(CNN) — The Air Force has launched a review of how the Service handled the criminal records the man responsible for a mass shooting at a South Texas church following his 2012 domestic violence conviction, according to Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek.
Former Airman Devin P. Kelley was convicted by a general court-martial on two charges of domestic assault against his wife and step-son under Article 128 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He then served 12 months in confinement at Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar in California before being released with a bad conduct discharge in 2014. He was also reduced in grade to E-1. Federal law prohibited him from buying or possessing firearms after this conviction.
Initial information indicates that Kelley’s domestic violence offense was not entered into the National Criminal Information Center database by the Holloman Air Force Base Office of Special Investigations.
Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein directed a complete review of the Kelley case by the Air Force Office of the Inspector General. The Service will also conduct a comprehensive review of Air Force databases to ensure records in other cases have been reported correctly. The Air Force has also requested that the Department of Defense Inspector General review records and procedures across the Department of Defense.
Kelley was previously a member of the Air Force, serving at Holloman AFB from 2010 until his discharge in 2014.
Authorities are still looking for a motive behind the shooting at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs that left 26 people dead.
Kelley had domestic problems and texted his mother-in-law as recently as Sunday morning, not long before he carried out the massacre.
“We know that he expressed anger towards his mother-in-law, who attends this church,” said Freeman Martin of the Texas Department of Public Safety. He said Kelley had a history of sending her threatening texts.
But his mother-in-law was not inside the church when Kelley carried out his attack. The youngest killed was a 17-month-old girl and the oldest was 77 years old, Martin said.
The gunman’s grandmother-in-law, Lula White, was also killed. She was the grandmother of Kelley’s wife and often volunteered at the church, according to friends and her Facebook profile.
The friends asked not to be named as the family has decided to not speak to the media about White’s death at this time, though a few have posted on social media
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called the massacre “the largest mass shooting” in the state’s history.
