Victims Of Texas Massacre Range From 17 Months To 77 Years

AUSTIN, TX — At the heart of the Sutherland Springs, Texas, mass shooting — a collective heart now broken in a million pieces after the tiny town was visited by evil on Sunday — is a story of family.

There are stories of shattered families left in the wake of the worst mass shooting in Texas history but also of the unity of a church family that gathered in worship each Sunday at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs. At the other extreme is the family of the shooter himself, with details of domestic toxicity and dysfunction that may have fueled his rage emerging in the day after his attack.

The victims ranged in age from 17 months to 77 years. Late Monday, Department of Public Safety officials confirmed the shooter, Devin Kelley, 26, took his own life with a self-inflicted shot to the head after suffering gunshot wounds inflicted by two passersby seeking to stop him.

First, and more importantly, are the families left broken. After what began as a regular church service, parishioners gathered in the small house of worship in a common scene that turned easy target for a lone gunman intent on carnage. Families in the low-income community are now left not only numb with grief but wondering how they'll manage to pay for burial costs among their fallen family members or pay medical bills of those who survived.

Among the 26 victims of the mass shooting gathered for prayer on Sunday before being cut down were three generations of the Holcombe family. As the Washington Post reported, family patriarch Bryan Holcombe was walking to the pulpit to lead the congregation in worship when the shooter made his deadly entrance, spraying a hail of bullets from his high-powered Ruger AR rifle at the unsuspecting flock.

Holcombe died in the gunfire. His wife of four decades, Karla Holcombe, also was killed. Their 36-year-old son, Marc Daniel Holcombe, also was mowed down. Marc's infant daughter — one-year-old Noah — also was killed.

Another son of the couple, John Holcombe, survived the ambush. but his pregnant wife, Crystal Holcombe, was struck down. Of Crystal's five children, three of them — Emily, Megan and Greg — all died at the hands of the gunman.

In an already-tragic story, their deaths suffuse the incident with even greater depths of grief given the grim statistic they alone represent in the final tally of the dead: All told, eight members of the extended Holcombe family died that day in addition to Crystal's unborn baby.

The night before the massacre, John Holcombe excitedly conveyed the Sunday school lesson that day: "Sunday School lesson is about Manna from Heaven - found in Exodus 16.," he wrote.

A GoFundMe campaign has since been created to help defray costs for the multiple burials of Holcombe family members. At last check, the fundraising drive had collected $67,950 of a $100,000 goal. The page shows the family in happier times, with messages of prayer and support coming from donors.

"Her father (on the far left) was the guest speaker at church that day; she was running late," a longtime family friend who created the page wrote, referencing Sarah Holcombe Slavin in whose honor the page was built. "She has lost her father, mother, brother, sister-in-law (who was pregnant), four nieces and nephews, and her best friend since childhood, Tara. This means her brother John has lost his mom, dad, brother, wife, and three kids (with two more injured) in one day."

The associate pastor of the church, Bryan Holcombe may have been born to be a preacher. “We knew when he was born, that he was going to be a preacher,” his father Joe Holcombe told the Washington Post. “His first word was ‘God.’ ”

The daughter of the church pastor Annabelle Pomeroy, 14, also is among the dead. Annabelle "was one very beautiful, special child," her dad, Frank Pomeroy, told ABC News. The pastor and his wife, Sherri Pomeroy, were out of town when the shooting began. Their daughter had gone to church that day on her own, according to reports.

Seguin Independent School District officials confirmed Annabelle was a seventh grader at Briesemeister Middle School.

The pastor's daughter, Annabelle Pomeroy, was a seventh grade student at Briesemeister Middle School. She was 14. She was a first year student at the school.

The campus principal hosted a staff meeting before school today and we have Communities on Schools counselors at the campus to provide support to students and staff. Additionally, counselors from other Seguin ISD campuses remain on standby to support as needed.

Many of those killed were children — up to 14 by some unofficial counts. Joann Ward and two of her children, Brooke Ward, 5, and Emily Garza, 7, were among the casualties. Joann's son, Ryland Ward, 5, was shot multiple times and wasn't expected to survive, the woman's brother-in-law told the Dallas Morning News. "They got him all cut open, from the gunshots," Michael Ward, who carried the child out of the church as he frantically sought help, told the newspaper. "I don't think he's going to make it."

Another family member, John Alexander, wrote on Facebook that "...we lost my niece, Joann Ward and two of her children in yesterday's tragedy at Sutherland Springs. Joann was such a wonderful mother whose whole life was her children and family. My heart is broken."

A crowdsourcing campaign has been set up on GoFundMe to cover medical and funeral costs. It's raised $885 of a $20,000 goal. The page contains a photo of Brooke Ward, below:

On Monday, ABC News confirmed Richard and Therese Rodriguez, a married couple, also were among those killed. Richard's daughter said he attended the church every Sunday. Another couple, Robert Corrigan and his wife Shani Corrigan, also were killed. Local 4 reported Robert was retired from the Air Force, and the couple has two sons who on active military duty.

Tara McNulty also would perish that day. According to a Facebook post, she was attending church with her children who were among those injured in the massacre. The post alerts to a Nov. 12 benefit scheduled to raise money for McNulty's family, which included her four children, referring to her as a "very kind-hearted person." The benefit is to be staged at the Aumont Saloon in Seguin, Texas, where McNulty worked for three years.

Haley Krueger, 16, wanted to be pediatric nurse given her love of babies, a GoFundMe page to defray her burial costs noted. So far, the page has raised $2,275 of a $15,000 goal. "Haley Krueger was a beautiful, vibrant, 16-year-old girl, and was excited about the bright future ahead of her," the page reads. "She loved babies, and had dreams of becoming a NICU nurse."

This was Haley, as illustrated on the GoFundMe page:

Monday afternoon, the grandmother-in-law of the shooter, Lula White, 71, was confirmed to have been among the dead, according to CNN. The woman is said to have volunteered frequently at the church. The killer's other in-laws and second wife Danielle also were members of the church but weren't in attendance the day of the shooting. Reports indicate Kelley had sent the dead woman threatening text messages before embarking on his rampage.

All told, there were 26 victims ranging in age from 17 months to 77 years. That death count is expected to rise given the severity of the injuries among those surviving in the immediate aftermath.

The death of Lula White increasingly appears to be the grisly culmination of a troubled family life for the shooter. A spokesperson for the U.S. Air Force for which Kelley once served before bring dishonorably discharged told reporters the gunman served a year in confinement after a 2012 court-martial for abusing his wife and child. The incident resulted in a reduction in rank and a "bad conduct discharge," which should've prevented him from owning a firearm.

In a tragedy where families figured so prominently, the killer himself reached out to a family member before his own death. According to reports, Kelley, mortally wounded after a bystander shot him, called his father to alert him he wouldn't make it.

Watch: Vigil For Texas Church Shooting Victims

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