The sordid and violent past of Texas church gunman: Shooter dated a 13-year-old when he was 18, broke his stepson's skull during first marriage and sent 'threatening texts' to his mother-in-law before massacre where he killed his second wife's grandmother

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New details about the Texas church shooter paint the picture of a menacing bully, who was prone to violent outbursts and had a disturbing interest in teen girls. 

Public records detail Devin Patrick Kelley's history of physical abuse - including arrests for animal cruelty and domestic violence. 

The domestic violence arrest stems from his previous marriage to Tessa K. Kelley, who he married in Texas in April 2011, while serving as a low-ranking airman in the Air Force. 

The two were living in New Mexico the following year when Kelley was court-martialed for abusing both his wife and his infant stepson.  

'He assaulted his stepson severely enough that he fractured his skull, and he also assaulted his wife,' Don Christensen, a retired colonel who was the chief prosecutor for the Air Force, told the New York Times. 'He pled to intentionally doing it.' 

In November 2012, a month after his wife filed for divorce, Kelley was sentenced to 12 months confinement and a reduction to the lowest rank. 

Two years later, after serving his time, he was discharged from the Air Force for bad conduct - a dismissal that usually precludes ex-servicemen from buying firearms.   

Kelley didn't waste much time after being released from military prison. In April 2014, then-23-year-old Kelley remarried to 19-year-old Danielle Lee Shields records back in Texas show. 

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Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackett said on Monday that Devin Kelley's (right) in-laws attended the Texas church he attacked on Sunday. Tackett said Kelley and his wife Danielle (left) were estranged 

Kelley killed 26 people in the church and injured 20 more. He is believed to have committed suicide while fleeing 

Kelley was living at his parent's home in New Braunfels, Texas at the time of the shooting. The home pictured above on Monday 

The back side of the home in New Braunfels, Texas is seen above on Monday 

A few months after that, the couple appears to have moved to Colorado where records show Kelley registered to vote and had an address in a mobile home park.

A neighbor in Kelley's old mobile home park told the New York Times that he only lived there a few months in 2014, but was impossible to forget.  

Officials say Kelley sent 'threatening  texts' to his mother-in-law Michelle, who is a parishioner at the church. She was not present on Sunday during the attack 

The woman named Susan said police were called to the mobile home park when Kelley was caught hitting his pit bull puppy. When police arrived at the park, Kelley refused to come out of his trailer, causing an hour-long standoff.

Kelley was eventually arrested and  given a deferred probationary sentenced and ordered to pay $368 in restitution. The case was dismissed in March 2016 when he completed his sentence. He moved away a few weeks later. 

It's unclear what the couple did after leaving the mobile home park, but they moved in with his parents in New Braunfels, Texas sometime this year.  

At some point after moving back to Texas, authorities say Kelley and his wife became estranged, though they haven't revealed why that happened. As of Monday, Danielle's Facebook profile still listed her relationship status as 'married' and photos on the account show pictures of two young kids - a baby girl and an older boy - who may or may not be Kelley's.

Kelly was also on bad terms with his wife's mother, Michelle Shields, who was a member of the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs where the massacre took place on Sunday.  

At an afternoon press conference, police revealed that Kelley had 'expressed anger towards his mother-in-law' and sent her 'threatening texts'.

Michelle wasn't present at the church on Sunday when the massacre unfolded, but her mother - Lula Woicinski White - was and is among the victims.

Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Freeman Martin wouldn't go into further detail about the 'situation' between Kelley and his mother-in-law, but said the mass shooting stemmed from a domestic situation and was not racially or religiously motivated.   

Another disturbing aspect of Kelley's personality has also been revealed by a woman who claims to be one of his exes.

Brittany Adcock, 22, told NBC News that she dated Kelley for two months in 2009, when he was 18 and she was just 13.

'At the time I didn't think much into it being so young but now I realize that there's something off about someone who is 18 with someone who is 13,' she said.

She said that after she dumped Kelley, he refused to let the relationship go and tried to get her back by any means necessary. That included offering her money to live with him and his wife as a topless maid. 

