An armed private citizen reportedly engaged the shooter who killed more than two dozen people Sunday at a rural southeast Texas church, and then chased the suspect several miles along with another man, various news agencies have reported.
The Washington Times identified the killer as Devin Patrick Kelley, 26. When authorities investigated, they found several firearms in Kelley’s car. But the rifle he used, identified as a Ruger semi-auto, was left at the crime scene after the armed citizen fired at him.
While there was no indication about a motive, that hasn’t stopped gun prohibitionists from demanding more gun laws. Several Democrat lawmakers wasted no time rushing to social media in an effort to capitalize on the Sutherland Springs church shooting in order to advance their gun control agenda.
Kelley is dead and it was not clear if the citizen’s gunfire killed him or he took his own life, according to Freeman Martin, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. A full report was first posted at Grabien News.
At a press conference in Sutherland Springs featuring several state officials including Gov. Greg Abbott, details of the shooting were revealed. Federal and state authorities, including the Texas Rangers, were investigating, according to Martin.
Among Capitol Hill anti-gunners pushing gun control was freshman Sen. Kamala Harris of California, along with anti-gun Senators Bob Casey, Jr., Dick Durbin, Chris Murphy and Dianne Feinstein.
Even The Hill seemed to pitch in, using this deceptive language in its lead paragraph: “Democrats are renewing their calls for gun reform…” Activists on social media have been quick to point out that no matter what term is used, it is still “gun control.”
At the New York Daily News, writer Mike Lupica wrote:
“The only thing as predictable as the sound of gunfire in the United States is the silence of the lambs in Congress apparently under the cowardly and cockeyed impression that the laws we have on the books are working, despite all possible evidence to the contrary, and despite the fact that there will never be another advanced country in this world that routinely has the number of mass shootings that we do.”
Fox News estimated there were about 50 people in the church when gunfire erupted and based on the number of casualties, probably everyone was hit. There were reports that the suspect reloaded during the shooting.
Gov. Abbott called it an “evil act.”
The shooting comes just over a month after the carnage in Las Vegas when Stephen Paddock killed 58 people and wounded hundreds of others.
