Thoughts on The Church Massacre in Sutherland Springs, Texas - UPDATE

At least 27 people have been killed in a massacre at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, a small town east of San Antonio. Among those killed was the Minister's 14-year old daughter. More than 30 people were injured. Given that there are fewer than 400 people who live in that community this is going to be a wound felt for decades to come.

When I learned about this heinous act I thought of the gun attacks on the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin which claimed six lives in August 2012 as well as the massacre at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina which claimed the lives of nine people in June 2015. Today's attack represents the worst attack on a house of worship in this country's history.

The assailant is dead, but it is not clear whether the shooter was killed by authorities or took his own life nor has he been identified as of this writing.

Naturally there are questions.

Was the assailant a stranger to the congregation as was the case in Oak Creek and at Mother Emanuel? Or was the assailant a former member of the church?

Ana Cabrera of CNN noted the attack took place on the 8th anniversary of the Fort Hood shooting. Was this an act of Islamic terrorism against infidels? We are only five days removed from the ISIS attack in New York City near the WTC.

Or was this another Las Vegas shooting where the motive might never ever be known?

Regardless of the reason we are already hearing demands for gun control even though the identity of the killer is not known much less how he obtained his weapons.

All we do is this yet another bad day in America.

UPDATE: I am watching a press conference on CNN featuring Texas Governor Greg Abbott. He indicates there are 26 fatalities. The Governor did not identify the shooter and authorities indicate he cannot be conclusively identified. According to The Daily Beast, however, the shooter is Devin Patrick Kelley, a former Air Force veteran. Twitter is speculating that Kelley is a white nationalist, a Muslim convert and a member of Antifa. At this point, none of this has been substantiated and might very well be wrong. We shall see.