In a matter of minutes, Texas church killer Devin Patrick Kelley wiped out three generations of the Holcombe family — including a 17-month-old girl and a pregnant mother.
Bryan Holcombe, an associate pastor of the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, was just stepping up to the pulpit when Kelley opened fire, killing the preacher, his wife, Karla, their son Danny and Danny’s 17-month-old daughter, Noah, CNN reported.
Another of Bryan and Karla’s sons, John, survived, but John’s 8-months-pregnant wife, Crystal, did not — nor did her unborn child or three of her five kids: Emily, Megan and Greg, according to The Washington Post.
In all, eight members of the devout, close-knit family were slaughtered — plus the ninth who was on the way.
“They’re real old-fashioned, down-to-earth,” Crystal’s cousin, Nick Uhlig, told the Houston Chronicle. “[Crystal] doesn’t even drink, smoke or nothing. She just takes care of kids; she raises goats and makes homemade cheese. That kind of thing, you know? They don’t go out dancing or anything like that.”
She spent her time home schooling all five kids, according to relatives.
Just a day before the shooting, Crystal, 36, posted pictures on Facebook of Megan and Emily, who finished first and third in their respective categories at a 4-H Bake-Off that was raising money for Hurricane Harvey victims.
“I’m very proud of them both!” she gushed.
Now her Facebook page is filled with friends sending their thoughts and prayers.
John, a Sunday-school teacher, was hit in the leg and another daughter was also injured, according to The Washington Post.
Bryan Holcombe was a devout Christian who had worked with prisoners, according to Uhlig. “He would go up to the prison with a ukulele to sing,” Uhlig said.
He also owned a car-upholstery company in nearby Floresville — and donated one of the business’s buildings to another church.
“They were very giving Christians, and they believed in being good neighbors,” Debbie Bolf, Karla’s best friend, told MySanAntonio.com. “They loved working in the church and helping others.”
Bryan’s parents, Joe and Claryce Holcombe, say they’re still coming to terms with the huge loss to their family, which was revealed to them in a series of devastating conversations across Sunday.
They first heard about the shooting about an hour after it happened, through a call from a friend who attended a different church nearby, they told The Washington Post.
“He said there was a big shooting and he didn’t say much more than that,” Joe, 86, told the paper.
Joe then spoke to the church’s pastor — who was out of town during the shooting — who told him that Bryan and Karla were “both in heaven.”
They didn’t learn about the deaths of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren until later in the day.
A group of nearby pastors and churchgoers gathered at Joe and Claryce’s home Sunday and prayed together as the news poured in.
“It’s of course going to be difficult,” Joe told The Washington Post.
But his faith gives him consolation.
“We are Christians, we have read the book,” he told the paper. “We know the ending, and it’s good.
“They’re in heaven. And they’re a lot better off than we are,” Joe said.