SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, Texas _ Before Nov. 5, 2017, Sutherland Springs seemed to be little more than a reduced speed zone on U.S. 87, a short stretch of highway with two gas stations, a Dollar General store and a flashing traffic light.
Now, seven months after a former serviceman with a bad conduct discharge stormed the First Baptist Church to carry out one of the worst mass murders in recent U.S. history, this town about 35 miles southeast of San Antonio is on the mend but still struggling with loss.
The community is so small _ population 600 _ yet it endured violence on such a large scale. Seemingly no one in Sutherland Springs, even those who weren't in the First Baptist Church that Sunday morning, went untouched by the shooting frenzy unleashed by Devin Patrick Kelley.
Larry Keeble, a 53-year-old home inspector, lost at least 10 good friends, including his Tuesday night bandmate Robert "Bob" Corrigan, a gifted guitarist. After hearing of the shooting, he recalls, "I texted Bob right away and said, 'You'd better be OK.' I didn't get a response."
The Nov. 5 mass killing took the lives of 26 people, including an unborn child, and left at least 20 others wounded, some severely. Nearly half of the dead were children, an image that remains indelibly fixed in the memories of first-responders and others who arrived within minutes after the shooting.
But people here say the story of Sutherland Springs is not only a tale of suffering and upturned lives. It's also the story of a tiny but unbreakable community where neighbors have helped neighbors walk the long road back.
"Nov. 5 did not define Sutherland Springs," said Stephen Willeford, the 55-year-old Sutherland Springs resident who exchanged gunfire with the assailant, ultimately putting an end to the bloodshed. "It just shined a light on who we always were. We're the community that pulls together and has always. And we're the community that focuses on God and has always before this."
