Sutherland Springs Church Shooter Had History of Domestic Abuse: Your Texas Roundup

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“He briefed me quickly on what had just happened and said he had to get him. So that’s what I did.”

—Johnnie Langendorff to reporters on Sunday, according to the Washington Post. Langendorff says he joined another man in a 95-mile-per-hour car chase with the gunman who killed 26 people at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs on Sunday. The gunman’s truck crashed off the road, and he committed suicide in his vehicle, according to Reuters.

BIG NEWS

Law enforcement officials gather near the First Baptist Church following the shooting on November 5, 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas. At least 20 people were reportedly killed and 24 injured when a gunman, identified as Devin P. Kelley, 26, allegedly entered the church during a service and opened fire.Erich Schlegel/Getty

Mass Shooting
A gunman opened fire inside the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, near San Antonio, on Sunday morning, killing 26 people and injuring at least 20 others. It is the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history. The gunman has been identified as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, who was found dead in his car shortly after the shooting. He enlisted in the Air Force in 2010, serving as a logistical readiness airman at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, according to the Washington Post. In 2012, he was court-martialed for assaulting his wife and child. After he was sentenced to a year in military prison, Kelley was reduced in rank and released from the military with a bad-conduct discharge in 2014. Kelley had been living with his wife and two-year-old son in a barn on a secluded, 28-acre patch of wooded farmland owned by his parents in New Braunfels at the time of the attack. “I never in a million years could of believed Devin could be capable of this kind of thing,” Kelley’s uncle, Dave Ivey, told NBC News. “I am numb . . . My family will suffer because of his coward actions . . . I am so sorry for the victims in Texas.” Officials are still searching for any possible motive behind the shooting. President Donald Trump responded to the shooting at a news conference in Tokyo during his first official visit to Asia. “This was a very, based on preliminary reports, a very deranged individual. A lot of problems over a long period of time,” Trump said when asked about the shooting, according to the Associated Press. “We have a lot of mental health problems in our country, as do other countries. But this isn’t a guns situation.” According to CNN, Kelley used a Ruger AR-556 assault-style rifle in the attack, which he bought in April 2016 from an Academy Sports & Outdoors store in San Antonio. When he filled out the background check paperwork at the store, Kelley checked the box to indicate he didn’t have disqualifying criminal history. According to The Daily Beast, a week before the shooting, Kelley posted a photo of a semiautomatic rifle to Facebook, with the caption: “She’s a bad bitch.”

MEANWHILE, IN TEXAS

Girl Released
A ten-year-old girl with cerebral palsy was released from federal custody on Friday. Immigration authorities had placed her in deportation proceedings immediately following her discharge from a Corpus Christi children’s hospital last week, according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. While Rosa Maria Hernandez is now with her family in Laredo, instead of a shelter for unaccompanied minors, she still faces deportation. “She still has her day in (immigration) court,” the family’s attorney told the Caller-Times. “Only now she can fight her case with her mom and family by her side and she can receive the medical attention she needs.” Hernandez, who has been in the country since she was three months old, was transported last month via ambulance to Corpus Christi for gallbladder surgery. On the way, Border Patrol agents at an immigration checkpoint in Freer discovered her undocumented status, escorted her ambulance to the children’s hospital, and waited outside her hospital room as she recovered. She was taken into custody immediately after her surgery, despite the hospital’s orders suggesting that she’d be much better off in the care of her family and regular physicians. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the federal government, alleging she was held in violation of her statutory and constitutional rights.

Selena’s Star
Selena finally got her Hollywood star on November 3, proclaimed by City of Los Angeles officials as “Selena Day,” according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The Corpus Christi-raised Queen of Tejano was honored during a ceremony in Los Angeles, as her name was added to the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her star, number 2,622 on the walk, lies in front of the Capitol Records building, where Selena visited often after her band signed with EMI Latin in 1989. Her sister, Suzette Quintanilla Arriaga, accepted the star on behalf of her family. Selena’s widower, Chris Perez, also attended the ceremony. “[Latinos] are here to stay and Selena is a perfect example that we can succeed as long as we put in hard work,” Quintanilla Arriaga said during the ceremony, according to the Caller-Times. “Selena said the goal isn’t to live forever but to create something that will and tonight is a perfect testament of that.”

Roller Coaster
Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott played football on Sunday after a court once again gave him temporary reprieve from serving a six-game suspension from the NFL. On Friday, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request for an administrative stay to the NFL Players Association on Elliott’s behalf, the latest turn in a serpentine legal battle between Elliott and his attorneys with the NFL Players Association, and the NFL. According to ESPN, Elliott’s attorneys are looking to settle the case and have the suspension reduced. Elliott never faced criminal charges for domestic violence allegations involving a girlfriend in 2016, but the NFL found his actions warranted a suspension in August. In September, a federal judge in Texas, siding with NFLPA attorneys who claimed the investigation process was unfair to Elliott, issued an injunction blocking the suspension and allowing him to play earlier this season. After several more rulings and injunctions, Elliott has yet to serve a single game of his suspension.