Crews on Monday tore down a Texas church where a gunman killed more than two dozen worshippers in 2017, using heavy machinery to raze the small building even after some families sought to preserve the scene of the deadliest church shooting in U.S. history. Though some families who lost loved ones in the tragedy had filed suit, asking that the church remain as a memorial, a judge cleared the way last month for the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs to tear down the sanctuary where the attack took place. Church members had voted in 2021 to tear down the structure; in court filings, attorneys for the church called the structure a “constant and very painful reminder.” But some in Sutherland Springs, a community of less than 1,000 people, had held out hope for a vote that would reverse the demolition.
The Nov. 5, 2017 shooting killed 26 people, a number that includes a pregnant woman and her unborn baby. After the shooting, the interior of the sanctuary was painted white and chairs with the names of those who were killed were placed there. A new church was completed for the congregation about a year and a half after the shooting. Yet for some in the community, the old sanctuary was a place of solace. Terrie Smith, president of the Sutherland Springs Community Association, visited often over the years, calling it a place where “you feel the comfort of everybody that was lost there.” Among those killed in the shooting were a woman who was like a daughter to Smith — Joann Ward — and Ward’s two daughters, ages 7 and 5.
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