In his LinkedIn profile, Kelley poses with a boy who may or may not be his son 

Kelley opened fire on the group of parishioners Sunday morning, killing 26 and injuring 20.

Sheriff Joe Tackitt of Wilson County described the gory scene inside the blood splattered church where the bodies of children and their parents were strewn across the pews.

'Wherever you walked in the church, there was death,' he told the assembled local press on Monday.

'It was just horrific,' he added. 'Words can't express what was there. It's hard enough to see adults, but when you see babies, little ones, I'm talking 3, 4, 5, 6 years old. 10 years old. It's just hard.'

Tackitt said went officers went inside they saw pools of blood which led back towards the dead and dying parishioners. There was so much 'blood everywhere', it was hard to determine who was dead and who was still alive he said.

The sheriff told the New York Times that Kelley had walked round the outside of the church first, firing rounds in, and killing two people, before he entered and opened fire on the church goers. 

A Good Samaritan intervened, shooting Kelley as he left the church. Kelley then got into his car and fled, as the hero bystander and another man chased him in another car. Police say Kelley called his father (Michael Kelley, a computer programmer and accountant) as he was driving away from the church, telling him he was shot and didn't think he was going to make it. 

The two men who pursued Kelley say he lost control of his car and crashed into a ditch. By the time police showed up on the scene, he was dead.  

He was found with three gunshot wounds, one self-inflicted to head; and two from armed citizen, one in the leg and one to the torso.

The official cause of death is pending an autopsy, but officials believe Kelley may committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

Police say the mass shooting was motivated by domestic violence, rather than terrorism or religious beliefs. 

'This was not racially motivated, it wasn't over religious beliefs,' Freeman Martin, a regional director with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said at a news briefing. 'There was a domestic situation going on within the family and the in-laws.' 

Of the 20 people that were hospitalized, 10 remain in critical condition, six are in stable condition, four are in serious condition and four have been released. 

Officials plan to release the identities of the victims as soon as their next of kin have been released.

All of the bodies have been removed from the church and will undergo autopsies over the next several days.  

Investigators said they have also obtained video that was taken inside the church during the shooting. 

Left, a picture Shields shared of her daughter in 2015. Danielle holds a baby and a dog in the photo. Right, another picture of Danielle Kelley from Facebook 

The shooting happened at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs (pictured), where around 50 people usually attend service, according to local reports

Investigators work at the scene of a deadly shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, Sunday 

Texas state troopers erect a barricade to control traffic near the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs after the fatal shooting

A victim is evacuated from the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs after the massacre on Sunday afternoon

Kelley's SUV is hauled away from the scene overnight in Sutherland Springs, Texas  

Police recovered three guns from the scene of the massacre - a Ruger .556 rifle left behind at the church and two handguns found in Kelley's car (a Glock 9m and a Ruger .22). 

The fact that Kelley was able to buy guns at all considering his negative discharge from the military is a question investigators have yet to answer. 

They say he did not have a handgun license, but in Texas and Colorado (where he previously lived) you don't need one to buy a firearm.  

Police discovered that Kelley bought four guns in the past four consecutive years, two of them in Colorado and two in Texas.

Kelley walked into the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, dressed in black, tactical gear with a ballistics belt and an assault rifle, and began shooting Sunday morning. 

The attack only stopped when Kelley was confronted by local hero Stephen Willeford, 55, who shot him through a gap in his body armor as the gunman tried to leave the church. Kelley fled in his car, where he proceeded to commit suicide by shooting himself in the head.

At least 26 people were killed in the shooting, but the death toll is expected to climb, authorities say. Victims include a two-year-old girl and the 14-year-old adopted daughter of the pastor.

Eight members of one family, including a eight-months-pregnant mother and three of her children were killed. The Connally Memorial Medical Center said 'multiple' victims are being treated.

EIGHT MEMBERS OF THE SAME FAMILY AND AT LEAST EIGHT CHILDREN: GUNMAN'S 26 VICTIMS

ANNABELLE POMEROY

The daughter of First Baptist Church Pastor Frank Pomeroy, who was out of town with his wife. Her devastated father said he lost 'one beautiful girl, and a special child'. 

