Military veteran’s mass murder in Texas, USA

Devin Kelley, perpetrator of Texas massacre

At least 26 are dead and 20 others injured after a gunman opened fire at a small Baptist church in rural Texas on Sunday morning. The ages of the wounded and dead range from 5 to 72 years.

Multiple media reports identified the suspect as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley. His motive remains unknown.

Kelley was previously a member of the United States Air Force, serving at a base in New Mexico.

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas ― More than 100 people gathered outside the post office here on Sunday night, just blocks away from the First Baptist Church where a lone gunman killed 26 members of this tight-knit community on Sunday morning. It was the worst mass killing in the state’s history.

“Who are we going to be tomorrow?” Stephen Curry, a pastor from a nearby church, asked the crowd. “We’re going to be people of love.”

“Amen!” the audience exclaimed. …

Kelley was previously a United States Air Force member who served in logistics readiness at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, from 2010 until his bad conduct discharge in 2014. He was court-martialed in 2012 for assault on his spouse and assault on their child.

It is reported that mass murderer Kelley ‘was not a terrorist‘. I suspect that has something to do with Kelley being white and not a Muslim. Before it was known that non-Muslim Kelley was the perpetrator, nazi Internet site The Daily Stormer already blamed Muslims. Not just the Daily Stormer nazis, also ‘mainstream’ media like the Murdoch empire, and not just the Murdoch empire, tend to blame Muslims even if perpetrators are racist Islamophobes like Breivik in Norway or Alexandre Bissonnette in Quebec.

However, if a perpetrator of a bloodbath happens to be a Muslim, then corporate media and Donald Trump tend to blame Muslims in general. If the perpetrator happens to be a white male, like in the Las Vegas massacre and now the Texas church massacre, then they, correctly, don’t blame white men in general.

Devin Patrick Kelley is not just a white man, but also apparently a pious Christian, as he taught at a Bible school. Should we now blame Christians in general wrongly, like Muslims are blamed in general wrongly? No, even though among Christians there are violent individuals and violent groups, like in most religions.

Devin Patrick Kelley is not just a Christian white man, but also an armed forces veteran. Should soldiers or ex-soldiers in general be blamed for such atrocities? No; but the tensions of United States perpetual wars do often cause PTSD or other mental health problems in soldiers or veterans. Which may cause domestic violence; like in Kelley’s case. Or murder; also like in Kelley’s case. And in the case of other non-Muslim veterans and soldiers, like in the Florida airport massacre. Or in the case of the Muslim serving soldier in another massacre in Texas, at Fort Hood military base; which was blamed widely on Islam instead of the PTSD cause in corporate media.

By Trévon Austin in the USA:

Over 25 killed in mass shooting in Texas

6 November 2017

At least 25 people have been killed, and many more injured, in a mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a small town about 30 miles east of San Antonio. Devin Kelley, a 26-year-old male, walked into the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs and opened fire, marking one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history, and the largest in Texas history.

The shooting wounded nearly everyone inside the church that attended the service, about 50 people, in a town of just a few hundred. Among those killed, 23 people died inside the church, two outside the building, and one person died after being transported to a hospital, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The ages of the wounded and dead ranged from 5 to 72, authorities said.

Freeman Martin, regional director for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said the shooter was dressed in all black, tactical-type gear, when he opened fire on the church. “He was seen dressed in all black. He started firing at the church,” he said. “He moved to the right side of the church and continued to fire, then he went in the church.” He was “dressed all in black tactical type gear and was wearing a ballistic vest.”

According to Guadalupe County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Robert Murphy, the shooter was killed after a brief chase. It is not known whether or not Kelley shot himself, but one report claims that a citizen inside of the church confronted Kelley.

He “grabbed his rifle and confronted the suspect,” who was armed with a “Ruger AR assault type rifle,” according to heavy.com. The unidentified citizen was then reported to have chased Kelley, who attempted to flee in a vehicle and ran off the road. Kelley was found dead in the vehicle with a gunshot wound.

“We don’t know if it was a self-inflicted gunshot wound or if he was shot by our local resident who engaged him with gunfire,” authorities said.

A witness, a cashier at a gas station across the street from the church, told CNN she heard about 20 shots being fired in quick succession while a church service was underway around 11:30 a.m. local time.

David Flores, a local resident, told CNN, “My dad saw the gunman run into the church building and then he heard shots and saw people running.” Flores told CNN. “People covered in blood and screaming. It was pandemonium everywhere.”

According to both witness accounts and official reports, pregnant women and young children were among the victims in the shooting, including the pastor’s 14-year-old daughter Annabelle, and a two-year-old toddler, according to reports by KNES5.

“There were several children injured,” Flores told CNN. “I know three, personally, who are in critical condition.”

In the aftermath of the shooting, FBI authorities searched Kelley’s Facebook profile and found a posted picture of a rifle Kelley called a “bad bitch.” His profile picture showed two children as well. His Facebook account has since been removed.

According to the Daily Beast, “Kelley was married and Kelley’s mother-in-law listed a P.O. box in Sutherland Springs as a mailing address. San Antonio police reportedly raided Kelley’s home on Sunday evening,” and “he briefly taught at a summer Bible school.”

Authorities have also revealed that Kelley was part of the US Air Force after high school, from 2010 to 2014. CBS News reported that “Kelley is a former U.S. Air Force member who served from 2010 to 2014. He was dishonorably discharged and court martialed in May 2014.”

The tragedy that unfolded Sutherland Springs marks the 307th mass shooting—defined as an incident in which four or more people are shot or killed—in the United States this year, according to information compiled by the Gun Violence Archive.

An article published by the Guardian after the mass shooting in Las Vegas reported that 1,516 mass shootings had occurred within the last 1,735 days, with 1,719 killed and 6,510 injured. Using data from Gun Violence Archive, the Guardian concluded “there is a mass shooting … every nine out of 10 days on average.”

AT LEAST 26 DEAD IN SHOOTING AT TEXAS BAPTIST CHURCH SUNDAY And 20 more are injured. Shooting suspect Devin Patrick Kelley reportedly began firing on the congregation with a Ruger AR assault-type rifle and was found dead of a gunshot wound after a car chase. A former member of the Air Force, he was court-martialed in 2012 for assaulting his spouse and their child. The victims in Sunday’s shooting ranged in age from 5 to 72, including the pastor’s daughter and an 8-months pregnant woman. “I don’t think they could have escaped. You’ve got your pews on either side,” Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt Jr. said Sunday. The Baptist church carnage was the 307th mass shooting in the U.S. this year, and such shootings are becoming more common and more deadly. President Donald Trump called the shooting a “mental health problem at the highest level.” [HuffPost]

So, now Donald Trump at last discovers the mental health issue, now that the culprit is a white Christian man. While completely disregarding it on earlier occasions which he abused for stoking Islamophobia to promote his ‘war on terror‘ from which he profits financially personally.

Here’s a list of shootings at churches over the years.

Remember that viral photo of the bicyclist who flipped off Trump’s motorcade? Turns out she got fired for that.