The hero who stopped the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas today is reportedly a local citizen — not a first responder or police officer — as he used his own firearm to engage and ultimately wound the gunman.
Freemen went on to say that the armed local “pursued” the suspect until he “was found deceased in his vehicle.”
“At this time we don’t know if it was a self-inflicted gunshot wound or if he was shot by the local resident. We know he’s deceased in the vehicle,” he added.
Devin Patrick Kelley, the reported culprit, has been identified by CBS News, but the local resident who stopped the carnage with a shotgun has not. Additionally, Kelley was dishonorably discharged from the US Air Force — making the purchase of a firearm illegal in Texas. This information suggests the semiautomatic Ruger rifle Kelley used to kill at least 26 was obtained illegally.
Two heroic locals have been praised for stopping the worst mass shooting in Texas which left at least 27 dead.
Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, was leaving First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs after he opened fire on parishioners during mass when a local man grabbed his rifle.
Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Freeman Martin said that the neighbor, who has not yet been named, had ‘grabbed his rifle and engaged the suspect.’
Martin said that during the gunfight, Kelley dropped his Ruger assault rifle and got back in his SUV to flee the scene. But another local resident, Johnnie Langendorff, who had witnessed the confrontation refused to let the shooter get away. Both he and the unnamed neighbor jumped in his truck and gave chase.
In a Facebook post, Langendorff’s girlfriend Summer Caddel described how the pair had ‘jumped in my boyfriend’s truck and they chased that sick b*****d down in pursuit until the cops could catch up. He was able to run the shooter off of the road on 539!’
Langendorff told KSAT 12 that he’d been speeding at 95mph, while on the phone to dispatch, while the neighbor kept his rifle trained on the gunman’s car.
As they approached a sharp curve in the road, near the 307 and 539, he said Kelley appeared to lose control and his car swerved off the road.
‘That’s when I put the truck in park,’ he said. ‘The other gentleman jumped out, and had his rifle on him. He didn’t move after that.’
Caddel added that Kelley was gunned down with a few feet from her boyfriend.
Martin confirmed that police had found Kelley dead, saying that: ‘We are not sure if it was self inflicted or if he was shot by a local resident.’
Cops also found multiple weapons and possible explosives in the vehicle.