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Texas church gunman was shot by hero plumber Stephen Willeford...before 100mph car chase (tr)
Evening Standard (UK) ^ | November 6, 2017 | BENEDICT MOORE-BRIDGER David Gardner

Posted on 11/06/2017 4:03:31 AM PST by ETL

Full title:

Revealed: how Texas church gunman was shot by hero plumber Stephen Willeford and another passer-by before 100mph car chase

BENEDICT MOORE-BRIDGER David Gardner

Stephen Willeford, 55, grabbed his own rifle and rushed to confront Devin Kelley after being told an attack was underway by his daughter.

As he arrived outside the church he came face-to-face with Kelley.

Mr Willeford, a plumber with no military experience, shot him in the side through a gap in his body armour, forcing the killer to flee.

Mr Willeford and another passing resident, Johnnie Langedorff, then chased him at almost 100 miles per hour in a car as the wounded killer tried to make a getaway after taking a hostage.

Kelley is said to have killed 26 people – including a child aged five – when he stormed into the church on Sunday dressed in black tactical gear and armed with an assault rifle.

Freeman Martin, regional director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said: “The suspect dropped his rifle, which was a Ruger AR assault-type rifle, and fled from the church. The man then chased the gunman.”

Mr Langedorff said: “He got a little bit of a jump on us. So we were doing about 95 miles per hour, going around traffic and everything.

“He just lost control and that’s whenever I put the vehicle in park. The other gentleman jumped out and had his rifle drawn on him and he didn’t move after that.”

Kelley was found a short distance away in his crashed vehicle, dead from a bullet wound. He had several more guns in his car, but the hostage was unhurt.

Police are still trying to establish whether Kelley died from Mr Willeford’s shot, or if he committed suicide.

-snip=

Speaking at a news conference in Japan, Mr Trump said: “Fortunately somebody else had a gun that was shooting in the opposite direction, otherwise it would have been – as bad as it was – it would have been much worse.”

-snip=

He [mass murderer Devin Kelley] served in logistics readiness at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, and was jailed for one year in 2012 on two counts alleging assault on his wife Danielle Shields and their child.

In 2014, he was kicked out of the military.

Old school friends described Kelley, who lived in nearby New Braunfels, Texas, as a “creep” who made no secret of his anti-religious views.

Nina Rose Nava, who went to school with Kelley, said: “He was always talking about how people who believe in God were stupid and trying to preach his atheism.’

On Kelley’s Facebook page, he appeared to have a fascination with guns. He had recently shared a photo of an AR-15 style gun with the caption: ‘She’s a bad b***h.”

Kelley’s mother-in-law, Michelle Shields, is understood to be a parishioner at the First Baptist Church and was friends on social media with First Baptist Pastor Frank Pomeroy and his wife.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: armedcitizen; banglist; devinpatrickkelley; heroes; johnnielangedorff; stephenwilleford; texas; txarmedcitizen
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To: ETL

Good that it was Texas, California would have thanked him and then prosecuted him.


61 posted on 11/06/2017 5:04:26 AM PST by umgud
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To: FreedomPoster

Here is a clear cut example

Mass murder flees. Chased down. Flips car. Laying on side of road dying. No gun by his side. You cant just execute him as a citizen just because he killed 100 people in another location. Even if gun by his side in the road you need to make claim he was reaching for gun and feared for life.

Or you find him eating a burger at McDonald’s. You cant pull a gun and kill him

Circumstances matter. Some people here think anything goes in texas but it just isnt true. They do have more latitude on fleeing felon doctrine than a lot of states


62 posted on 11/06/2017 5:05:38 AM PST by RummyChick (I have no inside sources, media sources, or federal government employee sources. NONE)
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To: txrefugee

Oh..so you claim that you can go in to McDonald’s and shoot him while he is eating a big mac?????

Show me that law


63 posted on 11/06/2017 5:07:24 AM PST by RummyChick (I have no inside sources, media sources, or federal government employee sources. NONE)
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To: BuffaloJack

Body armor doesn’t turn someone into Superman.

What it does is stop a bullet from entering the body, or absorb most of the energy before it does so.

Getting hit with a bullet to a chest plate, especially a rifle round, will hurt you. It may even bring you to your knees. It’s like taking a hit to the chest with a hammer. It will hurt.


64 posted on 11/06/2017 5:07:37 AM PST by Bogey78O (So far so good.)
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To: ETL

“Police are still trying to establish whether Kelley died from Mr Willeford’s shot, or if he committed suicide.”

Blondie infobabe on FNC today said the gunshot was “self inflicted”. I kind-of don’t believe that. I’m more inclined to believe that Mr. Willeford’s shot was the one that did him in — the reason the car went off the road the way it did. If he was going to shoot himself, it seems he would’ve pulled over normally instead of stopping after “losing control”.

Knowing the MSM’s opinion of firearms, I’m thinking they don’t want to give credit to an armed civilian for taking out the freak.