Annabelle Pomeroy, the 14-year-old daughter of the church pastor, was the first victim identified in Sunday's shooting at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas on Sunday. Her mother said having fun at the pool was her favorite thing

BRYAN, KARLA, MARC DANIEL 'DANNY' AND NOAH HOLCOMBE

Bryan Holcombe had been standing in for Frank Pomeroy when Kelley opened fire. Witnesses say he was the first victim to be struck by the shooter's gunfire.

'Bryan was filling in,' a witness told DailyMail.com. 'He was walking up to the pulpit when he was shot in the back. He was an awesome Christian.

He was killed, alongside his wife of 25 years, Sunday school teacher Karla Holcombe

The couple ran a canvas repair shop before retiring and had attended the church for 25 years.

'My father was a good man and he loved to preach. He had a good heart. They knew where they were going. There’s peace in that,' their son Scott Holcombe told the Herald-Tribune.

Their son Marc Daniel 'Danny' Holcombe, 36, and his one-year-old daughter Noah, also died in the gunfire. 

Sunday school teacher Karla Holcolmbe and her husband Bryan died in the rampage, their family confirmed. Bryan had been standing in for Pastor Pomeroy

Marc Daniel Holcombe, known as Danny, pictured wearing glasses left, and his infant daughter Noah were also among the 26 killed and the seventh and eighth of the Holcombe family

CRYSTAL HOLCOMBE AND HER CHILDREN MEGAN, EMILY AND GREG

Bryan and Karla's daughter-in-law Crystal, a mother-of-five who was eight months pregnant was killed alongside three of her children: Megan, Emily and Greg. Two of her other children and her husband John survived the shooting.

Crystal was described as a devoted mother.

'She doesn't even drink, smoke or nothing, said relative Nick Uhlig. 'She just takes care of kids, she raises goats and makes homemade cheese. That kind of thing, you know? They don't go out dancing or anything like that. They're real old-fashioned, down-to-earth. 

Crystal Holcombe, pictured center, the daughter-in-law of Bryan and Karla Holcombe, was among those killed, along with three of her five children, all pictured left, Emily (standing tallest), Megan and Greg. Her husband John (right) and their other two children, survived the massacre

Crystal Holcombe was married to Bryan and Karla Holcombe's son John (pictured together) and had been at church with her inlaws when she was shot dead

JOANN AND BROOKE WARD AND EMILY GARZA

Mother-of-four Joann Ward and two of her daughters, six-year-old Brooke Ward and eight-year-old Emily Garza were among the victims.

Joann's sister-in-law Leslie Ward said she rushed to the church after hearing the gunfire from her home, and found her six-year-old nephew Ryland, lying in the pews. He is still in hospital after undergoing emergency surgery.

Joann's eldest daughter Rihanna, nine, had the glasses shot off her face but escaped injury by hiding under a pew as shots rang out.  

Joann's husband Chris was not at the church because he works the night shift and had stayed home that morning. In the first hours after the shooting, some media erroneously reported Chris as the shooter.

Joann Ward (pictured) was among the 26 people gunned down when Devin Patrick Kelley burst into the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs in Texas and opened fire

Sisters six-year-old Brooke (left) and eight-year-old Emily Garza (pictured, right, sitting on the right, next to her sister Rihanna) were killed in the shooting according to her family. Nine-year-old Rihanna (sitting next to Emily) had her glasses shot off her face but survived

ROBERT AND SHANNI CORRIGAN

The Corrigans, originally from Michigan, were named among those killed, according to the Clare County Director of Veterans' Services.

Robert Corrigan was an Air Force retiree and the couple has two sons currently on active duty. 

Angela Teague Herron paid tribute to him as a 'true mentor'

Air force veteran: Robert and Shanni Corrigan, originally from Michigan, were named among those killed. They have two sons who are currently on active duty

'You were not easy, you were a leader who gave me expectations and I respected you enough to listen to you. I didn't always like what you said, but you allowed me to tell you and together, you let me flourish. 

LULA WHITE

Lula Woicinski White was the 71-year-old grandmother of Kelley's wife Danielle. 

