GUNMAN SHOOT 27 WORSHIPERS TO DEATH IN TEXAS CHURCH

No fewer than 27 people have been killed after a gunman opened fire at a church during Sunday services in United States (U.S.), the police have said.

The attack happened at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, a small town in Wilson County, Texas.

Police official Albert Gamez Jr confirmed the number of fatalities to CBS News.

The gunman, who is reported to have been killed in the aftermath, entered the church and opened fire at around 11:30 local time (17:30 GMT).

"The details are kind of sketchy but what I know right now, what they're telling me, like 27 deceased and over 20, 25 injured," Mr Gamez Jr said.

"They're talking about the shooter is dead also," he added.

About 50 people usually attend the service, locals said. Local media outlets reported that children were among the dead.

Donald Trump, who is on a five-country tour in Asia, tweeted: "May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan."

Witnesses close to the small church reported hearing a rapid barrage of about 20 shots. Pastor Frank Buford of the neighbouring River Oaks church, just a few blocks away from the scene of the shooting, said relatives of victims had started to congregate at a makeshift community center.

"We're holding up as well as we can â€“ we are a strong community, we are strong in our faith," he told local reporters.

Buford described Sutherland Springs as a close-knit community. "We have a post office, two churches and a dollar store," he said.

His church received word that a shooting was under way at their sister place of worship at about 11.15am local time, he said. "We started praying for everyone involved in it," he said.

The pastor of First Baptist, Frank Pomeroy, and his wife were said to be out of town on Sunday and not present when the shooting happened.

First responders converged on the small town of around 400 people. Television stations KSAT and KENS reported a large police presence. A sheriff's department dispatcher said everyone was at the scene and was unavailable to comment.

KSAT reported that two Airlife helicopters were at the scene and broadcast video of several fire and police vehicles at the church and a photograph of a helicopter that the station said was arriving to take victims to hospitals.

Comments

BUHARI FIRED MAINA

The Presidency has given more reasons President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the disengagement of former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina from Federal Civil Service. Buhari's Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, explained that the president "acted on a new set of facts" while issuing the directive for the disengagement of Maina. Giving more reasons, Adesina said Buhari relieved Maina of his duty because he left the service without permission and he ran away from the country. The presidential spokesperson added that Maina's action brought embarrassment on Buhari's government. "In issuing the directive that Maina should be immediately disengaged from service, Mr. President acted on a new set of facts. One, for leaving the service without permission; he ran away from the country. And two, for the embarrassment he has brought to the government," Adesina said, on Monday. Recall th...

States are broke, nothing done in 100 days, By Dele Sobowale.

States are broke, nothing done in 100 days, By Dele Sobowale. Just as Emilokan got into Aso Rock and discovered that the Federal Government’s revenue for the next three years has been spent by Buhari, before he left, all the new governors are facing empty purses in addition to mountains of debts to pay. Money talks”; and virtually all the state government just finishing their first 100 days in office had very little to say because they are broke. In the past, print media was bombarded with 100 days reports from every state. We sometimes had insufficient space for them. Now, we have next to nothing to publish. As the deadline drew near, I actually got in touch with some Chief Press Secretaries of some states to ask them if they had any press release. Hitherto, the new Governors were too eager to announce what they did in such a short time. In my long experience on these pages, most of what was touted as “achievement” was a lot of malarkey – hastily implemented de...

SARS: Armed robbers’ll be happy – Ex-IG of Police warns against ban

Mike Okiro, a onetime Inspector-General of Police, IGP, has cautioned against the ban of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS). Okiro said the squad should be rebranded and refocused for effective service delivery rather than being banned. Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on Thursday, the former IGP said the ban of SARS would lead to more robbery activities. According to Okiro, robbers would be happy at the ban of SARS. “The police management should go to the drawing board and retrain personnel of the SARS as it will be counter-productive to disband them. “You cannot throw away the baby with the bath water, if they have deviated from what they were established for they should be retrained and refocused,“he said. “Armed robbers will be happy that there is no more SARS in the country but are Nigerians ready for that, “he said. NEWS: COVID-19: Trump shares experience He said that the squad had derailed from the primary purpose of tackling arme...

Search This Blog