Church Killer's Blood Lust Fueled by Family Violence, a Tie That Binds Many Mass Murderers

Sunday's massacre in South Texas, like many mass shootings before it, shows how family abuse is not simply a private matter, advocates for ending domestic violence say. Years before Devin Patrick Kelley killed 26 people and wounded 20 others at Sutherland Springs' First Baptist Church, he choked his first wife and hit his stepson's head so hard his skull cracked. Authorities said he likely targeted the church because his estranged wife's family attended services there. They weren't there on Sunday. Domestic violence experts can easily rattle off attacks in which the shooter had a history of abusing family members: a football watch party in Plano, a congressional baseball practice, a Kansas manufacturing plant, a Connecticut elementary school.  Continue reading...