Authorities in Texas on Wednesday identified the 26 victims of the church massacre in Sutherland Springs, Texas, three days after a black-clad gunman stalked through the pews of First Baptist Church and killed or wounded nearly every member of the congregation during services.
The attack tore through the small community outside San Antonio, with the shooter targeting children, a pregnant woman and senior citizens alike. Among the victims in the church were eight men and 17 women. Seven of those killed were 14 or younger. Officials said the toll of 26 dead included the unborn child of Crystal Marie Holcombe, who was pregnant. The other victims were between 1 and 77 years old.
Some of those killed in the massacre had already been identified, their painful stories related by friends, relatives and public officials. The full list captured the full scale of an attack in which mothers threw themselves atop children to protect them, and one family — the Holcombes — suffered losses spanning three generations.
One survivor of the attack told her son that the gunman fired at the churchgoers who tried to flee, firing round after round into those cowering or wounded on the church's floor.
Washington Post
