With half the victims of a Texas church shooting linked to the Air Force, a funeral and a military memorial were held on Veterans Day on Saturday.
SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas — Two of the 25 victims of this rural community’s church shooting rampage were laid to rest here Saturday as a local pastor beseeched around 100 mourners to look out for each other in the days ahead.
“There’s going to be tears,” said Pastor Frank Pomeroy, who lost not only half his parishioners but also his 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle, when Devin Kelley opened fire on First Baptist Church worshipers Nov 5.
A day of mourning and hope: Couple laid to rest as Sutherland Springs hopes to heal
“It’s OK. Pick up the phone. Knock on the door,” Pomeroy said. “Remind one another that our sweet sister and brother stand in the presence of their heavenly father.”
Pomeroy presided over the burials of Richard and Theresa Rodriguez, both in their 60s, who had met late in life and shared a love of family and gardening. Their service was held at a church in their nearby hometown of La Vernia, and the couple was interred at Sutherland Springs Cemetery under a green tent and threatening skies.
On Sunday, Pomeroy is expected to gather his congregation for its regular service at around 11 a.m. local time. The service will take place at a building near First Baptist Church. Although the crime scene is scheduled to be demolished, members of the public and media will be allowed to enter the building Sunday afternoon to pay their respects to those who died there.
Saturday’s events, which included a memorial, were particularly painful as they fell on Veteran’s Day. Half the victims had connections to the Air Force. Kelley had himself been in the Air Force, but was kicked out due to bad conduct after pleading guilty to assaulting his former wife and her son.
Air Force officials failed to flag Kelley’s record, which would have made him unable to buy the high-powered weapon he used in the attack.
As the events started to get underway Saturday, about 100 people gathered outside the Sutherland Springs community center for the memorial, sitting on folding chairs or standing amid red-white-and-blue bunting.
A color guard from St. Mary’s ROTC presented the colors. A wreath was placed near flags honoring those slain. First responders and law enforcement officers stood in a circle, with heads bowed in prayer.
Wilson County Judge Richard Jackson’s voice broke as he thanked the emergency workers who rushed to the church to treat the wounded in a scene that will affect them the rest of their lives.
Jackson, the county’s top administrator, said he hopes the ceremony will start a healing process “to put this horrific tragedy behind us and look to the future.”
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The Air Force chief of staff, Gen. David Goldfein, has said that 12 of those slain in the church shooting had direct connections to the Air Force, “either members or with family ties.”
The victims included the Rodriguez couple, a husband and wife who had met in the service more than 30 years earlier.
“I hope that this is the start of the healing that everyone here needs,” Jacksontold the USA Today Network. “That county has been in turmoil, and for a lot of folks, complete healing might never come. But it has to start, and that’s what I hope happened just now.”
Contributing: John C. Mortiz, Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller Times, Marco della Cava, USA TODAY, The Associated Press
