Texas church shooting suspect identified as Devin Patrick Kelley

Police investigate a shooting at the the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas

(Image credit: Darren Abate/The Associated Press)

published 5 November 2017

The suspect in Sunday's deadly shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, that killed more than 20 people has been identified in reports from NBC, CBS, and The Daily Beast, all citing unnamed law enforcement officials, as one Devin Patrick Kelley, age 26.

Kelley reportedly hails from neighboring Comal County, and police are searching his home for clues as to his possible motivation. CBS reports Kelley served in the U.S. Air Force from 2010 to May of 2014, at which point he was court martialed and given a dishonorable discharge. The Daily Beast found that on a Facebook account which has since been deleted, Kelley used a cover photo of a rifle, while a LinkedIn profile indicated he once taught at a summer Bible school.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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