The tragic shooting that ended the lives of more than two dozen churchgoers Sunday may have been triggered by a domestic dispute involving the gunman and members of his family, authorities revealed.
“This was not racially motivated, it wasn’t over religious beliefs,” Freeman Martin of the Texas Department of Public Safety revealed at a press briefing Monday. “There was a domestic situation going on within the family and the in-laws.”
“The mother-in-law attended the church. We know he sent threatening … that she had received threatening text messages from him,” he added. The mother-in-law was not present at the church at the time of the attack.
Authorities have yet to identify an official motive.
The shooter, Devin Kelley, walked into First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, Sunday and opened fire, killing 26 people and injuring many other members of the congregation. Many of the injured remain in critical condition. The ages of the deceased victims range from 18 months to 77, and among the dead were eight members of a single family spanning three generations.
Locals engaged the shooter, causing him to flee. Police believe the shooter killed himself.
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