WASHINGTON _ The man authorities have identified as the shooter in the massacre at a Texas church was give a bad conduct discharge from the Air Force three years ago after being court-martialed for assault, a military spokeswoman confirmed Sunday.
Federal law prohibits a person who has been dishonorably discharged from buying a firearm. Whether Kelley's discharge would trigger the law was not immediately clear.
Devin P. Kelley, who served in logistics readiness at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico starting in 2010, was court-martialed in 2012 for two counts alleging assault on his spouse and assault on their child, said Ann Stefanek, the chief of Media Operations for the Air Force, in a statement.
Kelley was convicted and sentenced to 12 months in custody and given a bad conduct discharge, Stefanek said. He was discharged in 2014.
The 1968 Gun Control Act made it unlawful for a licensed firearms dealer to sell a weapon to a person with a dishonorable discharge or for such a person "to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce."
Officials have said they found multiple weapons in Kelley's vehicle when he died. They have not said how he obtained them.
