conference, as we did. while we re getting limited information because they re trying very hard to investigate this situation, they re dealing with all of these victims and trying to figure out the motive here, but what did you learn? what stood out? i think it s been pointing in this direction since last night, that this was not an act of terrorism. this was not racially motivated. this had nothing to do with religion. this was basically a small community and a basically domestic violence kind of situation. we knew last night that devin kelley, the gunman, had relatives that lived in sutherland springs and attended that church. now we re told that he was in a dispute with his mother-in-law. he d been sending her threatening messages. that s certainly the direction in which this is going. he s 26, lived in comal county, ju where authorities are in the process of searching his house. he d been court marshalled, kicked out of the air force after he was convicted of
they believe nef gospel, witnessing and working in the church. they were just wonderful. and very called by god to do that. how did you hear about this. we were visiting another church further up the road. we come out of the church and someone come and told us that don t go back through sutherland springs which we had to come here to get over there. and said there s a shooter loose. that s all we knew. and so we went to the restaurant across the highway. and we said well, let s go ahead and eat lunch and wait it out. so we sat there. well, my daughter started getting text messages, and we got to thinking, well, why would a shooter be here? there s nothing here. you know, all people congregating would be in the church and she got a message it was the church he hit. you knew that. look, it is it s a place that
he moved to the right of the church and continue to fire. going to outside. he then went in and killed 23 inside. as he exited a local resident grabbed his rifle and engage the suspect. he dropped his rifle and fled, the suspect crash the vehicle off the roadway was found dead inside the car. they don t know if he died of a self-inflicted gun would or and suffered by the local resident. multiple weapons were found inside the vehicle. i ve been going to this church, it s tragic. i changed my mind to go to church today, so to my daughter, otherwise we would be there. it was probably 11 or 1115
of worship. a horrific event. were joined now from new york. brian, we know law-enforcement officials have confirmed some details, what can you tell us? officials confirmed as a white male in the 20s. we know officials have confirmed this case name is devon patrick kelly. a white male from a suburb of northeast of san antonio. he did not identify the suspect at the press conference and they don t yet have a motive. this took place at 11:20.m at the first baptist church in sutherland springs, texas. irty mouse as the stove texas. houston. he parked his truck across the street, exited and began firing at the church. justin black with a ballistic vest and assault weapon.
domestic situation going on within this family. the suspect s mother-in-law attended this church. we know that he had made threatening she d received threatening texts from him. we can t go into details about that domestic situation that is continuing to be vetted and thoroughly investigated, but we want to get that out there, that this was not racially motivated. it wasn t over religious beliefs. there was a domestic situation going on within the family with the in-laws. next, the wilson county district attorney would like to say something. good morning. we learned this morning just how small town america truly is. we ve had a tremendous outpouring across the country for people wanting to assist our families in need. i want to make sure that everyone knows how they can help. everyone can help.