Devin Patrick Kelley

Willeford then noticed a pickup truck pulled up to the intersection of 4th St. and FM 539, driven by Johnnie Langendorff.

Willeford approached and entered Langendorff's truck on the passenger side.

They then pursued Kelley at high speed for about five to seven minutes.

According to Langendorff, they drove at speeds up to 95 mph. While chasing Kelley, the men called police dispatch to report the route and direction of the chase assuming the police were headed toward the church.

During the chase, Kelley called his wife and spoke to her and his parents, informing them "I just shot up the Sutherland Springs church", and telling his father that he was injured and thought that he would not survive.

Kelley reportedly repeatedly emphasized how sorry he was.

Bleeding from his injuries, Kelley soon lost control of his vehicle, hitting a road sign before crossing a bar ditch at the Hartfield/Sandy Elm Road intersection and finally stopping about 30 feet into the field on the opposite side.

Willeford and Langendorff observed that he was motionless, and police took over the scene when they arrived.

Police found Kelley dead in his car with three gunshot wounds, including a self-inflicted head wound.

Two handguns were found in the vehicle: a Glock 19 9mm and a Ruger SR22 .22-caliber, both of which Kelley had purchased.

The attack occurred during the church's Sunday service.

Twenty-six people were killed and 22 others were injured.

The dead comprised ten women, seven men, seven girls, one boy, and an unborn child.

Twenty-three died inside the church, two outside, and one in a hospital.

The oldest victim was 77 years old.

One victim was the 14-year-old daughter of church pastor Frank Pomeroy, who was elsewhere the day of the attack.

Visiting pastor Bryan Holcombe died with eight family members, including an unborn grandchild.

The injured victims were taken to Connally Memorial Medical Center in Floresville, University Hospital in San Antonio, and Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston.

The Texas Rangers led the investigation, with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) assisting.

Investigators initially said the shooting was not motivated by racism or prejudice against religion, but by a dispute with Kelley's mother-in-law, although more theories later surfaced.

There was no indication that anyone other than Kelley was involved in the shooting.

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.

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 fixed holes in background check reporting procedures.

A few minutes after 11:00 a.m., Kelley arrived in a white SUV at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.

Around 11:20a.m., Kelley stepped out of the SUV, wearing black tactical gear, a ballistic vest, and a black face-mask featuring a white skull, and wielding a Ruger AR-556 semi-automatic rifle.

He approached the church from the right, opening fire on and killing two people outside the church and continuing to fire on the building itself.

He then entered through a right side door, where worshippers were attending regular Sunday service.

Inside, Kelley yelled, "Everybody dies, motherf-", as he proceeded up and down the center aisle and shot at people in the pews.

Police found 15 empty magazines capable of holding 30 rounds each.

Authorities stated Kelley fired approximately 700 rounds during the estimated 11-minute long shooting.

According to investigators, the shooting was captured on a camera set up at the back of the church to record regular services for uploading online.

The footage shows Kelley methodically shooting the victims, pausing only to reload his rifle.

Kelley was then confronted by and traded fire with Stephen Willeford, a local resident and former firearms instructor who was armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.

Willeford had taken cover behind a truck across the street from the church and shot Kelley twice, once in the leg and once in the upper left torso under his tactical gear.

Kelley, who had dropped his rifle during the initial firefight with Willeford, fired back with a handgun before fleeing in his Ford Explorer.

Willeford fired one more round as Kelley sped north on FM 539.

On November 5, 2017, at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a local man, Devin Kelley, shot and killed 26 people and wounded 22 others.

Kelley was shot and wounded by another local resident, then killed himself after a car chase.