At least 26 people were killed in Sunday’s church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said at a press conference.
About 20 others were wounded, said Freeman Martin, a regional director with the Texas Department of Public Safety, with victims ranging in age from 5 to 72 years old.
Among the dead is the 14-year-old daughter of the First Baptist Church’s pastor, Frank Pomeroy, according to his wife, Sherri Pomeroy, the girl’s mother. The couple were traveling out of state when the shooting occurred.
Authorities have not said what may have motivated the suspected shooter, who was later found dead in his vehicle.
The shooting has devastated the small Texas town east of San Antonio, described as a place where “everybody knows everybody.”
Without naming Kelley, Martin described the shooter in Sunday’s press conference as a young white male who was dressed in all-black “tactical-type gear” and wearing a ballistic vest.
Martin said the suspect was seen in a Valero gas station across the street from the church in Sutherland Springs at about 11:20 a.m. local time on Sunday morning.
The suspect left the gas station, crossed the street, exited his vehicle and began firing before he entered the church, Martin said.
As the suspected shooter left the church, a local resident used their own rifle to engage him, Martin said. The shooter then fled the church, while the citizen pursued him.
SOURCE: CNN