The suspect in the shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, reportedly sent what an official has described as “threatening text messages” to his in-laws before the attack.
“There was a domestic situation going on within the family and the in-laws,” Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Freeman Martin said, as reported by Reuters.
{mosads}“The mother-in-law attended the church. We know he sent threatening … that she had received threatening text messages from him.”
Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt confirmed during an interview with CNN’s “New Day” Monday morning that the suspect’s in-laws did attended First Baptist Church “from time to time,” but were not in attendance on Sunday.
Tackitt in a separate interview said the suspect, identified as 26-year-old Devin Kelley, shot himself after he “wrecked out” fleeing the scene of the shooting.
Twenty-six people were killed after a man opened fire on Sunday in the Sutherland Springs church.
The Washington Post reported that Kelley, a former Air Force member, was court-martialed in 2012 and subsequently sentenced to one year in military jail for attacking his spouse and child.