The Sutherland Springs Massacre Was Rooted in Domestic Violence

This article exposes how domestic violence often signals a path to mass shootings—and why churches must stop treating it as a private issue and start seeing it as a threat to the whole congregation.

🚨 Bottom Line Up Front

The man who murdered 26 people at a church in Sutherland Springs didn’t just snap—he followed a pattern. Years of domestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking, and threats were all warning signs that went ignored. The U.S. Secret Service now confirms what church security teams must understand: domestic violence is one of the strongest predictors of mass violence. If your church treats these cases as private or pastoral matters, you're missing the bigger threat. It’s time to start seeing domestic abuse as a red flag for broader danger—and act accordingly to protect your people.

A Massacre Rooted in Domestic Violence

On November 5, 2017, a man dressed in black tactical gear and a skull-covered mask opened fire on worshippers at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. He fired over 200 rounds into the building from the outside, then entered and continued shooting, killing 26 people—including his wife's grandmother—and wounding 22 others. The dead ranged from infants to elderly congregants. He was eventually shot by a nearby resident before fleeing and taking his own life.

The U.S. Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) recently released a detailed case study on this attack. Their findings confirm what many in law enforcement and church security already suspect: the path to mass violence often begins long before the first shot is fired. In this case, it began in the attacker’s own home—with years of escalating domestic abuse, sexual violence, and threats.

First Baptist Church Of Sutherland Springs A Case Study On The Link Between Domestic Violence And Mass Attacks

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This wasn’t random violence. It was predictable. It was preventable.

Before he attacked the church, the gunman had spent years abusing women and girls. He raped teenagers, violently assaulted both of his wives, strangled them, broke bones, and used firearms to terrorize them. He beat his infant stepson to the point of brain injury. He killed animals for target practice and sent videos of dismembered dogs. He used surveillance and manipulation to control his wives’ every move. And through all of this, systems that were supposed to protect his victims failed to intervene.

This case study doesn’t just tell the story of a mass shooting. It outlines the playbook that violent men often follow before they escalate. If your job is to protect your church, this report should not only be required reading—it should be the warning shot that wakes up any team still on autopilot.

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Watch My Interview With the Sutherland Springs Pastor

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The Pattern We Keep Ignoring

Devin Kelley’s descent into mass violence didn’t come out of nowhere. The Secret Service report lays out his life like a blueprint for future attackers—one that has been repeated over and over by violent men before they unleash destruction on a larger scale. The pattern is there. We just keep ignoring it.

As a teen, Kelley preyed on young girls—some as young as 13. He manipulated them with threats of suicide, coerced them into sexual acts, and raped them. One girl said he told her she was ugly and unlovable before sexually assaulting her. He openly talked about deviant sexual fantasies involving his own sister. Another girl said he offered her money years later just to see him again. When she tried to cut contact, he stalked her and continued calling.

By high school, he was groping classmates in school hallways, bragging about sexual encounters, and making threats of violence. He was arrested for marijuana, suspended repeatedly, and showed signs of escalating aggression. His anger wasn’t limited to peers—he beat and strangled his first wife’s infant son to the point of hospitalization. Doctors found brain hemorrhaging and a fractured collarbone. He denied responsibility, but the injuries matched the shape of a handprint.

He beat both of his wives. He strangled them, punched them, dragged them by their hair, and held guns to their heads. One wife had clumps of hair missing. One was kicked in the stomach during pregnancy, resulting in a miscarriage. He installed surveillance cameras in their homes, destroyed their devices, tracked their every move, and punished them if they disobeyed. He threatened to waterboard one of them using a showerhead. When she tried to leave, he told her the only way out was in a body bag.

At the same time, he fantasized about mass shooters. He studied their tactics, their weapons, and their motivations. He posted online that serial killers “get bored with animals” and mass shooters were just tired of the world’s “bull****.” He beat dogs. He dismembered them. He told a former military supervisor he used disobedient animals for target practice.

This wasn’t mental illness alone. This was evil, unchecked, growing in plain sight.

Every stage of his life showed signs—fixation, violence, threats, control, sexual violence, cruelty to animals, and a growing obsession with mass killing. This is the pattern. This is the profile. And if your team isn’t watching for it, you could be missing a potential attack.

