Texas shooter sent threatening messages to mother-in-law

The gunman who killed 26 people at a Texas church shooting on Sunday had sent threatening messages to his mother-in-law and had a history of disturbing behavior.

Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, was court-martialed in 2012 for assaulting his then-wife and child, confined for 12 months and then dishonorably discharged in 2014, according to a spokeswoman for the Air Force.

An Air Force record of the Kelley court-martial says he pleaded guilty to multiple specifications of assault, including striking his wife, choking her with his hands and kicking her. He also was convicted of striking his stepson on the head and body "with a force likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm."

TRT World's Anelise Borges reports.

A former girlfriend, Brittany Adcock, said in a phone interview they had dated for about four months when he was 18 and she was 13 nearly a decade ago, and that he had harassed her long after that.

After they broke up, she said, he began calling her constantly and creating fake Facebook profiles to try to connect with her. He last messaged her around six months ago, she said.

At one point, she said she called police to file a complaint, and changed her phone number.

"He just started getting really weird," Adcock, now 22, said.

On Sunday, Kelley walked into First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, where his in-laws sometimes worshiped, fired an assault weapon and fled when a local resident shot at him. 

He was later found dead, authorities said.

Kelley, who graduated from New Braunfels High School in 2009, served in the Air Force starting in 2010 and was stationed at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

He divorced his first wife in New Mexico in 2012 and married Danielle Shields in Texas in 2014, soon after his discharge, according to state records.

Air Force failed to submit shooter's criminal history

Under Pentagon rules, information about convictions of military personnel in crimes like assault is supposed to be submitted to the FBI's Criminal Justice Investigation Services Division for inclusion in the National Criminal Information Center database.

For unspecified reasons, the Air Force did not provide the information about Kelley as required.

Acknowledging its mistake, the Air Force said in a written statement that the top two Air Force officials — Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein — have ordered a review of the Kelley case by the Air Force Office of the Inspector General.

"The service will also conduct a comprehensive review of Air Force databases to ensure records in other cases have been reported correctly," Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said.

Later Monday, the Pentagon issued a written statement saying it had asked its inspector general to work with the Air Force to review the handling of criminal records in the Kelley case. It also said the inspector general will "review relevant policies and procedures to ensure records from other cases" throughout the Defense Department have been correctly reported to the FBI.

"Domestic situation"

Texas officials on Monday said there had been a "domestic situation" involving his in-laws and that Kelley had sent "threatening" text messages. Attempts to reach Shields and her parents were unsuccessful.

Shields and Kelley lived for some time in Colorado Springs, where Kelley was cited for cruelty to animals, according to records. 

The misdemeanor case was dismissed after Kelley paid a fine, according to court records.

He moved back to New Braunfels, about 35 miles from the church, in 2017, property records showed.

Aside from his court-martial, Kelley was cited for traffic violations such speeding, as turning without signaling and failing to stop at a stop sign, according to records in both Colorado and Texas.

Three guns

The special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives field office in Houston says three guns have been recovered from Kelley.

Fred Milanowski said during a news conference on Monday that officers recovered a Ruger AR-556 rifle at the church.

Milanowski said two additional handguns were recovered from the vehicle driven by Kelley - a Glock 9mm and a Ruger .22-caliber.

Milanowski said all three weapons were purchased by the now-deceased suspect.

Freeman Martin with the Texas Department of Public Safety said Kelley did not have a license to carry a concealed handgun. 

He says he did have a "noncommissioned, unarmed private security license similar to a security guard at a concert-type situation."

Mental health issues

Adcock, his former girlfriend, said Kelley last contacted her about six months ago via Facebook, when he sent her a topless photo of someone else he had found online and appeared to think it was her.

He had asked her to move in with him as long as she "walked around topless all the time," Adcock said.

Soon after that incident, Shields contacted Adcock and demanded that she leave Kelley alone.

"This is your last and final warning," the wife's message from May 2014 read.

Adcock explained that Kelley had messaged her, rather than vice versa, and Shields apologised, Adcock said.

Former schoolmates of Kelley said he had some unspecified mental health problems, an assertion that was echoed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who told CBS on Monday that Kelley was a "powder keg."

Kelley frequently shared posts on Facebook about atheism and his assault rifle, according to Reid Mosis, who attended school in New Braunfels with Kelley from 6th through 9th grades. 

A cached photo of Kelley's Facebook page, which was deleted in the wake of the shooting, showed a photo of a rifle under which Kelley wrote, "She's a bad bitch."

Mosis, 26, said in an interview that Kelley was "always a bit of a loner."

"I know his parents had him on heavy doses of meds in middle school," Mosis said. 

"A lot of friends that knew him said he was too sick in the head to deal with by senior year of high school."