Before attacking the church on Sunday, Kelley had sent threatening text messages to his mother-in-law, who sometimes attended the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, officials said. Twenty-six crosses stand in the small town of Sutherland Springs in memory of those killed Sunday when a gunman burst into the church. My husband and I were ironically out of town in two different states, Pomeroy told the Herald in a text. I wish there was something that we would have picked up that maybe could have helped somebody else, said Claudia Varjabedian, for whom Kelley worked as a security guard at a local resort until last Saturday. After Sundays shooting, friends from New Braunfels, Texas, where he went to high school, expressed shock, remembering how Kelley was a friendly, if awkward, teenager who in recent years grew so dark that many unfriended him on Facebook. She was a distraught preteen, with a thick stripe of bleached blonde hair and marks on her wrists and legs from cutting herself. Guest Chuck Jackson said they received a surly reception from Kelley, who checked them in upon their arrival late on Oct. 28. Devin was homeschooled before attending New Braunfels High School, where he graduated in 2009. Kelley also showed an interest in atheism. A police officer ties off crime scene tape near a small memorial close to the church where 26 people were shot to death Sunday. Such rifles have been legal to manufacture and sell to civilians in most of the United States since the federal assault weapons ban expired in 2004, and have become popular among many firearms owners. He was just arrogant and honestly a jerk. Devin Patrick Kelley (pictured left, and in a mugshot from a previous crime) walked into the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, dressed in full combat gear, and began shooting Sunday. On the companys website, Michael Kelley wrote that he and his high school sweetheart moved to the countryside in 1993 to raise their children, of whom Devin was the middle of three. And then it came to where Devin knew everything about me," she said. "He was really different, and off," she said. Although his Facebook page has since been taken down, those who saw it said Kelley had posted often about atheism and shared images of guns. Sutherland Springs is a small, unincorporated town, with two gas stations, a post office and the church at its center. The police arrived and there was a standoff for approximately an hour, she said, in which her neighbor refused to come out of his trailer. Some of those who grew up with Devin Kelley in this sprawling city northeast of San Antonio had seen him change over the years once just an outsider, he suddenly seemed hostile and argumentative. Its unclear where Devin Kelley attended elementary school, but New Braunfels Independent School District records show that he enrolled in 2002 in Oak Run 6th Grade Center, then attended New Braunfels Middle School. Shed heard reports of friction with his mother-in-law, but nothing seemed amiss, said Marx, who brought chickens, goats and other animals from her farm to the Oct. 31 event. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Danielle admits their relationship wasn't healthy, but she didn't want to go into detail. Their daughter Annabelle, 14, was among the 26 people killed. "He was shutting down," Danielle said. He told him he wasn't going to make it home. "And how could you destroy so many other people because you couldn't face things in life?". Michelle had lost three children through complications of pregnancy, and had one adoption fall through. "Because Devin was everything in my life.". He pled to intentionally doing it.. Devin Kelley was identified as the man responsible for a mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas Sunday that killed 26 people. display: none; He was the father of at least two, a son and a daughter. Her adoptive mother, Michelle Shields, has said her son-in-law was controlling and abusive to her daughter, who often accepted the abuse. "I don't think people change," he said in the recording. She reported receiving no complaints about him during his nearly six weeks on the 4 p.m.-to-midnight shift at the River Road resort not far from the Kelley family home. She stated she witnessed four to five punches and then the male suspect grabbed the dog by the neck and drug him away.. But then the next minute, she'd pretend it never happened. Pastor Frank Pomeroy of the First Baptist Church and his wife, Sherri, attend a news conference. I will tell you that Michelle told me last Tuesday (Oct. 31) they were so excited because he voluntarily took the grandchildren his children to the church for the fall festival, said Tambria Read, chair of the Sutherland Springs Historical Museum and a teacher at Floresville High School. Records show that Kelley was the middle child and only son of three kids born to Rebecca A. Kelley and Michael S. Kelley. Neighbors said they didnt know the Kelleys. "Even though he went off and ruined more people's lives than I could ever imagine." Devin Patrick Kelley's current wife and mother of at least one of his two young daughters is Danielle Lee Shields, 22. "It was a lot to bear, and I didn't want to have to do it.". "I feel awful," said Danielle, tears in her eyes as she clutched a blanket. He lost touch of reality," Danielle said. My wife responded Not to mention that he told you the complete wrong way to go. Devin Kelley, 26, died by suicide after the shooting, one of the deadliest in modern U.S. history. Roughly four months later, Kelley was charged with cruelty to animals while living in an RV