Authorities have dug into Devin Kelley's past to discover that the mass murderer who killed 26 people in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Sunday escaped a mental institution in New Mexico in 2012 when he was serving in the Air Force. The report, obtained by KPRC in Houston, also reveals that he made death threats against his military superiors and was trying to smuggle weapons onto base.
The incident report, filed by the El Paso Police Department, states Kelley was picked up at a bus terminal in downtown El Paso before midnight on the evening of June 7, 2012. The report states two officers were dispatched to the terminal to look into a missing person report.
When they arrived, the two officers learned Kelley had escaped from Peak Behavioral Health Services in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. A witness on the scene told the officers that Kelley, who was 21 years old at the time, had “suffered from mental disorders and had plans to run to from Peak Behavioral Health Services” by purchasing a bus ticket out of state.
Earlier police reports revealed that Kelley had assaulted his wife and fractured his infant child's skull. He was sentenced to a year in prison and court martialed for his violent streak.
Despite this record of abuse, the Air Force failed to enter the domestic violence case into the National Criminal Information Center database, explaining why he could still buy a gun.
Almost half of Kelley's victims at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs were children. One family lost a staggering eight people.
It was two Good Samaritans who ultimately ended the shooter's carnage, chasing him away and exchanging gunfire with him.
