Texas authorities are offering more details about the timeline of a deadly church shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, a community 30 miles southeast of San Antonio.
Department of Public Safety regional director Freeman Martin said at a press conference that the alleged shooter was dressed in black, wearing tactical gear and a ballistic vest when he arrived at a neighboring gas station around 11:20 a.m. local time.
He crossed the street to the church, left his vehicle and started firing a Ruger AR assault-type rifle at the church. Then he entered the church and fired.
As he left the church, the shooter met area resident Johnnie Langendorff whose girlfriend, Summer Caddell, said that, armed with his own rifle, he and a neighbor gave chase to the suspect, according to ABC News.
The suspect was found dead in his vehicle near the border between Wilson and Guadalupe counties.
Martin says it's unclear if he died of a self-inflected wound or was shot by the resident.
Authorities haven't announced the name of the suspect, only describing him as a white male in his 20s.
Two officials who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity identified the attacker as Devin Kelley.
Martin said that 23 of the people found dead in a shooting at a Baptist church were found inside the building, two others were outside and one person was transported but died later.
The ages of those killed ranged from 5 to 72.
He told a news conference that about 20 other people were injured in the attack.
Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed 26 people were killed and that it was the deadliest mass shooting in the state's history.
One official has identified the suspect in a mass shooting at a Texas church as Devin Kelley.
The officials — one a U.S. official and the other in law enforcement — spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation, which they were briefed on.
The official says Kelley lived in a suburb of San Antonio and that he doesn't appear to be linked to organized terrorist groups. The official says investigators are looking at social media posts Kelley may have made in the days before Sunday's attack, including one that appeared to show an AR-15 semiautomatic weapon.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.