Washington - The gunman who massacred 26 people in Texas had
sent threatening text messages to his wife's mother before opening
fire at a church where his in-laws had worshipped, authorities said
Monday.
"We know that he expressed anger toward his mother-in-law, who
attends this church," Freeman Martin, Texas Department of Public
Safety regional commander, told reporters.
"This was not racially motivated. It wasn't over religious beliefs.
It was a domestic situation going on with the in-laws."
The shooting occurred during a service on Sunday at First Baptist
Church in Sutherland Springs, home to only a few hundred people,
about 48 kilometres south-east of San Antonio.
Read:
The dead ranged in age from 18 months to 77 years, and 20 people were
injured. Among the wounded, 10 were in critical condition and four
remained hospitalized in serious condition.
FBI special agent Chris Combs said federal authorities were assisting
Texas police but "at this time we do not have a terrorism
investigation open" in the absence of political motives or ties to
militant groups.
The suspect, Devin Kelley, 26, of nearby New Braunfels, Texas, about
50 kilometres north of the church, was seen at a petrol station
across the street from the church on Sunday morning, dressed in black
and wearing body armour.
Also read:
He drove to the church and opened fire before going inside. Two
people were killed outside the building and 23 inside. Another victim
later died at a hospital.
The gunman, who was wearing a black mask imprinted with a white
skull, dropped his rifle, a military style AR-15, and fled by car
after being wounded by an armed neighbour who confronted him outside
the church, Martin said.
Driving away while pursued by two "good Samaritans" - the neighbour
and a passing driver - the gunman telephoned his father to say that
he had been shot "and didn't think he was going to make it," Martin
said.
A postmortem examination has been conducted on the gunman, and
evidence at the scene where the car was stopped "indicates the
subject may have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound," Martin
said.
Two handguns were recovered from the car.
Sutherland Springs has been described as a community with two petrol
stations, two churches, one store and a post office.
In 2012, Kelley, a licensed unarmed security guard and former Air
Force airman, was court-martialled and convicted of domestic
violence, and he received a bad conduct discharge.
An agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
said that records show Kelley had purchased four firearms since 2014
in multiple states.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott called the massacre the "largest mass
shooting in the state's history."
President Donald Trump said he was following developments from Japan,
where he was on a five-country Asia tour. He called the shooting a
"mental health problem at the highest level."