Devin Patrick Kelley stormed into the First Baptist Church of Sutherland dressed as the Grim Reaper — in black body armor and a skull mask, officials said — as he picked off dozens of trapped Sunday worshipers.
The madman’s bloody rampage was apparently set off by a dispute with his in-laws, who often attended the church but weren’t at the service that became the scene of the deadliest mass shooting in modern Texas history, according to officials.
“Wherever you walked in the church, it was death,” Wilson County Sheriff Joe D. Tackitt said of the small-town bloodbath, about 40 miles from San Antonio.
“It was just horrific. Words can’t express what was there. It’s hard enough to see adults, but when you see babies, little ones, I’m talking 3, 4, 5, 6 years old. 10 years old. It’s just hard.”
Kelley, 26, had a domestic violence conviction that should’ve prevented him from buying the powerful firearms he used in the mass shooting — but the Air Force failed to submit his criminal history to the FBI, officials revealed. The killer had been mad at his mother-in-law — and sent her threatening text messages before the massacre, an official said.
“We know that he expressed anger towards his mother-in-law, who attends this church,” said Freeman Martin of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“This was not racially motivated, it wasn’t over religious beliefs. There was a domestic situation going on with the family and in-laws,” he added.
Kelley killed 26 people in the bloodbath — including his wife’s grandmother, 71-year-old Lula Woicinski White — and wounded 20 others, according to authorities.
His victims ranged from as young as 18 months to 77 years old.
“I have no doubt where she is right now. She is in Heaven laying her crowns and jewels at the feet of Jesus and celebrating,” White’s niece Amy Backus wrote on Facebook.
“I love and will miss you Aunt Lula Woicinski White.”
The killer was first spotted in his massacre gear at a Valero gas station across the street from the church, where “he was obviously suspicious to others,” Martin said.
“At that time, I’m not sure if he had the mask on or not — but [when he entered the church] he was wearing a black mask that had a white face, skull face, to it,” he explained.
The madman then drove across the street and opened fire outside the church with a Ruger AR-556 rifle, killing two people.
“I couldn’t see his face. I could only see his body shaking and shaking as he shot the gun,” Terrie Smith, who was walking into Teresa’s Restaurant when the carnage began, told Yahoo News.
“When I close my eyes, I just see him just shooting and shooting and shooting.”
The killer then entered the church, where he went up and down the aisle shooting at worshipers attending an 11 a.m. service, Tackitt said.
“He just walked down the center aisle, turned around and, my understanding was, was shooting on his way back out,” the sheriff said.
He added there was “no way” for victims to flee the killing spree, which was caught on video because the church regularly tapes its services.
Smith said she heard the barrage of gunfire coming from inside the church as she hid out with others in a store across the street.
“There were so many rounds,” she said. “It just went on and on. You could just hear it constantly. And then there was a silence. And then there were more rounds. And then there was silence.”
Officials said he fired hundreds of bullets into the parishioners and they recovered 15 empty 30-round magazines from the church.
At one point, a bloodied man with head and arm wounds rushed out of the back door of the church and ran toward the store, Smith said.
“Somebody’s shooting in there! Somebody went in and shot everybody,” the man said as he collapsed inside.
“He kept saying, ‘My family’s in there. My family’s in there,’” Smith added. “And we couldn’t do nothing. We couldn’t do nothing.”
A local resident, Stephen Willeford, grabbed his assault rifle and confronted Kelley as he left the church after the massacre.
“They engaged in gunfire here at the church. We know that the suspect was shot,” Martin explained, calling Willeford a “good hero.”
Kelley then dropped his weapon and fled in his SUV, calling his dad on a cellphone to say he’d “been shot and didn’t think he was going to make it,” officials said.
As Willeford and another man, Johnnie Langendorff, chased his vehicle, Kelley drove off the road and into a ditch about 11 miles away from the church, where he was found dead.
“Investigators found evidence at the scene that indicates the subject may have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Martin said.
Ten victims were still in critical condition on Monday, according to officials.
Six victims were in stable condition or had been released from the hospital, while another four remained in serious condition, authorities said.
“We ask that everyone keep them in their thoughts and prayers,” Martin said.
Leslie Ward, who lives two blocks away from the church, told NPR that her 8-year-old niece died in the carnage — and her brother-in-law’s wife and 5-year-old twins were rushed to the hospital.
“The scene looked terrible,” she said. “Everybody was bleeding, crying. There was dead bodies everywhere. Babies. People trying to just get a hold of their family — but of course their phones broke. They shattered. And people just crying. Just really, really bad off — disaster, blood everywhere.”
Sheriff Tackitt said no one made it out of the church unscathed.
“I think nearly everyone had some type of injury,” he said.
“It’s unbelievable to see children, men and women, laying there. Defenseless people.”
Vice President Pence and his wife Karen said they’ll visit Sutherland Springs, which is home to about 400 people, on Wednesday.
“We are with you Texas,” Pence tweeted.
Residents were left shocked that the fifth deadliest mass shooting on U.S. soil could unfold in their small, tight-knit community.
“We’re a good community, we’re a good community,” Smith said. “When people are struggling, we all come together. I don’t know what we do now.”