She was a devout member of the First Baptist Church as was described a 'wonderful, caring person - a God-loving person' by her relative Mary Mishler Clyburn.

Gunman's grandmother-in-law: Lula White, pictured left with victim Bryan Holcombe, and right with her daughter Michelle. It is thought Kelley was targeting Michelle, the mother of Kelley's wife Danielle but she wasn't in the church at the time

'I miss her badly already. We texted every day. We loved each other to the moon and back.' 

HALEY KRUEGER 

Sixteen-year-old Haley, described in her GoFundMe page as 'beautiful' and 'vibrant', dreamed of becoming an intensive care nurse. Her death comes two years after her father died.

Her mother Charlene Uhl said Haley had arrived early on Sunday morning to help prepare breakfast for the parishioner.

'She just loved life and loved everybody she met,' she said. 'She loved her church. She was always hyper and ready for anything.' 

'Beautiful' and 'Vibrant': Haley Krueger dreamed of being a NICU nurse and arrived at the parish earlier on Sunday to help with breakfast

RICHARD AND THERESA RODRIGUEZ

Richard's daughter Regina Rodriguez confirmed that her father and his wife were among the deceased. She posted a heartbreaking photograph of her and her father to Facebook hours after the massacre. 

On Sunday, Regina walked up to the police barricade a few hours after the shooting and said her 51-year-old father attended the church 'every Sunday'. 

Heartbreaking: Richard Rodriguez, died in the shooting along with his wife Theresa (pictured together). Richard, 51, attended church every Sunday

TARA MCNULTY 

Bartender Tara McNulty was among those killed while her children were wounded but survived, according to Kevin Koenen, her boss at The Aumont Saloon.

The Aumont Saloon is holding a fundraiser for Tara's funeral costs and her children's medical expenses, with Koenen paying tribute to her on her GoFundMe page as 'a great employee, conscientious, engaging and always willing to do the little things.'

'Always willing to do the little things': Tara McNulty was killed in the massacre but her children survived. A fundraiser is being held this Saturday to raise money for her funeral costs and her children's medical expenses

'She was a sweet, kind and loving woman, mother and daughter and will be greatly missed by many.' 

ROBERT SCOTT AND KAREN MARSHALL

The Marshalls had recently retired and moved to Texas. They met when they were both in the military more than 30 years ago, serving in the US Aire Force in North Carolina.

The day before the massacre, R Scott Marshall shared photos from a trip to an air show in Live Oak, Texas, with his wife and grandchildren.

Robert Scott's father, Robert, confirmed the news on his 85th birthday.

'Heck of a birthday present, he told KDKA Pittsburgh. 'It's a shame that you can go pray and be shot up.' 

He is now trying to fly to Texas to be with his three adult grandchildren. 

Air Force veterans R Scott and Karen Marshall had only recently moved to Texas. R Scott's father Robert received the horrible news on his 85th birthday

DENNIS AND SARA JOHNSON

A family member confirmed the Johnsons both died in the shooting. Sara's Facebook page says she was a receptionist at Pfeil's Home and Garden Materials, originally from Jasper, Florida.

Friends called them a 'great couple' who loved their church 

Dennis' sister-in-law Tawnya Roberts Spence, wrote on Facebook: 'It's still very hard to believe that such a thoughtless crime has happened like this. 

'I hope all the family can find peace in their hearts as they go through this very sad tragedy.' 

'Thoughtless crime: Married couple Dennis and Sara Johnson were named among the 26 dead. Friends called them a 'great couple' who loved their church

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Last night, San Antonio police raided Kelley's home with K9 and bomb squad units, along with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives unit and FBI.

The way Kelley carried out the attack, police say there was likely 'no way' for congregants to escape. Wilson County Sheriff Joe D. Tackitt Jr. said: 'He (Kelley) just walked down the center aisle, turned around and my understanding was shooting on his way back out. It's unbelievable to see children, men and women, laying there. Defenseless people.'

Kelley was a US Air Force veteran and former Bible studies teacher but his Facebook page, which has been deleted by the FBI, reveals he had a worrying fascination with weaponry.

