Who Is Stephen Willeford? Texas Man Pursued Church Shooter With Own Gun
A Texas man named Stephen Willeford was identified by authorities as one of the heroes of Sunday’s mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs. Willeford, 55, apparently confronted gunman Devin Kelley with his own rifle and “engaged the suspect,” Texas Department of Public Safety Regional Director Freeman Martin told the Daily Mail.
Willeford confronted the suspect as he was leaving the First Baptist Church, where he had opened fire, killing 26 people. Willeford caused Kelley to drop his rifle, a Ruger AR assault-type gun, Martin said. It was then that another resident, Johnnie Langendorff, pulled up to the scene.
“I pulled up to the intersection where the shooting happened,” Langendorff told KSAT. “I saw two men exchanging gunfire, the other being the citizen of the community.”
Willeford then apparently approached Langendorff as Kelley fled the scene.
“The neighbor with the rifle came to my truck and opened my door and said, ‘He just shot up the church,’ and got in,” Langendorff told “Good Morning America” Monday. “He said, ‘Chase him,’ so that’s what I did. I just chased him.”
The pair pursued Kelley in Langendorff’s car down Route 539 at speeds of up to 95 miles per hour until Kelley lost control of his own vehicle and crashed into a ditch. Langendorff was on the phone with police during the chase.
“The other gentlemen jumped out and has his rifle drawn on him,” Langendorff told reporters. “He didn’t move after that. We led police to him … From the time we actually stopped, it was about five to seven minutes. The police arrived and then they pushed us back and they took care of the rest. I didn’t see anything after that.”
It was then that Kelley apparently took his own life, Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt said.
“We believe that he had a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” Tackitt told CBS News Monday.
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