At around 11:20 a.m on November, Sunday 5th, the deadliest mass shooting, with 26 people shot, in Texas’s history happened at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Spring. The shooter was Devin Patrick Kelly and he has a disturbing history.

He escaped from a mental health facility, beat his former wife, and caused discomfort within his neighborhood with multiple gunshot sounds coming from his backyard. There is also news that Kelly may have bought animals from Craigslist for the sole intent of shooting them for target practice according to CNN. However, the information about Kelly is not the most disturbing part of the Texas Church Shooting event, as the stories of the victims of the shooting are even more despairing.

The first story is about a grandmother named Peggy Lynn Warden who was 56. She had already been through many mournful times as her husband, Christopher, had died in July due to lung cancer and her father before that. Yet she continuously went to church, was a giving person, and loved the Lord with all her mind and soul according to Jimmy Stevens, Warden’s brother.

When Kelly came into the church and opened fire with a Ruger AR-556 rifle he bought in April 2016 from an Academy Sports and Outdoors store in San Antonio, Warden quickly shielded her grandson, Zachary Poston, 18. With her courage, Poston was able to survive even though he took six shots to his legs and arms. Unfortunately, Warden was not able to survive. According to Stevens, who told NBC, “She saw the need and there was no doubt in her mind what she needed to do, and it didn’t matter what the consequence was. She was hit in the back, and she died rather quickly.”

The second story is about eight deaths from one family. According to USAToday, “Associate pastor Bryan Holcombe and his wife Karla; their son, Marc Daniel Holcombe; daughter-in-law Crystal Holcombe; and several grandchildren were killed in the gunfire during the service at Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church.” Just like Warden, Bryan and Karla Holcombe both were caring parents, tried to help everyone they could, and had “hearts of gold,” per the same story from USAToday. It is truly tragic that these people who act like saints were victims of this shooting.

As President Donald Trump stated at the US embassy in Tokyo, “This act of evil occurred as the victims and their families were in their place of sacred worship. We cannot put into words the pain and grief we all feel and we cannot begin to imagine the suffering of those who lost the ones they love.”

<Shawn Lee /Portola High School 10th Grade>