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Mass Church Shooting in Texas (Fatalities)


Howl

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A mass shooting at a church in Sutherland, Texas has as many as 27 fatalities (according to current reports) and many injured.   Sutherland, TX is a very small farming/ranching community with fewer than 400 people, just east southeast of San Antonio. 

From BBC: 

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The attack happened at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs in Wilson County.

A police commissioner at the scene confirmed that at least 27 people had died. Several others are reported to be injured.

The San Antonio FBI branch said its agents had been deployed, and there was no indication of the gunman's motive.

The FBI also said that while only one shooter was reported, it was looking into other possibilities.

Local ABC affiliate KSAT 12 reported the gunman entered the church at around 11:30 local time (17:30 GMT). It also said he had been killed in the aftermath.

 

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I have no words. This just makes me feel empty inside. Drained and wrung out. It's never going to end, is it? :(

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Apparently BBC news is saying it's a family dispute or something.

Nice family.

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So tragic every time. I don't know what the solution is. Being from the UK I immediately think gun control. Equally, being from the UK, I have no concept of having so much land per person that emergency services and nearest neighbours can, in some states, be miles  away so that firearm protection can be important. Plus, being from the UK, I have no concept of constitutional rights. So I don't know what might help. But I do know it is terrible and tragic and is so every time. 

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The pastor's 14-year-old daughter is among the deceased. It's a small church too so the guy just killed half of the congregation. It's so incredibly sad.

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Watching the live press conference now. They said the death toll is 26. They also said they don't know the shooters motive, or whether he was killed by police, another citizen, or himself.

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I feel kind of guilty because I read an article about this and immediately thought, “At least the shooter wasn’t black.” Though in this climate, I bet a lot of minorities are thinking that about their own group. Since the shooter was a white male, I assume that we’ll see tweets about “thoughts and prayers,” maybe some mumbling about “mental illness,” claims about “false flag operations” by the Alex Jones crowd, and then the whole thing will be forgotten by next week except by the families of the dead and injured.

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I can’t recall now where I read it but I saw something suggesting it was a family dispute.

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I saw that some of the victims were a pregnant woman, both her parents, and three of her five children (a fourth was also shot and is in critical condition). Her husband stayed home from church today. I can't even imagine what that man is going through right now.

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I feel so jaded for saying this, but nothing will come from this. It doesn't seem to matter how many die or are injured. That NRA money just seems to steal the souls of our representatives. What a terrible waste.

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6 minutes ago, Demonfan said:

I feel so jaded for saying this, but nothing will come from this. It doesn't seem to matter how many die or are injured. That NRA money just seems to steal the souls of our representatives. What a terrible waste.

Sadly, I have to agree with you. :(

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2 hours ago, Cleopatra7 said:

I feel kind of guilty because I read an article about this and immediately thought, “At least the shooter wasn’t black."

Is it sad that I knew that the shooter was likely a white man because it was said to be a "mass shooting" and not a terrorist attack. I also know that he will be a lone wolf, mentally disturbed, and gun laws wouldn't have done anything to stop him. 

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I work in a small church, often alone.  This situation has crossed my mind many times.

Have we gotten to the point in our history where security guards need to be at the church doors? 

There was another church shooting in Fresno, CA today but it didn't get nearly as much press.  http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/11/05/two-shot-one-fatally-outside-church-in-fresno.html

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The shooter was court-martialed in 2012 for assaulting his wife and child. It seems like all of these guys have a history of domestic violence.

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18 minutes ago, Rachel333 said:

The shooter was court-martialed in 2012 for assaulting his wife and child. It seems like all of these guys have a history of domestic violence.

Something like 50% of mass shooters have a history of domestic assault, according to Sam Bee. 
Don't forget to vote in your local elections, gang. More women and progressives are getting into politics, and if we support them and vote, maybe we can get some meaningful gun control laws passed in the U.S. 

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1 hour ago, MarblesMom said:

Have we gotten to the point in our history where security guards need to be at the church doors? 

Yes. Unfortunately, we've been there for some years, at least.

Many synagogues now have major security set-ups such that you can only enter via being IDʻd then buzzed in. Some even have security airlock systems. 

Re: shooting. Sickened but not surprised by any of it. 

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From CNN:  The guy was 26 years old. 

Quote

Kelly was court-martialed in 2012 for two counts of Article 128 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, assault on his spouse and assault on their child, Stefanek said. Kelley received a bad conduct discharge, confinement for 12 months and a reduction in rank, she said. The Air Force did not provide a date of the discharge...

...Kelley purchased the Ruger AR-556 rifle in April 2016 from an Academy Sports & Outdoors store in San Antonio, a law enforcement official told CNN.

When Kelley filled out the background check paperwork at the store, he checked the box to indicate he didn't have disqualifying criminal history, the official said.

