Judge: Church in Texas where 26 people were killed can be demolished

By Michael GryboskiEditor of Mainline Church Tuesday, 16 July 2024

A judge has cleared the way for the demolition of the Texas church building where a gunman killed 26 people, including the pastor’s daughter, during a church service in 2017.

Wilson County District Judge Russell Wilson on Monday denied a request to extend a temporary restraining order preventing the demolition of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, which is now holding services in a new building constructed after the shooting.

According to the Associated Press, Wilson’s decision overturns an order issued earlier this month by District Judge Jennifer Dillingham and opens the possibility that the building could be demolished.

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Because the church voted to raze the building in 2021, church attorney Matthew Swantner told the court that the litigation was “a question of church leadership about how the church will deal with its own property,” according to The San Antonio Express-News.

Sam Fugate II, an attorney for members opposing the demolition, was quoted by AP as saying that while his clients “no longer have an injunction preventing the church from being demolished,” they hoped “the defendants will comply with the lawsuit and not demolish the church while we deal with some of these issues.”

On November 5, 2017, Devin Patrick Kelley, who was discharged from the U.S. Air Force after a year in military prison, entered FBC Sutherland Springs during a church service and killed 26 people. He later shot himself and died.

Although Kelley had made anti-religious posts on social media in the past, authorities concluded that his motive for the shooting was that his ex-wife had family members who attended that church.

After the tragedy, the congregation built a new worship space, which was completed in 2019, while the building where the shooting took place served as a memorial.

“This is a tangible sign that people who drive through Sutherland Springs in the future will know that this is a place where good has triumphed over evil,” said Texas Governor Greg Abbott at the ceremonial opening of the new building.

Pastor Frank Pomeroy also told the Wall Street Journal shortly after the shooting that the building might be demolished.

“There are too many who don’t want to go back there,” he told the outlet in 2017. “We’ll probably turn it into a memorial for a while. Right now, we’re playing it day by day.”

In August 2021, the municipality voted 69 to 35 to demolish the old building because it was considered dilapidated, KTSA reported at the time.

However, a group of families with ties to the congregation filed a complaint against the decision, KENS 5 reported, claiming the church had wrongfully excluded some members from voting.