park in Colorado Springs, reports the Times. He was with her for every errand and outing, and even drove her to and from her job as a cashier at H-E-B. Danielle would comment on how Devin's new beard made him look old. She asked if her husband had survived. Six months before the massacre, while living in Sutherland Springs, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) southeast of San Antonio, Devin grew more depressed, his temper grew shorter, and he grew less tolerant, she said. I reported what I could to the school, but nothing was ever done.. He posted a photograph of it on Oct. 29 with the caption: Shes a bad bitch., On Sunday, police cars from the Comal County Sheriffs Department lined the gunmans driveway on a rural stretch of land in New Braunfels. "We had no secrets," Danielle said. Recommended articles. Less than an hour after leaving their house on Nov. 5, Devin went into a crouch outside the Sutherland Springs church and began firing. Our family is grieving.. All Rights Reserved. Devin Kelley, 26, died by suicide after the shooting, one of the deadliest in modern U.S. history. But he always apologized, and she'd eventually relent. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. "A lot of people who died were very special to me.". She admired Karla and Bryan Holcombe's loving relationship. Kelley enlisted in the Air Force in January 2010 and obtained a marriage license in April 2011 to wed Tessa K. Loge, now Tessa Brennaman. Then the call ended. Before a 26-year-old gunman entered a rural Texas church with a ballistic vest and a military-style rifle, killing at least 26 people Sunday, he was convicted of assaulting his wife and breaking his infant stepsons skull. Danielle Lee Shields is the former spouse of Devin Kelley. Activity. So, so many people,'" Danielle recalled. "People thought he was really weird, and this awful person, but I could never see that in him," Danielle said. Danielle Kelley told the newspaper she would defend Devin Kelley if Shields tried to intervene. Danielle said they complemented each other that way. As a coach I would focus on the lifelong benefits the athlete "How could you leave me with two kids to raise?" While in the military, Devin was caught sneaking weapons onto a New Mexico base. Law enforcement officers work a barricade near the First Baptist Church on Sunday. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. The three huddled around the phone. And then there's times where I don't even I just, can't. He seemed disengaged. "Now, going back and looking at it, the things he said then it was all messed up.". Michelle Fields, Kelleys mother-in-law, has a P.O. Danielle Kelley was tied to a bed helpless as her husband left to carry out one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history. All atheism and gun posts, Reid Mosis wrote. In a series of interviews with the San Antonio Express-News, Danielle Kelley said her husband, Devin Kelley, behaved strangely detached that morning until he put their 2-year-old son in the bedroom and forced her into the bedroom, where he bound her to the bed using rope, handcuffs and tape as their son cried. Every morning for the past month or so there was a lot of shooting from that direction, said Robert Gonzales, who took it to be target practice. "I was the weird, awkward kid that had a lot of issues," she said. His parents rushed to the house and untied her from the bed. One-year-old Raeleigh has wide-set brown eyes and a dimpled chin like her father. She also began to doubt her belief in God. Devin's Ford Expedition veered off into a ditch. A former female classmate, who is not being identified, says she complained to school administrators that Kelley would shove and grope her in campus hallways in the 2008-09 school year. Members of the FBI investigate the shooting scene. After killing at least 26 people in the church, Kelley was found dead in his car. According to recent reports, Kelley sent threatening messages to his mother-in-law. He was always talking about how people who believe in God were stupid and trying to preach his atheism, Nina Rosa Nava, who posted on the site, was quoted as saying in the New York Times, adding that she unfriended him because of it. His wife needed help, he said. As a coach i accepted responsibility for the behavior my athletes both in Danielle watched her husband closely. In April 2016, he bought an assault-style rifle from an Academy Sports and Outdoors store in San Antonio. They had no friends. An older Facebook page for Danielle reveals that she resided in Sutherland Springs. Because no one just leaves in all-black attire with a ballistic vest.. Authorities say Kelley was estranged from his wifes family and had threatened Danielles mother, Michelle, before the church attack. She stated the white male then began punching the dog with a closed fist near the head and neck area, according to an August 2014 El Paso County deputy report. Part of HuffPost News. "It was frustrating. Mona Rodriguez comforts her 12-year-old son, J Anthony Hernandez, during a Sunday night vigil for the victims killed at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. But he wasnt always a psychopath though, a longtime friend, Courtney Kleiber, posted on Facebook on Sunday. After Kelley was discharged from the Air Force in 2014, he remarried in Texas, to Danielle Lee Shields, in April of that year, according to state records. Danielle is the daughter of Michelle and Ben Shields, and all three of them reportedly had ties with the Texas church where Kelley went on a shooting rampage. 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