Investigators in the United States are scouring the background of the deceased gunman who opened fire inside a church in Texas, killing 26 people and injuring 20 more.
Police have since confirmed that the gunman – identified as a former member of the Air Force – as having died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside the vehicle he used to escape the scene of the attack.
The gun was reported to have used an assault-style rifle during the rampage at the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church before he too came under fire from a local before fleeing the scene.
The 26-year old suspect has been identified as Devin Patrick Kelley who was court-martialed in 2012 and sentenced to a year in military prison for assaulting his spouse and child – the latest in a string of mass attackers with a domestic violence history.
Law enforcement is working to establish a motive for the attack in which victims range from 15 months to 72 years old. listen to Freeman Martin of the Texas Department of Public Safety says they do not believe this was a random act
“One thing everybody wants to know is why did this happen, it’s a senseless crime but we can tell there was a domestic situation going on within this family. The suspects mother-law attended this church, we know that threatening texts from him.”
Earlier, President Donald Trump reacted to the latest tragedy during his visit to Japan, downplaying calls for urgent gun reform legislation in the country.
“I think that mental health is your problem here. This was a very based on preliminary reports very deranged individual; a lot of problems over a long period of time. We have a lot of mental health problems in our country — as do other countries — but this isn’t a guns situation. We can go into it but is a bit soon to go into it. But fortunately somebody else had a gun that was shooting in the opposite direction otherwise it would have been, as bad as it was, it would have been much worse.”
A candlelight vigil was held in Sutherland Springs last night – a town of less than 1000 people about 50 kilometers from San Antonio. Johnnie Langendorff is the individual who returned fire and pursued the suspect when he fled the church.
“I just I did what I thought I needed to do which was, they said that there was a shooting, I pursued and I just did what I thought was the right thing.”
Predictably the conversation has swiftly moved back to gun control with Democrats renewing their pleas for the United States Congress to tighten legislation in terms of who can own a gun. But several Republicans, including the president have argued that guns were not to blame. This just more than a month after 58 people were killed and 546 injured when another lone gunman opened fire on concertgoers along the Las Vegas strip.