65 posted on 11/06/2017 5:08:34 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (A person's greatest strength is his greatest weakness.)
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To: Bogey78O

Did the shooter have soft or hard body armor?


66 posted on 11/06/2017 5:08:37 AM PST by Travis McGee (EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: ETL
This needs to be shouted from the roof tops to all the “gun control” hysterics in politics and the media:

It was a private citizen with his personal firearm that stopped this monster and prevented even more deaths!

67 posted on 11/06/2017 5:13:29 AM PST by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: txrefugee
There is NO limit in Texas on killing a killer. There is no jury in the state that would convict this civilian hero who used his gun to kill a killer.

Willeford reportedly shot and wounded Kelley outside the church, before the car chase. Then, according to the Sheriff, he took his own life. I suspect the key reason he crashed his vehicle was because he was wounded. Then, being the low-life coward that he obviously was, shot himself to avoid facing the consequences of his sick cowardly actions.

68 posted on 11/06/2017 5:16:39 AM PST by ETL (Obama-Hillary, REAL Russia collusion! Uranium-One Deal, Missile Defense, Nukes. See my FR page)
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To: Cvengr

>>Every pastor should have a Sergeant-at-Arms in the body of the Church. Maintains protocol.<<

Yep, and the dude should be armed to the teeth and be a certified marksman.


69 posted on 11/06/2017 5:17:53 AM PST by fortes fortuna juvat
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To: ETL

But if killer escaped. Was found an 20 minutes later calmly eating a big mac..plumber could not go in and just execute him in mcdonalds...even in texas.

Circumstances matter


70 posted on 11/06/2017 5:20:07 AM PST by RummyChick (I have no inside sources, media sources, or federal government employee sources. NONE)
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To: Azeem

#60 Thank you!


71 posted on 11/06/2017 5:21:00 AM PST by Dedbone
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To: Azeem
He was shot with a rifle. Unless he was wearing plates (which we have not been told he was), the citizen could have shot him anywhere. Kevlar and other soft body armor can’t stop rifle cartridges.

If you only own a pistol, buy a rifle and train with it.

Worth repeating.
I'll add if you only own a rifle buy a pistol and train with it. The pistol's job is to let you fight your way to your rifle.

72 posted on 11/06/2017 5:25:21 AM PST by Politically Correct (A member of the rabble in good standing)
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To: ETL
Police are still trying to establish whether Kelley died from Mr Willeford’s shot, or if he committed suicide.

Maybe they should ask the hostage.

73 posted on 11/06/2017 5:26:50 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (RATs, RINOs...same thing)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

“Maybe they should ask the hostage.”

There ya go! Logical, simple solution to the problem.


74 posted on 11/06/2017 5:28:06 AM PST by MayflowerMadam (A person's greatest strength is his greatest weakness.)
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To: BroJoeK

>> I never saw it before, great word, should be more widely bruited. ;-)<<

And thank you for your comments about the word. I’m still half asleep and just glossed over it as a typing snafu. It’s now so seldom used that it took me awhile to recall that in my younger days I was familiar with it.


75 posted on 11/06/2017 5:28:15 AM PST by fortes fortuna juvat
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To: ETL

“Freeman Martin, regional director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said: “The suspect dropped his rifle, which was a Ruger AR assault-type rifle, ... “

Dear Commander Dumbass:
`AR’ means Armalite, not “assault-type rifle”.
America’s Gun Owners


76 posted on 11/06/2017 5:28:47 AM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives)
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To: ETL
Willeford reportedly shot and wounded Kelley outside the church, before the car chase. Then, according to the Sheriff, he took his own life. I suspect the key reason he crashed his vehicle was because he was wounded. Then, being the low-life coward that he obviously was, shot himself to avoid facing the consequences of his sick cowardly actions.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that he succumbed to the wound that the citizen inflicted on him which is why he crashed. It will come out later that there was no self inflicted wound.
I say this because of the vague way these reports are worded. That and because the media desperately don't want the good guy with the gun to be the cause of his death.

77 posted on 11/06/2017 5:31:23 AM PST by Politically Correct (A member of the rabble in good standing)
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To: ETL

https://www.atf.gov/firearms/identify-prohibited-persons


78 posted on 11/06/2017 5:31:30 AM PST by KeyLargo
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To: Azeem

Better carry multiple rounds/clips too.

As arthritis set into my hands I couldn’t rack or clean it any more, had to trade in my automatic for a Revolver. In home defense is a 12 gauge pump with a pistol grip. Not bird shot either.


79 posted on 11/06/2017 5:33:29 AM PST by GailA (Ret. SCPO wife: suck it up buttercups it's President Donald Trump!)
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To: Duchess47

>>I am amazed at the news we get in UK papers while our own media is generally clueless.<<

Slight correction: The MSM hacks in this country certainly are clueless, but their never-ending obfuscation of FACTS that do not support their twisted liberal, socialist, communist, progressive, DEMOCRAT ideology is very intentional, and that is something we should always keep in mind.


80 posted on 11/06/2017 5:34:21 AM PST by fortes fortuna juvat
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