In November 2017, a federal judge held the US Air Force 60 % Liable for a mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Judge Xavier Rodriguez found that because Kelley was investigated and court-martialed for assaulting his then-wife and her stepson on an Air Force base, the service should have alerted the FBI that Kelley could not legally purchase a gun through its alert system, according to a civil lawsuit filed by families and victims of the shooting against the government.
According to the petition, the government contended that the Brady Act protected them from responsibility since it requires federal agencies, including the Department of Defense and the Air Force, to disclose disqualifying material “not less often than quarterly.” “Any record of any individual indicating that the person fits into one of the categories” of people who aren’t allowed to buy guns is considered disqualifying information.
“My job is fortunate. I’d get a shotgun and shoot everyone in the head, “According to the court document, Kelley stated at the time.
According to the court complaint, Air Force investigators determined Kelley had a “long history of violence and abuse.”
Kelley was eventually sentenced to a year in prison for domestic violence.
According to the court petition, he then remarried and mistreated his second wife.
The judge found that the Air Force failed to properly disclose information about Kelley to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is used by gun dealers to conduct background checks.
Pastor Frank Pomeroy of First Baptist Church told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas in 2019 that the shooting had left him heartbroken.
“Almost as much as what the gunman did in our church, the aftermath hurt almost as much,” Pomeroy said.
The government was given 15 days to come up with a settlement proposal by the judge.