Federal judge says Air Force is '60% responsible' for 2017 mass shooting at Texas church that left 26 dead because it failed to disclose gunman's domestic violence history to FBI database that would have barred him from buying firearms
A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Air Force is '60 percent' responsible for a 2017 Texas church shooting that left 26 people dead because the military branch didn't disclose the gunman's history of domestic violence, which could've prevented him from buying firearms.
The ruling comes after survivors and victims' families sued the government claiming it was negligent in allowing Devin Patrick Kelley to purchase firearms.
On November 5, 2017, Kelley shot and killed two people outside First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, before walking inside to kill 24 more and then taking his own life.
It is the worst mass shooting in the history of Texas and the worst shooting at a place of worship in American history.
Kelley worked in logistics and supply in the Air Force before being dishonorably discharged in 2014 after he admitted to assaulting his wife and infant stepson in a 2012 court martial.
He was able to purchase guns - including three he used in the 2017 massacre - after he was discharged because his past criminal record was not submitted to the FBI database.
On November 5, 2017, Kelley shot and killed two people outside First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, before walking inside and killing 24 more. Police are pictured at the scene after the massacre
Photo of an AR-15 assault rifle posted on the Facebook page of Devin Patrick Kelley
In his ruling on Wednesday, US District Judge Xavier Rodriguez in San Antonio said the Air Force was '60 percent responsible' for the massacre.
'The trial conclusively established that no other individual — not even Kelley’s own parents or partners — knew as much as the United States about the violence that Devin Kelley had threatened to commit and was capable of committing,' Rodriguez said of the Air Force in his ruling.
Reuters reports that the judge only found Kelley 40 percent responsible for the massacre.
In his ruling on Wednesday, US District Judge Xavier Rodriguez (pictured) in San Antonio said the Air Force was '60 percent responsible' for the massacre
The ruling comes after a 10-day bench trial in April.
Rodriguez also wrote that 'it is more likely than not that Kelley would have been deterred from carrying out the Church shooting' if the information had been entered into the database.
The Air Force has not returned requests for comment on the judge's ruling, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
Tom Jacob, who represents some plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit, said it was a big step for those 'endured so much loss and then had to endure their government trying to avoid responsibility'.
Kelley purchased four guns from federally licensed dealers in Texas and Colorado, three of which he carried into the church.
The military veteran passed the required background checks because the Air Force never informed the FBI about the assault on his wife and her child.
The Air Force previously acknowledged that in addition to failing to submit the information in the FBI database for Kelley, it found several dozen other such reporting omissions.
It is the worst mass shooting in the history of Texas and the worst shooting at a place of worship in American history
The Air Force has blamed gaps in 'training and compliance measures' for the lapses and said it made changes to prevent failures in the future.
The Air Force failed six times to report information that could have prevented Kelley from purchasing a gun, according to a government report released in 2018.
The Department of Defense inspector general's report detailed Kelley's decade-long history of violence, interest in guns and menacing of women.
That history culminated in Kelley's November 2017 attack on the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, the church his wife and mother-in-law attended.
The dead included several children, a pregnant woman and a 77-year-old grandfather.
The report said Air Force investigators who spoke to Kelley failed four separate times to fingerprint him and turn those prints over to the FBI.
The report also revealed the Air Force failed twice to submit its final report of the case to the FBI.
Air Force investigators were not trained to submit fingerprints or the final report to the FBI, the inspector general found.
The Air Force failed six times to report information that could have prevented Kelley from purchasing a gun, according to a government report released in 2018 (mourners pictured)
The Air Force squadron that investigated the assault 'used on-the-job training as its primary method of instruction for fingerprint collection and submission,' the report stated.
'However, this training was insufficient and was not based on any established curriculum or policy requirements.'
The Air Force said in a statement that 'corrective action has already been taken'.
The report also details some of the many warning signs against Kelley.
His first wife, Tessa Kelley, accused him of choking her multiple times and once holding her head under a showerhead and saying: 'I'm going to waterboard you.' Waterboarding is an interrogation technique that the United Nations says is considered torture.
After Air Force authorities opened an assault investigation against him, Kelley was ordered to be detained before trial because his commander believed he was 'dangerous and likely to harm someone if released'.
Kelley had searched online for body armor and weapons, according to the report.
He was later charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty after someone saw him punch a dog several times.
During the shooting, Kelley fired over 450 rounds at worshippers, who tried hiding behind pews authorities say
He was also investigated for sexual assault in his hometown of New Braunfels, Texas, but authorities didn't pursue the investigation in what the local sheriff has since called 'an error'.
The report also says Kelley was reprimanded in 2012 for using a 'disparaging word' against a female supervisor and then denying it.
Four years later, his former supervisor received a Facebook message from Kelley in which he used expletives and said: 'You should have been put in the ground a long time ago. Better hope I don't ever see you.'
During the shooting, Kelley fired over 450 rounds at worshippers, who tried hiding behind pews authorities say.
While leaving the church Kelley was confronted by two local men who had heard the gunfire. They pursued Kelley in a 95mph car chase until he ran himself off the road and took his own life.
The autopsy released by the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office said Kelley was shot in the back and thigh but his cause of death was suicide from a single gunshot wound above his right ear.
Last month, the Texas Supreme Court said relatives and survivors couldn't sue Academy Sports and Outdoors, where Kelley purchased an AR-556 semi-automatic rifle used in the massacre.
The families and survivors may be able to receive damages from the Air Force following Wednesday's ruling, though.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Rodriguez ordered the parties to come up with a trial plan within 15 days in order to assess monetary damages.
The Department of Justice has not commented on the ruling.
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