Texas church gunman Devin Patrick Kelley escaped from a mental hospital in 2012, it has been revealed
Texas church gunman Devin Patrick Kelley struggled with mental health issues and even broke out of a psychiatric hospital five years ago in a thwarted attempt to murder his Air Force superiors, it has been revealed.
Houston news station KPRC made the stunning revelation after tracking down a June 7, 2012 incident report filed by the El Paso, Texas police department.
The incident report details how two officers captured then 21-year-old Kelley as he was trying to catch a bus out of town, after escaping Peak Behavioral Health Services just over the state line in Santa Theresa, New Mexico.
A witness at the bus depot, identified as 42-year-old Xavier Alvarez, told officers that Kelley had escaped the mental hospital and had plans to ‘take a bus out of state’.
Alvarez, whose relationship to Kelley is not explained, said that Kelley ‘suffered from mental disorders’ and was a ‘danger to himself and others’.
Kelley was reportedly getting treatment at Peak Behavioral Health Services (above) when he escaped on June 7, 2012
Two police officers apprehended Kelley shortly after he broke out of the psychiatric hospital. He was trying to catch a bus out of town, just across the state line in El Paso, Texas (the bus depot where he was caught, pictured above)
He explained that Kelley had been caught sneaking firearms onto Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico where he worked, and planned to ‘carry out death threats that he made on his military chain of command’.
The officers filed a report on the incident and turned Kelley over to their law enforcement partners in New Mexico.
The report also said that Kelley was facing military criminal charges.
It’s possible that the military charges could be the domestic violence case that got Kelley thrown out of the military with a bad conduct discharge.
Exactly five months after he escaped the mental hospital, Kelley was convicted of physically abusing his then-wife Tessa and infant step-son.
Documents filed in the court martial show that the abuse took place over the period of a year, between April 2011 and April 2012.
Officials continued to work at the scene of the crime on Tuesday – two days after the shooting
Dozens of bullet holes are seen on the front door of the church in Sutherland Springs on Tuesday
Kelley had recently posted a photo of an AR-15 style gun on his Facebook page with the caption: ‘She’s a bad b***h’
Hot pursuit: The route taken by Kelley after he was confronted by Willeford and subsequently chased by he and Langendorff
Kelley was sentenced to a year in military prison on November 7, 2012, a reduction to the lowest rank and was discharged from the Air Force for bad conduct in 2014.
That bad conduct discharge should have precluded him from buying a gun, but the Air Force revealed on Monday that his name was accidentally never entered into the FBI database that gunshops use to screen buyers.
The KPRC report also included another stunning detail – the fact that the incident report was sent to the FBI. This appears to contradict statements made Tuesday by federal officials, who said Kelley had never been on their radar.
At an afternoon press conference, the FBI special agent in charge of San Antonio said that they were struggling to break the password on Kelley’s phone.
The phone has been taken to the FBI’s labs in Quantico, Virginia, where experts continue to try to gain access to the phone, which could hold important information for the investigation.
The FBI special agent in charge refused to say what kind of phone Kelley had, for fear that other criminals would buy it.
Estella McAteer (left), her daughter Diana Gaitan (center), Maria Durand and her daughter Lupita Alcoces (right) visit a memorial to the 26 dead on Tuesday
Investigators are still working to determine a motive for the shooting, the worst in the state’s history.
So far, they say all signs point to the shooting being related to a domestic dispute between Kelley and his second wife’s family, who were members of the church.
On Monday, officials revealed that Kelley sent threatening texts to his mother-in-law Michelle Shields.
A source elaborated to CNN on Tuesday that the most recent texts were sent the morning of the shooting.
Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackett said Kelley ‘probably’ thought his mother-in-law was going to be at the church that day. However, she decided to skip the worship that day. Her mother – Kelley’s grandmother-in-law – was not so lucky however, and is among the 26 dead.
A TIMELINE OF TEXAS CHURCH SHOOTER’S HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
1991
- February: Devin Patrick Kelley is born in New Braunfels, Texas, the son of Michael and Rebecca Kelley, owners of a software company.
2009
- For two months in 2009, 18-year-old Kelley dates 13-year-old Brittany Adcock. ‘At the time I didn’t think much into it being so young but now I realize that there’s something off about someone who is 18 with someone who is 13,’ Kelley’s ex told NBC News. The now 22-year-old says after she broke up with him, Kelley desperately tried to get her back by any means necessary – in one case offering to pay her to live with him and his wife as a topless maid.
