This past Sunday, churchgoers gathered at their church home of First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The usual 11 am service would take a devastating turn of events when a gunman dressed in black tactical-style gear and armed with an assault rifle opened fire. 

Twenty-six people were killed ranging in age from five to 72, and another 20 were wounded with likely no way to escape. The suspect seemingly started at the beginning of the middle aisle, working his way back as he walked out the door. 

“He just walked down the center aisle, turned around and my understanding was shooting on his way back out,” said Wilson County Sheriff Joe D. Tackitt Jr., who said the gunman also carried a handgun but that he didn’t know if it was fired. Tackitt described the scene as terrible.

There are still questions surrounding the shooter's motives, but here's what we do know.

According to AP, although police have not officially named him as the shooter, the gunman has been identified as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, according to two law enforcement sources. Police describe the gunman as a white man in his 20s.

Kelley was a member of the U.S. Air Force and served at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico from 2010 until his discharge. He was court-martialed in 2012 for assault on his spouse and assault on their child. He served a year in confinement, received a bad conduct discharge and had his rank reduced, she said.

Kelley purchased the Ruger AR-556 rifle he allegedly used in the shooting from a store in San Antonio back in April 2016, a law enforcement official said. The shooter tried to get a license to carry a gun in Texas but was denied by the state, leaving us wondering how he got the gun.

Kelley had in-laws who attended the church, but they were not present at the time of the massacre, the sheriff said.

Among those killed was the 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle Pomeroy, of the church's regular pastor, Frank Pomeroy. Sherri Pomeroy, the girl's mother, says they were traveling out of state when the shooting occurred. At least eight of the people killed were members of one family, according to a relative and a community leader. Those relatives span three generations and include a woman who was about five months pregnant and three of her children.

Donald Trump, who was in Japan at the time, took to Twitter to initially send his condolences calling the shooting an “act of evil,” and later calling the gunman “a very deranged individual.”

Since then, he has said that the issue was a mental health problem, not a U.S. gun law problem. Although all of the major shootings in the past decade have been with automatic rifles. 

As the shooter left, he was confronted by an armed resident who “grabbed his rifle and engaged that suspect,” Martin said. A short time later, the suspect was found dead in his vehicle at the county line. It is not clear yet whether he died of a self-inflicted wound or if he was shot by the resident who confronted him. 

As this story continues to develop, we send our thoughts and prayers to the small town of Sutherland Springs. Our hearts go out to all those affected and grieving. However, what we need is not simply thoughts and prayers, but policy and change.

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