Judge finds US government 60% responsible in 2017 Texas church mass shooting
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TX – NOVEMBER 12: Members of the news media tour the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs which has been turned into a memorial to honor those who died on November 12, 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The inside of the church has been painted white with 26 white chairs placed around the room. On each chair is a single rose and the name of a shooting victim. The chairs are placed throughout the room at the location where the victim died. The memorial will be open to the public. Devin Patrick Kelley shot and killed the 26 people and wounded 20 others when he opened fire during Sunday service at the church on November 5th. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
ovp test
Male shot by female at Shreveport apartment
Class to create biodiverse backyard
Rules for outbursts at Caddo School Board Meeting
maylen
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Air Force is mostly responsible for a former serviceman killing more than two dozen people at a Texas church in 2017 because it failed to submit his criminal history into a database, which should have prevented him from purchasing firearms.
U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez in San Antonio wrote in a ruling signed Wednesday that the Air Force was “60% responsible” for the deaths and injuries at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs. The attack remains the worst mass shooting in Texas history.
Devin Kelley had served nearly five years in the Air Force before being discharged in 2014 for bad conduct, after he was convicted of assaulting a former wife and stepson, cracking the child’s skull.
Latest News
- AUTO TEST: NNN Synopsis Text
- AUTO TEST: Synopsis post
- AUTO TEST: NNN Synopsis
- AUTO TEST: Disable Ads post
- AUTO TEST POST 20241121122329
The Air Force has publicly acknowledged that the felony conviction for domestic violence, had it been put into the FBI database, could have prevented Kelley from buying guns from licensed firearms dealers, and also from possessing body armor.
“Its failure proximately caused the deaths and injuries of Plaintiffs at the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church,” Rodriguez wrote.
Kelley opened fire during a Sunday service at the church of Sutherland Springs in November 2017. Authorities put the official death toll at 26 because one of the 25 people killed was pregnant. Kelley died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after he was shot and chased by two men who heard the gunfire at the church.
The lawsuit against the federal government was brought by family members of the victims. Rodriguez ordered a later trial to assess damages owed to the families.
