Fire before he was, quote, taken down. Among the wounded, were told, a 2yearold and some other children. A horrific act among people of faith as they are celebrating life and faith. Ted Williams Joins us now from our washington, d. C. Bureau. He is a former homicide detective and criminal defense attorney. Ted, it just really strikes at the heart of what this country is about, at the american spirit, what we do, how we live our lives. And weve seen terrorist attacks in the past and we dont know what this is, we dont know if this is a domestic dispute, an act of hatred, a hate crime because of the religion or a potential terrorist attack, but it is a mass shooting that again has claimed more innocent american lives. Yeah. You know, eric, i have been at Mass Shootings at san bernardino, i was down at the pulse nightclub there in florida, and here we go again, unfortunately. And this is a rather soft target. Our viewers look at a church, normally theres an entrance and maybe theres some back doors and everything, but if you can visualize this, these individuals, these parishioners, they were contained in this church, and its not easy to get out of there. So they are really like sitting ducks in this church, unfortunately. And and one of the good things that weve learned here is that the shooter is down. Thats the first thing and to get the injured to treatment right away. Thats what Law Enforcement officers initially wanted to work on. Eric how do they start finding out the motivation of this . They clearly will start going through the background of who this is. They obviously would know if he has some identity on him in terms of the motivation of this horrendous act. One of the things that theyre definitely looking at here and talking to witnesses on the scene. Thats very important. Because some witness there on the scene may very well have recognized this individual, or if they dont have anies witnesses on the scene there any witnesses on the scene there, by now the feds, meaning the fbi or atf and other Law Enforcement agencies, and i would think that by now they may clearly have been able to identify the shooter. Now, at this stage quite naturally what theyre doing, if theyve been able to identify the shooter, is that they are moving to his residence if hes in that local community. So the big question that everyone has right now when you have these kind of Mass Shootings are what was the motive. And thats what theyre trying to determine at this stage. Arthel absolutely. And we have Texas Governor greg abbott tweeting our thanks to Law Enforcement for their response. And speaking of Law Enforcement, detective williams, you mentioned atf. We do know that the atf Houston Field Division as well as the san antonio atf officers are on scene. We have, again, reports of this shooter reloading multiple times which will, i ask you, what does that tell you about the type of weapon that he perhaps used . Well, he either had an automatic, perhaps, or semiautomatic weapon. The fact that he was reloading his gun, it tells that he intentionally went in there wanting to kill or to harm as many people as he could or many parishioners in that church. Ive seen these kinds of shootings before where someone has a motive and they have a beef against somebody in the church, a domestic incident, etc. Its too early on at this stage to try to determine what was the motive behind this, but i think that the Law Enforcement officers will early on know. One of the concerns, and we all are concerned about this in america now, are terrorists. We do not know if this is terroristrelated. It could very well be a domestic situation eric but, ted, excuse me for interrupting, wouldnt multiple, multiple reports of deaths, of multiple deaths in this church indicate that it may not be a domestic dispute, that it could be a hate crime or a terrorist attack as opposed to a gunman going after a former wife or this sort of thing . When you have multiple deaths reported during a Church Service. Well, when you have multiple deaths like this, youre trying to determine, of course, eric, the motivation of the individual who is the shooter, and its too early on because he may very well be a parishioner in that church who was thrown out of the church and im speculating, of course and at that stage went back in there and did a mass shooting all because of hatred. He could be someone that is mentally impaired. We know what happened down in carolina there eric in charleston with dylann roof. In charleston, carolina. So that person was motivated by race and hatred. We dont know at this stage, early stage, what the motivation is. It could be many, many things, eric. Eric youre looking at the First Baptist church of south sutherland, texas, where this horrible massacre occurred during the 11 30 in the morning central time Church Service by people of faith gathered together to celebrate life and god, and instead it has become the latest mass shooting tragedy in our country upon which weve been so afflicted the past few years. Just a horrendous scene as investigators start to go into the finish what the situation is. We have a quick interview with one of the witnesses. We got called in the middle of our service down there, down the road and immediately the people that were, my wife who is a nurse at the hospital, local hospital, went into action. We have a deputy that was in there that went into action along with other people. We got ready, and we just did what we do, we prayed. And, you know, the bible tells us that we overcome evil with good and evil doesnt overcome evil. Evil can only be overcome by good, and so we come together to do that immediately. Arthel a sunday morning american tradition, people of faith worshiping there in a small congregation in Sutherland Springs, texas, comes to an end when a lone shooter walks in, opens fire and shoots and murders people. Were back in a moment. Wheres gary . saved money on motorcycle insurance with geico. Goin up the country. Later, gary i have a motorcycle wonderful. Im goin up the country, baby dont you wanna go . Im goin up the country, baby dont you wanna go . Geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. Eric we continue reporting on the tragedy in Sutherland Springs, texas, the church on the right the scene of multiple, multiple deaths when a suspect walked into that church and opened fire. So much he, we are told, kept on reloading. President trump, who is on his asian trip tweeting this, quote may god with the people of Sutherland Springs, texas. I ammon to having the situation from japan. Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeting our prayers are all with those harmed by this evil act, in the latest apparent mass shooting in our country. We do not know the identity of the suspect, we do not know his motivation whether this was, indeed, a terrorist attack, a hate crime based on religion or something unexplicable such as we saw in the Las Vegas Mass Shooting of several weeks ago. Ted davis is with us in the studio in washington d. C. Ted, your thoughts as we learn there are more and more apparent victims who have been killed in this type of attack. You know, you wonder just whats going on here in america people wake up on a sunday morning, they put on their sunday finery, and theyre going to praise their god. Theyre sitting there doing, in prayer, and all of a sudden a gunman walks into a church and just starts opening fire. And not only opening fire, but continuing to open fire. Or you its a very chilling and scary situation, eric, that these individuals were faced with. But i would have to believe that if its some member of the community, by now there should be some identification of that person. If the person is outside the community, then itll be a slightly more difficult for Law Enforcement to make an identification eric and what would that mean if the person was outside the community, that this was intentionally targeted as a terrorist attack . Oh, absolutely. I wont go as far to say a terrorist act, but anytime you go into a church or place of worship or soft target like this and open fire, it could very well be defined as a terrorist act, and it may not be international terrorism. It could very well be domestic in nature. But thats the scary thing. And when these things happen like this on a sunday like this, one of my greatest concerns as a former Law Enforcement officer is the copycats. We do realize that International Terrorists isis, for instance they are watching this, and they take a footprint from this kind of a situation, and that is what makes it so scary for us in america during these kinds of situations. Arthel ted williams, former d. C. Homicide detective, also criminal defense attorney. Stand by, if you would. I want to bring in now former Boston Police commissioner ed davis. Commissioner davis, i believe you said earlier that you were with San Antonio Police chief mcmanus. Based on what we just heard from detective williams saying that this perhaps could be the footprint for wannabe copycat artists, if you will. What sort of challenge does this present to people like chief mcmanus . Well, you know, chief mcmanus and the sheriff who was responsible for Sutherland Springs are facing the same kind of challenge that Police Across the country are facing. Youve got people who are on the fringe. Theyre either, they either have very Serious Mental Health issues, or they have become radicalized, they have a vendetta or some type of a wish to get even with people. And, quite frankly, its easy for them to get the equipment necessary to create havoc. Last week we saw, you know, the use of a rental truck in a big city, in downtown new york. The week before that, there was a sniper in a hotel raining shots down on a peaceful crowd of concertgoers. And this week now weve got a shooting in a church. Its too early to tell what this is. Its too early to tell exactly what motivated this. For the police, its about getting there quickly and stopping the individual from killing people. Its a very, very difficult thing to deal with. Then theres the rescue of the people who are there. So its playing itself out over and over and over again. The question is what can we, as a society, do to stop it. Arthel and as we know in this horrible situation, the weapon of choice is a gun. Some sort of a gun. What is this going to how will this impact what we report, what local Gun Shop Owners will have to report when folks are coming in to make purchases or to pawn guns, to get guns out of pawnshops . What has to happen now . You know, we have this saying in new york you see something, say something, but how does that command need to expand . Well, i think that every time one of these incidents happens there seems to be, there seems to be a process that we go through where people grieve, they send sympathy out to people, then theres a bit of a back and forth between people who are one way or another on the gun issue, and then eventually it fades into the background, and we move on, and then it happens again. So that cycle is going to repeat itself after this. The question is when will, when will someone come up with a solution to it. Thats really what were hoping for, and that kind of leadership is really necessary right now. Arthel commissioner davis, that is definitely a question that begs of answers as we cover this mass shooting, once again, on a sunday morning at a small church in Sutherland Springs, texas, just outside of san antonio. Multiple wounds, people injured and fatalities as well. We continue our coverage after this break. Stay