Hero Who Shot and Stopped Texas Mass Shooter Was an NRA Instructor — And That's Not All He Did

On Sunday, a 26-year-old named Devin Kelley unloaded a rifle on a small, Texas church killing 26 people. Images quickly emerged of the shooter's Facebook profile, which displayed pictures of a rifle and even referred to it as a “bad b***h.”

New York Times article names Sutherland Springs shooter as Devin P. Kelley

Here's Kelly's Facebook Profile pic pic.twitter.com/xvdfIQ4mIo

— Hardhat Patriot (@Hardhat_Patriot) November 5, 2017


View image on Twitter

Many quickly blamed the National Rifle Association saying that they had “blood on their hands” in the same way they did after the Las Vegas massacre.


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Willeford was a neighbor of the church and heard gunfire outside. He grabbed his AR-15 type rifle and went towards the shots in bare feet. With his shooting experience, Willeford was able to engage in gunfire with Kelley and place a bullet between the shooter's small gap in body armor, which ultimately led him to flee the scene to his vehicle.

Willeford then jumped into a stranger's truck and chased the shooter down. Kelley ultimately crashed his vehicle at high speed and then proceeded to shoot himself and commit suicide.

Willeford appeared on ABC in an interview to explain the experience and stated:

"I didn’t have any time, because I kept hearing the shots, one after another, at a time, very rapid shots, just pop, pop, pop. And I knew every one of those shots represented someone, that it was aimed at someone, that they just weren’t random shots, more than likely. I grabbed a handful of ammunition and started loading my magazine.

And I’m trying to survey the situation, not knowing what’s going on; and then I saw a man in a black tactical helmet with a dark-shaded helmet on, and obviously looked to me like it was a bulletproof vest. He had a pistol in his hand, and we exchanged gunfire.

And I was standing behind a pickup truck for cover, and we exchanged fire. He saw me, and I saw him, I’m like, it was surreal to me; it couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t believe it. I know I hit him. He got into his vehicle, and he fired another couple rounds through his side window. When the window dropped, I fired another round at him again.

We chased him down 539, and when we first started chasing him he was out of sight. And the man driving the truck, I found out later his name is Johnny; he was driving at a high rate of sped. We were trying to pass cars to catch up. We called 911 and we were talking to 911.

I was scared for me, and I was scared for every one of them; I was scared for my own family that lived just less than a block away.

I’m no hero; I am not. I think my God, my Lord, protected me and gave me the skills to do what needed to be done. And I just wish I could have got there faster."