Some Are Sad to See Site of Church Massacre Torn Down

Sutherland Springs, Texas church had been kept as a memorial to the 26 mass shooting victims
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 12, 2024 2:09 PM CDT
Crews Tear Down Site of Deadliest US Church Shooting
Workers begin demolition of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshipers in 2017.   (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Crews on Monday began to tear down a Texas church where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshippers in 2017, using heavy machinery to raze the small building even after some families sought to preserve the scene of the deadliest church shooting in US history. A judge cleared the way last month for the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs to tear down the sanctuary where the attack took place, which until now had been kept as a memorial, the AP reports. That ruling came after some families in the community of less than 1,000 people filed a lawsuit hoping for a new vote on the building's fate. Church members voted in 2021 to tear it down.

Authorities put the number of dead in the Nov. 5, 2017, shooting at 26 people, including a pregnant woman and her unborn baby. After the shooting, the interior of the sanctuary was painted white and chairs with the names of those who were killed were placed there. A new church was completed for the congregation about a year and a half after the shooting.

  • John Riley, an 86-year-old member of the church, watched with sadness and disappointment as the long arm of a yellow excavator swung a heavy claw into the building over and over. "The devil got his way," Riley said, "I would not be the man I am without that church." He said he would pray for God to "punish the ones" who put the demolition in motion. "That was God's house, not their house," Riley said.

  • For many in the community, the sanctuary was a place of solace. Terrie Smith, president of the Sutherland Springs Community Association, visited often over the years, calling it a place where "you feel the comfort of everybody that was lost there." Among those killed in the shooting were a woman who was like a daughter to Smith—Joann Ward—and Ward's two daughters, ages 7 and 5. Smith watched Monday as the memorial sanctuary was torn down. "I am sad, angry, hurt," she said.
  • In early July, a Texas judge granted a temporary restraining order sought by some families. But another judge later denied a request to extend that order, setting in motion the demolition. In court filings, attorneys for the church called the structure a "constant and very painful reminder."
  • Attorneys for the church argued that it was within its rights to demolish the memorial, while the attorney for the families who filed the lawsuit said they were just hoping to get a new vote. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that some church members were wrongfully removed from the church roster before the vote was taken. In a court filing, the church denied the allegations in the lawsuit.
(More mass shootings stories.)

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