What We Know About The Deadly Sutherland Springs Church Shooting

NOEL KING, HOST:

And, David Martin Davies, in the last couple of seconds that we have left, tell me what is next. Is - are you just waiting for an official response? Do you plan to go back to Sutherland Springs?

DAVID MARTIN DAVIES, BYLINE: Oh, yeah. We'll be going back to Sutherland Springs and covering this developing story because there's so much - we've heard so much, but we don't want to report it yet because it's not official. But we're waiting for Governor Abbott to tell us the facts, want to get the facts right and get them on the air. And there are so many people that need to be identified, families that have to be told. This is something, I think, is a game changer for not just for Sutherland Springs, not just for this part of Texas but I think all over Texas.

KING: David, are you from the region?

DAVIES: Yeah.

KING: Tell me, have you ever seen anything like this before? San Antonio is a fairly large city. This is a rural town. San Antonio is a fairly large city. Have you ever seen a shooting on this scale?

DAVIES: I've been to shootouts. I mean, drug cartel members on the border. I've seen big shootouts. I've never seen anything like this.

KING: And what do you think that tells us, I wonder? Has the place changed? Have the people changed? Or is this just another random act of violence?

DAVIES: That's going to be - when we find out who the shooter is, we find out what this person's major malfunction is, we will learn those things.

KING: NPR's Colin Dwyer, I want to turn it over to you for a second. What have we seen in terms of official statements from the governor? Governor Greg Abbott is said to be giving a press conference soon. Has he said anything yet?

COLIN DWYER, BYLINE: He has tweeted out an initial response. And then shortly after, that he delivered a much longer statement. It reads like this - while the details of this horrific act are still under investigation, Cecilia - his wife - and I want to send our sincere thoughts and prayers to those who have been affected by this evil act. And he also went on to thank law enforcement for their quick and effective response.

KING: Thank you for that, Colin. David, let me ask you a question. This shooting did take place in a church. Can you tell us anything about the church?

DAVIES: Small church, holds about 50 people, right off the highway, surrounded by a few homes. The people who lived across the street from the church and nearby heard the shooting, and they engaged with the shooter. The shooter began shooting at those homes as well.

KING: Oh, wow. So it wasn't just confined to the church. As our local resident, Michele, was saying earlier, there was shooting outside of the church as well.

DAVIES: That's what we're being told. That's what - I talked to a resident who lives across the church, and then I spoke to someone who spoke to other neighbors of the church, and that's what they were told.

KING: David Martin Davies is a reporter with member station KSTX. David, thank you so much for taking the time to join us, we really appreciate it.

DAVIES: And I think you can hear a helicopter, and that's going to be Governor Abbott arriving.

KING: Oh, wow. David, we will get you back on line soon I hope. In the meantime, good luck. And NPR's Colin Dwyer, thank you so much for coming in. We'll stick with you this hour. Thank you, guys.

DWYER: Absolutely.

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