What happens when hundreds of reporters arrive in a town of 600?

Belinda McLauren and Randi Ray Rivera pray surrounded by cameras after a mass shooting that killed 26 people in Sutherland Springs, Texas on November 7, 2017. A gunman wearing all black armed with an assault rifle opened fire on a small-town Texas church during Sunday morning services, killing 26 people and wounding 20 more in the last mass shooting to shock the United States. / AFP PHOTO / MARK RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images) less Belinda McLauren and Randi Ray Rivera pray surrounded by cameras after a mass shooting that killed 26 people in Sutherland Springs, Texas on November 7, 2017. A gunman wearing all black armed with an assault ... more Photo: MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images Photo: MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 89 Caption Close What happens when hundreds of reporters arrive in a town of 600? 1 / 89 Back to Gallery

As officials prepared for their second press conference following the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, a horde of reporters gathered in front of them, notepads and video cameras ready to go.

Huge, white satellite vans began lining each side of the street like brick walls around 6 a.m. Monday, their operators scurrying around prepping for the next hour's news segment.

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On Monday, the morning after Devin Kelley killed 26 people and wounded another 20 at the quaint First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, reporters from across the country descended upon the city that no one had heard of on Saturday.

At the intersection of U.S. Highway 87 and Farm-to-Market Road 539, which is essentially all there is to Sutherland Springs, national news crews set up tents and their reporters stood tall, bright lights in front and the gruesome crime scene behind them.

The locals had all but disappeared, either retreating into their homes or getting the hell outta dodge while they still could without being "bombarded" by the media, to use a word from Sherri Pomeroy, who's husband, Frank, is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs.

"My students that live near the church could hardly sleep because of all the bright lights," said Tambria Read, a visual arts teacher at Floresville High School. "We've never seen anything like this."

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The population of Sutherland Springs is somewhere around 600 people, though the figures vary. No official estimate exists of the total number of reporters who visited the unincorporated community, but a very conservative estimate would put the number at about 200, temporarily increasing the town's population by more than 30 percent.

Everywhere you looked, someone was carrying a camera or holding a recorder to someone's mouth. Read said she and several other community members had spoken to "too many reporters" by Tuesday, but they might've had it easy.

People like Stephen Willeford, the Texas hero who confronted Kelley in a gunfight and was lauded as having possibly saved several lives, got the worst of it. A quick public records search brought up his home address, and within two hours of his name being publicized, he had about 30 contact cards from reporters jammed in his doorway and a DPS agent staged outside to yell at any others who would dare approach.

Reporters took notice of the issue too.

"I'm having a hard time accepting that the amount of media descending on Sutherland Springs could, debatably, equal the town's population," tweeted Andy Jacobsohn, a photographer for The Dallas Morning News. "This coverage by various state, nat and intl media doesn't seem suitable or kind for a 'one-horse town' to manage following this tragedy."

His colleague, Lauren McGaughy, who reports for The News from their Austin Bureau, chimed in, saying the "townsfolk have all retreated."

No one was out except reporters.

"This is a serious conversation we need to be having," she tweeted. "There gotta be, there IS, a better way to cover this."

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A vigil was held for the victims of the shooting Monday night, but some, like Adam Murray, a digital sales manager for Hearst Media Solutions who lives in Sutherland Springs, decided not to go.

"I was told there were more camera flashes than there were candles," he said.

Murray used that time to organize a BBQ plate sale scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Adkins, Texas, to help raise money for the victims' families as well as a YouCaring donation page to help raise money for the event.

"It's almost like there's this completely separate entity," Murray said of the spectacle surrounding the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. "Everyone else is just doing."

Like Murray, Read mentioned that people living in the Sutherland Springs are avoiding the epicenter of the tragedy, which largely consists of four layers: the church itself, a huge law enforcement tent surrounding the church like a moat, a no-man's land of police tape, and finally, on the very outside, the desperate and hungry reporters scrounging for information.

"Even though we've been inconvenienced by the amount of media, the people around the churches have come together," she said.

Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns