One of the victims of the First Baptist Church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas was Annabelle Renee Pomeroy, the 14-year-old daughter of the pastor.
Pastor Frank Pomeroy described his daughter as “one very beautiful, special child” in an interview with ABC News.
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Pomeroy said other victims were close friends of his.
More: At Least 24 Killed in Texas Church Shooting
Pomeroy was in Oklahoma this weekend and was not at the church. He told ABC News he is driving back to Sutherland Springs, a community 40 miles southeast of San Antonio.
Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackett told NBC News that “approximately 25 people” are deceased, including the still-unidentified shooter. He said there was no information on a possible motive.
It’s also not clear how the shooter died. Another Wilson County official, commissioner Albert Gamez Jr., told CNN that the gunman was killed after police chased him to the next county, reports The New York Times. It’s still not known if the shooter was killed by police or if he shot himself.
“It’s a rural community and a conservative, mostly farmers and ranchers and people who work out in the oil and gas patches,” Texas Congressman Vicente Gonzalez said of Sutherland Springs in an interview with NBC News. He said the community is “very tranquil and safe.”
Sutherland County is a small community with only 362 residents, according to the 2000 census. Videos posted by Pomeroy’s church appear to show that he only had 20 to 30 parishioners.
The church posted its Sunday services on YouTube. In his last sermon before the shooting, Pomeroy told parishioners to shake each others’ hands.
More: President Donald Trump Reacts to the Texas Church Shooting
“May God be [with] the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI [and] law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan,” President Trump wrote on Twitter.
Photo credit: Twitter / @CBSNews, Getty / Erich Schlegel
