Texas church shooter Devin Kelley escaped from a mental health facility in New Mexico after viciously attacking his stepson and smuggling firearms onto a US Air Force base; raising serious questions over why the madman passed a federal background check when purchasing the firearms used in the deadly shooting.
According to ABC News, the 26-year-old madman was arrested by the El Paso Police Department in the late hours of June 7, 2012 at a bus terminal in west Texas. The officers determined that Kelley had escaped from the Peak Behavioral Health Services facility in Santa Teresa, New Mexico earlier that evening.
Inside sources say Kelley appeared to be a “danger to himself and others,” adding that the then-21-year-old had smuggled firearms onto an Air Force Base and had made “death threats” against his commanding officers.
Devin Kelley murdered at least 26 people and injured 20 more when he opened fire at a rural church in Texas on Sunday, before engaging in a firefight with a local resident and eventually taking his own life.
It remains unclear why Kelley, with an extensive history of mental disorders, arrests, and a dishonorable discharge from the United States Air Force, was able to pass a national background check while purchasing the firearms used in the atrocity.