Sutherland Spring, Texas.- Crews began tearing down a Texas church where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshipers in 2017 on Monday, using heavy machinery to raze the small building after some families tried to preserve the scene of the deadliest church shooting in U.S. history.
A judge last month cleared the way for First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs to tear down the sanctuary where the massacre took place.
The church had until now retained the sanctuary as a memorial. Members of First Baptist Church voted in 2021 to tear down the building despite protests from some members of the small community.
Authorities put the death toll from the November 5, 2017 attack at 26, including a pregnant woman and her unborn baby.
About a year and a half after the shooting, a new church was completed for the congregation.
Earlier this summer, a Texas judge granted a temporary restraining order sought by some families. But another judge later denied a request for an extension of that order, setting the demolition in motion. In court documents, attorneys for the church called the structure a “constant and very painful reminder.”
The man who opened fire at the church, Devin Patrick Kelley, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being chased by bystanders and crashing his car. Investigators have said the attack was apparently sparked by a domestic dispute between Kelley and his mother-in-law, who sometimes attended Mass at the church but was not present on the day of the shooting.
Communities across the United States have struggled to decide what to do with the sites of mass shootings. Last month, demolition began on the three-story building where 17 people were killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. After the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the facility was torn down and replaced.
#Texas #church #people #died #shooting #demolished
