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Texas Church Killings: What We Know and Don’t Know - The New York Times

posted onNovember 7, 2017
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Article snippet: Here are the facts at a glance about the mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Tex., on Sunday, in which a gunman killed at least 26 parishioners. About 20 others were injured. Read the latest complete news story here. • The Air Force acknowledged Monday that it had failed to enter the gunman’s domestic violence court-martial into a federal database that could have blocked him from buying the military-style rifle he used to kill 26 people on Sunday in the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Tex. • The Texas Department of Public Safety, in this statement on Twitter, identified the gunman as Devin Patrick Kelley, 26. The authorities said he was dressed in black and wearing a skull-face mask. He was wearing a ballistic vest and carrying tactical gear and multiple rounds of ammunition. • His motive for the shooting was not yet clear, but the authorities said Monday that “a domestic situation” within the gunman’s family may have motivated the killings. Mr. Kelley may have been driven by anger toward his estranged wife’s family, the authorities said. • The gunman’s in-laws had attended services at First Baptist Church in the past, according to Joe Tackitt, the sheriff of Wilson County. They were not in town at the time of the shooting, he said. A relative of his wife’s grandmother said the grandmother was at the church and had been killed. • Mr. Kelley, who grew up 30 miles from the church in New Braunfels, had served in the Air Force but was court-m... Link to the full article to read more

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