At least 27 people have died and another 24 have been wounded during a shooting in a church in Texas (USA) carried out by a person who also died after the attack.
The incident has occurred at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, 45 kilometers southeast of San Antonio, Texas, where authorities have deployed a strong police device, which includes the presence of FBI agents.
Wilson County Commissioner Albert Gamez told MSNBC television that the death toll amounted to 27 people and that there were at least 24 people injured.
The local police reported that the perpetrator of the shooting was killed, according to the local channel KSAT12 that has not specified the causes of that death.
For his part, a police officer told Fox News that there is no longer an “active threat” in the church, that at the time of the event a mass was celebrated.
A witness told KSAT12 that around 11:30 local time (5:30 am EDT) an armed man entered the church and opened fire on those in the church.
Another witness, a cashier at a gas station near the Baptist temple, told CNN that he heard about 20 shots “in rapid succession while a religious service was being performed.”
Soon after, Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote a message on his Twitter account condemning the attack.
“Our prayers are with all those who were harmed by this evil act, and our thanks to the authorities for their response,” the governor said.
Families in tears wait to see if their family and friends are safe. Praying for the safety of all those involved. pic.twitter.com/yjzK7lZJ1S
— Max Massey (@MaxMasseyTV) November 5, 2017
IT COULD BE A 26 YEAR OLD WHITE MAN
Although the authorities did not disclose the name of the attacker, several US media have identified him as Devin Kelley, a 26-year-old white man who died after a brief persecution after mourning this population of less than 500 inhabitants.
TRUMP: “MENTAL HEALTH IS THE PROBLEM”
The president of the USA, Donald Trump, has assured that “the mental health is the problem” in relation to the shooting that took place yesterday in a Baptist church in Texas, where at least 26 people died, an event that he described as “spooky”.
“It’s a little early, but it’s clear that we have a high-level mental health problem, we have a lot of mental health problems in our country … It’s something that we have to address seriously,” Trump said. at a press conference in Tokyo when asked about the measures that should be adopted to avoid this type of events.
“There has been a spooky attack on a church in a beautiful area, how sad, who could think that something like this could happen,” added the White House leader, who is on tour in Japan.
At the beginning of the appearance before the press with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump made reference to the shooting, sent his condolences to the relatives of the victims and said that the US “is always stronger when we are united.”
As soon as the shooting occurred, the US president wrote in his official Twitter account: “May God be with the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas The FBI and the law enforcement agencies are on the ground, I am following the situation from Japan” .
May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 5, 2017
Hours later, during a speech addressed to business leaders at the US embassy in Tokyo, the US president described the worst slaughter in the history of Texas as an “act of evil” that happened in “a place of sacred worship.”
A WEEK AFTER THE ATTACK IN MANHATTAN
The incident in Texas also happens a week after a Uzbek citizen hit pedestrians and bicyclists in Manhattan with a truck, killing eight people, including five Argentines. The IS said the attacker was one of its “soldiers”, against whom President Trump called for the death penalty.
Two years earlier, a white supremacist, Dylann Roof, entered the church of Emanuel, in Charleston, South Carolina, a symbol of the struggle of blacks against slavery, and shot nine people to death. Last January, Roof was sentenced to death.
Every year, more than 33,000 people in the United States are killed by firearms (22,000 of the cases are suicides), according to a recent study. The debate on the regulation of weapons is relaunched after each shooting, without the legislation can be modified, due, among other reasons, to the influence exercised by the National Rifle Association, the powerful arms lobby.
