Sutherland Springs rampage

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Sutherland Springs, Texas
Sutherland Springs
Sutherland Springs
Location of Sutherland Springs , Texas .

The Sutherland Springs rampage occurred on November 5, 2017 in the small Texan town of Sutherland Springs . A man shot at least 26 people and injured 20 others in front of and in the First Baptist Church. According to Governor Greg Abbott , it was the most casualty gun attack in recent Texan history.

Sequence of events

According to the authorities, the offender, dressed entirely in black and equipped with a bullet-proof vest , was first seen at a local gas station around 11:20 a.m. ( UTC − 6 ; CST ). He then crossed the street to the First Baptist Church building and began shooting people in front of the church with a semi-automatic rifle , a Ruger SR-556, a variant of the Colt AR-15 popular in the US . Two people died in the process. Then he went to church and fired at visitors to the morning prayer. 23 died instantly; one woman later succumbed to her injuries.

A resident of the village said he had an exchange of fire with the perpetrator, whereupon he fled in his car. During the chase he got off the road and had an accident. When the police arrived, the perpetrator was already dead. Investigators found other weapons in his car and, according to the NPR, evidence that he may have shot himself. According to the police, he is said to have committed suicide by shooting in the head after being injured by two grazing shots.

Perpetrator

The perpetrator was a convicted 26-year-old man named Devin Patrick Kelley, a former member of the United States Air Force , from near San Antonio . In 2012, a military court sentenced him to twelve months in prison for attacks on his first wife and stepson, which resulted in a fractured skull in the boy . According to the Houston-based broadcaster KPRC , citing a police report, Kelley broke out of the Peak Behavioral Health Services mental institution in June 2012 and was reported missing, indicating that he was at risk for himself and others. Prior to his conviction, he was stationed at Holloman Air Force Base . There he is said to have threatened superiors with weapons. In 2014 he was dishonorably discharged from the Air Force. In 2014 he married for the second time, but was separated from his wife at the time of the crime. According to TPR , he last lived in New Braunfels in neighboring Comal County .

The ATF database had no entries that made it difficult or impossible for Kelley to legally purchase a gun. The Air Force admitted that it had not disclosed any information about his criminal record.

His motive was initially unclear. NPR reported he had written threats to his mother-in-law. She is a member of the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, but, like Kelley's second wife, had not attended this service. However, among Kelley's victims was his wife's grandmother. Officials said that a racist or religious background to the attack was unlikely.

Reactions

US President Donald Trump spoke of an "act of evil"; Texas has the "full support" of the government and he expressed his condolences to the relatives. The act intensified the ongoing discussion about the free sale of firearms in the US , which flared up again after the mass murder in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 , among other things . Ex-US President Barack Obama asked "for the wisdom to take concrete steps against gun violence in the country". Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords , herself a victim of an assassination attempt in 2011, wrote on Twitter that she prayed “that our lawmakers will find the courage to tackle the problem of gun violence in the US”. President Trump denied a connection between the act and the gun law.

The chairman of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the United States , Daniel Cardinal DiNardo , expressed in view of the fact that there was "a fundamental problem" in the society of the United States and called for the prevention of "senseless armed violence".

The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives , Paul Ryan , has received widespread criticism for tweeted asking people to pray for Sutherland Springs, overlooking the fact that the massacre took place in a church. Thousands of people responded critically to Ryan on Twitter, calling for “stricter gun laws instead of prayers”.

Malte Lehming commented in Tagesspiegel.de that a media “battle of interpretation” in the US media, especially from the right, rages more violently every day: “The conservative ' Washington Times ' blasphemes about' mainstream media 'who' would have loved Kelley to make an ardent Christian, Bible-insistent Republican or tea party follower. Instead, he is an atheist with no moral compass. The liberal ' New Republic ' counters with the accusation that right-wing circles portray Kelley's victims as Christian martyrs in order to distract from the fact that the right to gun ownership is defended especially by white evangelicals. "

The pastor of the congregation informed the church administration that he wanted to have the church building torn down. The congregation can no longer be expected to hold services in the church. A memorial should be set up in their place. He was absent at the time of the crime, but his daughter was among the victims.

Web links

Commons : Sutherland Springs rampage  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. a b c d e Church in Sutherland Springs: What Is Known About the rampage in Texas. In: Spiegel Online. November 6, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2017 .
  2. ^ Alan Blinder, Dave Philipps & A. Oppel, Jr .: Texas Gunman Broke Child's Skull and Assaulted Wife in Troubled Life. In: nytimes.com . November 6, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  3. a b c d Man Who Exchanged Fire With Texas Shooter: 'I Was Scared To Death'. In: NPR.org. Retrieved November 7, 2017 .
  4. ^ Sutherland Springs: Texas church shooting leaves 26 dead. In: bbc.com , November 6, 2017; accessed November 8, 2017.
  5. a b 26 dead in massacre in a Texan church . In: sueddeutsche.de . November 6, 2017, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed November 6, 2017]).
  6. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41880511
  7. "Nobody who knew him is really astonished". In: FAZ.net , November 7, 2017, accessed November 8, 2017
  8. David Montgomery, Christopher Mele, Manny Fernandez: Texas Church Shooting Leaves at Least 26 Dead, Officials Say . In: The New York Times . November 5, 2017, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed November 6, 2017]).
  9. Texas assassin broke out of psychiatry. In: Welt.de , November 7, 2017, accessed November 8, 2017
  10. ↑ Gunman allegedly fled psychiatry. In: Die Zeit , October 8, 2017.
  11. Trump sees no weapons problem in the USA. In: Die Zeit , November 6, 2017.
  12. US Air Force probably did not submit criminal records of Texas offenders to the FBI. In: Deutsche Welle , November 7, 2017.
  13. New details: Devin Patrick Kelley broke out of psychiatry in 2012. In: shz.de , November 8, 2017.
  14. ^ A b Vince Kong: More Than A Dozen Children Victims At Sutherland Springs . ( tpr.org [accessed November 6, 2017]).
  15. ↑ A convicted Texas assassin should never have had weapons. In: welt.de , November 7, 2017.
  16. Texas Church Shooter May Have Been Motivated To Kill By 'Domestic Situation'. In: NPR.org. Retrieved November 6, 2017 .
  17. Malte Lehming: The Texas Assassin - A Fanatical Atheist? In: Der Tagesspiegel , November 9, 2017.
  18. "We have many mental health problems". In: Welt.de , November 6, 2017.
  19. Trump: US has a mental health problem. In: Der Tagesspiegel , November 6, 2017.
  20. ^ Massacre in Texas: Bishops complain about gun problems. In: kathisch.de
  21. Paul Ryan attacked on Twitter after asking for prayers in Texas church shooting. In: mlive.com
  22. Critics call on lawmakers for legislation, not prayers after Texas church shooting. In: abc7.com , accessed November 16, 2017
  23. Malte Lehming: The Texas Assassin - A Fanatical Atheist? In: Der Tagesspiegel , November 9, 2017.
  24. ^ Pastor wants to tear down church after massacre. In: Spiegel Online , November 10, 2017.

Coordinates: 29 ° 16 ′ 23.5 "  N , 98 ° 3 ′ 23"  W.