A gunman wearing black tactical gear and a ballistic vest killed 26 congregants Sunday at a small South Texas church, fled after being shot at by a local man, and died a short time later as his car veered off the road and crashed.
The shooting, the worst in state history, left Texans stunned by the extent of the carnage and the unlikely location, a tiny First Baptist Church in the remote town of Sutherland Springs, population 683.
"As a state, we are dealing with the largest mass shooting in our state's history," Gov. Greg Abbott said at a press conference Sunday evening in Stockdale, Texas. "There are so many families who have lost family members: fathers, mothers, sons and daughters.
"The tragedy, of course, is worsened by the fact that it occurred in a church, a place of worship, where these people were innocently gunned down," Mr. Abbott said.
The name of the gunman was not released by officials, but he was identified by multiple media outlets as Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, of New Braunfels, Texas, who reportedly was court-martialed and received a dishonorable discharge from the U.S. Air Force in May 2014.
The Pentagon confirmed that Kelley had served in the Air Force "at some point," and an Air Force spokeswoman said he had served in logistics readiness at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico from 2010 until his discharge.
Neither the Pentagon nor the Air Force provided details on the circumstances of the discharge.
About 20 people suffered wounds ranging from "minor to very severe" and were transported to hospitals. The victims ranged in age from 5 to 72, said Freeman Martin, regional director of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
He said a man was seen at about 11:20 a.m. leaving a Valero gas station and heading to the church. He shot at the front and right side of the building before moving inside, where he continued to fire his weapon.
"As he exited the church, a local resident grabbed his rifle and engaged that suspect," Mr. Martin said. "The suspect dropped his rifle, which was a Ruger AR assault-type rifle, and fled from the church. Our local citizen pursued the suspect at that time."
The man crossed from Wilson County into Guadalupe County and "ran off the roadway and crashed out, and was found deceased in his vehicle."
"At this time, we don't know if this was a self-inflicted gunshot wound or if he was shot by our local resident who engaged in gunfire," Mr. Martin said. "We know he was deceased in the vehicle."
He said the suspect, officially identified as a white man in his early 20s, had multiple weapons in the vehicle, which was processed by Texas Rangers bomb technicians.
Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt said the shooting showed that such attacks can happen anywhere, even Sutherland Springs, located about 30 miles southeast of San Antonio.
"We all in here know what happened today, and we all say it doesn't happen in small communities, but we found out today it does," Sheriff Tackitt said.
Two of those killed were found outside the church, and 23 were discovered inside. One of the wounded later died at a hospital, Mr. Martin said.
Among those dead was pastor Frank Pomeroy's 14-year-old daughter, according to ABC News and The Associated Press. The pastor and his wife, Sherri Pomeroy, were out of town at the time.
President Trump, who was in Japan at the start of a 12-day trip to Asia, called the shooting "horrific" and was dismayed that it occurred in a "place of sacred worship." He said the "pain and grief we all feel cannot begin to imagine the suffering of those" who lost loved ones.
