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Investigators hunt for motive in Texas church shooting as the grieving spans gen

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Kristina
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« on: November 06, 2017, 10:12:45 am »


Investigators hunt for motive in Texas church shooting as the grieving spans generations


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/breakingnews/investigators-hunt-for-motive-in-texas-church-shooting-as-the-grieving-spans-generations/ar-AAuuLAo?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=ientp

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Peter Holley, Kristine Guerra, Mark Berman

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An emotional Charlotte Scott stands near her charred Volvo in Redwood Valley, Calif., on October 18, 2017. On the night of the Redwood Valley fire, Scott raced her car down the roughly three-mile dirt road from her house with her two daughters, 3 and 7, and her 9-year-old stepson and 14-year-old stepdaughter. She reversed to do a three-point-turn on the narrow road with almost no visibility. She misjudged, and her back wheels dropped into a ditch.

Confusion reigned as Redwood Valley burned
 





Slide 1 of 33: A bouquet of flowers lies at the base of a roadblock where law enforcement officials work at the scene of a shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on Nov. 6, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 2 of 33: The playground at the site of a shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas on Nov. 6, 2017.

 
Slide 3 of 33: State troopers and other officials gather at the entrance to the First Baptist Church (back) after a mass shooting that killed 26 people in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Nov. 6, 2017.

 
Slide 4 of 33: Law enforcement officials continue their investigation at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs as the sun begins to rise on Nov. 6, 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 5 of 33: Law enforcement officials work at the scene of a shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on Nov. 6, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 6 of 33: A school bus make rounds near the scene of a shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on Nov. 6, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 7 of 33: Law enforcement officials work at the scene of a shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on Nov. 6, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 8 of 33: Law enforcement officials work at the scene of a shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on Nov. 5, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 9 of 33: Local residents embrace during a candlelight vigil for victims of a mass shooting in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, U.S., November 5, 2017.

 
Slide 10 of 33: Law enforcement officials investigate a mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, U.S. November 5, 2017.

 
Slide 11 of 33: Mona Rodriguez holds her 12-year-old son, J Anthony Hernandez, during a candlelight vigil held for the victims of a fatal shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 12 of 33: Law enforcement officials set up along a street near the First Baptist Church after a mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, US., November 5, 2017.

 
Slide 13 of 33: Local residents gather outside the Sutherland Springs Community Building after a mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, US., November 5, 2017.

 
Slide 14 of 33: Medical personnel and law enforcement set up along a street near the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, US., November 5, 2017.

 
Slide 15 of 33: From left are Christopher Rodriguez, Esmeralda Rodriguez, Mona Rodriguez, Jayanthony Hernandez, 12 and Juanita Rodriguez, participate in a candlelight vigil held for the victims of a fatal shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 16 of 33: Michaun Johnson attends a candle light vigil after a mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, U.S., November 5, 2017.

 
Slide 17 of 33: Terri and Brooke Kalinec attend a candle light vigil after a mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, U.S., November 5, 2017.

 
Slide 18 of 33: Texas Governor Greg Abbott gives an update during a news conference at the Stockdale Community Center following a shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs that left many dead and injured in Stockdale, Texas, U.S., November 5, 2017.

 
Slide 19 of 33: Men comfort each other at a community center after a mass shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, U.S. November 5, 2017.

 
Slide 20 of 33: Families gather at the community center awaiting news about the First Baptist Church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, U.S., November 5, 2017.

 
Slide 21 of 33: Members of the FBI walk behind the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs after a fatal shooting, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 22 of 33: SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TX - NOVEMBER 5: Law enforcement and forensic officials gather near the First Baptist Church following a shooting on November 5, 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas. At least 20 people were reportedly killed and 24 injured when a gunman, identified as Devin P. Kelley, 26, entered the church during a service and opened fire.

 
Slide 23 of 33: SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TX - NOVEMBER 5: Law enforcement officials gather near the First Baptist Church following a shooting on November 5, 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas. At least 20 people were reportedly killed and 24 injured when a gunman, identified as Devin P. Kelley, 26, entered the church during a service and opened fire.

 
Slide 24 of 33: Members of the FBI walk next to the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs after a fatal shooting, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 25 of 33: Law enforcement officers work near the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs after a fatal shooting, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 26 of 33: The area around a site of a mass shooting is taped out in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Nov. 5, 2017 in this picture obtained via social media.

 
Slide 27 of 33: FBI officials arrive at the site of a mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Nov. 5, 2017 in this picture obtained via social media.

 
Slide 28 of 33: First responders work at the rear of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs in response to a fatal shooting on Nov. 5, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 29 of 33: A police car and a medical vehicle are seen near the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Nov. 5, 2017 in this picture obtained via social media.

 
Slide 30 of 33: Law enforcement officers man a barricade near the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs after a fatal shooting on Nov. 5, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 31 of 33: Law enforcement officers gather in front of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs after a fatal shooting on Nov. 5, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

 
Slide 32 of 33: Police cars are seen at Sutherland Springs, Texas on Nov. 5, 2017 in this picture obtained from social media.

 
Slide 33 of 33: The area around a site of a mass shooting is taped off in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Nov. 5, 2017 in this picture obtained via social media.

