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Devin Kelly, the man authorities have identified as the gunman who killed 26 at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas. Photo: CBS News

Texas church gunman Devin Kelley was discharged from US Air Force for family abuse

Sunday’s mass shooting was the deadliest in the modern history of Texas

The man authorities have identified as the gunman in a mass shooting at a Texas church was discharged from the US Air Force for allegedly assaulting his spouse and child, according to an Air Force spokeswoman.

The spokeswoman, Ann Stefanek, said Sunday that Devin Kelley was sentenced to 12 months’ confinement after a 2012 court martial.

He ultimately received a bad conduct discharge and reduction in rank. She said Kelley served in Logistics Readiness at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico from 2010 until his discharge in 2014.

Authorities did not announce his name at a news conference on the shooting, saying only that the suspect was a white male in his 20s.

But a US official and a law enforcement official identified Kelley as the person who opened fire Sunday at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 26 people and wounding about 20 others.

The US official told Associated Press that Kelley lived in a San Antonio suburb and that he doesn’t appear to be linked to organised terrorist groups.

The official said investigators were looking at social media posts Kelley may have made in the days before Sunday’s attack, including one that appeared to show an AR-15 style semi-automatic weapon. The official requested anonymity because the person did not have authorisation to speak publicly.

An address listed in online records as belonging to Kelley is located in New Braunfels, Texas, just outside San Antonio and about 56 kilometres from Sutherland Springs.

Local records of an August traffic ticket issued in New Braunfels, Texas, for an expired registration and not having auto insurance give a birth date that would make him 26 years old.

At the address listed for Kelley in New Braunfels, two sheriff’s vans were parked outside and police officers stood at the gate of a cattle fence surrounding the property.

Law enforcement officials investigate the mass shooting. Photo: Reuters

Law enforcement officials gathered at the property declined to comment on why they were there. Several messages left for his relatives went unreturned.

Neighbours said that they heard intense gunfire coming from the direction of the address listed for Kelley in recent days.

“It’s really loud. At first I thought someone was blasting,” said Ryan Albers, 16, who lives across the road.

“It had to be coming from somewhere pretty close. It was definitely not just a shotgun or someone hunting. It was someone using automatic weapon fire.”

A person matching Kelley’s name and date of birth also registered in 2014 to vote in Colorado, with an address listed in Colorado Springs, home of the US Air Force Academy. The Colorado Secretary of State’s office lists his registration now as inactive.

According to Texas Department of Public Safety regional director Freeman Martin, the gunman arrived at a Valero service station near the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs about 11:20am Sunday. He was dressed in black, wearing tactical gear and a ballistic vest.

He crossed the street to the church, left his vehicle and started firing a Ruger AR assault-type rifle at the church. Then he entered the church and fired.

As he left the church, the gunman met an unidentified area resident with his own rifle who pursued him. The suspect was found dead in his vehicle near the border between Wilson and Guadalupe counties.

Martin said it was unclear if he died of a self-inflected wound or was shot by the resident.

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