Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 8 november 2017

Texas church gunman once escaped from mental health center

By N. MERCHANT crashed his car. sentenced to 12 months The El Paso report notes married two months later.
JIM VERTUNO The Air Force confirmed of confinement for the that Kelley was committed “The last information that
WILL WEISSERT Tuesday that Kelley had assault.The Air Force ac- to a mental health facility we have is the suspect
Associated Press been treated in the facility knowledged Monday that in Santa Teresa, New Mex- moved to Colorado and
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Tex- after he was placed under it did not enter Kelley’s ico, but at some point es- then the investigation
as (AP) — The gunman who pretrial confinement stem- criminal history into the fed- caped and was later found seems to have tapered
carried out the massacre ming from a court-martial eral database, as required by police at a bus station in off,” Reynolds said Tues-
of 26 people at a small- on charges that he assault- by military rules. downtown El Paso in June day. “That’s what we’re
looking into.”
The district attorney for Co-
mal County said in an in-
terview that she became
aware of the sexual assault
case Monday before the
records were released to
The Associated Press and
other media.
“That case was never pre-
sented to our office,” Jen-
nifer Tharp said.
Meanwhile at the First Bap-
tist Church in tiny Suther-
land Springs, investiga-
tors continued analyzing
a gruesome crime scene
and tried to gain access
to the shooter’s cellphone,
a longstanding challenge
Meredith Cooper, right, and her daughter Heather, 8, visit a line of crosses before a vigil for the victims of the First Baptist Church for the FBI in thousands of
shooting, Monday, Nov. 6, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas. A man opened fire inside the church in the small South Texas com- other cases.
munity on Sunday, killing more than 20 and injuring others.
(AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Authorities aimed to con-
clude the crime-scene in-
town Texas church briefly ed his spouse and hit her Had Kelley been convicted 2012. vestigation at the church
escaped from a mental child hard enough to frac- of sexual assault, he would In New Braunfels, Comal by Wednesday evening.
health center in New Mex- ture the boy’s skull. likely have been prevented County Sheriff Mark Reyn- Investigators have no rea-
ico in 2012 and got in trou- Involuntary commitment to from purchasing a gun be- olds said that it appeared son to believe anyone con-
ble for bringing guns onto a a mental institution would cause federal guidelines sheriff’s deputies investigat- spired with Kelley, who act-
military base and threaten- have been grounds to deny prohibit sales to anyone ed the rape case for three ed alone, said Texas De-
ing his superiors there, po- him a weapon provided convicted of a felony pun- months after being called partment of Public Safety
lice reports indicate. that records of his confine- ishable by more than one to Kelley’s home in June Regional Director Freeman
Devin Patrick Kelley was ment were submitted to year in prison. The Comal 2013, but stopped investi- Martin.Martin repeated
also named as a suspect in the federal database used County sheriff said he was gating after they believed earlier statements that the
a 2013 sexual assault in his to conduct background reviewing whether his de- Kelley had left Texas and shooting appeared to stem
hometown of New Braun- checks on people who try partment mishandled the moved to Colorado. Reyn- from a domestic dispute in-
fels, about 35 miles (56 kilo- to purchase guns. sexual assault investigation. olds said the case was then volving Kelley and his moth-
meters) from the scene of Kelley was also caught try- Officers recovered a Ruger listed as inactive. er-in-law, who sometimes
the church attack. ing to bring guns onto Hol- AR-556 rifle at the church Reynolds said he was trying attended services at the
The records that emerged loman Air Force Base in and two additional hand- to find out how deputies church but was not present
Tuesday add up to at least New Mexico when he was guns from the shooter’s ve- came to believe Kelley had on Sunday.
three missed opportunities stationed there, according hicle, said Fred Milanowski, moved and why they did “We don’t know what he
that might have offered to an El Paso, Texas, police the agent in charge of the not continue to pursue the was thinking or what was
law enforcement a way to report released Tuesday. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobac- case, either in Colorado or in his mind,” Martin said.
stop Kelley from having ac- While in the military, Kel- co, Firearms and Explosives after Kelley returned to the “There was conflict. He was
cess to guns long before he ley, who was 21 at the in Houston. All three weap- area later. Deputies were upset with the mother in
slaughtered much of the time, had made death ons were purchased by called to the same house law.”
congregation in the middle threats against superior of- Kelley, Milanowski said. in February 2014 to investi- Also Tuesday, authorities
of a Sunday service. Kelley ficers, according to the The sporting goods chain gate a domestic violence explained that the death
died of a self-inflicted gun- June 2012 report, which Academy Sports & Out- report involving Kelley and toll of 26 included the un-
shot wound after he was also mentioned the military doors confirmed Monday Danielle Shields, his girl- born baby of one of wom-
chased by bystanders and charges. He was eventually that it sold Kelley two guns. friend at the time, whom he en killed.q