He'd recently shared a photo of an AR-15 style gun on Facebook with the caption: 'She's a bad b***h.' 

The specific gun that Kelley posted on the page is a Ruger 8515 rifle which has been customized with a red-dot aiming sight for targeting and what looks like a two-stage trigger for accuracy.  

A LinkedIn account which appears to be Kelley's states that he joined the US Air Force after graduating New Braunfels High School in 2009.

In April 2014, not long after being discharged for abusing his ex-wife and step son, Kelley remarried to Danielle Lee Shields in Comal County, Texas.  

Pastor Frank Pomeroy and his wife Sherri join a news conference near the First Baptist Church on Monday. They were out of town at the time of the shooting, but their 14-year-old adopted daughter was attending the service and was killed. 

Mourning: Local residents embrace during a candlelight vigil for victims of a mass shooting in a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas

Grief: Hundreds gathered to pay respect to those killed in the massacre. Many held candles aloft as they staged the moving vigil

Prayers:  A man raises his right hand and bows his head along with others who gathered to pay respect to those killed in the mass shooting

In 2013, Kelley's LinkedIn profile shows he volunteered as a teacher for Bible studies at Kingsville First Baptist Church.

The couple appears to have moved back to Texas in 2017, moving in with Kelley's parent's in New Braunfels, about an hour from where the shooting took place on Saturday. 

He was most recently employed as an unarmed night security guard by Schlitterbahn Waterpark and Resort in New Braunfels. But a representative for the water park told CNN that he was fired this summer after working just five and a half weeks. 

'Devin Patrick Kelley worked briefly – 5 1/2 weeks – this summer at Schlitterbahn New Braunfels as a seasonal unarmed night security guard. His employment was terminated,' Winter Profapio, the corporate director of communications at Schlitterbahn Waterpark and Resort, wrote in a statement posted to the resort's website.

'All our security guards must pass a criminal background check through the Texas Department of Public Safety.'

Profapio wouldn't get into details about his firing, but told ABC News 'he was not a good fit'.  

At a Monday morning press conference, officials said Kelley had a license to work as a security guard and that there was nothing on his record that would preclude him from getting such a license, despite his sketchy military and criminal history. 

Former classmates described him as 'creepy', 'crazy' and an 'outcast' who had recently started preaching about atheism and picking fights on social media. However, local law enforcement say he had a relatively clean criminal record, with just a traffic offenses in recent years.

Police are now investigating the possibility that Kelley was in a local militia group. 

The first of Kelley's 26 victims have been identified in the wake of the shooting. They include Annabelle Pomeroy, whose father - First Baptist Church Pastor Frank Pomeroy - had been out of town during the attack. The grieving dad told ABC he's lost 'one beautiful girl, and a 'special child.' 

Bryan Holcombe had been standing in for Frank Pomeroy as pastor when Kelley opened fire. Witnesses say he was the first victim to be struck by the shooter's gunfire.

Above, examples of the three types of guns police found after the massacre. A Ruger .556 rifle (top) was left behind at the church, a Ruger .22 (bottom left) and Glock 9mm (bottom right) were recovered in the suspect's car

'Bryan was filling in,' the witness, who did not want to be named, told DailyMail.com. 'He was walking up to the pulpit when he was shot in the back. 

'He was an awesome Christian,' they added. 

He was killed, alongside his wife of 25 years, Sunday school teacher Karla Holcombe, as well as their daughter-in-law Crystal, a mom-of-five who was eight-months-pregnant, local residents reported. Three of Chrystal's children - Megyn, Emily and Greg - also died. 

'The family is just devastated,' the witness added.

The couple ran a canvas repair shop before retiring and had attended the church for 25 years.

'My father was a good man and he loved to preach. He had a good heart. They knew where they were going. There's peace in that,' their son Scott Holcombe told the Herald-Tribune. 

Mother-of-four Joann Ward and three of her children were also shot. Family have since told the Dallas News that Joann and two of her daughters, six-year-old Brooke and eight-year-old Emily have died. 

