Houston: In a Baptist church in Texas on Sunday morning a gunman killed at least 27 devotees during the services. The gunman was killed after a short chase; it was unclear whether the shooter died by the police or by his own hand.
The people attending worship were killed in the First Baptist Church in Sathlland Springs, about a 50-kilometer southeast of San Antonio, reports said.
The Wilson County Commissioner Albert Gazes Jr. told AFP that many deaths occurred and many were injured, but they could not officially confirm the number.
Rapidly disclosed with information, some unknown officials quoted in media reports, 27 of them dead and 20 or more injured.
The shooter allegedly went to the church before noon – in a morning service, the witness said that about 50 people attended generally and the shooter opened fire and there was a two-year-old child with the injured, Dallas Morning News website reported.
A spokesman for the Connally Memorial Medical Center near Floresville told Fox News that “we have accepted many patients from the shooting.” He did not give any numbers.
A witness working at the gas station on the road said that he heard firing at least 20 shots in succession, CNN said. Other nearby people said that the shooter was reloaded more than once.
Emergency personnel reached the spot, and some victims were evacuated from helicopters. The police formed a periphery around the area, and radar relatives and neighbors raised it outside, nervously waiting for the news from inside the traditional, white frame church.
The Agencies of the FBI and Bureau Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau were going to Sutherland Springs, which was a city of about 400 people, those agencies said.
President Donald Trump, who is in Japan on the first stop of Asian countries, 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.”
A month after a gunman in Las Vegas, firing from a hotel room, 58 people died and hundreds of those participating in an outdoor concert were injured.