The rural Texas congregation was in the middle of a song when a man dressed in black started firing into the church, then entered the sanctuary shooting people at random. He fired into the approximately 50 worshipers during the middle of the Sunday service – stopping only to reload his gun. Sheriff Joe D. Tackitt said there was “no way” for the members of First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs to escape the carnage. “He just walked down the center aisle, turned around and my understanding was shooting
on his way back out,” Tackitt said at a press conference. “It’s unbelievable to see children, men and women, laying there. Defenseless people.” Defenseless people of faith. By the time Devin Patrick Kelley exited the church, he left a devastating toll – 26 dead church members, 20 wounded. “There were so many rounds,” said Terrie Smith, who runs a café inside the Velero gas station across from the church. “It just went on and on. You could just hear it constantly. And then there was a silence. And then there were more rounds. And then there was silence.” MORE
