Family That Lost 9 To Texas Shooter Files Claim Against Air Force

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TX — The family that lost nine of its members in the Sutherland Springs, Texas, mass shooting filed a claim against the U.S. Air Force Tuesday alleging negligence led to the massacre earlier this month.

The claim was filed specifically for the death of Bryan Holcombe, the family patriarch who died along with eight other members of his family in the Nov. 5 mass shooting, according to the San Antonio Express-News. All told, 26 people were killed and 20 others injured when Devin Kelley entered the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs with a firearm.

By the end of the violence, the mass shooting gained the ghastly distinction of being the worst in Texas history and the worst such incident inside a church in the nation's history.

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The family's claim was filed with the U.S. government on Tuesday, but would turn into a full-fledged lawsuit if the Air Force denies responsibility. Air Force officials previously acknowledged they failed to include a 2012 domestic violence conviction while Kelley served in the Air Force that would have precluded him from purchasing the rifle used in the massacre, as well as three others purchased in Colorado and Texas between 2014 and 2017.

Air Force officials acknowledged the conviction was never entered into a federal database that would've raised a red flag as he went about purchasing guns. Kelley received a bad-conduct discharge from the Air Force as a result of the domestic violence conviction. Kelly reportedly admitted to a Holloman Air Force Base jury in New Mexico that he attacked his first wife and infant stepson, fracturing the child's skull. He was sentenced to a year in jail as a result of the conviction.

"Although the shooter undoubtedly 'pulled the trigger' that resulted in the injuries and death of JB Holcombe and others, failures of the US Air Force, and others, allowed the shooter to purchase, own and/or possess the semiautomatic rifle, ammunition and body armor he used, and it is these failures that were a proximate cause, in whole or in part, of the injuries and death of the decedent," the claim reads.

As the Express-News noted in its report, the Holcombe family must first file an administrative claim before launching a lawsuit, as per the Federal Tort Claims Act. The Air Force now has six months to either admit or deny the Holcombe's claim. If negligence is acknowledged, a financial settlement could be hammered out, according to the report.

The family's claim seeks financial damages covering loss of past and future income and inheritance, as well as non-monetary damages such as mental anguish, mental pain and suffering and the loss of life's pleasures and enjoyment of life, according to the report.

The town of Sutherland Springs is located some 35 miles east of San Antonio.

>>> Read the full story in San Antonio Express-News

Photo: Law enforcement officers gather in front of the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs after a fatal shooting, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Photo by Darren Abate/Associated Press