Texas church shooting suspect Devin Kelley was no stranger to the Sutherland Springs church upon which he opened fire on Sunday, killing more than 20 people.
The 26-year-old had previously attended the First Baptist Church, but he was not welcomed there, Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt told CNN Tuesday.
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He added that pastor Frank Pomeroy knew Kelley from his attendance at past church events.
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The church leader said the shooter never made threats to the congregation but told authorities that Kelley “was not a good person to be around.”
“He did not think that he was a good person and did not want him around his church,” Tackitt said, relaying the pastor’s thoughts of Kelley. “But he said, ‘How do I run him away from my church?’”
Authorities are currently exploring the motive that Kelley was intending to shoot his mother-in-law, who sometimes attended the church. She was not in attendance on Sunday, but Kelley’s wife’s grandmother was killed in the shooting.
As police look deeper into Kelley’s life leading up to the attack, which is now the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history, they have uncovered more disturbing details about his violent past.
In 2012, Kelley escaped from a New Mexico mental health hospital and “was attempting to carry out death threats,” the El Paso Police Department said.
The discharged Air Force member was hoping to make good on threats he “had made on his military chain of command,” Yahoo! News reports.
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According to police reports, Kelley was admitted to the Peak Behavioral Health Services while still in the Air Force after he threatened officers and tried to sneak guns onto the Holloman Air Force Base where he was stationed.
Police continue to investigate Kelley’s motive and mindset four days after the shooting, the community of Sutherland Springs is trying to pick up the pieces from the tragedy.
Kelley’s rampage killed 26 people and injured at least 20 more. Ten of those who survived the attack are still hospitalized in critical condition, CNN reports.
After his attack while strolling the aisles of the church, two heroic citizens chased him about 10 miles from the site before Kelley died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