Kelley, who was reportedly married, had recently posted a photo of an AR-15 style gun on his Facebook page with the caption: 'She's a bad b***h'

Kelley, (pictured in his yearbook photo, left and right, as a teenager) 26, of New Braunfels, a suburb of San Antonio, fled in his SUV but crashed near county lines

Police have not yet released a motive for why Kelley, (pictured recently) opened fire at the church

Ward's five-year-old stepson Ryland, who was shot four times, is still in hospital after undergoing emergency surgery. The mom's eldest daughter Rihanna, nine, had the glasses shot off her face but escaped injury by hiding under a pew as shots rang out. 

Footage from Ksat showed families weeping as they waited to discover if relatives were victims. 

Authorities say that Kelley had turned up ready for combat on Sunday morning.

The gunman was spotted moments before the shooting, at around 11.20am, at a Valero gas station, 'dressed in all black, tactical gear, wearing a ballistics belt'.

In a press conference, Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Freeman Martin, said Kelley had then 'crossed the street to the church, exited his vehicle and began firing on the church. He moved to the right side of the church and continued to fire, and entered the church and continued to fire.' 

But as he left the church, Willeford risked his life to stop him.

'A local resident grabbed his rifle and engaged the suspect,' Martin said. 'The suspect dropped his rifle, which was a Ruger assault type rifle, and fled from the church. A local citizen pursued the subject at that time.'

Willeford, who has no military experience, didn't hesitate when came face to face with Kelley, and shot him in between Kelley's body armor, hitting him in his side.

The 26-year-old had dropped his Ruger assault rifle and climbed in an SUV to flee the scene. 

Another local resident, Johnnie Langendorff, had stopped at the gas station across the street to get breakfast when he saw a commotion at the church. 

He says he saw Kelley leave the church as he was being pursued by Willeford. 

When Kelley took off in his car, he says Willeford came over to him, told him what was going on and said that they needed to chase after him. 

Langendorff agreed, and the two started speeding at 95mph to catch up to the suspect. All the while, Lagendorff was on the phone to dispatch, letting officers know their location.  

As they approached a sharp curve in the road, near the 307 and 539, in Guadalupe County, he said Kelley appeared to lose control and his car swerved off the road.

'It's like he just gave up. He just kind of went off in the ditch, hit a hay bale from what I could see and then he just never moved after that. He didn't get out. He didn't try anything. Nothing.

'When he hit the ditch the gentleman that was with me got out, rested his rifle on my hood and kept it aimed at him - telling him to 'Get out, get out'. There was no movement there was none that. They guy didn't put up a fight or anything like that

'Once police showed up they moved me and the gentleman back and then everybody showed up and they took action,' Lagendorff said. 

Officials now say that Kelley committed suicide while fleeing in the car, which caused him to lose control of the vehicle. They found him dead inside, along with multiple weapons and possible explosives.  

Martin said that law enforcement gave tracked down the suspect, who went off the road and crashed near county lines. Pictured is the suspect's car which was found with multiple weapons inside it

Footage from the scene shows Johnnie Langendorff's truck, circled, still on the road. He said after Kelley swerved off the road, he'd put his vehicle in park while the neighbor got his gun ready

San Antonio police also raided Kelley's home on Sunday evening, with K9 and bomb squad units, along with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives unit and FBI. 

Martin said that 23 found dead inside the church, and another two bodies were recovered from outside the building. Another person, who was taken to hospital, died while receiving treatment.

The first responders on the scene were from local churches who began receiving texts from family and friends about the shooting. 

Injuries range from minor to very severe, while victims were aged from 18 months to 77 years old. 

It's not yet clear how many were in church at the time of the shooting but Martin said some escaped unhurt.  

A young man standing outside the Brooke Army Medical Center told MySA.com that he had been wounded in the shooting and that this father had been killed. His mother was in another hospital. 

Many of the dead remained inside the small rural church Sunday evening, as crime scene investigators worked to reconstruct the scene.

'My heart is broken,' Gamez said. 'We never think where it can happen, and it does happen. It doesn't matter where you're at. In a small community, real quiet and everything, and look at this, what can happen.'  