- Spring: Kelley graduates from New Braunfels High School.
2010
- Enlists in the Air Force and is assigned to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico where he works moving passengers, cargo and personal property in military transportation.
2011
- April 14: Marries Tessa K. Loge in Comal County, Texas.
2012
- June 7: Escapes from a mental hospital in Santa Theresa, New Mexico. He is caught by police officers just over the state line in El Paso, Texas, and is returned to the hospital. A witness told police that Kelley ‘suffered from mental disorders’ and ‘was attempting to carry out death threats’ against his military superiors. The witness also said that Kelley had already been caught sneaking firearms onto his Air Force base.
- October 15: Tessa Kelley files for divorce. In paperwork associated with the divorce, she said she was working at Taco Bell for $7.50 an hour while Devin Kelley was in military detention for domestic violence charges. It’s unclear when exactly he was arrested.
- November 7: Kelley faces court martial for abusing his wife and 11-month-old step-son. According to court martial documents, Kelley pleaded guilty to chocking his wife, pulling her hair, kicking her and striking her. He also admitted to striking his step-son with ‘force likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm’. The Air Force’s former chief prosecutor, Don Christensen, told The New York Times that Kelley fractured the child’s skull. The abuse happened between April 27, 2011 and April 27, 2012. Kelley is also accused in the trial of threatening his wife with a gun on multiple occasions between January 1, 2012 and and April 20, 2012, but he pleads not guilty and these charges are dropped. Kelley is sentenced to 12 months confinement in a military prison, demotion to the lowest rank of E-1, and a bad discharge.
2013
- Kelley is investigated for rape and sexual assault in New Braunfels. No charges were ever filed in the case.
2014
- February: Cops are called to Kelley’s parents’ home in New Braunfels, Texas after 10pm one night, after his girlfriend, 19-year-old Danielle Shields, texts a girl friend a message indicating that ‘her boyfriend was abusing her’ and that ‘her arms were red’. Shields said Kelley had ‘told her to pack a bag,’ according to the report. When sheriff’s deputies arrived, people at the home said there was a ‘misunderstanding’. It doesn’t make clear who spoke to deputies. No arrests were made.
- April 4: Kelley marries to Shields, according to Comal County, Texas records. He is 23 years old at the time.
- April 10: Kelley is kicked out of the Air Force with a bad discharge, but administrators forget to put his name in an FBI database used to conduct background checks on citizens looking to buy a firearm. This same year, he buys the first of four guns that police recover in their investigation into the church shooting.
- Moves to a mobile home park in Colorado Springs, Texas, where he registers to vote.
- August: A neighbor calls police after witnessing Kelley strike his husky puppy in the face with a closed fist several times. Another neighbor says Kelley grabbed the puppy, threw it into the air, then onto the ground and dragged it to his camper. Kelley refuses to come out of his trailer when police arrive on the scene, leading to an hour-long standoff. He eventually comes out and is taken into custody on a charge of misdemeanor animal cruelty. According to local court records, he was given a deferred probationary sentence and ordered to pay $368 in restitution. A protection order was also issued against him in 2015 on behalf of the local Humane Society, according to court records.
- December 2014: Buys a Glock 9mm handgun from Specialty Sports in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
2015
- Buys another gun from Specialty Sports in Colorado Springs. It’s unclear what type of gun was bought during this visit to the Colorado Springs store.
2016
- April: Bought the Ruger AR-556 rifle he used in the church shooting from an Academy Sports store in San Antonio, according to CNN. He listed a Colorado Springs, Colorado address when he bought the gun.
2017
- At some point this year, Kelley and his wife move in his with parents in New Braunfels, Texas.
- Buy another gun police found after the shooting, this one from a different Academy Sports branch in San Antonio.
- June: Obtains a state private security license to work as a security guard at the Schlitterbahn water park in New Braunfels, but is fired after less than six weeks.
- He was then was hired as a security guard at the Summit Vacation Resort, also in New Braunfels. A manager there, Claudia Varjabedian, told the AP that Kelley ‘seemed like a nice guy’ and didn’t cause her any problems.
- Some point before the shooting, starts sending his mother-in-law Michelle Shields threatening text messages.
- November 5: Opens fire during Sunday morning service at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, where his in-laws worship. The Shields family are not present during the attack. Twenty-six people are killed and 20 wounded before Kelley commits suicide.
