Gunman in church attack was convicted of fracturing stepson’s skull

This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows Devin Kelley, the suspect in the shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. A short time after the shooting, Kelley was found dead in his vehicle. (Texas Department of Public Safety via AP) less This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows Devin Kelley, the suspect in the shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. A short ... more Photo: -, AFP/Getty Images Photo: -, AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 25 Caption Close Gunman in church attack was convicted of fracturing stepson’s skull 1 / 25 Back to Gallery

The gunman who killed 26 people in a church south of San Antonio was kicked out of the Air Force after cutting a plea deal in 2012 in which he admitted he fractured his stepson’s skull, then was involved in a string of more recent violent incidents, officials said Monday.

Devin Patrick Kelley’s conviction never appeared on the National Criminal Information Center database, or NCIC, which would have prevented him from legally purchasing firearms. The Air Force said Monday it had launched a review to find out why.

A jury at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico gave Kelley a 12-month sentence after he pleaded guilty to attacking his wife and the baby, said a former head of Air Force prosecutors, retired Col. Don Christensen.

Kelley served his sentence in the Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar in California, an Air Force statement said.

After his bad conduct discharge from the service in 2014, “he should not have been able to get a gun,” Christensen said. “There is no way this man should have legally owned a gun based upon what he was convicted of.”

Kelley bought four guns from 2014-2017, two in Colorado and two in Texas, and all the purchases were approved through the NCIC system, officials said.

Witnesses say Kelley, 26, of New Braunfels, entered First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on Sunday and gunned down worshipers with an assault rifle in the worst mass shooting in Texas history. Twenty-six were killed and dozens wounded. A neighbor shot at Kelley, who drove off, crashed his vehicle and shot himself, authorities said.

Kelley had at least three weapons with him. Authorities recovered a Ruger AR-556 rifle at the church. They also found a Glock 9mm and a Ruger .22-caliber handgun in the Ford Explorer he had been driving, said Fred Milanowski, a special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field office in Houston.

Kelley purchased two of the weapons from Academy Sports and Outdoors stores in San Antonio, Academy's corporate offices confirmed. Sources told the Express-News that one of them was the rifle, bought in April 2016.

The Defense Department requires each Air Force base’s Office of Special Investigations to submit a form to the FBI indicating the conviction and sentence when trials are completed, said South Texas College of Law professor Geoffrey Corn. Even if that were not required, a similar report should be submitted to the FBI database when a convict is processed into a military correctional facility, he said.

Air Force records show that Kelly entered the service Jan. 5, 2010, went to Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo for technical training and served at Holloman’s logistics readiness squadron. He later served overseas, earning the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, but the Air Force Personnel Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph said it was prohibited from saying where he served.

Kelley was married twice and had no children of his own. He and his first wife divorced in New Mexico in 2012, according to court records. Kelley left the Air Force on May 9, 2014.

He was arrested that year for animal cruelty at an RV park in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he lived, the Associated Press reported. Neighbors told authorities that he struck a young dog several times with a closed fist, threw it in the air and dragged it to his camper. He received a deferred probationary sentence on the misdemeanor, paying $368 in restitution.

Comal County Sheriffs deputies responded to a suspected domestic disturbance at Kelley's address on FM 2722 in 2014, records show, but were told it was a misunderstanding. A friend of his then-girlfriend, Danielle Lee Shields, had contacted the sheriff’s office to say Shields had told her via text that he was abusing her. Deputies reported not making an arrest.

Devin P. Kelley and Shields obtained a marriage license in Comal County on April 1, 2014. No records of a divorce for them are on file there, officials said.

Kelley worked until Saturday as a security guard at Summit Vacation and RV Resort on River Road in New Braunfels, not far from his home. He didn't show up Sunday for his shift, said an employee who answered the resort phone Monday. During six weeks on the payroll Kelley had not caused any problems or acted in a way that set off any alarm bells, the employee said.

Robert Gonzales, who lives a few parcels down FM 2722 from the Kelley home, said Monday that he regularly heard nearby gunfire in recent weeks. It sometimes lasted for hours, with 200 or more shots. Gonzales, 70, a military veteran, said it sounded like a mix of an assault rifle and a handgun.

“I don't know if it was him or not. I figured it was target practice,” he said.

Another nearby resident, Grace Masek, also reported hearing gunfire in the area in recent weeks.

“It's real shocking and scary to know that someone who's capable of doing that lived so close,” said Masek, 56.

Kelley's ex-wife, the former Tessa Kaylynn Loge, who lives just south of New Braunfels, left home Sunday evening after learning of the slayings, a neighbor said.

“She said, ‘I don't want to talk to anyone,’” the neighbor said. “She claims to hate this guy. She described him as a crazy, controlling, psycho who was very abusive.”

Courtney Kleiber, a technical support worker at Rackspace, posted messages on her Facebook page that suggested people who knew Kelley were aware that “something under the surface festered,” as she put it on Monday.

“I was close with Devin Kelley from middle school through high school,” Kleiber wrote Sunday. “He wasn't always a 'psychopath' though. He use to be happy at one point, normal, your average kid. … Over the years we all saw him change into something that he wasn't. To be completely honest, I'm really not surprised this happened, and I don't think anyone who knew him is very surprised either. My heart goes out to all of the victims that should've never been.”

Christensen said there were two legal reasons why Kelley should not have had a firearm — his conviction of an offense punishable by more than a year in confinement, and the Lautenberg Amendment to the 1968 Gun Control Act making it a felony for those convicted of domestic violence to ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms or ammunition.

“Did the military fail in their reporting obligations? Was it a failure that we use archaic language in the military to describe our process that didn’t translate well into the civilian system?” asked Christensen, director of a group called Protect Our Defenders that advocates for assault and sexual assault victims. “Without a doubt, the system failed.”