https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Site-of-Sutherland-Springs-church-shooting-will-12344370.php
Site of Sutherland Springs church shooting will be demolished, pastor says
Updated 12:48 pm, Thursday, November 9, 2017
A mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs near San Antonio has killed more than 20 Sunday Nov. 5, 2017.
A mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs near San Antonio has killed more than 20 Sunday Nov. 5, 2017.
A mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs near San Antonio has killed more than 20 Sunday Nov. 5, 2017.
A mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs near San Antonio has killed more than 20 Sunday Nov. 5, 2017.
A mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs near San Antonio has killed more than 20 Sunday Nov. 5, 2017.
A mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs near San Antonio has killed more than 20 Sunday Nov. 5, 2017.
Police block a road in Sutherland Springs, Texas on November 5, 2017, after a mass shooting a church nearby. A gunman shot dead at least 20 worshippers attending Sunday morning services at a Baptist church in Texas, news media reported. / AFP PHOTO / SUZANNE CORDEIRO (Photo credit should read SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP/Getty Images)
lessPolice block a road in Sutherland Springs, Texas on November 5, 2017, after a mass shooting a church nearby. A gunman shot dead at least 20 worshippers attending Sunday morning services at a Baptist church in
... moreA mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs near San Antonio has killed more than 20 Sunday Nov. 5, 2017.
A mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs near San Antonio has killed more than 20 Sunday Nov. 5, 2017.
A mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs near San Antonio has killed more than 20 Sunday Nov. 5, 2017.
A mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs near San Antonio has killed more than 20 Sunday Nov. 5, 2017.
This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows Devin Kelley, the suspect in the shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. A short time after the shooting, Kelley was found dead in his vehicle.
lessThis undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows Devin Kelley, the suspect in the shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. A short
... moreComal County Sheriff deputies at the front gate to the home and property of Devin P. Kelley November 6, 2017 near New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley was the alleged gunman that killed at least 26 people and as many as 20 injured in mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
lessComal County Sheriff deputies at the front gate to the home and property of Devin P. Kelley November 6, 2017 near New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley was the alleged gunman that killed at least 26 people and as many
... moreComal County Sheriff deputies at the front gate to the home and property of Devin P. Kelley November 6, 2017 near New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley was the alleged gunman that killed at least 26 people and as many as 20 injured in mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
lessComal County Sheriff deputies at the front gate to the home and property of Devin P. Kelley November 6, 2017 near New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley was the alleged gunman that killed at least 26 people and as many
... moreLaw enforcement vehicles sit outside the entrance where Devin Patrick Kelley lived Monday, Nov. 6, 2017, in New Braunfels, Texas. Texas officials confirmed Kelley as the shooter who killed more than 20 people and wounded others at a church in Sutherland Spring, Texas, Sunday.
lessLaw enforcement vehicles sit outside the entrance where Devin Patrick Kelley lived Monday, Nov. 6, 2017, in New Braunfels, Texas. Texas officials confirmed Kelley as the shooter who killed more than 20 people
... moreThis shows the home of Devin Patrick Kelley in New Braunfels, Texas, on Monday, Nov. 6, 2017. Texas officials confirmed Kelley as the shooter who killed more than 20 people and wounded others at a church in Sutherland Spring, Texas, Sunday.
lessThis shows the home of Devin Patrick Kelley in New Braunfels, Texas, on Monday, Nov. 6, 2017. Texas officials confirmed Kelley as the shooter who killed more than 20 people and wounded others at a church in
... moreDevin Kelley's senior picture from the 2009 New Braunfels High School yearbook, which was provided by a former classmate.
Devin Kelley's senior picture from the 2009 New Braunfels High School yearbook, which was provided by a former classmate.
NEW BRAUNFELS, TX - NOVEMBER 6: Devin Patrick Kelley attended high school at New Braunfels High School November 6, 2017 near New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley was the alleged gunman that killed at least 26 people and as many as 20 injured in mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
lessNEW BRAUNFELS, TX - NOVEMBER 6: Devin Patrick Kelley attended high school at New Braunfels High School November 6, 2017 near New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley was the alleged gunman that killed at least 26 people
... moreThe Summit Vacation and RV Resort is shown Monday, Nov. 6, 2017, in New Braunfels, Texas. Devin Patrick Kelley worked at the resort just over a month before not reporting to work Sunday. Texas officials have confirmed Kelley as the shooter who killed at least 26 people and wounded about 20 others at a church in Sutherland Spring, Texas, Sunday.
lessThe Summit Vacation and RV Resort is shown Monday, Nov. 6, 2017, in New Braunfels, Texas. Devin Patrick Kelley worked at the resort just over a month before not reporting to work Sunday. Texas officials have
... moreClaudia Varjabedian, manager of The Summit Vacation and RV Resort, answers a question from a reporter about Devin Patrick Kelley on Monday, Nov. 6, 2017, in New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley worked at the resort just over a month before not reporting to work Sunday. Texas officials have confirmed Kelley as the shooter who killed more than 20 people and wounded others at a church in Sutherland Spring, Texas, Sunday.
