Survivor Who Played Dead In Texas Church Massacre Recalls The Horror And Shooter’s Final Words

Rosa Solis, a survivor in the Texas church massacre, recalls the horrific scene as the shooting was carried out by Devin Patrick Kelley on Sunday in Sunderland Springs, Texas. She almost didn’t attend church that day because her husband, Joaquin Ramirez, didn’t want to go that morning. She talked him into going and what happened would change their lives forever.

In an interview on ABC News, Solis shared what will stick with her for the rest of her life after hearing the cries of children wanting their mothers and Ramirez recalls how the gunman would shoot babies at point blank range. Kelley’s shooting rampage killed 26 people and injured 20 others. Teb of those are currently in serious condition at the hospital.

“Everybody was so quiet, you could only hear the sound of the bullets and people screaming and people crying and ‘Mama, where are you? Mama?’ from the little kids,” Rosa Solis said. “There was nowhere to go. We were trapped inside.”

Rosa remembers the gunman firing his assault rifle before he even got inside the church. As he made his way up and down the church, the screams lessened as fired at the parishioners inside. Kelley stopped to reload his gun several times.

Solis and Ramirez were eyewitnesses to the Texas church massacre, fooling Kelley into thinking they were dead. Solis hid under a bench and didn’t make a move, knowing any detection of her whereabouts would prompt the shooter to fire at her. At that point she thought she was going to die because the bullets were being fired so close to her head. She recalls seeing a lot of blood and didn’t dare help any of the victims or she’d be shot dead, too. She’d already had a gunshot wound to her shoulder, which was treated before she was released from the hospital.

“I saw bodies with a lot of blood. That’s all I saw because I wasn’t about to get out from where I was hiding,” Solis said. “I played dead. I made sure I hid myself good under that bench.”

Solis said that as the shooting was taking place, Kelley was walking up and down the church aisle yelling, “Is everybody dead, motherf*****?”

Texas church shooting survivor says she played dead as gunman searched for “more people to shoot.” https://t.co/BESQnvkEYp pic.twitter.com/HBR1fzKbsC

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 7, 2017

Ramirez told KSAT 12 that the gunman went around and shot all of the babies at point blank range with his assault rifle.

Devin Kelley’s deadly shooting spree finally came to an end when neighbor, Stephen Willeford, ran to the scene and confronted the gunman with his own loaded rifle. Willeford shot the gunman twice before a car chase ensued. In the end, Kelley’s car flipped over after hitting a ditch and he was dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Devin Kelley had a history of domestic violence against his wife and stepson and was reportedly cruel to animals. The U.S. Air Force failed to report Kelley’s domestic violence convictions from 2012 to the FBI, which would have likely prevented him from purchasing any firearms.

[Featured Image by Darren Abate/AP Images]