Sutherland Springs church shooting
| Sutherland Springs church shooting | |
|---|---|
Map of church and crash site | |
| Location | 29°16′24″N 98°03′23″W / 29.2732°N 98.0564°W First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas 29°24′57″N 98°03′43″W / 29.415832°N 98.061930°W Car crash site in New Berlin, Texas |
| Date | November 5, 2017 c. 11:20 – c. 11:31 a.m. (CST; UTC−06:00) |
Attack type | |
| Weapons |
Perpetrator:
Defender: |
| Deaths | 27 (including the perpetrator and 1 unborn fetus) |
| Injured | 22 |
| Perpetrator | Devin Patrick Kelley |
| Defenders |
|
| Motive | Domestic dispute |
On November 5, 2017, Devin Kelley shot and killed 26 people and wounded 22 others at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, United States. Kelley was subsequently shot and wounded, then killed himself. It is the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history and the deadliest at an American place of worship, surpassing the Charleston church shooting of 2015 and the Waddell Buddhist temple shooting of 1991.
In 2021, a federal judge ruled that the federal government was negligent and awarded victims and families nearly a quarter-billion dollars. The 26-year-old Kelley should not have been allowed to purchase or possess firearms and ammunition because of a prior domestic violence conviction in a court-martial while in the United States Air Force; however, he was still able to buy the weapons because the Air Force did not report the conviction. In response, Congress passed new legislation that addressed gaps in background check reporting procedures.