Jump to content

2 dead in thwarted mass shooting attempt at Fort Worth area church that was live streaming on YouTube


clapclapclap

Recommended Posts

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ny-white-settlement-shooting-at-least-three-shot-inside-texas-church-20191229-nbpczz7j4fdithl7v5boaxxl4u-story.html

At least two people were reportedly killed in a shooting inside a crowded church near Fort Worth, Texas, a terrifying scene captured on video Sunday morning.

It was not immediately clear what led to the shooting, but footage of the incident shows what appears to be a man shooting at least two people and then getting shot as he tried turning his weapon at the crowd.

The shooting took place at West Freeway Church of Christ in the city of White Settlement. Sunday’s service was live streamed on YouTube.

The video shows dozens of horrified churchgoers ducking under their seats as several people, including someone who appeared to be a security guard, drew their own weapons toward the gunman.

A local CBS affiliate reported that two people were killed and another was in critical condition, but authorities had not released any information as of 1 p.m.

The incident comes two years after a madman opened fire inside another Texas church in one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. The shooter, 26-year-old Devin Kelley, killed 26 people and wounded more than 20 others at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs on Nov. 5, 2017.

----

Video stills (not graphic) of shooter and security responding:

Spoiler

 

PGS2YKITAFFBRC55HQ737WUIBE.jpg 

G3SACBKSCVHGLLQS5TMB6FJTPE.jpg

 

 

Edited by clapclapclap
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Vito Andolini said:

Based on the photos, looks like a really senior crowd, or is that representative of who goes to church these days?

It varies a lot among congregations.  The bigger churches will have a younger demographic.  Plus this may have been the early service, with many churches having a different type of worship in a later service aimed at a younger crowd.  Just depends.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Vito Andolini said:

 

Based on the photos, looks like a really senior crowd, or is that representative of who goes to church these days?

 

I would imagine it's a fair representation of people who go to Church of Christ.  Seems like most people I know under 40 who aren't Catholic go to non-denominational churches.

Edited by Tom
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, workswithseed said:

It's weird that the church has a security guard. 

My wife's Baptist church, albeit it is large, is in Central Austin, and has a shit-ton of armed security, usually 1-2 off-duty LEOs in uniform, and several armed volunteers (and that's just the ones hovering near the doors with earpieces making themselves out to be obvious, pretty sure there are some we are not seeing).

It used to not be this way either, but it's the norm.  It's like one of my in-laws is an assistant principal, and they were bragging about how the new school they are working at has all of these new features to deter school shooters, and all I can think was "holy shit dude, think about what you're bragging about???"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Jkwellborn said:

A lot of churchs have people that are armed and aren’t actual “security”.

100% this.

I’ve said on this board before that I’m on my church security team.   I hope I never have to pull, but i know I’d be a deterrent even if I wasn’t on schedule that day.    I’d rather go die defending my family and friends rather than begging for my life.  That will never happen.  I carry even when it’s not my week on security.  It might be in my briefcase that week, but I have it.   

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Tom said:

 

I would imagine it's a fair representation of people who go to Church of Christ.  Seems like most people I know under 40 who aren't Catholic go to non-denominational churches.

I mean, as a member of a Church of Christ, there is still lots of young people in them. Lots of young people go to LTC still. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, workswithseed said:

I mean, as a member of a Church of Christ, there is still lots of young people in them. Lots of young people go to LTC still. 

 

Fair enough.  I'm mainly generalizing based on personal observations and experiences in my little corner of the world and the people I know. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Damn that's terrible. I was living in Fort Worth when the church shooting happened at Hulen and that was rough. This is one of those situations where you hope like hell that there wasn't an armed victim shot because others thought they were the criminal. Probably not likely in a small community/congregation but if law enforcement shows up all bets are off. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

53 minutes ago, Trey3216 said:

I’ve said on this board before that I’m on my church security team.   I hope I never have to pull, but i know I’d be a deterrent even if I wasn’t on schedule that day.    I’d rather go die defending my family and friends rather than begging for my life.  That will never happen.  I carry even when it’s not my week on security.  It might be in my briefcase that week, but I have it.   

You’re doing it right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, workswithseed said:

It's weird that the church has a security guard. 

It's weird that I won't attend any church without packing, and try to avoid (sometimes outright ignore if unavoidable) places where I have to disarm before entering. 

But we're living in one weird, fucked up world, so...

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, formermav43 said:

Lame.

And I say that as someone who 1) owns no guns and 2) isn’t terribly comfortable with armed security (or worshippers) in the assembly of the church. 

I’ll say this about my church:

1) everyone on our security team is either current or former military/LEO, or has been around weapons their entire life and is licensed to carry, but also knows how to read people and deflect situations.  
 

2) Our congregation doesn’t fully know, but expects that some of us are indeed carrying, so they’re not uncomfortable around us but also not fully comfortable/content because they don’t know who is where.  
 

we have some as foyer greeters, some spread throughout the congregation, and some in other areas.  It works 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Trey3216 said:

I’ll say this about my church:

1) everyone on our security team is either current or former military/LEO, or has been around weapons their entire life and is licensed to carry, but also knows how to read people and deflect situations.  
 

2) Our congregation doesn’t fully know, but expects that some of us are indeed carrying, so they’re not uncomfortable around us but also not fully comfortable/content because they don’t know who is where.  
 

we have some as foyer greeters, some spread throughout the congregation, and some in other areas.  It works 

My discomfort with it is for theological reasons, not safety concerns. I recognize that those are deep waters, with a great deal of uncertainty, and most don’t agree with me in the contemporary church.

I’m sure you are all qualified and competent. We have some who are armed in our church (the county sheriff is one of our elders, in fact). 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, formermav43 said:

My discomfort with it is for theological reasons, not safety concerns. I recognize that those are deep waters, with a great deal of uncertainty, and most don’t agree with me in the contemporary church.

I’m sure you are all qualified and competent. We have some who are armed in our church (the county sheriff is one of our elders, in fact). 

We are a fairly traditional church tbh.   We mulled over it for a long while, then Sutherland Springs happened.   Our pastor said, “I just want to know who’s on ‘the team’ because I already know where you all sit.”  
 

we also have a full Spanish service in a Chapel in our church simultaneously as our service, as well as a Korean church utilizing space until they can move to their own.  
 

after the WallyWorld events in El Paso, we doubled down on our efforts.  It was an emotional, Godly conversation between the team, our Pastor, and quite a few very scholarly men of The Book.    It still feels odd sometimes, but I don’t believe The Lord would be upset with the flock taking care of themselves.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Apparently the entire church security team had their eyes on him from the moment he walked in, because he looked and dressed suspicious. A few minutes later he got up and started shooting. 
 

First guy shot took too long to draw his gun, second guy shot was just frozen in shock it seemed. Gunman made the mistake of advancing to the front instead of putting fire on the rest of the security team at the back. Got absolutely dropped by the 2nd security guy to pull his gun. Impressive shot. Sucks an innocent guy died, but thankfully this seemed like a uniquely inept mass shooter running into an armed & able good guy quickly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...