Texas Church Shooting Suspect’s Domestic Violence Conviction Wasn’t Reported By U.S. Air Force To FBI
Texas church shooting suspect, Devin Patrick Kelley, was convicted of domestic violence against his wife and stepson while serving in the U.S Air Force, but it was never reported to the FBI.
CBN News reports that the Air Force admits it didn’t report the Texas church shooting suspect’s prior convictions of domestic violence to the FBI. According to Pentagon rules, the military is required to report these convictions to the bureau.
Devin Patrick Kelley was convicted of assault against his wife and stepson. As a previous report by the Inquisitr reveals, the Texas church shooting suspected was court-martialed in 2012 for assault against his wife and her child. He was stationed at Holloman Air Force Base during his military duty.
New York Daily News reports that Kelley was “pushed out” of the Air Force in 2014 after serving a year in the brig at Miramar Air Force Base in California.
Retired Air Force Col. Don Christensen was the chief prosecutor when Devin Kelly was charged with his domestic abuse violations. He considers it a “huge failure” that the Texas church gunman’s convictions weren’t reported to the FBI.
“Criminal law in the military — and the criminal process — it’s a part time profession,” Christensen said.
“Everyone involved except for the senior prosecutors and senior defense have lots of other jobs they do, so it’s hard to become really proficient. In this case, I’m guessing it was an oversight by someone due to a lack of experience. They didn’t do what they were supposed to do, and there were very severe consequences.”
Kelley’s domestic abuse conviction would’ve been enough to disqualify him from buying or possessing firearms, but the FBI had no records of his past crimes. Such information is supposed to be passed along to the bureau to update the National Criminal Information Center database.
The Air Force released a statement saying that the top two Air Force officials, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein, are ordering a review of the Devin Patrick Kelley’s case.
Air Force spokeswoman, Ann Stefanek, says the Pentagon performed an audit of its own records to verify that other cases have been reported correctly to the Department of Defense.
The Air Force’s failure to submit Devin Kelley’s criminal history to the FBI allowed the Texas gunman to buy weapons https://t.co/rHtKZg9NnB pic.twitter.com/bii8vbflGr
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) November 7, 2017
The Texas church shooting, which occurred at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Sunday morning, left 26 people dead and 20 wounded. Ten remain hospitalized and in critical condition.
Victims range in ages from 18-months to 77 years of age. Many church members were family members of Kelley’s.
The man who engaged in a shootout with the Texas church shooter, Stephen Willeford, is a former instructor with the National Rifle Association. He told KHBS/KHOG in Arkansas that his daughter heard gunfire at the church when they were at home. He ran for his rifle, loaded it, and ran barefoot to the scene. After a shootout, he chased after Kelley when he fled in his truck. The chase also involved Johnnie Langendorff, another hero who helped Willeford chase after Kelly. In the end, his truck flipped into a ditch. Willeford yelled for Kelley to get out of the truck, but there were no signs of movement. Police believe he took his own life.
[Featured Image by Scott Olson/Getty Images]