lessClaudia Varjabedian, manager of The Summit Vacation and RV Resort, answers a question from a reporter about Devin Patrick Kelley on Monday, Nov. 6, 2017, in New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley worked at the resort
... moreA law enforcement vehicle sits outside the entrance where Devin Patrick Kelley lived Monday, Nov. 6, 2017, in New Braunfels, Texas. Texas officials confirmed Kelley as the shooter who killed more than 20 people and wounded others at a church in Sutherland Spring, Texas, Sunday.
lessA law enforcement vehicle sits outside the entrance where Devin Patrick Kelley lived Monday, Nov. 6, 2017, in New Braunfels, Texas. Texas officials confirmed Kelley as the shooter who killed more than 20 people
... moreComal County Sheriff deputies at the front gate to the home and property of Devin P. Kelley November 6, 2017 near New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley was the alleged gunman that killed at least 26 people and as many as 20 injured in mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
lessComal County Sheriff deputies at the front gate to the home and property of Devin P. Kelley November 6, 2017 near New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley was the alleged gunman that killed at least 26 people and as many
... moreThe roof of the home and property of Devin P. Kelley November 6, 2017 near New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley was the alleged gunman that killed at least 26 people and as many as 20 injured in mass shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
lessThe roof of the home and property of Devin P. Kelley November 6, 2017 near New Braunfels, Texas. Kelley was the alleged gunman that killed at least 26 people and as many as 20 injured in mass shooting at First
... moreOfficials have identified Devin Kelley, of New Braunfels, as the suspect in the shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. A short time after the shooting, Kelley was found dead in his vehicle.
lessOfficials have identified Devin Kelley, of New Braunfels, as the suspect in the shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017. A short time after the shooting,
... moreAuthorities provided additional information, including a rough timeline of what happened at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, in a press conference Sunday evening. Devin Kelley was spotted at a gas station across the street from the church, wearing all black, around 11:20 a.m. From there he crossed the street and opened fire outside the church.
lessAuthorities provided additional information, including a rough timeline of what happened at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, in a press conference Sunday evening. Devin Kelley was spotted at a
... moreAfter raising a family in the San Antonio area, Farida Brown moved to LaVernia about 20 years ago and found a community at the First Baptist Church, as so many others have.
It was the type of place where congregants had developed an unofficial seating chart and greeted each other by name each Sunday.
But that building will soon be gone.
Pastor Frank Pomeroy told leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention it would be too painful to continue using First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs as a place of worship and he plans to demolish the building.
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The group's spokesman, Sing Oldham, said Pomeroy expressed hope he could turn the site into a memorial for the more than two dozen people who were killed last Sunday and build a new church on property the church owns.
Brown was attending services on Sunday, as she's done for the past 10 years, when a man marched in with a rifle and shot nearly everyone inside. He killed 26 people and wounded 10 more.
When David Brown got word his 73-year-old mother was shot during church services, he didn't know what the protocol was.
"This is my first disaster of this sort that was so close to home," he told mySA.com.
Doctors were amazed Farida Brown's blood vessels were not struck by one of the bullets and pieces of shrapnel that hit her body. Bullet shrapnel struck her left hip, under her kneecap and above her left knee, traveling up to the top of her femur bone, David Brown said.
"The floors, all the pews and the walls are splattered with blood," David Brown told mySA.com. "The flooring is completely covered with blood."
"I heard it was so bad that it was almost raining out of the church."
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Rod Green, 71, an elder at the First Baptist Church, said he went to a yard sale Sunday morning instead of attending services. He learned about the tragedy over a series of phone calls.
Green recalled how, at the beginning of each service, everyone would stand up in the pews and greet each other. It was a chance to reconnect with each other, each week, Green said."
I shook every hand in that church," he said. "Let them know that it's good to see them."
The church didn't have a seating chart, but after years together everyone had settled into their particular spot. Green said Dennis Johnson, one of the victims, always sat in the row next to him, across the aisle.
He said he won't be able to stomach seeing empty seats without thinking of their former occupants.
"I don't think it's going to be possible to get back in that building, Green said. "I know myself and my wife Judy don't want to use that building."
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The church had its start in either 1925 or 1926, according to Beulah Wilson, 88, who runs a town museum. People met in each other's houses, before moving to a school house and then to a general store. In 1949, church christened a building near its present location. The current building has an assessed value of $19,660 and was established as a church in 1995, according to county officials.
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut was bulldozed after 26 people, majority of them in the first grade, were killed in 2012. Construction workers began to remove any trace of the elementary school almost a year after the massacre in October 2013, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In 2015, the home of the gunman was also demolished in Connecticut, the paper reported.
Brown was not sure if church leaders wanted to rebuild in the same spot or move somewhere else in town. He knows for sure his mom will never return, there's too many awful memories, "too much loss."
Brown's GoFundMe page, where 100 percent of contributions will go to the church, has raised $1,050 so far.
A church service will be held in Sutherland Springs on Sunday, he said, although he wasn't sure where worshipers would meet. It will serve as a memorial service for those killed four days ago.
The church will continue its Christmas tradition of giving toys to poor children. Green said the church was planning its annual Faith Riders event the day before the shooting.
"No reason that kids don't get their Christmas, just because of some deranged punk," Green said. "We're not going to allow that. It's a giving church, and the people who passed were giving, and we're going to make sure that continues."
Staff researcher Misty Harris and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
