Texas church shooting has a wide impact

Texas+church+shooting+has+a+wide+impact

Jamar Johnson, Staff Writer

On November 5, there was a shooting at a small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas that left at least 26 dead, ages ranging from 5 to 72.

The gunman was a white man in his mid 20s, Devin Kelley, who was dressed up in all black from head to toe. He had a questionable history of domestic abuse and mental illness.

After the shooting the shooter was chased by a local resident and police officers and was finally found dead after he ran his car off of the side of the road. This story caused international horror and outrage, especially as this shooting coming shortly after the Las Vegas concert shooting that left 58 dead and over 200 others injured.

This shooting was the deadliest mass shooting at a church in the state of Texas and caused the pastor of the church to make the decision of tearing the church down and putting up a memorial in place for the victims of the shooting and their families, and the community.

Funeral services were held on November 11. This shooting didn’t just affect the people of the community of Sutherland Springs; it affected almost everyone in the country just as every other mass shooting has done before.

Area students are no different than anyone else – they are shocked and saddened.

“This makes me kind of scared to go out to certain places because you never know what could happen,” said Iveth Chavez, a student who attends Bay Path University.

Others spoke of the need for gun control laws, and still others raised the question of why it was so easy for someone like him to get hold of a gun knowing he is mentally ill and had a history of domestic abuse.

There are also many questions about the shooters motive to do something senseless as this massive killing. There were 15 empty 30-round ammunition magazines found at the church.

While interviewing people on their thoughts about this shooting a point was bought up about why the shooter was not labeled a terrorist.

“Labels that are put on criminals have been proven to depend on skin color more than any other factor,” said Angela Benavides, a student who attends North Shore Community College.

With the days following the shooting there were many volunteers out trying their best to aid the people who lost family members and loved ones.

Besides the fact of this being a mass shooting, this particular one was so bad because the shooter killed at least 26 people and Sutherland Springs has a small population of only 600.

It was a very tight-knit community where everyone know everyone so for this to happen in such a small community it would have just that much more of an impact of the people that live there.

Many are left wondering: When will mass shootings end? Will we ever be safe again?