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The U.S. Secret Service released a study on Tuesday about Devin Patrick Kelley, the perpetrator of the 2017 mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas — the deadliest mass shooting in Texas history.
The case study connects Kelley's long history of domestic and sexual violence against women to the mass killing.
He killed 26 people and injured 22 at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. His past also included the rape of several women and girls throughout his life.
The Secret Service reported that 41% of all mass shooters had a history of domestic violence.
“These findings highlight an important link that exists between domestic violence and mass casualty violence that occurs in our communities,” said Joshua Ryan, an agent with the National Threat Assessment Center at the Secret Service.
First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs a Case Study on the Link Between Domestic Violence and Mass Atta... by Fernando Ortiz Jr. on Scribd
While much has been written about Kelley physically abusing his wife and ex-wife, the case study also showed that Kelley was a sexual predator, engaging in coercion, sexual assault and the rape of multiple women and girls over the course of his life, while experiencing few if any consequences for his behavior.
Some of those women were intimate partners; others were not, like a minor child he allegedly assaulted just before entering the military. Kelley was walking with the child around the neighborhood when he then exposed himself in his car and forced the child to touch him.
The police investigation was dropped after the girl “withdrew her participation.”
Kelley exhibited many characteristics of extreme misogyny, stalking, harassing, and threatening women online and in his workplace.
The Secret Service noted that many mass shootings have been orchestrated by people who are legally prohibited from owning firearms. Kelley purchased five guns in the five years leading up to the shooting, largely from licensed firearm dealers who use background checks. Kelley should not have been able to purchase the weapons because of a previous felony conviction.
The Sutherland Springs shooting resulted in the awarding of hundreds of millions of dollars from the Defense Department to victims over its failures to report Kelley’s felony to the FBI. It also prompted the FIX NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) Act to close gaps in reporting felons to the system.
