Sutherland Springs, Tx., church shooter Devin Kelley’s descent into madness accelerated in the six months before the massacre last November, his wife, Danielle, tells the San Antonio Express-News. He grew more depressed. His short temper got shorter. Every disagreement, every annoyance, became a fight. “He was slowly becoming not the person that he was,” Danielle said. “He was shutting down.” In 2016, he bought an assault-style rifle from an Academy Sports and Outdoors store in San Antonio. He accumulated more than a dozen magazines, each with a capacity of 30 bullets. The Air Force had failed to report Devin’s domestic violence conviction to federal law enforcement, which could have prevented him from buying the gun. He was abusing anxiety medication, Danielle said. He never wanted to leave the apartment. They became reclusive. They had no friends.
“Sometimes people can get out of that depression, and other times it takes the best of them. And it took the best of him,” Danielle said. Those who survived the shooting in which 26 people died are still grappling with the aftermath. David Colbath is in physical therapy for his eight bullet wounds. Kris Workman will likely never walk again. Some congregants shake uncontrollably at loud sounds. Others can’t bear to enter the old church sanctuary, now a memorial for the dead. A security team of congregants is equipped with guns and earpieces during services at a new, temporary church. The town’s museum opened a memorial gallery this month with donated items and belongings of people who were killed.