Carrie Matula (left) embraces a woman after a fatal shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday. Matula said she heard the shooting from the gas station where she works a block away

People gather near First Baptist Church following a shooting on November 5, 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas

It is believed to have been the worst shooting at a place of worship in American history, and the deadliest in Texas state history. 

Residents of the community gathered for an emotional candlelight vigil on Sunday night as the names of the victims began to emerge.

'I've known her since she was about eight years old,' resident Gloria Rodriguez Ximenez told CNN of the 14-year-old pastor's daughter who died.

'There's no words to describe how wonderful people they are - Christian. It's just a small Christian town, everybody knows each other, everybody supports each other,' she said.   

Dana Fletcher, who owns a store in Sutherland Springs, told CNN: 'It's just awful...there were emergency responders everywhere.' 

Neighbors in the area said they may have heard the shooter reload multiple times.

President Donald Trump sent his condolences to the Sutherland Springs community as he continues to monitor the situation from Japan

First Lady Melania Trump also shared this tweet following the shooting. 'Our hearts are with #Texas'

Ivanka Trump also tweeted after learning about the tragic shooting

Texas Sen Ted Cruz tweeted: 'Keeping all harmed in Sutherland Springs in our prayers and grateful for our brave first responders on the scene'

Texas Governor Greg Abbott released a statement following the shooting. 'While the details of this horrific act are still under investigation, Cecilia and I want to send our sincerest thoughts and prayers to all those who have been affected by this evil act,' he wrote and tweeted 

Chelsea Clinton also sent her condolences to the families affected by the tragic shooting 

Sutherland Springs is a rural community in Wilson County, Texas, that's made up of about 400 people. It's located about 30 miles southeast of San Antonio. There are 11 hotels in the area, and there used to be a 52-floor facility, but it closed in 1923.

Texas Congressman Vicente Gonzalez told MSNBC that based on what he knew, he did not believe the incident was related to terrorism, but 'was some kind of other incident that has to do with the church or the community'.

Carrie Matula, who works at a gas station near the church, told MSNBC that she heard 'semiautomatic gunfire' and looked to see what was going on.

'I never thought it would happen here,' Matula said. 'This is something that happens in a big city. I would never have thought this would have taken place here. It's just too tight a community. It doesn't make sense.'

The shooter was killed after the brief foot chase into Guadalupe County, according Guadalupe County Sheriff's Office spokesman Robert Murphy. But it's still unclear if the gunman shot himself or was taken down by authorities

Law enforcement officers gather in front of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs

Witnesses said a man 'in full gear' walked inside the church (pictured) and opened fire just before 11.30am

President Donald Trump, who is visiting Japan, sent his condolences to the Sutherland Springs community. 

'Victims and their families were in their sacred place of worship. We cannot put into words the pain and grief we all feel,' he said in a televised statement from Japan, urging everyone to 'stand strong, oh so strong.'

'In dark times such as these, Americans do we what do best and we pull together. We lock hands and we joins arms. Through the tears and through the sadness we stand strong.' 

He went on to say that the worst mass shooting in Texas history is a 'mental health problem at the highest level'.   

Speaking at an event with the Japanese prime minister in Tokyo on Monday, Trump described the gunman as a 'very deranged individual.' 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott released a statement following the shooting.

'While the details of this horrific act are still under investigation, Cecilia and I want to send our sincerest thoughts and prayers to all those who have been affected by this evil act.

'I want to thank law enforcement for their response and ask that all Texans pray for the Sutherland Springs community during this time of mourning and loss.' 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement: 'The thoughts and prayers of all Texans are with the people of Sutherland Springs as tragic reports come out of First Baptist Church.' 

'Please join Angela and me as we pray for those impacted by this horrific shooting,' Paxton said. 

Texas Sen Ted Cruz tweeted: 'Keeping all harmed in Sutherland Springs in our prayers and grateful for our brave first responders on the scene.' 

'It's something we all say does not happen in small communities, although we found out today it does,' said Joe Tackitt, the sheriff of Wilson County, which includes Sutherland Springs, in a press conference. 

The shooting took place at the churchl, which is located about 30 miles from San Antonio. Sutherland Springs is a community of about 400 people