Sutherland Springs Shooter Had Escaped From Mental Facility After Threatening to Kill His Superiors

EL PASO -- Devin Patrick Kelley, the gunman who massacred 26 parishioners in a small Texas church, escaped from a mental facility in nearby New Mexico in 2012 where he was admitted after threatening to kill his superiors.Kelley had been caught “sneaking firearms” onto the Holloman Air Force base, according to an El Paso Police report. Police officers were tipped off about Kelley’s escape and tracked him down in downtown El Paso, where he was attempting to flee on a bus.The latest revelations come as authorities dig into Kelley's past to provide a more complete picture of what motivated his rampage, the largest massacre in Texas, during church service Sunday at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, outside San Antonio.According to the report, Kelley escaped from Peak Behavioral Health Services Inc., a mental facility, where he was considered a “danger to himself and others as he had already been caught sneaking in firearms onto Holloman Air Force base” and was “attempting to carry out death threats” on his military chain of command, according to the police report.At the time of his arrest, Kelley “did not resist arrest or [make] any comments about harming himself or other to the officers,” according to the report.The officers noted Kelley “was also facing military criminal charges.”Kelley had been admitted to the mental facility after being charged in a military court with assaulting his wife and baby stepson. After his arrest, he was turned over to authorities from Sunland Park, New Mexico, which borders El Paso.In a statement Monday, the Air Force said it “had launched a review of how the service handled the records of former Airman Devin P. Kelley following his 2012 domestic violence conviction.”The Air Force added that it was looking into whether other convictions had been improperly left unreported.  Continue reading...