Details are emerging about Sunday’s Sutherland Church massacre an in particular, gunman Devin Patrick Kelley.
Monday, Texas officials said Kelley was embroiled in a domestic situation and had sent threatening text to his mother-in-law, an attendee of First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. Officials declined to provide more detail.
The WSJ reported:
he gunman who killed and wounded dozens of churchgoers during worship Sunday morning had sent threatening text messages to his mother-in-law, who attended the church, law-enforcement officials said.“We can tell you there was a domestic situation going on within his family,” said Freeman Martin, Texas Department of Public Safety regional director. “The suspect’s mother-in-law attended this church…she received threatening texts from him. We can’t go into details into the domestic situation that is continuing to be investigated.”…Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt Jr. said Kelley’s in-laws attended the church but weren’t there Sunday morning.
Kelley, who served in the Air Force was “court-martialed in 2012 for two counts of assault on his spouse and on their child. He was given a “bad conduct discharge,” according to court records,” reports the WSJ. He was sentenced to a year in military prison and discharged in 2014.
While the exact motive remains unclear (or yet to be released by local authorities), authorities emphasized the massacre was not racially or religiously motivated. From the WaPo:
While authorities have not publicly identified a motive for the attack, they emphasized Monday that the shooting did not appear to be fueled by racial or religious issues….“This was not racially motivated, it wasn’t over religious beliefs,” Freeman Martin of the Texas Department of Public Safety said at a news briefing. “There was a domestic situation going on within the family and the in-laws.”
Neighbors say Kelley would fire weapon late at night:
We’ll continue to provide more details as they become available.
Follow Kemberlee on Twitter @kemberleekaye
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY