SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TX (KSAT/CNN) – Two witnesses to the mass shooting at a Texas church chased the suspected shooter by car for 11 miles, hoping to bring some measure of peace to the victims’ families.
As he drove past the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs Sunday morning, Johnnie Langendorff witnessed the end of a massacre.
Langendorff saw gunfire between suspected shooter Devin Kelley and another man, a neighbor to the church armed with a rifle, after the former killed at least 26 people at the church.
"The gentleman with the rifle came to my truck as the shooter took off, and he briefed me quickly on what had just happened and said that we had to get him, and so that’s what I did,” Langendorff said.
The two chased after Kelley, who was driving an SUV, hitting about 95 mph as they raced up the country road.
Langendorff stayed on the phone with dispatch, giving them updates on their location and direction, as they got closer and closer.
After about 11 miles, Kelley appeared to lose control of his SUV.
“He eventually lost control on his own and went off in a ditch,” Langendorff said.
The man with the rifle got of the car and rested the rifle on Langendorff’s hood, keeping it aimed at Kelley’s vehicle.
“Telling him, ‘Get out. Get out.’ There was no movement, none of that. I just know his break lights were going on and off, so he might have been unconscious from the crash or something like that. I’m not sure,” Langendorff said.
Law enforcement arrived on the scene after five to seven minutes.
Kelley was later found dead in his vehicle with a gunshot wound. Authorities have not said whether he was shot or took his own life.
Langendorff says he hopes the affected families “can sleep a little better at night knowing that he was taken care of.”
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