 

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And 45 said proudly that this seems to be a case of mental illness and not because of any gun laws...Duh...what a brainfart....did he not sign off on mentally ill people getting access to guns again ?

I shit you not, that man is the epitome of mentally deranged....how did he ever get voted in ?  

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@Howl They didn't even check?! I am so incredibly sad and pissed off right now. Not that anything is going to come of this with Donald fucking Trump leading the US. Actually, I can't even blame this on that mother fudger because the majority of Republicans would neeevvverrrr agree to stricter gun laws.

1 hour ago, NanisBlessing said:

And 45 said proudly that this seems to be a case of mental illness and not because of any gun laws...Duh...what a brainfart....did he not sign off on mentally ill people getting access to guns again ?

I shit you not, that man is the epitome of mentally deranged....how did he ever get voted in ?  

Can the US congress move forward with that impeaching process yet? Not that Pence is any better.

Also, was he actually happy to blame it on mental illness just as he wants to make it harder for people to get medical help? What a effing cuss. :annoyed:

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12 hours ago, Demonfan said:

I feel so jaded for saying this, but nothing will come from this. It doesn't seem to matter how many die or are injured. That NRA money just seems to steal the souls of our representatives. What a terrible waste.

A couple days before the truck rundown in NY, I thought to myself "huh, there hasn't been a mass shooting lately". What a very sad thought. Then after the truck rundown, Trump was quick to say (less than 24 hours) that visa regulation, etc must be strengthened. After this horrible mass shooting, he claims mental illness (when that hasn't been discussed yet, just jumping to conclusions) and I am sure all the pro-mega guns and pro-multiple round magazines will say it is too early to talk gun control because we need to let people mourn. Las Vegas shooting (10/1/2017) was only 34 days prior to this mass shooting (11/5/17). :( 

Sadly the NRA will always twist it around and it will never be the right time to talk about gun control.

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18 hours ago, Snarkangel Gabriel said:

So tragic every time. I don't know what the solution is. Being from the UK I immediately think gun control. Equally, being from the UK, I have no concept of having so much land per person that emergency services and nearest neighbours can, in some states, be miles  away so that firearm protection can be important. Plus, being from the UK, I have no concept of constitutional rights. So I don't know what might help. But I do know it is terrible and tragic and is so every time. 

So my state is roughly the same size as the UK. According to Map fight the UK is roughly 96% the size of my state. I grew up on a farm, the closest neighbor (family) was 1/2 mile (.8 km). I also lived 1 mile (1.6 km) from the county line and the closest town was 5 miles away and didn't have a police force and under 400 people in the village and it was in the other county. The Sherriff's department (who should patrol the area I grew up in) was never around. the only time a deputy was around was when he was home because he lived 1 mile down the road, but if he was home he was off duty. If an ambulance was called a person is looking at possibly 30 minutes before it arrives. Fire department, all volunteer. Another part of my state is even more sparsely populated, let alone out West (Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas) where the population density is even lower.

With all that said, nobody needs a 30 magazine clip - standard US infantry solider size. The gunman in LV had at least a dozen high capacity magazines - each hold up to 100 rounds.  I argue for no more than 8 rounds, including the one in the chamber. If you need 8 shots to kill what you are hunting, stop hunting until you take target practice and get good. Nobody needs a gun that can easily be converted into an automatic gun. (LV gunman had 12 rifles with "bump stock" which converts a semi-auto rifle to mimic an automatic weapon.) The Texas gunman had an AR-15 which typically has a 30-round magazine. No word yet on if he had high capacity magazine or a bump stock.

@Snarkangel Gabriel so the answer is gun control, magazine control, background checks and licensed weapons. I don't think we will take away all the guns (I hunt, I don't think we need to take away all guns) but we do need common sense and we have a free-for-all over here. It is very sad.

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"Apostle" Ron Carpenter of our local mega-church, Redemption World Outreach Center, gave a statement that said churches need to start focusing on increasing security. Not pushing for stricter gun control laws and mental healthcare. Armed guards at church doors. SMDH.

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@FeministShrew after the last church shooting (Sept. 24, 2017, Burnette Chapel Church of Christ, Antioch, Tenn.) my priest stood at the pulpit and announced that if there is an active shooter to get out. He told everyone to look around and find the nearest exit (which may not be the door you came in at) also if he need to come up to the alter and break out the stain glass windows because we (the church) can replace the stain glass windows but not people. I had never thought about breaking a window, now I will if I have to!

This is some of the stain glass he gave us permission to break. The first picture are pictures of individual windows around the church and chapel. 5a0091343c9f9_stainglass.thumb.jpg.977d33dab6115357e9f46b960390e684.jpg

This one is behind the alter and it is really big. I couldn't find a better picture to show the size.

5a00913bbfe48_stainglass2.jpg.9b159641f728ad6429e68fe21b338935.jpg

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