Air Force Considered Largely Responsible in 2017 Texas Church Shooting

After the trial of the 2017 mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs in Texas, a federal judge ruled that the United States Air Force bore most of the responsibility for the deadliest mass shooting in the Lone Star state's history.

Texas' Deadliest Mass Shooting

Based on the ruling, the Air Force failed to enter the criminal history of the shooter into the federal background check database prior to the purchases of the gun used in the mass shooting.

According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez of the Western District of Texas made the decision Wednesday after a civil lawsuit was filed by the survivors and families of victims of the massacre at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs. The mass shooting took the lives of 26 individuals. The 26-year-old gunman former Airman Devin Kelley, killed himself shortly after the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history.

Moreover, Judge Rodriguez stated in his decision that the Air Force carried 60% of the responsibility for the shooting incident. Rodriguez also ordered parties in setting a trial plan in the span of 15 days to assess monetary damages for the families of the victims and the survivors in the case.

In his decision, Judge Rodriguez wrote that the trial conclusively established that there's no one knew as much as the U.S. Air Force about the violence that Devin had threatened to commit and was capable of committing, even his own parents or partners.

In addition, Rodriguez added that the evidence showed that if the government had done its job and properly reported the information regarding Kelly into the background check system, things might be different. The federal judge wrote that it is more likely that Kelley would have been deterred from carrying out the Church shooting.

In 2012, former Airman Devin Kelley had been convicted by a general court-martial on two counts of domestic assault on his wife and their child and was sentenced to a year in a military jail. The charges on Kelley should have barred him from legally buying a gun, CNBC reported.

However, the U.S. Air Force never entered his conviction into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which serves as a database for gun dealers in checking for criminal records before selling an individual with a firearm. As a result, after being thrown out of the military, Kelley was able to purchase a rifle at a gun store, which he later used in the mass shooting.

On the other hand, during the shooting incident, authorities stated that Kelly was clad in black and wearing a ballistic vest when he opened fire at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs. Based on the police report, the former Airman fled the scene after the mass shooting and was later found dead in his vehicle.

Court records showed that Kelley served in the U.S. Air Force prior to the incident but was court-martialed in 2012 when he received a bad conduct discharge. Kelley was sentenced to confinement for 12 months and a reduction in rank to E-1.

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Written by Jess Smith

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