{"id":368535,"date":"2017-11-06T05:48:05","date_gmt":"2017-11-06T05:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=368535"},"modified":"2017-11-06T05:48:05","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T05:48:05","slug":"texas-church-shooting-leaves-26-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=368535","title":{"rendered":"Texas church shooting leaves 26 dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least 26 people have been killed and 20 others wounded after a gunman opened fire at a Texas church during Sunday service.<\/p>\n

The attack happened at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, a small town in Wilson County. The victims’ ages ranged from five to 72.<\/p>\n

The suspected gunman was later found dead in his vehicle some miles away.<\/p>\n

Police identified him only as a “young, white male”, but US media named him as Devin Patrick Kelley, 26.<\/p>\n

Kelley is reported to have been discharged from the US Air Force in 2014 following a court-martial for assaulting his wife and child.<\/p>\n

The motive for the killings is not yet clear.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/span><\/figure>\n

Texas Department of Public Safety regional director Freeman Martin said the attacker, dressed all in black and wearing a bulletproof vest, opened fire with an assault-style rifle outside the church at around 11:30 local time (17:30 GMT) and then moved inside.<\/p>\n

As the gunman left the church, a local citizen grabbed his own rifle and began shooting at the suspect, who then dropped his weapon and fled in a vehicle.<\/p>\n

The citizen pursued the suspect, who eventually drove off the road and crashed his car at the Guadalupe County line.<\/p>\n

Police found the man dead in his car, but it is unclear if he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound or from injuries received when fired on by the local citizen. The car contained several weapons.<\/p>\n

Mr Martin added: “We have multiple crime scenes. We have the church, outside the church. We have where the suspect’s vehicle was located.<\/p>\n

“We have been following up on the suspect and where he’s from. We have Texas Rangers at all the hospitals locating those and interviewing those who were injured.”<\/p>\n

Governor Greg Abbott, confirming the death toll, said it was the worst mass shooting in the history of Texas.<\/p>\n

“This will be a long, suffering mourning for those in pain,” he said at a news conference on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The First Baptist Church’s pastor, Frank Pomeroy, told ABC News that his 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle, was among those killed.<\/p>\n

Mr Pomeroy, who was in Oklahoma at the time of the attack, described her as “one very beautiful, special child” in a phone call to the television outlet.<\/p>\n

At least 10 victims, including four children, were being treated at the University Health System in nearby San Antonio,\u00a0the hospital said in a tweet.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Joe Tackitt said authorities could not confirm the names of any victims yet as they continued to work through the crime scene.<\/p>\n

Officials said 23 people were found dead inside the church while two people were fatally shot outside. Another died in hospital, authorities said.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

One witness, Carrie Matula, told NBC News: “We heard semi-automatic gunfire\u2026 we’re only about 50 yards away from this church.<\/p>\n

“This is a very small community, so everyone was very curious as to what was going on.”<\/p>\n

Sutherland Springs, which has a population of about 400, lies about 30 miles (50km) south-east of the city of San Antonio.<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/span><\/figure>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

President Donald Trump, on a tour of Asia, condemned the “act of evil” and said Americans would pull together.<\/p>\n

“And through the tears and through the sadness, we stand strong, oh so strong,” he added.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
Skip Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump<\/p>\n
\n
\n

May God be w\/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)\u00a0November 5, 2017<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

End of Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The shooting comes just a month after a gunman in Las Vegas opened fire on an outdoor music festival, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds in the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least 26 people have been killed and 20 others wounded after a gunman opened fire at a Texas church during Sunday service. The attack happened at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, a small town in Wilson County. The victims’ ages ranged from five to 72. The suspected gunman was later found dead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[3,2123,2124],"class_list":["post-368535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international","tag-ghana-news","tag-texas-shooting","tag-victims"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=368535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=368535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=368535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=368535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}