TEXAS, United States — Emergency personnel respond to a fatal shooting at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, yesterday.
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, United States (AFP) — A gunman went into a Baptist church in Texas during Sunday morning services and shot dead some two dozen worshippers, the sheriff said, in the latest mass shooting to shock the United States.
“Approximately 25 people” were dead, including the shooter, Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt told NBC News. At least 10 people were wounded.
The motive was not immediately known, he added.
Exactly five weeks after the worst shooting in modern US history, the latest tragedy prompted an outpouring of condolences, led by US President Donald Trump.
The worshippers were gunned down at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, a small rural community about 30 miles (50 kilometres) southeast of San Antonio.
With details rapidly unfolding, some unnamed officials were quoted as citing tolls as high as 27 dead and 20 or more wounded.
The gunman reportedly walked into the church shortly before noon — at a morning service that witnesses said was normally attended by some 50 people — and opened fire.
The dead included the 14-year-old daughter of pastor Frank Pomeroy, the church leader told ABC News.
Annabelle Renee Pomeroy “was one very beautiful, special child”, her father said.
Frank Pomeroy had been in the neighbouring state of Oklahoma at the time of the shooting, and was driving back to Texas after the tragedy.
Other victims included a six-year-old boy named Rylan who was in surgery after being shot four times, his uncle told CBS News. A two-year-old was also shot and wounded, The Dallas Morning News reported.
It was unclear how the shooter died.
“There was no police chase,” sheriff’s spokesman Sergeant Robert Murphy in neighboring Guadalupe County told AFP, denying earlier media reports that the gunman was killed after a pursuit. “He was in his vehicle.”
Murphy did not give further details about the circumstances of his death.
A spokeswoman for Connally Memorial Medical Center in nearby Floresville said the hospital received eight patients with gunshot wounds. Four were transferred to San Antonio.
A witness working at a gas station across the street told CNN he heard at least 20 shots being fired in quick succession. Others nearby said the shooter appeared to have reloaded more than once.
Emergency personnel rushed to the scene in the community of 400 people, and some victims were evacuated by helicopter.
Police formed a perimeter around the area. Tearful relatives and neighbours stood outside, nervously awaiting news from inside the traditional, white-framed church.
Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were heading to Sutherland Springs, the agencies said.
President Donald Trump, who is travelling in Asia, tweeted: “May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI and law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott offered his condolences.
“Our prayers are with all who were harmed by this evil act. Our thanks to law enforcement for their response,” he said, promising more details “soon”.
US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas added: “Keeping all harmed in Sutherland Springs in our prayers and grateful for our brave first responders on the scene.”
The shooting comes just over a month after a gunman in Las Vegas fired down from a hotel room onto an outdoor concert, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
Yesterday’s tragedy came just over two years after a white supremacist, Dylann Roof, entered a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and shot nine people to death.