Texas church shooting one of many to target houses of worship
A small town in South Texas is reeling in the wake of a mass shooting at a church that left 26 people dead and 20 others wounded.
The massacre took place at the First Baptist Church, which is considered the center of life for members in Sutherland Springs.
A church member named April told CBS affiliate KENS-TV that she initially planned to attend the Sunday service when the shooting to place before changing her mind. "I've been going to this church since I was knee-high to a duck," she told the station. "I changed my mind to go to church today, and so did my daughter."
The attack was one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern U.S. history, but it's far from the first time a church, temple, mosque or other house of worship has been the scene of such violence.
Here are some of the fatal shootings that have happened at U.S. houses of worship over the last five years:
Nov. 5, 2017: Dressed in black tactical-style gear and body armor, and armed with a military-style rifle and other guns, 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 26 people and wounding about 20 others.
Sept 24, 2017: Emanuel Kidega Samson, 25, was charged with killing a woman and wounding six other people with gunshots at Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee.
Aug. 13, 2016: Imam Maulana Alauddin Akonjee and his friend Thara Uddin were fatally shot as they left a New York City mosque. Oscar Morel, 35, was charged with second-degree murder.
Aug. 9, 2016: A shooting during a party at a Jersey City, New Jersey, church left 17-year-old Leander Williams dead. Two teenage girls suffered upper body wounds and were later released, CBS New York reports. Daequan Jackson, 18, was charged with murder.
April 24, 2016: Mark Storms fatally shot 27-year-old Robert Braxton III during Sunday services in a suburban Philadelphia church. Storms, 46, argued self-defense, but was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.
Feb. 28, 2016: Rev. William B. Schooler, 70, was fatally shot by his 68-year-old brother inside an office at St. Peter's Missionary Baptist Church in Dayton, Ohio, as Sunday services were winding down. Daniel Schooler was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 31 years to life in prison.
June 17, 2015: Nine black worshippers including a pastor were killed by Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist, after he prayed with them for nearly an hour. The shooting happened at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Roof was convicted of federal hate-crime and obstruction-of-religion charges and sentenced to death.
April 13, 2014: Neo-Nazi and former Ku Klux Klan leader Frazier Miller Jr. fatally shot Dr. William Corporon and his 14-year-old grandson Reat Underwood outside an Overland Park, Kansas, Jewish community center as they arrived for an event. He then drove to a Jewish retirement community where he fatally shot Terry LaManno, who was visiting her mother.
March 31, 2013: A 28-year-old man fatally shot his father during Easter services at the Hiawatha Church of God in Christ in Ashtabula, Ohio. Reshad Riddle then made a rambling statement at the pulpit while yelling about God and Allah, still holding his handgun as panicked worshippers fled the church.
Dec. 2, 2012: Elementary school music teacher Gregory Eldred, 52, shot his ex-wife, Darlene Sitler, while she played the organ during a church service at the First United Presbyterian Church in Coudersport, Pennsylvania.
Oct. 24, 2012: A former facilities maintenance employee at World Changers Church International in College Park, Georgia, opened fire, killing church volunteer Greg McDowell, 39, while he was leading a prayer. Police arrested Floyd Palmer, 51, who was found guilty but mentally ill and sentenced to life in prison.
Aug. 5, 2012: Six members of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, in Oak Creek, were fatally shot by a white supremacist, Wade Michael Page. Page was shot by a responding officer and later killed himself.
May 9, 2012: Joseph Lewis Jr., 84, was fatally shot while sitting in a car guarding Victory Way Assembly Church of God in Christ in Detroit, Michigan. Two teenagers, 15-year-old Anthony Williams and 18-year-old Alandre Boone, attacked him while a Bible study took place inside. Police suspected robbery was the motive. Both teenagers were tried and convicted as adults for second-degree murder.
May 3, 2012: A homeless man killed himself after fatally shooting a priest and a church secretary at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Ellicott City, Maryland. Police said Douglas Franklin Jones had been turned away from the church food bank about two weeks earlier for visiting every day instead of weekly.
