were between noon and 12:30 p.m.

The church has posted videos of its Sunday services on a YouTube channel, raising the possibility that the shooting was captured on video.

In the most recent service, posted Oct. 29, Frank Pomeroy parked a
motorcycle in front of his lectern and used it as a metaphor in his sermon
for having faith in forces that can’t be seen, whether it be gravity or
God.

“I don’t look at the moment, I look at where I’m going and look at what’s
out there ahead of me,” Pomeroy said. “I’m choosing to trust in the
centripetal forces and the things of God he’s put around me.”

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