The Air Force airman believed to be behind Sunday’s mass shooting in Texas was a registered security guard who worked at a nearby water park and had ties to the church he targeted through family members, a report says.
Devin Kelley, 26, was not a member of the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, but he was connected to the house of worship through relatives, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Law enforcement officials told the local newspaper that the young man had a relatively clean record, with just a few minor traffic offenses in recent years.
He was reportedly employed by the popular Schlitterbahn Waterpark and Resort in New Braunfels and licensed by the Texas Department of Public Safety as a security guard.
Kelley — who was court-martialed and sentenced to 12 months’ confinement for assaulting his wife and child — was given a bad conduct discharge from the Air Force in 2014. He had tried appealing his conviction to the US State Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, to no avail.
The suspected mass shooter doesn’t appear to be connected to any terrorist organizations or groups. A LinkedIn profile purportedly belonging to him says he graduated from high school in 2013 and was a former Bible school teacher.
Kelley’s massacre Sunday, which left 26 people dead and 20 more injured, was the deadliest shooting in Texas history. He was believed to be using a Ruger AR-style rifle, which he reportedly purchased from an Academy Sports & Outdoors store in San Antonio.