Texas mourns as details emerge on gunman’s tactics in church massacre

Authorities worked on multiple fronts Tuesday seeking a fuller portrait of the gunman who left at least 26 people dead at a Texas church and how a breakdown in military protocols failed to flag a domestic violence conviction that should have blocked him from buying firearms.

Even as tiny Sutherland Springs began funerals and mourning that touch nearly every family, more chilling details emerged of how the black-clad attacker, Devin P. Kelley, methodically tried to take as many victims as possible as he stalked the pews.

According to The Washington Post, David Brown, whose mother, Farida, survived the carnage, said she described Kelley taking aim at churchgoers Sunday as they tried to flee and then walking “up and down the aisle” firing at people cowering or wounded on the ground in the church, about 35 miles south of Kelley’s home in New Braunfels.

The gunman fired four shots into the torso of the woman on Farida Brown’s left, her son said.

“With every shot, she was crying,” Brown said of the woman. “She was just staring at my mom while she tried to comfort her.” As he fired rounds into the woman, Farida Brown held her hand, telling her she was heading to heaven.

Farida Brown had sustained shots to her legs, but expected she would be the next target of the gunman. “Then she thought that it was her turn,” David Brown told The Washington Post. “She just started praying.”

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What triggered Kelley’s rampage remains unclear. A regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, Freeman Martin, has said only that it appeared to stem from a domestic situation and was not racially or religiously motivated.

But it has brought sharp attention to the deep-rooted gun culture in parts of rural Texas and how many believe that open access to weapons and greater citizen vigilance is the best deterrent to gun violence. Such views are deeply at odds with those calling for stricter gun controls in the United States.

President Trump staked out a position Tuesday squarely on one side, asserting that tougher gun laws would not have stopped the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs. Speaking in Seoul, Trump further claimed “hundreds more” may have died had another man not been able to “neutralize” the alleged killer with a gun of his own.

Asked during a news conference whether he would support “extreme vetting” on guns, the same phrase Trump has used to encourage deep scrutiny into visa applications, he said “it would have made no difference three days ago.”

Trump praised as a “hero” a local man, Stephen Willeford, who exchanged fire with Kelley outside the church. Police found Kelley dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after a high-speed car chase.

How Kelley obtained the weapons also has become a source of a separate investigation.

The Air Force on Monday said it failed to follow policies for alerting federal law enforcement about Kelley’s violent past when he served at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. Kelley should have been barred from purchasing firearms and body armor because of his domestic violence conviction in 2014. Kelley was sentenced to a year in prison and kicked out of the military with a bad conduct discharge following two counts of domestic abuse against his wife and a child, according to Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek.

“Initial information indicates that Kelley’s domestic violence offense was not entered into the National Criminal Information Center database,” Stefanek said in a statement released Monday. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein have directed an investigation of Kelley’s case and “relevant policies and procedures,” she said.

Kelley purchased two weapons from a gun retailer, Academy Sports, after clearing federal background checks this year and in 2016. It remains unclear whether those were the same weapons used in Sunday’s massacre, but his ability to purchase guns at all highlights the Air Force’s failure to follow Pentagon guidelines for ensuring certain violent offenses are reported to the FBI.

Police and court records in three states paint the picture of a young former U.S. airman with a sometimes violent private life. In briefings Monday, local officials, who emphasized that the investigation is ongoing, said that at least one of Kelley’s relatives attended First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, and that the shooting was proceeded by a “domestic situation.”

Kelley graduated from New Braunfels High School in 2009, a spokeswoman for the school district said. His senior photo was the only image of him in the yearbook.

“We are shocked to hear that a graduate of our lone high school is allegedly responsible for this tragedy,” read a statement from spokeswoman Rebecca Villarreal. “This senseless act of violence is something that is hard to understand and has definitely shaken our community. We grieve with those that suffered a loss and offer our deepest condolences.”