 
Slide 1 of 33: A bouquet of flowers lies at the base of a roadblock where law enforcement officials work at the scene of a shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on Nov. 6, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
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A bouquet of flowers lies at the base of a roadblock where law enforcement officials work at the scene of a shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on Nov. 6, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas.


















































































































































































































































































































































































Slideshow by photo services

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Tex. — Investigators on Monday scoured the background of the lone gunman who opened fire on the pews of the First Baptist Church, searching for answers on a possible motive while the stories of those massacred began to emerge.

Authorities said 26 people were killed in the Sunday rampage, the latest eruption of violence in a seemingly safe public space. The dead included eight relatives spanning three generations in a single family. While officials had said the victims ranged in age from 5 to 72, one family said a 1-year-old girl was also killed, one of the eight family members slain in the attack.

The gunman — described as a former member of the Air Force — fired upon the services with a Ruger assault-style rifle before he came under fire from a local man and fled in a car chase. The attacker eventually ran off the roadway and apparently took his own life.

Texas officials early Monday identified the attacker as Devin Patrick Kelley of New Braunfels, about 35 miles north of Sutherland Springs.

Kelley, a 26-year-old former Air Force member, was court-martialed in 2012 and sentenced to a year in military prison for assaulting his spouse and child, making him the latest mass attacker or suspect with domestic violence in his past. He was reduced in rank and released with a bad-conduct discharge in 2014.

Few clues were initially made public on a possible motive or what made Kelley target a church in tiny Sutherland Springs. His in-laws had attended the church at some point, said Joe D. Tackitt Jr., the Wilson County sheriff. They were not present Sunday and only came to the scene later after hearing the news, he said.

“There must have been some reason he came here, but we don’t know,” Tackitt said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) suggested Monday morning that “there may have been a reason why this particular location was targeted,” although he did not go into detail, saying that the details could emerge in the coming hours or days.

“I don’t think this is a random act of shooting, a randomly chosen location, but obviously someone who is very deranged,” Abbott said in an interview on the “Today” show.

As investigators try to determine a motive, they are also probing how the attacker obtained his gun. Kelley had sought a license to carry a gun in Texas but was rejected, Abbott said.

“By all of the facts that we seem to know, he was not supposed to have access to a gun, so how did this happen?” Abbott said in an interview on CNN. “We are in search of answers to these questions.”

The attack left a staggering hole in a Texas town of fewer than 700 people located about 30 miles southeast of San Antonio.

“Nearly everyone [inside] had some type of injury,” Tackitt said. “I knew several people in there. It hasn’t really hit yet, but it will.”

Tackitt said the dead were all over the inside of the church. All of the bodies were removed overnight, Tackitt said, and were en route or already at the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s office in San Antonio.

Inside the church, which remained cordoned off, was “a horrific sight,” Tackitt said, adding “you don’t expect to walk into church and find mauled bodies.” Between 12 and 14 of the people killed or injured in the attack were children, he said.

For some, the church massacre also reinforced a sense of unease that no place could be considered immune from possible violence after a concert ground in Las Vegas, a Walmart in Colorado, a Nashville church and a bike path in New York all became scenes of death and bloodshed over the past six weeks.

President Trump appeared to try to preemptively steer the debate away from gun control after the slayings. At a news conference in Tokyo, Trump said he thought “mental health” was a possible motive, adding that it appeared the shooter was “a very deranged individual, a lot of problems for a long period of time.” He did not provide further explanation.

The incident “isn’t a guns situation,” Trump said. Referencing the armed civilian that apparently exchanged shots with the attacker, Trump said: “Fortunately someone else had a gun that was shooting in the opposite direction” or the rampage “would have been much worse.”

No one inside the church was armed at the time of the attack, the sheriff said Monday, saying he was not surprised by that fact.

“People from this community would never think this could happen,” he said.


a man and a woman holding a candle: Bailey LeJeaune, 17, and David Betancourt, 18, hold candles during a vigil in Sutherland Springs for the victims of a deadly shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Nov. 5, 2017.© Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP Bailey LeJeaune, 17, and David Betancourt, 18, hold candles during a vigil in Sutherland Springs for the victims of a deadly shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Nov. 5…
Trump’s reaction contrasted with his unrestrained calls for a death sentence for the Uzbek immigrant accused of killing eight people in an apparently Islamic State-inspired attack in Lower Manhattan last week.

Witnesses said the gunman in Texas, dressed in all black and wearing a tactical vest, began firing an assault rifle as he approached the church. Police said the gunman killed two people outside before entering the church and spraying bullets at the congregation during morning worship.

After the exchange of gunfire with an armed civilian, the gunman drove away with two local men in pursuit.

It was “act now, ask questions later,” said the truck’s driver, Johnnie Langendorff. By the time they caught up with him, however, the fleeing man had crashed his SUV into a ditch. “He might have been unconscious from the crash or something like that, I’m not sure,” Langendorff told reporters.

Tackitt, speaking to CBS News, said that after the gunfire and chase, the attacker was found dead. “At this time we believe that he had a self-inflicted gunshot wound, after he wrecked out,” Tackitt said.

The attack targeted young and old, tearing apart families. Joe and Claryce Holcombe lost children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren all at once, a total of eight extended family members, the couple said in a phone interview with The Post.

Their son, Bryan Holcombe, 60, and his wife, Karla Holcombe, 58, were killed. Bryan was associate pastor for the church and walking to preach at the pulpit when he was shot, Joe Holcombe told The Post.


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