What This Means for Church Security

Many churches deal with domestic violence between congregants. We put out bulletins for staff, call the police, offer counseling. But we rarely treat these incidents as potential warning signs for something worse. The truth is, if a man is willing to beat, strangle, and control his wife, there’s a real possibility he’s also capable of killing her—and anyone who tries to protect her.

This is no longer just a pastoral care issue. It’s a threat to the safety of the entire church body.

The Sutherland Springs attacker didn’t just have a history of domestic abuse—he was steeped in it. He used violence to dominate the women in his life. When he believed he was losing control, he didn’t just lash out at them—he took it to a public place where he could kill indiscriminately. That’s what your security ministry needs to be preparing for.

If a woman in your church is being stalked or threatened by a spouse or boyfriend, your team should be involved. If a restraining order is in place, your greeters and ushers need to know who that man is. If a man is escalating in behavior, talking about violence, obsessed with weapons, or controlling others—you need to flag it, document it, and assess the threat.

These men don’t always give you a clear line from domestic violence to mass shooting. But as this case shows, many of them follow the same path: abuse at home, anger at the world, fixation on weapons, and eventual mass violence.

Security teams must stop thinking of domestic violence as “not my lane.” It’s your lane. And it might be the most important threat you deal with all year.

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Training to Intervene Before It’s Too Late

Churches don’t need more policies—they need better preparation. If your security team isn’t trained to recognize the behavioral patterns laid out in this case study, you’re missing one of the most reliable predictors of targeted violence.

This isn’t about guessing who might snap. It’s about identifying the clear and repeated behaviors that often precede an attack:

• Obsessive control over a spouse or partner

• Physical abuse—not just once, but patterned and escalating

• Threatening communications: “If you leave me, I’ll kill you”

• Fixation on weapons and tactical gear

• Animal cruelty, stalking, and sexual violence

• Suicidal and homicidal ideation, especially when a relationship breaks down

The attacker in Sutherland Springs gave all of those warnings. He said he was going to kill his supervisors. He told his wife she couldn’t leave without ending up in a body bag. He held a gun to his own head and pulled the trigger. He trained with the same rifle he later used to murder innocent people in a church sanctuary.

And no one stopped him.

Your church security team needs to learn threat assessment—not just active shooter response. Recognizing signs of pre-violence behavior is the only way to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again. It’s not enough to know how to return fire. You need to know how to see the threat before it walks through the door.

That means:

• Creating a direct line between pastoral staff and security

• Establishing a protocol for documenting concerning behavior

• Knowing when to call law enforcement—and when to escalate within your team

• Training your team on NTAC’s 20 Behavioral Assessment Themes as laid out in this case study

You don’t have to become psychologists. But you do have to become protectors who understand the signs of a predator on the edge of violence.

A Biblical Mandate to Protect the Innocent

The Bible doesn’t turn a blind eye to evil men. It doesn’t dismiss violence as a mental health issue or tell the faithful to stay out of it. Scripture calls us to act, especially when the vulnerable are at risk.

Psalm 82:4 says, “Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” Proverbs 24:11 commands, “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.” These verses aren’t metaphorical. They speak directly to the responsibility of those who are able to protect, to intervene.

In Ezekiel 33, God holds the watchman accountable for failing to sound the alarm when danger approaches. Church security team members are that watchman today. You’re not there to just respond. You’re there to warn, to intervene, and to defend before innocent lives are lost.

Domestic abusers don’t stop because they’re offered another round of counseling. Violent men don’t respect restraining orders. Evil doesn’t retreat on its own—it has to be resisted. And the first place that resistance often needs to happen is inside the church.

When you see a man abusing his wife or controlling her movements in the congregation, when you hear threats, when you notice someone fixated on weapons, angry at the world, and isolating from others—you are not being “judgmental” by speaking up. You are fulfilling your duty as a defender of the body.

The massacre at Sutherland Springs revealed just how far evil can go when warning signs are missed or dismissed. Multiple agencies and systems had opportunities to intervene—law enforcement, the military, the courts. Those failures allowed a violent man to arm himself and target the innocent.

The congregation bore the cost of those missed opportunities.

As defenders of the modern church, we can’t afford to ignore the pattern again.