right here on the Fox News Channel. Its devastating for us and for our community, but gods still in control. Eric it is a sunday, and we are sadly reporting on an affront against god and our humanity. Another apparent shooting, multiple people reports say killed as they were praying in church, attending the services this morning at 11 30 this south sutherland, texas, about 40 miles east of san antonio at that Church Service this morning. The president of the united states, whos in japan, tweeting may god be with the people of Sutherland Springs. Greg abbott, the governor, saying our prayers are with all those who have been harmed by what he calls this evil act. There you see the president s tweet as he is on his 12day, fivestop asian tour in japan. It is a horror unfolding at this hour. A suspect, we are told, is dead. We do not have a motivation. We publicly do not have the create of the identity of that suspect, but here are what some of the people within the last hour told reporters when they spoke. Lets listen. We got called in the middle of our service down there, down the road and immediately the people that were, my wife who is a nurse at the hospital, local hospital, went into action. We have a deputy that was in there that went into action along with other people. And then we just did what we do, we prayed. And, you know, the bible tells us that we overcome evil with good and not evil finish evil doesnt overcome evil. Evil can only be overcome by good, so we come together to do that immediately. So wrong. We leave our doors open, our cars are unlocked. My cars running with the keys in it right now. I mean, we dont lock our doors out here. But why there arent even words, are there . No, theres no words. Theres just this happens in new york, in big cities. No ones safe. My dads already taught me how to get the gun out of the safe and get em loaded. I mean, if it can happen here, guys, it can happen anywhere. Eric this happens in big cities like new york. We saw, of course, the radical islamic terrorist attack that occurred in new york city just a few days ago that killed several foreign visitors as well as two young americans, a 32yearold and a 23yearold. And that atrocity, weve seen this in las vegas, in charleston at the church in 2015 when dylann roof opened fire in a raciallymotivated act of hatred. We see something here again today, sadly, on this sunday. Fifty people in the church, reports of multiple people dead, others injured including children, and we are also told, according to reports, a 2yearold among the wounded. Arthel a place of worship should be a safe haven, but it has happened again in a tiny town of about 400 people. Southerland spring Sutherland Springs, texas, just southeast of san antonio. This church, the First Baptist church, was founded in 1926, making it a bedrock there in that community where you just heard one of the parishioners, one of the people in that community saying it should not happen here, we dont lock our doors, we know our neighbors, my keys are in my car right now as i sat inside of this church when this lone gunman walked in at about 11 30 a. M. Central time this sunday morning, walked in opening fire on some 50 parishioners there to worship on what should be a sacred sunday morning in america. We have former Boston Police commissioner ed davis on standby here. And, commissioner davis, just a moment ago we were talking about, i asked you how this changes the, complicates the puzzle for people like San Antonio Police chief mcmanus and the sheriff there in Sutherland Springs. When it comes to surveying, because the weapon of choice in this mass murder, this multiple shootings with fatalities, the weapon of choice was a gun. So when, what sort of how can we, how can we survey the gun shops, the pawnshops, the places where people get these weapons that turn into, you know, something that they use to commit mass murder . Well, there are millions of weapons on the street and millions manufactured every year, and theyre a durable product. They last for decades. So i dont know that i think that the best thing or the first thing that we can do in a situation like this is to somehow combine the records of people with Mental Health issues and the records of people who have firearms and make who are trying to get firearms and make sure that theres some review of that. I mean, it just makes sense that when you see this attack in las vegas and the attack since then, especially the School Shooting in connecticut, i mean, there really has to be some common sense things that we can do to tighten things up but still maintain, you know, the Second Amendment rights. So i think that those are the kind of conversations we should be having after an incident hike hike like this. But, you know, the other thing is who is the family of the shooter . Who was close to the shooter . Who, you know, theres always some people that have some inkling that something might be wrong, and i think that thats another component of what we have to Pay Attention to. Arthel indeed, it is another component. And that exactly is where i was trying to go, commissioner davis. I wasnt trying to approach the Second Amendment rights by any means at this point in this horrible story. I just was talking about that very thing; see something, say something. Talk to the people who, you know, might have seen this lone shooter in the days and weeks leading up to this mass murder once again here in a sacred place of worship, in a church on a sunday morning happening in Sutherland Springs, texas, southeast of san antonio. We have more details for you on this mass shooting in a moment. To help minimize blood sugar spikes. You can really feel it. Now with 30 less carbs and sugars. Glucerna. Booking a flight doesnt have to be expensive